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Fibre - is it worth it?
Posted by Vanessa45
Fibre - is it worth it? October 21, 2016 02:55AM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 804 |
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 21, 2016 06:44AM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 1,979 |
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 21, 2016 08:37AM |
Registered: 18 years ago Posts: 5,388 |
We have been on Fibre for a long time now, and what a difference. I will never go back to the dark side. However an interesting thing re the speed test which I learnt from Telecom oops that should read Spark.
I was doing the Speedtest with Ookla on my phone via the App - it was really, really low. In one of my conversations with Spark I brought this matter up. And she asked me to test it on the desk top which is next to the modem. Incredible speeds! We have a very small house, and the reading is even different from laptops in the kitchen to the lounge - the modem is in my office (3rd bedroom converted). And my phone gives the worse reading of all.
Walls do make a difference - and apps are different as well.
I can download a bluray quality movie in between 5 to 10 minutes, and on broadband it took between 1 to 2 hours!
I was doing the Speedtest with Ookla on my phone via the App - it was really, really low. In one of my conversations with Spark I brought this matter up. And she asked me to test it on the desk top which is next to the modem. Incredible speeds! We have a very small house, and the reading is even different from laptops in the kitchen to the lounge - the modem is in my office (3rd bedroom converted). And my phone gives the worse reading of all.
Walls do make a difference - and apps are different as well.
I can download a bluray quality movie in between 5 to 10 minutes, and on broadband it took between 1 to 2 hours!
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 21, 2016 01:58PM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 2,228 |
I so thought this post was about dietary fibre!
We have unlimited fibre, which was put in for free by our ISP, and we pay $15 more per month for unlimited fibre than we did for a capped ADSL.
I've not noticed any real increase in my daily surfing speed, but we stream things now rather than downloading and playing them later (a blue job in our house so I guess Mr Griz finds our download speeds much faster now). Friends who do lots of gaming (we don't) pay extra for more speed.
We have unlimited fibre, which was put in for free by our ISP, and we pay $15 more per month for unlimited fibre than we did for a capped ADSL.
I've not noticed any real increase in my daily surfing speed, but we stream things now rather than downloading and playing them later (a blue job in our house so I guess Mr Griz finds our download speeds much faster now). Friends who do lots of gaming (we don't) pay extra for more speed.
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 22, 2016 12:13AM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 1,979 |
If you're in an area that gets already high DSL speeds, i.e. greater than 15-17Mbps, you possibly won't notice much of a difference unless you play a lot of video intensive online games, stream a lot of HD video or regularly downloading large files (such as Irene's blu-ray movies). It depends on your area and provider how fast your fibre speed will be, so definitely talk to your ISP and neighbours about what their speeds actually are. All the advertising talks about 100Mbps, which is very fast, but the small print says "up to 100Mbps". My mother, in Orewa, gets "only" about 28Mbps on her fibre line. To her the difference between high speed DSL (VDSL) and fibre would not be worth the extra cost, but where she lives fibre is the only option. If your area is getting over 30-35Mbps it would probably be worth it.. but again, it depends on what your usage is.
As far as streaming video such as Netflix, you can quite happily stream SD Netflix on a 2.5Mbps line (I did it for 3 years), I now have 7.5Mbps (no VDSL or fibre in rural areas) and still can't do HD, but that doesn't bother me. If you're big into HD video, that would be another reason to move to fibre so long as the difference between your current connection and fibre speed is enough to warrant the cost. If it is like Griz and only $15 and that isn't a big deal to your budget, then really there isn't a reason not to. No idea what the actual installation costs are if you have to fork out for that.
If you really want to get an accurate gauge of your speeds using speedtest, you'd be best to use something that is directly connected to your modem by a LAN cable. WiFi devices are always going to be slower than a cable connection, and individual variances are down to the limitations of the WiFi "tehcnology" inside that specific device. The distance from the modem makes a difference too, as does how many walls, different floors of the house etc.
As far as streaming video such as Netflix, you can quite happily stream SD Netflix on a 2.5Mbps line (I did it for 3 years), I now have 7.5Mbps (no VDSL or fibre in rural areas) and still can't do HD, but that doesn't bother me. If you're big into HD video, that would be another reason to move to fibre so long as the difference between your current connection and fibre speed is enough to warrant the cost. If it is like Griz and only $15 and that isn't a big deal to your budget, then really there isn't a reason not to. No idea what the actual installation costs are if you have to fork out for that.
If you really want to get an accurate gauge of your speeds using speedtest, you'd be best to use something that is directly connected to your modem by a LAN cable. WiFi devices are always going to be slower than a cable connection, and individual variances are down to the limitations of the WiFi "tehcnology" inside that specific device. The distance from the modem makes a difference too, as does how many walls, different floors of the house etc.
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 23, 2016 12:10PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 804 |
Great information guys
I did the speed test - Vodafone and its 12.20 download/1.08Mbps upload and Ping 23ms
I still have sky TV (basic package) so was thinking I could get rid of that and my beloved my sky and head to the world of fibre and internet TV, so investing my sky money into internet. Ill ask around where I live (Its a town house complex) and see what others think.
The speed test is great, thanks for reminding me about it.
Vanessa
I did the speed test - Vodafone and its 12.20 download/1.08Mbps upload and Ping 23ms
I still have sky TV (basic package) so was thinking I could get rid of that and my beloved my sky and head to the world of fibre and internet TV, so investing my sky money into internet. Ill ask around where I live (Its a town house complex) and see what others think.
The speed test is great, thanks for reminding me about it.
Vanessa
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 23, 2016 08:28PM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 1,979 |
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 23, 2016 11:26PM |
Registered: 12 years ago Posts: 3,422 |
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 24, 2016 12:20AM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 804 |
I will look in to VDSL, Im assuming Vodafone and where Im located (Albany - Auckland) its avail. an extra $10 per month sounds worth it, doubling my spend when I really dont need it doesn't.
Maybe when the kids are older but at the moment all thy do is watch some you tube videos and play a little bit of Minecraft. I just surf the net mostly and occasionally when they are asleep, watch TV ondemand or sky.
Once again, Foodlovers are a wealth of knowledge without spends time searching on out of date message boards.
Thanks
Vanessa
Maybe when the kids are older but at the moment all thy do is watch some you tube videos and play a little bit of Minecraft. I just surf the net mostly and occasionally when they are asleep, watch TV ondemand or sky.
Once again, Foodlovers are a wealth of knowledge without spends time searching on out of date message boards.
Thanks
Vanessa
Re: Fibre - is it worth it? October 24, 2016 06:17AM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 1,979 |
Vanessa, in Albany it almost certainly will be available. When we lived in Albany 6 years ago, we had 15M down (hugely fast back then) because we lived across Rosedale Rd from the semi-industrial area. I imagine now Albany has much faster service than back then. VDSL availability is dependent on your distance from the exchange box - I believe it cuts out at about 1.2km, but I could be wrong on that. The closer you are to the exchange, the faster your potential link will be. It will depend on the age and state of the wiring in your building and the model of your modem. Worst case you'll need to get another one from Vodafone or buy a model capable of dealing with higher speeds.
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