Fibre speeds, Langford BC

[Mitt_JR]

I'm a resident of Langford, BC, and I'm interested in any updates regarding potential speed enhancements to TELUS's PureFibre internet service in our area. Specifically, are there plans to increase speeds to 5 Gbps or higher?

Back in June of last year, there were media announcements about TELUS's commitment to enhancing wireless connectivity and expanding the PureFibre network to more homes and businesses in this area.

I'm curious if these initiatives include upgrading existing PureFibre connections in Langford to higher speeds or just expanding the existing fibre network.

Thank you for any information or guidance anyone can provide.

[AHodges]

A heads up on PureFibre network upgrades. Many people don't realize that the upgraded speed only goes as far as the entrance of the internet to your house. Most people then distribute the internet through their house either on the coaxial cable (e.g. putting your wifi modem somewhere else in the house, connected to the TV cable outlet), and through a wifi modem. Either of these will reduce your speed back down to 1GB. I recently "upgraded" to 3GB, only to have the installer tell me that I'm still on 1GB because the wifi can't handle 3GB. Unless you have LAN wires networked throughout your house and physically plug your devices into those, you're unlikely to benefit from anything higher than 1GB coming to your house.

[Mitt_JR]

Thanks for the heads-up! I’ve read about this and currently plan to port forward through the FXA5000 router (assuming that’s the model provided upon installation) and connect it via LAN to my home business router/network. Right now, I’m researching a new router that can handle high traffic loads. I’m also debating whether it’s worth future-proofing for higher speeds, or if I should hold off since Telus may take time to upgrade their fiber speeds.

[Nighthawk]

The NAH/FXA5000 has a 10Gbps LAN port on it (and 4 gigabit LAN ports) so you basically need a router that supports 10G networking over ethernet if you want speeds over gigabit and your own router. If you don't use your own router, you just need a 10G switch. If you want to get the most bandwidth, hardwire everything possible.  Alternately some adventurous individuals have gone further and gotten more higher level hardware like that from Ubiquiti, though that in itself can have it's own set of challenges.

Wifi is a different story. Many wirelss routers advertise the TOTAL wifi bandwidth, not the maximum bandwidth that it supplies to an individual device, which is often much lower. Mesh router systems have a much lower max bandwidth speed per device as well so be aware of that limitation. Wifi is also impacted by so many environmental factors that could impact the connection speed.

[Mitt_JR]

Thank you! Yes, I’m currently considering a Netgear wired router to optimize my internet speed while keeping my business VPN network separate from my family’s network. I’m trying to determine the best setup for this.

In the near future, I’ll need two 10Gb ports for my LAN network (one for my server and one for my computer). However, my computer will also be pulling information from the web.

My main dilemma is whether it’s worth investing in a Netgate 6100 router, which has two 10Gb ports—allowing me to potentially bypass a switch for now and expand later. This could help with future-proofing my network.

Alternatively, I could opt for a less expensive 2.5Gb router and instead purchase a 10Gb managed switch for my LAN. However, I also need to factor in VPN capabilities, ensuring the router can handle my business VPN efficiently.

Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[Parrelium]

You don’t need a separate router unless you’re going to split the networks. I’d recommend against it, mostly for simplicity. Unless you’re going to need a lot of customization the NAH will handle routing.

Pick up a Mikrotik CRS-304 switch, connect it to the 10g port on the NAH and then distribute to the rest of your house from there. You can keep adding Microtik switches as needed or split them off from there with 2.5 gig switches.  Unless you’ve got multiple 10 gigabit PCs anything over 2.5 is probably overkill.  That’ll cover 80% of the wifi 7 speed maximum if you add access points for wifi service as well.  I’m perfectly happy with 6e myself.  My IPhones and tablets really don’t need that much speed anyways but they do get around 1.4 gigabit on wifi.