120M : Some advice please

[Bananaman_007]

My parents have recently joined VM on the VIP package, mainly for the faster broadband.

In my apartment i can comfortable achieve download rates of 6000kbps, which is what i would expect (on my 60m connection), of course this is in the "off peak" times. During peak i get about 500kbps.

However my parents should be getting better speeds being on a higher package, but the maximum they can achieve is 4500kbps in off peak, which to me is not right as if i am getting 6000kbps during off peak, on my 60m connection, they should be getting double that speed on their 120m connection not less.

I suspect is is something to do with the way their superhub 2 has been configured. It seems to have 2 connections a 2g and a 5g and i think the speed is being split between these 2 connections.

Does anybody have any advice or tips how these 2 connections can be combined back to get 1 faster signal?

Or if that is not the cause of the problem what maybe the issue.

I have done various speed tests on their line at various times and these are also only coming out at 4500kbps.

Thanks for any help offered

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Bananaman_007

My parents have recently joined VM on the VIP package, mainly for the faster broadband.

In my apartment i can comfortable achieve download rates of 6000kbps, which is what i would expect (on my 60m connection), of course this is in the "off peak" times. During peak i get about 500kbps.

However my parents should be getting better speeds being on a higher package, but the maximum they can achieve is 4500kbps in off peak, which to me is not right as if i am getting 6000kbps during off peak, on my 60m connection, they should be getting double that speed on their 120m connection not less.

I suspect is is something to do with the way their superhub 2 has been configured. It seems to have 2 connections a 2g and a 5g and i think the speed is being split between these 2 connections.

Does anybody have any advice or tips how these 2 connections can be combined back to get 1 faster signal?

Or if that is not the cause of the problem what maybe the issue.

I have done various speed tests on their line at various times and these are also only coming out at 4500kbps.

Thanks for any help offered

The superhub has two separate wireless connections but they do not "split" the overall connection speed in any way. This is just a benefit of the SH2, you get the standard 2.4Ghz wifi which has been around for a long time and now you also get a 5Ghz network for devices that support it - this should be faster, less prone to congestion but not many devices support it just yet. They are distinctly separate, but are both capable of supplying the full connection to the internet as long as you have the right equipment.

Anyway, that's not the full story. What's most likely the bottleneck here is the wireless equipment being used by your parents. It's not as simple as Wireless-N and that's it, there's different types or grades of wireless that can mean speeds range from as little as 75Mbit all the way up to 450Mbit - and these are theoretical speeds, real world speeds are going to be about half that.

In other words, the superhub2 is likely not the issue, it's probably the laptop/tablet/phone wireless that's the cause of the bottleneck. Try doing your speed tests with a wired connection and see what you get.

[Bananaman_007]

That is very odd as they are using a range of devices all of which appear to have the same speed cap but i have only tested 1 of the laptops. It is only a year or so old and is quite highly speced, it is an alienware that by brother is using.

They have 3 tablets and 3 laptops in the house along with 1 desktop they never use.

If it does turn out to be the devices is there anything i can do to speed things up?

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Bananaman_007

That is very odd as they are using a range of devices all of which appear to have the same speed cap but i have only tested 1 of the laptops. It is only a year or so old and is quite highly speced, it is an alienware that by brother is using.

They have 3 tablets and 3 laptops in the house along with 1 desktop they never use.

If it does turn out to be the devices is there anything i can do to speed things up?

I have a laptop I use in work that's only a couple of months old but only syncs at 72Mbps. It's quite annoying because so many manufacturers can "skimp" on the wireless spec and people rarely notice. As I said, all I can suggest is trying a wired test before anything else, as wireless adds in far too many variables (Equipment, distance, congestion, etc.).

[Bananaman_007]

I have tried using my laptop this morning an still only get the same max out of 50mpbs on the test, i know i can get more on my laptop as on my home 60m connection i get faster speeds than my parents on their double 120m connection.

I don't have a wired cable to try the connection, its pointless my parents paying for vip if they cant even get the speeds i get with 60m

[arcimedes]

Originally Posted by Bananaman_007

I have tried using my laptop this morning an still only get the same max out of 50mpbs on the test, i know i can get more on my laptop as on my home 60m connection i get faster speeds than my parents on their double 120m connection.

I don't have a wired cable to try the connection, its pointless my parents paying for vip if they cant even get the speeds i get with 60m

I would strongly advise getting an ethernet cable as it would prove if the connection is running at its correct rate. Whether a 120M connection is needed does depend on what you're doing with the it and if several devices are in use at the same time and/or multiple downloads.

It also occurs to me that perhaps the wireless is configured to use a 20mhz channel rather than 40Mhz. This will cut the max speed possible by 50%.

[Stephen]

Try a wired connection and run a speed test and let us know the results?

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Bananaman_007

I have tried using my laptop this morning an still only get the same max out of 50mpbs on the test, i know i can get more on my laptop as on my home 60m connection i get faster speeds than my parents on their double 120m connection.

I don't have a wired cable to try the connection, its pointless my parents paying for vip if they cant even get the speeds i get with 60m

A wired test is essential, because wireless has too many potential issues.