Moving home, need advice as broadband is poor

Hi. Looking for advice after doing some research and not really understanding much! I'm due to move home, and the broadband will be an issue. The house is in a semi rural area and can only receive 10 - 20mbps approx. which won't be enough for me and my wife to work from home whilst our 4 children are also online (XBoxes, gaming PC, Netflix, phones etc). We currently have 60mbps which is fine and I need something similar or better and I can also order it through my business.

So far, I'm considering an FTTP survey although even if financially viable the lead time may be a problem. I would be prepared to go up to £6 or £7k for the install but I suspect the cost may be much more. I've had a quote for a fibre ethernet connection for 100mbps but at £300 / month for 3 years its a bit more than I want to pay. I'm looking for advice re: other options and where to look and who to speak to, so any advice is much appreciated. Thanks

Why do you think 10-20 Mbps will be inadequate?

During the day you and your wife will be working - that will be adequate. I have a friend who manages some major data analysis networks that have been key during covid - he is on less that 3Mbps

In the evening - four children should be able to cope with just 10Mbps - if not they will need to learn how

Where are you getting 10-20mbits estimate from and what service is it based on?
Worst case you could get multiple lines/ connections. One for work and the other just for the kids/home use.
Unlimited 4G may a viable alternative or use in conjunction with a fixed line service.

4 people on a 10 Mb/s connection is going to be a struggle!

One person opens up a stream and you can loose all of that bandwidth in a go. Anyone who thinks that 10Mbps is enough for that many people in 2021 is an idiot.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Why do you think 10-20 Mbps will be inadequate?

During the day you and your wife will be working - that will be adequate. I have a friend who manages some major data analysis networks that have been key during covid - he is on less that 3Mbps

In the evening - four children should be able to cope with just 10Mbps - if not they will need to learn how

I have to agree. If you can get the higher end of that estimate then it's manageable with decent QoS rules to prioritise the real-time traffic (video calls, online games) over streaming and downloads.

You could look at 4G/5G options but unless you can find a network that can consistently deliver over 20Mbps it might not be worth it.

Some other connectivity ideas;

1. You could combine a 4G service with your FTTC (or two indy 4G services) to give you multiple WAN connections or combine them to form a seamless single larger “pipe”. So either:
(a) multi WAN connections using the traditional round-robin / primary-secondary approach using a standard router like for example a standard Draytek
(b) bond the connections using a VPS service and OpenMPTCProuter running on some off the shelf but customisable hardware like a Raspberry Pi. More involved but potentially a better end service. See this thread for thoughts. Some further links to other threads in post 6 of that thread.

2. Starlink. Although it’s still in (quite limited) beta, so the bugs aren’t all ironed out yet, and there are still outage blocks. However ping times are pretty good, speeds are great and there’s no download limits. Although absolute numbers are limited, it may be worth a shot. Again you could always back that up with FTTC if there was an outage.

Edited by Pheasant (Mon 31-May-21 04:17:13)

In reply to a post by nsmith007:

The house is in a semi rural area ...

If it is truly semi rural you might have a WISP (Wireless ISP) that covers the area, check this map - https://www.ukwispa.org/members-map .Then look at the website for the WISP that covers your area, if you have one.

If you have the budget, Starlink will become an option later this year.

Low latency, high speed, satellite Internet for about £90 a month (and ~£500 un front for the dish).

In fact, if you are in some areas of the UK you can already get it.

https://www.starlink.com

and checkout https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/ for to see the general experience of using it.

I ordered it a few months ago, still waiting for my area to be enabled.

Edited by andynormancx (Mon 31-May-21 08:52:32)

I wouldn't say low latency, and it's still very much in beta. Pricey considering!

Edited by Grimers (Mon 31-May-21 17:04:42)