What wifi speed will i get with a slower provider?

Hi
New to this forum, so apologies if this has been discussed before...
My current cable provider offers max speed of 120Mbps. In practice I get 55 to 80Mbps when connected to the router with an ethernet cable.
Using wifi I get about 14 Mbps - there's usually at least 5 devices connecting to the hub - laptops, phones, firestick, playstation etc. Although 14Mbps doesnt sound impressive, we dont encounter any buffering across all those devices.

However another broadband provider is offering a much cheaper deal.

If I change to a cheaper provider, who guarantees 30Mbps (instead of 120), what wifi speeds might I expect?
Will a network through the mains AC circuit be of any use?
I don't want to end up with bufferring issues, like the bad old days!

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance, Jan

If you are currently with Virgin Media cable, be aware that all other ISPs use a completely different technology. We would need to look in a bit more detail at what connection speeds you would probably get before we could give any useful advice.

There are also considerable differences between these other ISPs, ranging from excellent to very risky.

A good way to start would be for you to put your address, (not the pure postcode), into this checker and upload a screenshot somewhere then give us a link to that. Removing your postcode perhaps but leaving the exchange and cabinet number (above the table) in place.(Or just copy and paste the VDSL lines, exchange and cabinet number, though that's not as complete).

In reply to a post by JJBush:

If I change to a cheaper provider, who guarantees 30Mbps (instead of 120), what wifi speeds might I expect?
Will a network through the mains AC circuit be of any use?

It rather depends on whether your wi-fi speed is being limited by your router, your distance from it, interference or whether it's being limited by five devices doing stuff at the same time. If the former, then changing from 120Mbps to 30Mbps will make no difference at all, if the latter then there is less bandwidth to be shared between the devices, so it may well get slower. If you change ISPs you may well get a new router anyway, which might perform completely differently. I get good results from my Powerline network, but it's not usually quite as fast as wi-fi.

Typically over WiFi with a good signal there is no reason you should not get the full 30Mbps. Older devices will not get these speeds, but newer ones will e.g. new samsung phones, newer iPads (past 3 or so years), laptops supporting wireless AC, macbooks etc. Who is the ISP you are considering?

Where signal is low, these speeds will reduce.

What router do you currently have?

Hi Roberto, Kevin and UKHardy
Yes, I am currently with Virgin Media. My router is a Virgin Super Hub, about 5 years old.
I have put the output from the checker you quoted at this link:
http://www.wepaste.com/JJBush_Broadband/
hope you can see that OK.

I am considering moving to EE, as they provide my mobile service and are offering a deal to supply my broadband as well.

Thank you very much for your help and interest in my question.

Edited by deleted (Tue 06-Feb-18 23:04:53)

Is it a virgin superhub 1?

If so, yes indeed newer devices supplied by most popular ISPs will be better and deliver better speeds.

What price are EE quoting as honestly EE does not have the best reputation, albeit some very happy posters here too use EE? Lets see what price they are quoting and go from there.

Your BT Line speeds are fine, and overall I have no concerns with you switching to someone else.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 06-Feb-18 23:07:02)

That's great.

Depending on how well you set up your internal kit and wiring, there looks to be a good chance from the VDSL2 Range A of a connection speed well over 60Mbps. If you have a poor setup the Range B estimate range applies.

As others have said, EE is not the best rated ISP, but not the worst either. It's worth checking out the deals on offer from BT itself and Sky, not forgetting and card or cash giveaways and also checking out cash back from Quidco and TopCashBack. (But don't completely rely on the cashback sites).

My estimates:-
VDSL Range A (Clean) 64.1 44.8 17.4 11.5 39.8 Available -- --
VDSL Range B (Impacted) 54.6 35 15.2 7.9 29.8 Available -- --

My actual:- 75808/13984Kbps, as in my sig. Though I have a good line from the cabinet and near-perfect internal house wiring.

Homeplugs and similar through the mains with FTTC work but are often quite sub-optimal for throughput.

JJBush

Suggestion for you ?

In the meantime if you want to improve your WiFi's download speeds, get a new addon WiFi "Access Point" using the latest technology, connect that via an ethernet cable to the superhub and use that WiFi. instead.

Not forgetting to turn off the Superhubs WiFi, so you lighten the overall work load on the Superhubs processor.

Edited by Towerman (Wed 07-Feb-18 09:04:27)

IMHO if going down the route of buying new kit, it would be better to put the SuperHUB in modem mode and then have a brand new router do all network work.

In reply to a post by Towerman:

JJBush

Suggestion for you ?

Each post has a reply button. You replied to me where you could gave replied to JJBush. Result, I got an alert email from the forum telling me I have a reply.

If JJBush also uses that facility, they didn�t get an alert.

You also potentially screwed up the Threaded Mode view where you can see who has replied to you, plus sub-threads.

In the meantime if you want to improve your WiFi's download speeds, get a new addon WiFi "Access Point" using the latest technology, connect that via an ethernet cable to the superhub and use that WiFi. instead.

Not forgetting to turn off the Superhubs WiFi, so you lighten the overall work load on the Superhubs processor.

The OP seems to be trying to reduce cost by moving away from VM, and is perfectly happy with the WiFi speed at the moment.