Question Gigabit internet... stick with wifi or run ethernet?

[Muse]

After many years of DSL (or worse), I finally had gigabit internet fiber installation 5 days ago. The company (Sonic.net) doesn't do data tiers or cap your line. They are solidly for net neutrality, are pretty affordable and have good customer service. I was with them for DSL for a number of years, have never had over 5mbps due to the distance from the CO (they used AT&T copper cables for DSL).

So now I have fast internet. However, this laptop I'm using now, wifi connected to my Asus RT-AC1750 router is testing at faster speeds than I was getting the other day when it was connected by ethernet right to Sonic.net's ONT, go figure! I was on the line with one of their CSR's. He thought I had some kind of hardware issues. Dunno. I get wildly different results when I run speed tests. The CSR suggested using speedofme.com speed test instead of Sonic.net's speed test, said he thought I'd get better results somehow. Tried that, maybe an improvement. With the sonic.,net speed test I often get disconnections from their serve.

Anyway, the router's upstairs and everything downstairs is connected by wifi to my router + TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit Desktop Switch.

I'm thinking "why not run ethernet cabling?" Both to my kitchen downstairs, where all my downstairs stuff is (printer, 2 computers, a TCL 43" 4K Roku TV/monitor), and to my bedroom, where I have this laptop and another of those TCL 43" displays, both connecting by wifi now.

To do this I figure I'd need to run cables from the router up into the attic and then through holes I drill and go into the rooms and get strung along the walls and/or floor or ceiling. I know, not neat, but this house was built in 1910, what do you expect?

I have made my own ethernet cables before. I have a crimper I got at Radio Shack around 10 years ago or more. I had good luck mostly, but some failures. Can/should I buy a spool of Cat5e (or Cat6), some RJ45 connectors and make my own? I was at Home Depot today and can get a 500' spool of Cat5e for $35. Maybe order RJ45 connectors cheap off ebay. What do you think?

 

[mxnerd]

If screen is that bad, then forget it.

If you have Fry's or Bestbuy / Costco in your neighbours, pay a visit to those stores to see if there are any laptops you like.

If all you do is watching videos, 8GB is absolutely fine if you have a fast CPU, very good graphics core & fast SSD (or NVMe) drive.

 

[Muse]

HP 14-dk0024wm 14" HD Ryzen 3 3200U 2.6GHz AMD Rydeon 4GB RAM 128GB SSD Win 10 Home in S Mode Pale Gold - Walmart.com

Buy HP 14-dk0024wm 14" HD Ryzen 3 3200U 2.6GHz AMD Rydeon 4GB RAM 128GB SSD Win 10 Home in S Mode Pale Gold at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

add 16/32 GB of SO-DIMM DDR4 from Newegg for $60-140, and you've got yourself a YT-cruisen' bargain.

....but then again, it's no ThinkPad.

I'm kinda spoiled with my Thinkpads. I have 3 of them. When I bought my first laptop I didn't know much other than that the Thinkpads were close to unsurpassed. I still have that T60... and use it occasionally.

My Acer died, my HP is flaky with blue screens... the HD tests OK with Crystaldiskinfo, dunno what's up with that... haven't tried chasing it... yet. Used to work better.

 

[Muse]

Um, what's "YT-cruisen? "

Oh, oh... oh... Youtube Cruisin'!

 

[Muse]

Well, if I were you, I'll cancel that open box.

Laptops are different beasts, probably there is a reason for that open box.

If you don't want to risk a lot of money earlier, why risk over 800 bucks?

Besides, Amazon should have a lot better return policy.

Provantage says 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed, click that and you see this:
- - - -
Easy No-Risk Returns


All in stock products sold by Provantage are covered by this simple, risk-free return policy.

If for any reason you aren't satisfied with a product you bought from Provantage, we'll refund the purchase price.
Make your request within 30 days of the invoice date and we'll email you simple instructions for sending it back.

Please return the product immediately after receiving our email and make sure that the contents are complete and contained within the original manufacturer's packaging. Note that shipping charges are not refundable.

You can rely on Provantage, where your complete satisfaction is always our top priority.

- - - -

They've been around a while, I saw deals there around 10 years ago, I'm guessing.

So, I'd have to pay shipping, maybe both ways. Plus I'll have 30 days to test. I'm thinking that most problems would be obvious from the start... something broken, possibly. A balky keyboard. Dunno. I've been pretty lucky with open box and reburb stuff in the past. Yes, this is, IIRC, about the most expensive one I've gotten, but maybe not...

I bought an Epson 8700ub projector refurbished from Visual Apex in 2012 for $1599 shipped. That worked out OK.

 

[mxnerd]

OK. That return policy is pretty decent! Good luck.

 

[Muse]

Have been looking all over and haven't found a single owner review of this Lenovo 20MD001WUS machine, which is mysterious to me. Seems to have come out about August 2018. I did see a professional review somewhere that was very positive before I confirmed my purchase. Many sites featuring this machine are presently out of stock on it. I did just find some detailed information at one site, B&H Photo:

Thin at 0.72" and weighing 3.76 pounds, the 15.6" ThinkPad P1 Mobile Workstation from Lenovo delivers power and mobility. It is driven by a 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5-8400H Quad-Core processor which allows you to run multiple applications simultaneously. If you need more power, the system can be overclocked to 4.2 GHz using Intel Turbo Boost technology. The 16GB of 2400 MHz DDR4 RAM helps to ensure smooth multitasking and also allows the computer to quickly access frequently used files and programs.

The 15.6" IPS display features a Full HD 1920 x 1080 screen resolution, 72% gamut coverage, an anti-glare finish, LED-backlighting, a 16:9 aspect ratio, a contrast ratio of 700, a brightness of 300 cd/m2, and viewing angles of 170°. The dedicated NVIDIA Quadro P1000 graphics card has 4GB of discrete GDDR5 RAM and delivers a sharp, clear picture. To increase productivity with a multi-monitor setup, you'll be able to output video to an external display at resolutions up to 5120 x 2880.

For storage of your files, this ThinkPad P1 is equipped with a 256GB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD. If you'd like to expand your system's internal storage, there is one additional M.2 slot. Add external storage, optical drives, memory card readers, and more with two 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 ports and two 5 Gb/s USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, one of which doubles as an always-on charging port. Gigabit Ethernet (via an Ethernet extension cable) and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) are built-in for wired and wireless networking, and Bluetooth 5.0 technology will allow you to connect additional compatible peripherals. Memory cards may be accessed via a built-in SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC card reader that supports UHS-II flash media. Other integrated features include a 720p webcam, dual-array microphones, and 2W stereo speakers with Dolby Audio Premium.

The ThinkPad P1 Mobile Workstation includes a 135W AC adapter, a power cord, and an 80Wh lithium-ion battery that lasts for up to 13.87 hours in hybrid mode and 7.36 hours in discrete before recharging is required. The battery also supports Rapid Charge, allowing it to charge up to 80% in one hour. The installed operating system is Windows 10 Professional (64-bit).

 

[Muse]

Um, what's "YT-cruisen? "

Oh, oh... oh... Youtube Cruisin'!

 

[DrMrLordX]

@Muse

I see you've already moved on to getting a new lappie. But I too have gigabit Internet (along similar lines as yours) and I can share a few tidbits on what you might expect if you start investing in wireless.

First thing I did was: get a new router. At the time, 802.11ac was the latest standard. I got a cheap-ish Netgear router that was basically a gimped version of their 6300v2 and then used a firmware trick to flash it to a 6300v2. It worked. I saved maybe $100 doing that. Most of the time, I would not expect to be able to do such a thing, but still . . . keep your eyes open.

Next was to plan connectivity for my desktop. At the time, all I had was an FM2+ system, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money upgrading it. I got a basic Rosewill 802.11ac dual-band adapter. It came with a 2-prong external antenna that I still use. It was never well-supported in Linux. In Windows, it was supported, and I got maybe 150 Mbps with it on the 5 GHz band? I think? It was nothing amazing. The funny thing was that the Rosewill adapter was nothing more than a mini PCIe card jammed into a PCIe 1x adapter with a Rosewill heatsink on top of it. There are no dedicated-for-desktop wireless NICs anymore. They're all laptop products in adapters. So basically, a laptop user could get the exact same product (basically). Antennae - or lack thereof - could be an issue. Also, I think most lappies come with dual-band 802.11ac NICs in them anyway nowadays. That ought to have been the case for at least two or three years. Like that Thinkpad P1 you mentioned above.

Later on, I upgraded the system to AM4, with an X370 Taichi. It had an integrated 802.11ac NIC. Using the same 2-prong external antenna, I got maybe 150-180 Mbps, with 150 being the more common speed. Then I upgraded two years later to a x570 Aorus Master with an Intel AX200 802.11ax NIC. My router has not changed. Top speed I have ever recorded with this NIC using the same antenna is 340 Mbps in AC mode on the 5 GHz band. BUT! It's buggy as all get-out. I had to change wifi channels to make it not go stupid on the 5 GHz band. Now i can pull 260-300 Mbps without obvious hardware/driver errors. Getting to this point required a lot of legwork and research. There was some doubt that I would ever make this NIC work properly with my 802.11ac router, or possibly any router. Still thinking of trying an 802.11ax router later, especially if I can find a good wireless mesh system.

If you are on a budget, I would not expect to buy 802.11ax anything for awhile (it's expensive), and 802.11ac can easily go as low as 150 Mbps or slower depending on how far away you are from the router. With the exception of this Intel AX200, the NICs I have tried have all been about the same in AC mode. Maybe you could get a tri-band NIC with tri-band router, but again . . . that costs $$$. My only regret with my AC router is that I didn't later invest in some kind of a home mesh kit. It's all about the coverage. Having a router in one central location - near the Internet wall jack - means that anyone other than the guy with the computer sitting right on top of the router gets reductions in speed. The AX standard goes pretty far to eliminate some of these problems, but it can't eliminate all of them. Sadly, there are no good AX mesh systems out yet (the Asus one stinks apparently). You may eventually want to look at AC mesh systems if/when they go on discount as AX hardware displaces them on the market. I would estimate that you could pick up maybe 50 Mbps using a mesh system, conservatively, versus trying to use your lappie all over the house with a central router.

Bear in mind that I am not the "wifi authority", far from it. Many of the posters here can help you more than I. Just letting you know, I was in the same boat a few years ago, and those are my experiences going 802.11ac.

 

[Muse]

@Muse

I see you've already moved on to getting a new lappie. But I too have gigabit Internet (along similar lines as yours) and I can share a few tidbits on what you might expect if you start investing in wireless.

First thing I did was: get a new router. At the time, 802.11ac was the latest standard. I got a cheap-ish Netgear router that was basically a gimped version of their 6300v2 and then used a firmware trick to flash it to a 6300v2. It worked. I saved maybe $100 doing that. Most of the time, I would not expect to be able to do such a thing, but still . . . keep your eyes open.

Next was to plan connectivity for my desktop. At the time, all I had was an FM2+ system, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money upgrading it. I got a basic Rosewill 802.11ac dual-band adapter. It came with a 2-prong external antenna that I still use. It was never well-supported in Linux. In Windows, it was supported, and I got maybe 150 Mbps with it on the 5 GHz band? I think? It was nothing amazing. The funny thing was that the Rosewill adapter was nothing more than a mini PCIe card jammed into a PCIe 1x adapter with a Rosewill heatsink on top of it. There are no dedicated-for-desktop wireless NICs anymore. They're all laptop products in adapters. So basically, a laptop user could get the exact same product (basically). Antennae - or lack thereof - could be an issue. Also, I think most lappies come with dual-band 802.11ac NICs in them anyway nowadays. That ought to have been the case for at least two or three years. Like that Thinkpad P1 you mentioned above.

Later on, I upgraded the system to AM4, with an X370 Taichi. It had an integrated 802.11ac NIC. Using the same 2-prong external antenna, I got maybe 150-180 Mbps, with 150 being the more common speed. Then I upgraded two years later to a x570 Aorus Master with an Intel AX200 802.11ax NIC. My router has not changed. Top speed I have ever recorded with this NIC using the same antenna is 340 Mbps in AC mode on the 5 GHz band. BUT! It's buggy as all get-out. I had to change wifi channels to make it not go stupid on the 5 GHz band. Now i can pull 260-300 Mbps without obvious hardware/driver errors. Getting to this point required a lot of legwork and research. There was some doubt that I would ever make this NIC work properly with my 802.11ac router, or possibly any router. Still thinking of trying an 802.11ax router later, especially if I can find a good wireless mesh system.

If you are on a budget, I would not expect to buy 802.11ax anything for awhile (it's expensive), and 802.11ac can easily go as low as 150 Mbps or slower depending on how far away you are from the router. With the exception of this Intel AX200, the NICs I have tried have all been about the same in AC mode. Maybe you could get a tri-band NIC with tri-band router, but again . . . that costs $$$. My only regret with my AC router is that I didn't later invest in some kind of a home mesh kit. It's all about the coverage. Having a router in one central location - near the Internet wall jack - means that anyone other than the guy with the computer sitting right on top of the router gets reductions in speed. The AX standard goes pretty far to eliminate some of these problems, but it can't eliminate all of them. Sadly, there are no good AX mesh systems out yet (the Asus one stinks apparently). You may eventually want to look at AC mesh systems if/when they go on discount as AX hardware displaces them on the market. I would estimate that you could pick up maybe 50 Mbps using a mesh system, conservatively, versus trying to use your lappie all over the house with a central router.

Bear in mind that I am not the "wifi authority", far from it. Many of the posters here can help you more than I. Just letting you know, I was in the same boat a few years ago, and those are my experiences going 802.11ac.

Thanks for that rundown. Truly, I'm floored... I mean, well, my internet has been <5Mbps forever and suddenly I have gigabit fiber. I'm in a new world... well, maybe not, I don't know. My web browsing since the upgrade now 8 days ago, I haven't noticed any kind of dramatic difference. My particular bottleneck is the 8GB in this machine! I find myself using this now-old Lenovo T61 almost all the time, my other internet connected machines, not often. Plus, and this is probably quite important -- I rarely move this machine from my bed. It is on the same floor as my 802.11ac Asus router, maybe 30 feet from it, if that.

I'm not sure why I want high speeds, actually. As long as I can stream adequately, I figure I've got what I need. I rarely upload any thing of size, well, not often, and I don't do a lot of large downloads. When I do, a wait is no big deal. Streaming... well, I'd like to stream 4k, and maybe I can now, not sure. My Roku TVs are 4k, but my impression is that some of the 4k stuff that's free isn't really 4k. I could be wrong, but I streamed some of that before I got gigabit and it worked. But I didn't have the bandwidth for 4k, right? So why didn't I get stuttering or drops? I figure it's because it wasn't really 4k! How do I know if I'm really getting 4k when streaming "4k"?

 

[mxnerd]

How do I know if I'm really getting 4k when streaming "4k"?

For youtube, right click on video, select Stats for nerds (with a PC/laptop), no idea about Roku.

You didn't have the bandwidth for 4K streaming when you were on DSL, you do have the abundant bandwidth for 4K video now.

 

[DrMrLordX]

. It is on the same floor as my 802.11ac Asus router, maybe 30 feet from it, if that.

Depends on what's between you and the router at that point. Walls with pipes and other obstructions to wifi signals can make things worse.

So why didn't I get stuttering or drops?

Maybe it was due to compression and/or clever buffering. Or it downscaled to HD to accommodate your connection. Apparently YouTube 4K requires ~25Mbps as a minimum:

What is the minimum Internet speed required to stream 4K video from YouTube?

Answer (1 of 15): Despite the official recommendation and the other answers. I've streamed 4k consistently stable over a 12mbps ADSL2+ connection. Netflix’s streaming algorithm is pretty impressive. It didn't leave any spare bandwidth for anything else though.

www.quora.com

 

[Muse]

The ProVantage deal sounds pretty decent. Really pretty high-end.

Got it today. Seems OK so far, the packaging seemed perfect, included what I expected. Has some fingerprints on it, so doesn't look brand new. Was at Windows configuration screen when I lifted the lid, I think it was in a suspended or hibernating mode.

 

[Muse]

Got it today. Seems OK so far, the packaging seemed perfect, included what I expected. Has some fingerprints on it, so doesn't look brand new. Was at Windows configuration screen when I lifted the lid, I think it was in a suspended or hibernating mode.

Gotta say, the Lenovo P1 is a revelation. It makes my old ~2007 Lenovo T61 (still considered the best Thinkpad ever, I'm told) seem all but useless in comparison, at least for some things. However, the T61 has an optical drive, a big plus for me. I have a big clunky external DVD writer with it's brick adapter that I can use with the P1, guess I will. Right now I have both on my bed.

The P1 appears to be 5x faster (FIVE TIMES!!!) or more than the T61 opening one of my applications which is dog slow because it needs to check for updates, requires a sign in and then takes a long time to load. It would take over a minute on the T61, more likely 90 seconds, maybe more. On the P1 it takes about 20 seconds. My 5ghz band is showing 650Mbps download speed right now!

 

[Muse]

Bought another P1 yesterday, the Gen 3 (this other is Gen 1). This Gen 1 turned out to have keyboard issues (maybe why it was available as "open box" at the discount). The 5 and 6 key sometimes refuse to work without hitting them several times! Not good. The T key isn't as sensitive as it should be. I think there may be issues with the two USB A ports, not positive. I was pretty sure but mostly stopped using them, use the USB-C ports instead.

So, the Gen 1 has to be RMA'd. Fortunately, it has a nice long 3 year warranty, until 2022. When the Gen 3 comes, I'll have something I can use and when the Gen 1 comes back it will go downstairs in the kitchen, where I really do need a nice laptop.

I ordered the bare minimum configuration from Lenovo's website yesterday. I'll remove the 8GB stick and put in a couple 16GB sticks (have to order... the 8GB is 2933 speed, so get same speed for 16GB sticks? I think I saw that someone was using 3200's in theirs, so don't know). I figure get another Samsung NVMe M.2(2280) 970 EVO SSD 1TB for the P1 Gen 3, probably from Newegg. I got one for this P1 Gen 1 machine, but haven't installed it yet. There's a 2nd slot, so I can leave the other in, clone it to the new 1TB and boot off that.

I bought an LG 15" lappie off Costco online in April. Really light at around 2.75lb, but I hated the trackpad, couldn't get used to it and the keyboard layout sucks compared to my Thinkpads. I returned it. I'm sticking with Thinkpads now, the one I ordered yesterday will be my 5th. All the other laptops I've had died, or I hated. I have an HP that doesn't cut it either, I keep at my volunteer gig. I have never lost a Thinkpad, every one still works! Ordered my first from Lenovo, a T60, in November 2006!

 

[plannersteve]

After many years of DSL (or worse), I finally had gigabit internet fiber installation 5 days ago. The company (Sonic.net) doesn't do data tiers or cap your line. They are solidly for net neutrality, are pretty affordable and have good customer service. I was with them for DSL for a number of years, have never had over 5mbps due to the distance from the CO (they used AT&T copper cables for DSL).

So now I have fast internet. However, this laptop I'm using now, wifi connected to my Asus RT-AC1750 router is testing at faster speeds than I was getting the other day when it was connected by ethernet right to Sonic.net's ONT, go figure! I was on the line with one of their CSR's. He thought I had some kind of hardware issues. Dunno. I get wildly different results when I run speed tests. The CSR suggested using speedofme.com speed test instead of Sonic.net's speed test, said he thought I'd get better results somehow. Tried that, maybe an improvement. With the sonic.,net speed test I often get disconnections from their serve.

Anyway, the router's upstairs and everything downstairs is connected by wifi to my router + TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit Desktop Switch.

I'm thinking "why not run ethernet cabling?" Both to my kitchen downstairs, where all my downstairs stuff is (printer, 2 computers, a TCL 43" 4K Roku TV/monitor), and to my bedroom, where I have this laptop and another of those TCL 43" displays, both connecting by wifi now.

To do this I figure I'd need to run cables from the router up into the attic and then through holes I drill and go into the rooms and get strung along the walls and/or floor or ceiling. I know, not neat, but this house was built in 1910, what do you expect?

I have made my own ethernet cables before. I have a crimper I got at Radio Shack around 10 years ago or more. I had good luck mostly, but some failures. Can/should I buy a spool of Cat5e (or Cat6), some RJ45 connectors and make my own? I was at Home Depot today and can get a 500' spool of Cat5e for $35. Maybe order RJ45 connectors cheap off ebay. What do you think?

Go wired. I built a new house a few years ago and ran lots of Cat5e. I might consider Cat6 if you don't have too much to run for future proofing.

I'ved used the powerline adapters in other houses I've owned. Mixed results, but maybe they are better now.

But I think there is no substitute for ethernet cable. If you have the skills to do it, go for it. I might also get a tester. I ran 32 cables to a patch panel so I had a lot of connections. I only messed up one but I caught that with the tester right away.