A presentation about all the things you can do to ensure your home internet and WiFi is good enough for video conferencing

1. Optimising home
internet connections

2. About me:
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3. Agenda
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4. How the internet gets to (most of) you
Internet

5. What is “fibre”?
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What is “cable”?

6. Let’s talk acronyms and buzzwords
What Stands for Notes
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line “Asymmetric” is important. Original broadband
VDSL Very high speed Digital Subscriber Line Used with FTTC, max 80Mb/s down, 20 up
G.fast G-series DSL Used with cabinet < 500M away, max 330Mb
FTTC Fibre To The Cabinet, aka “Fibre” You want this for intensive use
FTTP/H/B Fibre To The Premises / Home /
Building, aka “Full Fibre”
Only available to 8% of premises. Price
competitive if you don’t need a landline phone.
LLU Local Loop Unbundling Competitors to BT can install equipment in BT
Exchanges = cheaper internet on those.
Superfast >30Mb/s d/l, usually FTTC Available at 95% of UK premises 1
Ultrafast >300Mb/s d/l, usually ‘cable’ or G.fast 54% of UK premises, often via Virgin Media

7. How much speed do you need?
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8. Speed claims are misleading
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9. Two parts you can improve

10. What is available to you?

11. Upgrade to some version of fibre if you can
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12. Choice of ISP does make a difference
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13. Which? ISP customer satisfaction survey
Performance can vary a lot regionally.
The same provider can do well in one
borough and poorly in the next due to
hidden factors in their networks.
So local knowledge (my friend next door
uses X and is happy with them) is worth
as much as these national surveys.

14. Speed lower than expected?
Check the basics
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15. Analysing DSL Line Stats
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16. Dealing with upstream problems
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17. Managing other people in the household
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18. Using cellular data: 4G LTE / 5G
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19. 2. Optimising WiFi

20. WiFi: First, can you physically cable?
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21. Notes on physical cabling
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22. WiFi acronyms and buzzwords
What Stands for Notes
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network Your local WiFi setup
AP Access Point Physical WiFi connection point
SSID Service Set IDentifier The name that shows up when you scan for
available WiFi
(MU-)MIMO (Multiple User) Multiple Input
Multiple Output
B/G/N/AC Suffix to the WiFi 802.11 protocol Each generation has got faster.
2.4GHz 2.4 GigaHertz - the radio frequency The original band, with 13 channels. Crowded.
5GHz Newer, faster, less crowded band

23. A note on WiFi Standards
What Theoretical /
Real Max
Year
Intro
Notes
802.11b1
11 Mbps 1999 Essentially never used now
802.11g 54 Mbps 2003
802.11n 450 / 240 Mbps 2007
802.11ac 1300 / 720 Mbps 2013 Can support up to 8 antennas x ~200Mbps, but few devices
have more than 4, most laptops have 2, smartphones have 1.
5GHz only. Beamforming helps performance through walls.
802.11ax 14 / 1 Gbps 2019 AKA WiFi 6. Devices starting to appear.

24. What stops WiFi?
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25. Optimising WiFi:
Router location
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26. Poor WiFi despite good signal strength?
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27. WiFi settings in your router
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28. Should you replace the ISP router?
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TP-Link Archer C5400X
Gaming router £290!

29. Options for extending WiFi coverage
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30. Working with WiFi mesh systems
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31. Why are there such big price differences in
WiFi equipment? Features that cost more:
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32. Questions?

33. Slides not used

34. Static IP Address
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35. Router settings that can help
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