Possibilities on 100MBPS fibre

[doubleshot]

Guys

Those lucky enough to own a 100MBPS fibre connection...what are you doing with it and can you ever use the full pipe?

I.E:

HD Streaming will work perfect, but wont use the full pipe - Showmax, Netflix.

International downloads are be faster, but is at 10MBS/s due to ISP constraints?

VOIP, SKYPE and Video Conferencing will be crystal clear

Guess the question is how much is enough? A 100MBPS or will a 20MBPS do the same?

 

[HvRooyen]

I realise this is not exactly what you asked, but my experience may add something:
My home speed has increased over the last few years as follows: 4 -> 10 -> 20 (VDSL) -> 40 Mbps Fibre.

I have been streaming Netflix since I had 4Mbps. Sure, the stream now starts almost immediately, but I would easily go back to what I had on 10, if I had to.
Streaming audio has been absolutely pain-free since the 10Meg days. When streaming 702 these days, the stream starts almost immediately.

International downloads can be all over the place. Even on 40, some sites max out at much lower speeds. I often schedule downloads for after hours anyway, so although I can see them finishing faster, it makes no real difference to me.

Spoke to my son on WhatsApp VOIP yesterday: had significant buffering, although it is usually crystal clear. I ascribe that to problems elsewhere.

I have a *lot* of CAT5 in my house, but also WiFi (5 Ubuquiti AP's). Most of the time, the family connects using WiFi. In real life, I manage to see transfer speeds of around 80Mbps when transferring files to/from my home NAS. Note that this reflects a real life scenario, not some theoretical limit if I were to connect a LAN cable, which I rarely need on my laptop or cannot do on my phone. I can probably optimise my LAN further, but why?

Considering this, I cannot see a good reason to go much above the WAN speed I have at the moment. Yes, I can argue that theoretically I should be able to download files faster, wait a few seconds less for a stream to start if I bump the fibre up above 40Mbps, but in reality the gains are minimal when your WAN speed becomes similar to your LAN speed.

 

[F1ve_Claw]

It depends on your needs!

Myself and my wife have gone from 4-10-50mbps. The issue with 4-10 was that we couldn't multitask without interrupting each other. She couldn't instagram while we watched 1080p streams for example. At the moment 50/50 fibre is our sweet spot with streaming, and then multidevice usage between us. Of course if we had more people would need to up that!

 

[Rickster]

OP Bps ≠ bps

 

[Betonro]

I only got 100 mbps fibre because it's something like €7 per month more than a 40 mbps DSL connection. So, my reason is "it's awesome!"

 

[Axen]

100mbps FTTH - unpacked

OP you're in luck. I can tell you what 100mbps is ideal for, again, like others before me have said it's situational and definitely not for the average user.

I'm going to list a few instances where I have found it ideal. These are from my own personal experiences.

• Buffering a movie of any desirable quality without ever having to wait for buffering across multiple devices at the same time.
• Downloading your entire Deezer music playlist to your mobile devices simultaneously in a mater of minutes (15gb)
• Providing internet to 4 users simultaneously as well as all their devices, each of us have a computer, tablet and cellphone. We're always using at least one device. No one is ever complacent about their experience on the net.
• Theres also other devices on my home network i.e. TVs/Media players/IP Camera/Bluray player/PS4/Steamlink
• All users can access any internet service be it gaming/ media streaming/ updating/ emails/ browsing without ever impacting the other users experience.
• Last minute game, software and app updates are never a burden since you never have to wait more than a couple minutes for them to complete.
• I use to leave my server and computers on at night to download updates and streamed content but now I can turn them on when I need them and access any information/ media instantaneously.
• Google offers unlimited photo storage if you use their compression algorithm to save your photos, so I took an archive of 50gb of family photos and uploaded them in an evening (50mbps upload).
• Stability of fibre is unparalleled, my pings to all the services I use is incredibly stable (using Vox, Telkom has been poor lately so I switched between the two). Stable even if other services/ downloads are running.
• Most people run their cellphone software and app updates over night. But with 40-100mbps you can run these updates while you're making a cup of tea. In fact, iOS10 took me longer to install than it did to download - the same goes for similar game downloads and updates.

Off the top of my head, this is by no means a complete list of revolutions but it gives you an idea of the brilliance ultra high speed internet can afford.

 

[saturnz]

I have access to a 10:1 contention connection shared amongst 60 users now

I use it for trading (with Bloomberg running in the background), general browsing, streaming events, downloading series and now I'm running a game server. I use about 200GB of data a month.

For the building we use around 10TB of data a month and we are far off reaching any sort of FUP levels, and this is with me giving the internet away for free on the square outside.

I'm trying to get VOIP and the connection upped to 200mbps but its proving surprisingly difficult

 

[agentrfr]

As someone on one of the other threads said, it is like broswing the net with god mode enabled

 

[jackshiels]

I only have 50Mb, but the change is amazing.

I browsed with 1Gb for a while... sweet mercy upon my soul it's beautiful. You can never go back after you switch to fibre. I'm genuinely happier in life because of it.

 

[PostManPat]

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeserver/wiki/index

If you got some server experience. I suggest setting up stuff like nextcloud/seafile, plex or even just a webpage. You can set up personal services for friends and family, 100Mb is not so much about personal use, as much as 10Mb is.

 

[Genisys]

I have access to a 10:1 contention connection shared amongst 60 users now

I use it for trading (with Bloomberg running in the background), general browsing, streaming events, downloading series and now I'm running a game server. I use about 200GB of data a month.

For the building we use around 10TB of data a month and we are far off reaching any sort of FUP levels, and this is with me giving the internet away for free on the square outside.

I'm trying to get VOIP and the connection upped to 200mbps but its proving surprisingly difficult

I'm confused. Doesn't that make the contention ratio 70:1 in theory?

 

[doubleshot]

Awesome discussion guys - thanks. Previously I had 2X 10MBPS ADSLs with VOX FATPIPE and load balancing router. I've got a 100MBPs fibre now and it's awesome - especially when I stream via iTunes etc. Running an OS X server with Caching (APP updates etc) and PLEX. In general i'm a happy chappy - but think i'll be just as happy on a 50mbps. Some stuff is as slow as it was on my 10MBPS - for example a iPhone restore from iCloud. Photos download slow (international traffic). One thing that's a complete game change for me is the UPLOAD speed. I'm trying to figure out if the average IT enthusiast will get a proper return on investment for the buck spent. Using Telkom fibre here....

 

[HavocXphere]

Guess the question is how much is enough? A 100MBPS or will a 20MBPS do the same?

I can get & easily afford 1000mbps. I'm currently on 20mbps.

Never tried 1000 because the wifi can't handle it. Spent a bit of time on 100 then downgraded to 50 then to 20...honestly whether I wait 2 mins or 5 mins for a download is much of a sameness to me. Plus I've found that servers don't generally push more than 20 unless its usenet or something.

Unless you're pushing torrents/usenet you'll struggle to feel the difference between say 100 and 1000. Websites etc are the same at whatever speed cause the limit is server side.

 

[HavocXphere]

I'm confused. Doesn't that make the contention ratio 70:1 in theory?

It does on paper yes. In practice he is likely getting better quality internet than the 70:1 suggests though - there are qualitative facts at play there that are less than obvious.

 

[saturnz]

I'm confused. Doesn't that make the contention ratio 70:1 in theory?

I'm not an expert but I'm going to guess its 600:1 (imagine the same thing is happening in the other 9 10:1 connections I'm theoretically sharing the bulk connection with)

 

[The Voice]

House I've moved into had Sky that was running on (max) 7Mbps. Sadly, she died last week because the previous tenants cancelled. No more freebie interwebs.

BUT, Virgin will be here on Tuesday to install my 200Mbps connection! Can't frigging wait!

 

[Sinbad]

I have 100. I can get line speed on torrents, but mainly it's about future proofing. When 4K streaming becomes mainstream, I'm ready. And other people will still be able to browse, stream and game at the same tim.

 

[carelsolomom]

OP, your 10Mbps on international is most likely because of latency. Our (SA's) international links are at least 150ms and won't go faster unless you can change the speed of light on 300ms the max speed on tcp is about 3.5Mbps iirc. Solution for faster speeds are more threads and udp or local caching

 

[carelsolomom]

I'm trying to get VOIP and the connection upped to 200mbps but its proving surprisingly difficult

Curious about your voip problems. If you need assistance give me a shout - voip is my speciality

 

[HartsockZA]

I think the real thing at the end of the day for all of us is that at least we can obtain the speed without fear of theft or have weather knock out the line or you're too far away from getting the best speed possible. For me, though I don't have a fibre connection yet, I look forward in seeing fewer problems over line degradation that most of us face on a ADSL/VDSL connection. Yea, sure 100mb connection would be a dream come true for me since I've always wanted to be able to share with the world of video Gamers and Technology readers/listeners my own view via a proper video instead of writing a long essay of how much I dread most technology. But now when I get access to fibre I'd be able to stream/upload video's to YouTube in a good amount of time.

So for me, I can't wait to get rid of the dreaded SNR ratio's and all the trouble shooting around that. I understand this might have been a little off topic but when I read people comparing or asking what connection speed they have, all I think is how long most of us that stay just out of reach for vdsl and too far away for a 10mb connection and we just make a 4mb. Cause all the people in my shoes know the pain I speak of.