I've got fibre to the premises! Hurrah! Now, if only I could connect to it...

[a_chap]

After what seems like a lifetime, Chap Mansion now has a spindly little bit of fibre optic filament connecting me at ludicrous speeds to that internet.

The problem - and this is why I'm posting here - is that I have connected all my devices to it via WiFi except the PC I'm using to type this message. The new router's WiFi simply doesn't appear as an available network to connect to.

I have two mobile phones in the same room as my PC, both of which happily show the new router's WiFi connection. I've tried connecting the PC's WiFi dongle to other USB ports. My PC shows other WiFi networks, including a few neighbours, and can connect to at least two of those WiFi networks (that's how I'm posting this)

I've rebooted the router, connected to it and seen that it's reporting both 2.4 and 5GHz connections.

I'm a bit stumped. ☹

What am I failing to do?

Oh, and the PC's running Windows 10 if that makes any difference.

Ta.

 

[souljacker]

Update the drivers? Is the new router doing the latest WiFi? If it's an Intel chipset they were known to have issues with 802.11ax(WiFi6).

 

[WouldBe]

I've just got fibre to the cabinet. The ethernet connections work fine but the Mobile wouldn't connect. I had to press the 'WPS' button in the router and select 'WPS' on the phone before they would talk to each other.

 

[a_chap]

Update the drivers? Is the new router doing the latest WiFi? If it's an Intel chipset they were known to have issues with 802.11ax(WiFi6).

I'll try that, thanks.

Is the new router doing the latest WiFi? If it's an Intel chipset they were known to have issues with 802.11ax(WiFi6).

How do I figure out if it's doing the latest WiFi? And what is the latest WiFi anyway?

 

[souljacker]

I'll try that, thanks.



How do I figure out if it's doing the latest WiFi? And what is the latest WiFi anyway?

What's the make and model? Latest is 6E but I'd be pretty certain you haven't got that. Either way, try the driver update as there have been issues since 802.11ac came out (WiFi5)

 

[Magnus McGinty]

How far away is the PC from it?

 

[a_chap]

Either way, try the driver update as there have been issues since 802.11ac came out (WiFi5)

And, blow me down, but updating the drivers did indeed fix it!

Thank you


Edited to add: now to play Solitaire at three gazillion bits per second!

 

[NoXion]

They recently did some fibre-related work in the street outside my flats. Do I need to do anything to take advantage of this or not?

 

[alex_]

They recently did some fibre-related work in the street outside my flats. Do I need to do anything to take advantage of this or not?

Find out who it is and look at their website - if you are in Brixton it’s likely community fibre, g.network or hyperoptic who are all rolling out at the moment.

 

[a_chap]

They recently did some fibre-related work in the street outside my flats. Do I need to do anything to take advantage of this or not?

Our roads and pavements were "fibre-glassed" last September and October. We were leafletted by the installation contractor, City Fibre, telling us to register our interest which I did.

I managed to miss their email in November telling me that the fibre network was now live and which resellers were available. When eventually I realised I could sign up, I did so with Zen internet. A day after completing the forms on-line they sent me an installation date.

For us, installation was a pretty simple hole drilled in the wall

But preceded by them taking hours to cut a fifty foot long channel up our driveway

They install a small box on the outside wall, a matching box on the inside wall, plug in the router and do a speed check. The internal box and the router both need mains power.

 

[NoXion]

Our roads and pavements were "fibre-glassed" last September and October. We were leafletted by the installation contractor, City Fibre, telling us to register our interest which I did.

I managed to miss their email in November telling me that the fibre network was now live and which resellers were available. When eventually I realised I could sign up, I did so with Zen internet. A day after completing the forms on-line they sent me an installation date.

For us, installation was a pretty simple hole drilled in the wall

But preceded by them taking hours to cut a fifty foot long channel up our driveway

They install a small box on the outside wall, a matching box on the inside wall, plug in the router and do a speed check. The internal box and the router both need mains power.

I've been doing some digging online, and it looks like CityFibre are also the ones doing the work in my area. I've already registered my interest on the CityFibre website, but apparently they haven't yet secured the permission of the landlord (a housing association) to install it in the premises. Not sure how the installation process would work for my place, it's kind of a three-floor maisonette kind of deal, with separate flats on each floor.

 

[Elpenor]

I am having fibre installed shortly

The surveyor has been out to have a look and spray painted some stuff on the pavement for the installers. My current internet connection has a small junction box in the porch and then a cable heads up through a small hole in the living room ceiling into my home office directly above, so the broadband hub thing is in an upstairs room. This is perhaps an unusual setup but it works for me.

Hopefully continuing the same setup will be something the installers are able to do. They must deal with maisonettes all the time and presumably most of the holes they need exist already.

 

[existentialist]

I am having fibre installed shortly

The surveyor has been out to have a look and spray painted some stuff on the pavement for the installers. My current internet connection has a small junction box in the porch and then a cable heads up through a small hole in the living room ceiling into my home office directly above, so the broadband hub thing is in an upstairs room. This is perhaps an unusual setup but it works for me.

Hopefully continuing the same setup will be something the installers are able to do. They must deal with maisonettes all the time and presumably most of the holes they need exist already.

That makes tons of sense. This whole phone-socket-in-the-hall thing is a holdover from the old days when a telephone was a Special Thing to talk to people on, not your connection to an interconnected world.

I currently have a 30m Ethernet cable trailing up the stairs and across the landing to get reliable Internet in my study. I envy your setup

 

[Elpenor]

That makes tons of sense. This whole phone-socket-in-the-hall thing is a holdover from the old days when a telephone was a Special Thing to talk to people on, not your connection to an interconnected world.

I am not sure the phone was used there - rather oddly there is a phone socket in the understairs cupboard, and the cable then came through a hole in the side of the stairs - the previous people had a landline.

I currently have a 30m Ethernet cable trailing up the stairs and across the landing to get reliable Internet in my study. I envy your setup

At uni, one guy I knew sawed off a small part from the bottom of his bedroom door in his student house to get the cable underneath, he glued it back on he moved out

 

[MrCurry]

How fast can you get via wifi to the PC with the new drivers? I’ve recently paid for a speed upgrade on my fibre, to 1GBps, but the fastest the wifi I use to access it seems to support is around 400Mbps. I mean that’s fast enough but I wonder if my wifi could be improved.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

That makes tons of sense. This whole phone-socket-in-the-hall thing is a holdover from the old days when a telephone was a Special Thing to talk to people on, not your connection to an interconnected world.

the standard deal from the GPO was you got one phone point (then not a socket but a hard wired box) at the closest wall to the outside world, and if you wanted extension/s in other room/s that cost more.

i can remember the box being replaced by socket at mum-tat's house, but the main point is still in the hall (she is concerned about how this is going to work with full fibre when outside world talks to modem / router then that talks to phone, as there isn't a power point anywhere near it, but that's another question.)

 

[Elpenor]

the standard deal from the GPO was you got one phone point (then not a socket but a hard wired box) at the closest wall to the outside world, and if you wanted extension/s in other room/s that cost more.

i can remember the box being replaced by socket at mum-tat's house, but the main point is still in the hall (she is concerned about how this is going to work with full fibre when outside world talks to modem / router then that talks to phone, as there isn't a power point anywhere near it, but that's another question.)

I found this useful - there’s a helpful video about 1:40 long

Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband installation checklist

Your Full Fibre broadband service will be installed in the next few days. This pre-installation checklist takes you through the things you need to do to get ready.

www.openreach.com

They do need a double socket apparently

My sockets are mostly in terrible positions and insufficient in numbers in this house especially downstairs, luckily there is a double socket in my study which is handy

 

[xenon]

I've got fibre here, connection is an ethernet jack in the hall. It's a 2 bed flat. My router is on the desk in the spare room, with wired connections to my desktop and NAS. Uplink provided by ethernet taped around the doorway, into the hall. Thought about structured cabling, as would like wired connection to the lounge but seems a faff and I need the money. The wifi holds up quite well anyway.

 

[The39thStep]

I am having fibre installed shortly

The surveyor has been out to have a look and spray painted some stuff on the pavement for the installers. My current internet connection has a small junction box in the porch and then a cable heads up through a small hole in the living room ceiling into my home office directly above, so the broadband hub thing is in an upstairs room. This is perhaps an unusual setup but it works for me.

Hopefully continuing the same setup will be something the installers are able to do. They must deal with maisonettes all the time and presumably most of the holes they need exist already.

I'll arrange for Orang Utan to come round and inspect it

 

[souljacker]

How fast can you get via wifi to the PC with the new drivers? I’ve recently paid for a speed upgrade on my fibre, to 1GBps, but the fastest the wifi I use to access it seems to support is around 400Mbps. I mean that’s fast enough but I wonder if my wifi could be improved.

This all depends on what your router supports and what your wifi on the PC supports. The very latest standard (802.11be/WiFi 7) can, in theory, do 46Gbps! It's not common though and the standard was only ratified recently so any kit will be pricey. If you have 802.11ax/Wifi 6/6E that can do in theory 10Gbps but you won't get that. If, however, you have 11ax as both your router and your wifi adapter, you can expect to get over 1gbps (especially if its the 'enhanced' version that uses the newly opened, and therefore very quiet, 6Ghz band). The next one down from that is 802.11ac/WiFi 5 which you may get near 1gbps if the environment is right.

Anything lower than the above is going to be sub-1gbps.

11ax routers can be had quite cheaply theses days but as with all things IT, the more you spend, the better it will be (more spatial streams, 6ghz support etc)

 

[MrCurry]

This all depends on what your router supports and what your wifi on the PC supports. The very latest standard (802.11be/WiFi 7) can, in theory, do 46Gbps! It's not common though and the standard was only ratified recently so any kit will be pricey. If you have 802.11ax/Wifi 6/6E that can do in theory 10Gbps but you won't get that. If, however, you have 11ax as both your router and your wifi adapter, you can expect to get over 1gbps (especially if its the 'enhanced' version that uses the newly opened, and therefore very quiet, 6Ghz band). The next one down from that is 802.11ac/WiFi 5 which you may get near 1gbps if the environment is right.

Anything lower than the above is going to be sub-1gbps.

11ax routers can be had quite cheaply theses days but as with all things IT, the more you spend, the better it will be (more spatial streams, 6ghz support etc)

Thanks! I just checked and I have 802.11ac. This might explain why I’m not seeing the full gig speed then.

 

[existentialist]

Thanks! I just checked and I have 802.11ac. This might explain why I’m not seeing the full gig speed then.

That and the fact that Wifi rarely, in practice, achieves anywhere near the quoted maxima. And even then only after the ritual sacrifice of various woodland animals.

 

[souljacker]

Thanks! I just checked and I have 802.11ac. This might explain why I’m not seeing the full gig speed then.

There are different flavours of ac so yeah, you probably have one with just two spatial streams so it will be around 600mbps if working optimally. You may even have an AC1600 or better but be in a really noisy (RF wise) place. There's walls and doors to take into account too. If you want to get the magical 1gbps, get an ax router (and wifi card).

 

[MrCurry]

There are different flavours of ac so yeah, you probably have one with just two spatial streams so it will be around 600mbps if working optimally. You may even have an AC1600 or better but be in a really noisy (RF wise) place. There's walls and doors to take into account too. If you want to get the magical 1gbps, get an ax router (and wifi card).

Thanks, I have a wifi 7 router but the device is an older iPad, so I guess I have to struggle on with it until I get to update it.