Network #1

My home network is slow. There are both Wifi and powerline networks. Because of various projects, had to spend some time thing about how to improve it. The business of not having much in the way of a budget means an incremental approach.

Needs

Only three of my machines need a very fast connection between them, although I could get away with just two having the fast connection. The main driver of this wanting to considate fast SSD storage onto one machine and an eye on having a decently performing NAS. 

Various other desktops and laptops, fast networking is less of an issue. Most of the time, can get by with relatively slow powerline networking or wifi but there are times when it's irritating.

Although my house isn't huge, I do have a garage and shed that have mains power and lighting. The shed will be home office type set up, garage more of a workshop but they could be thought of a "home lab". They need networking. Also, decent wifi in the garden would be good, especially in the summer.

Broadband

Broadband speed is a limiting factor for a lot of things. Streaming, cloud storage and file download can suffer although the speed of the server at the other end and its connection to the internet can be a bottleneck.

My BT broadband maxes out at 65Gb/s download, 11Gb/s upload. This is as fast as can be expected for VDSL2 given the distance to the telecoms cabinet. It's comparatively good. Many UK broadband users have much slower connections. 

According to some tools, the download speed is at times much lower. However, it's not the broadband that's the issue but rather Wifi. Web based tools are measuring the connection to a device, BT's tools measure the connection to the router.

Fibre to the premises (FTTP) has not reached my area. Virgin Media's broadband offering is an option but prior experience have not been positive. 

Some routers come with a 5G modem as backup in case of broadband problems. 5G can be used as primary broadband as can 4G and its variants. Pricing is variable and both EE's and Vodafone's offerings look very expensive compared to Three's £20 a month for unlimited data, no set up cost and Wifi 6 equipped router. Curiously, O2 don't have an offering.

Average 5G speeds are about 130Mb/s download but some users are reporting a lot more. As much as 400Mb/s. Upload speeds are on average around 30Mb/s. Speed is related to how close to the 5G mast you are.

Coverage is a major problem. 5G is still being rolled out. Three covers my area though. 

For now, upgrading broadband is a pressing need. This might change if, say, remote backup becomes important.

Upgrading powerline networking

I've had powerline networking for maybe as long as ten years. Never had any real problems with it although it can be slow when transfering multiple large files between machines. 

The old Devolo kit I used offered 200Mb/s bandwidth. That bandwidth is shared between all attached devices, both uplink and downlink. I have various types of them - some with just 100Mb/s etherent, one with a slow Wifi router built-in. I never used the Wifi router functionality. Powerline networking is highly dependent on the quality of wiring and electrical noise from appliances but not a problem here. True, powerline adapters never get anywhere near quoted speeds, especially compared to wired ethernet, but not seeing the terrible performance some report.

I purchased six BT Mini Connectors v2. They offer 1Gb/s bandwidth and also have two 1Gb/s ethernet ports. I have an immediate use for three of them. Two are earmarked for a defined future use, leaving one spare. The thinking with the spare is that it can be used with older laptops etc that have slower wifi if I want to work on them in the house.

So far, no issues with them. To be fair, no large file transfers have been done yet. They are mostly being used to provide a more consistent connection to broadband. Because that 1Gb/s is shared, it remains to be seen how much performance will drop off as more adapters are added to the network.

Faster powerline adapters do exist (up to 2.4Gb/s) but that's shared bandwidth. They have Gigabit ethernet ports. Some come with Wifi 6. They are more expensive. 

Wifi

Wifi can be tricky. Speeds are inconsistent here even when close to the router.

Wifi naming is not as transparent as you might think. The BT Homehub 5 router I have is Wifi 5. I have a BT Smarthub that I've meant upgrade to. It's also Wifi 5 but supports Wave 2 and also has more antennas. Various reviews and benchmarking suggest it would give an uplift in Wifi performance for some types of device. 

Wifi 5 is also confusing in that it only specifies 5Ghz connection but all Wifi 5 routers offer 2.4Ghz as well, as per the Wifi 4 standard. 

Some 5Ghz capable devices are only connecting to the HomeHub 5 at 2.4GHz. 2.4GHz is slower but has less attentuation and thus more range. Some devices connected to 5Ghz are sometimes reporting a slower speed than expected. For example, yesterday Chromebook was reporting via web app 16Mb/s download speed and today 60Mb/s. It turns out that one device of concern, a Moto e(6) Plus doesn't support 5GHz.

Intermittent variations in Wifi performance can be hard to diagnose. However, it's not worth expending much energy on it given upgrade to SmartHub in the next few days. Which was done without incident. The Home Hub 5 will be used as a Wifi extender once the best location for it is determined.

Some suggest that 2.4Ghz and 5GHz should be set up on different SSIDs but this prevents the automatic changing for better signal strength.

Only a couple of devices support Wifi 6. One, an HP Spectre laptop tends to remain plugged into the powerline network. The other is an iPhone SE and it's not used for anything that needs Wifi 6 speeds. At the moment, Wifi 6 routers are still relatively expensive (especially those that support Wifi 6e revision) and they tend not to have VDSL built-in. They have an ethernet connector for WLAN in. It would be yet another box.

At the moment, Wifi 6 is not a pressing need. BT are rumoured to have a Wifi 6 version of the SmartHub coming. It might be worth having at the right price. There is also the cost of replacing Wifi adapters in devices that can be upgraded. Mini PCIe etc cards can be obtained for not very much. 

Ethernet

I have thought about installing ethernet in my home but came to the conclusion that it would be too disruptive and expensive for the performance benefit. Because the way the house is constructed, in places channels for conduit would need to be cut into brick and then made good, which would also involve redecoration. In other places, fitted carpets would have to come up so the floor could be lifted, then put back and the carpets refitted. 

However, none of machines that would benefit from faster networking live in the house. Machines in the house can get by on wifi and powerline networking, at least for now. 

Both garage and shed have mains power and lighting. Running armoured Cat 6 cables between the two is doable. Second user dual port 10Gbit ethernet adapters can be obtained relatively cheaply. The same is not true for switches. Direct attachment is the best option for now until second user switch prices drop.

I have a managed 24 port 100Mb/s switch that is currently unused as well as a couple of unmanaged Gigabit switches. The