Done with Consumer WiFi solutions...

[Meelapo]

Originally Posted by csnarpy

A couple of things: cat5e will work to 10G under 40ft. Also, the Telus 3Gig plan comes with an NAH which will already have a sfp inserted. You would just need to bridge the NAH to the 10G port and then plug into that port.

Anything you want to know about Telus fibre, just let me know, been installing it for the last 3 years.

Thank you for the tip. When you say bridge to do you just mean connect to the NAH admin interface and set the 10G port to bridge mode. I remember doing that for whatever NAH they gave me with my current plan.


I won't be able to test anything for a bit. We haven't moved yet and we spoke with Telus today and they said the fibre setup is not 100% done in the new area I'm moving to (Glacier Ridge) - the runs have been laid but they haven't been terminated. Which is odd because sometimes when I look up availability it says it's there (1Gb, 3Gb) but if I try again sometimes it just says wireless only.

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Technically you're correct, and in a datacenter environment Cat 5e is fine. But in household wiring with long runs, all kinds of possible interference, and unknown termination quality I don't think you'd ever see 10Gb speeds. Maybe 2.5 if you're lucky

My main point is that anything over 1Gbps for residential service is mostly marketing from the ISP, it's not worth spending extra money on network gear for it IMO. Very few endpoints would ever take advantage of it in a home, and even if they do the user will likely never even notice. And I have Telus 3Gb myself, simply because it was cheaper than their 1Gb with a promo they had

This is pretty much one reason we're going with 3Gb - it's the same price as 1Gb for us.

[DoubleF]

Was it a special install? I know they had that for my community. I don't think fibre is officially in my community but some people have it.

I wish I had fibre.

[Meelapo]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Was it a special install? I know they had that for my community. I don't think fibre is officially in my community but some people have it.

I wish I had fibre.

To the best of my knowledge it's not a special install. This is a new area, part of the sprawl in the NW of Calgary, and from what I understand Telus did run their in-ground cabling before the houses were built.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

To the best of my knowledge it's not a special install. This is a new area, part of the sprawl in the NW of Calgary, and from what I understand Telus did run their in-ground cabling before the houses were built.

How far away from possession is your house? It could be that the very local infrastructure (like the closest telecom pedestal) isn't yet done if the house is still a few months from completion.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

To the best of my knowledge it's not a special install. This is a new area, part of the sprawl in the NW of Calgary, and from what I understand Telus did run their in-ground cabling before the houses were built.

Your cat 6 is done, right? Not, "will be installing". I assume the cable being pulled is done and walls sealed up, but if somehow it's not actually done and you can upgrade to 6a or later, it's worth doing to future proof to 10G. Even if you eat the cost of the cat 6 spool and pay for the 6a spool, it'll be negligible.

I did 6a 4-5 years ago because it was only a few hundred bucks more than 6 and it seemed like it would be worth the price to avoid the inconvenience again for pulling cables again in the future if I needed to upgrade/certain things via intranet might be happier with the superior cable... It's rapidly looking like I may start to occasionally utilize the wired 10G over 1G in the coming years, but also that many wireless systems to bypass the 1G limitation are also being created.

I'm kinda tempted to call Telus to ask if they can do fibre for my home, but paying an extra $5-10 a month for the occasional jump in benefit for large update files, digital game download or file upload a few times a month and save a few minutes doesn't seem necessary. 750 is more than good enough.

[Meelapo]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Your cat 6 is done, right? Not, "will be installing". I assume the cable being pulled is done and walls sealed up, but if somehow it's not actually done and you can upgrade to 6a or later, it's worth doing to future proof to 10G. Even if you eat the cost of the cat 6 spool and pay for the 6a spool, it'll be negligible.

Yeah, the house is done a wired up. We take possession on the 10th but we have a preliminary walkthrough on the 3rd. I know for sure that it's CAT6 but I don't know if it's CAT6A. I can check though. We have cabling to the exterior of the house for cameras so I can visit tomorrow and look at the cable. I looked on the weekend and saw it was CAT6 but I don't remember if was CAT6 or CAT6A as I was just looking to confirm it was CAT6.

[Meelapo]

The house only has CAT6 installed. But I don't think any of the cables exceed the 55 meter limit of 10G. From the utility room in the basement we have two drops to two rooms on the main floor then one drop to the second floor.


I did scope out a good location in the basement to mount the AP. I got one of these (and I'll turn it upside down so I can make the AP face upwards. And for now, if the wireless on the top floor is bad, I'll just use my current TP-Link as an AP to tide me over till I can get another U6+ or U7.

[csnarpy]

I completely agree with 1 G speeds in residential. I have to continually remind people that unless you have the equipment for it (network card), there is no way for you to receive that speed. Then I also have to remind them, even with the 1G plan, that you will not receive the full amount on your wireless device. Although. I was once surprised to see one customer’s phone reach 1.5 G

The best thing about the higher plan, though, is that it will create high speed stability with multiple devices online. Great for larger families .

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by csnarpy

I completely agree with 1 G speeds in residential. I have to continually remind people that unless you have the equipment for it (network card), there is no way for you to receive that speed. Then I also have to remind them, even with the 1G plan, that you will not receive the full amount on your wireless device. Although. I was once surprised to see one customer’s phone reach 1.5 G

The best thing about the higher plan, though, is that it will create high speed stability with multiple devices online. Great for larger families .

Fair. When I installed it during my house refresh about 5 years ago, the difference between Cat 6 and Cat 6a was like $200-300 for the entire spool. It was a no brainer to pay the extra few hundred bucks to future proof/maintain longer term speed stability over the next decade. The labour wasn't really different regardless of the cable I got. I assumed redoing 6 to 6a one day might cost at least an extra 0 behind those numbers but the inconvenience would be worse than the cost. The cost would just be salt in the wounds. I'd probably have changed my mind if the difference was over $1K straight up back then.

5 years later, I'm barely just starting to scratch at occasionally using the GB+ capabilities as a reasonable value option in my home. I'm also surprised at how quickly many manufacturers are starting to push gigabit+ stuff within the last year or so.

[Izzle]

Thought I'd piggy back on this. Looking to get some opinions here. We're also currently building a house with possession in later 2026.

I was thinking about Internet. We don't really watch much cable TV nor are we much into gaming. All we do is steam TV... Netflix, Disney+, etc. do we really need CAT6? I was hoping to just get a router from Shaw, hook it up to a wireless router and then get a WiFi extender to reach the bedroom. Bedroom is the furthest location from the basement where the router will be set up.

Any advice is appreciated.

[TorqueDog]

Agreed with csnarpy. While you can get 1, 2, 3, and now 5 Gbps residential internet service through either Rogers or Telus, and most of their gateways have come with 2.5Gbps ports for years now, whether I think most residential customers even need service that fast is an entirely different matter. Maybe if mom, dad, and all of their 2.5 kids are each streaming a different 4K HDR with DTS-MA A/V stream simultaneously, I could see the need.

Otherwise it's mostly a nerdy willy-measuring contest befitting of the sort of people who would dare venture into this thread -- myself included -- so a little futureproofing to support up to 10Gbps wouldn't hurt.

Izzle: If you're building new, just do CAT6 (or CAT6A if the cost uplift isn't prohibitive). I don't know how big your house is, but my place in Garrison Green was 2,700 sq-ft and the Shaw WiFi gateway was useless, as were the WiFi mesh repeaters that used wireless backhaul. It'll pay dividends to be able to hardwire your meshpoints, and / or be able to hard-wire media-streaming endpoints.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Thought I'd piggy back on this. Looking to get some opinions here. We're also currently building a house with possession in later 2026.

I was thinking about Internet. We don't really watch much cable TV nor are we much into gaming. All we do is steam TV... Netflix, Disney+, etc. do we really need CAT6? I was hoping to just get a router from Shaw, hook it up to a wireless router and then get a WiFi extender to reach the bedroom. Bedroom is the furthest location from the basement where the router will be set up.

Any advice is appreciated.

As DoubleF mentioned above, going with Cat6a is only a few hundred bucks at most for the whole house and will future proof things. In the same vein, with a brand new build I would spend a few more extra hundred on a PoE switch, then 1 or 2 PoE access points that you can put wherever in the house makes sense. That will give you far more consistent wifi speeds than an extender will

[csnarpy]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

Thank you for the tip. When you say bridge to do you just mean connect to the NAH admin interface and set the 10G port to bridge mode. I remember doing that for whatever NAH they gave me with my current plan.

Yes. Login to the gui with the NAH admin pw. You will have to remove the top cover to find that. Bridge it to the main 10G port. In reality, the install tech can do this for you.

(FYI, the new wifi 7 boosts all carry 10G ports)

[csnarpy]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Agreed with csnarpy. While you can get 1, 2, 3, and now 5 Gbps residential internet service through either Rogers or Telus, and most of their gateways have come with 2.5Gbps ports for years now, whether I think most residential customers even need service that fast is an entirely different matter. Maybe if mom, dad, and all of their 2.5 kids are each streaming a different 4K HDR with DTS-MA A/V stream simultaneously, I could see the need.

Otherwise it's mostly a nerdy willy-measuring contest befitting of the sort of people who would dare venture into this thread -- myself included -- so a little futureproofing to support up to 10Gbps wouldn't hurt.

Izzle: If you're building new, just do CAT6 (or CAT6A if the cost uplift isn't prohibitive). I don't know how big your house is, but my place in Garrison Green was 2,700 sq-ft and the Shaw WiFi gateway was useless, as were the WiFi mesh repeaters that used wireless backhaul. It'll pay dividends to be able to hardwire your meshpoints, and / or be able to hard-wire media-streaming endpoints.

Telus wifi 7 boosts now have a 10G and a 2.5G port.

Also, as someone who has Shaw (since there is no fibre in my area) I can attest that Shaw mesh points are indeed useless (75mps). Telus wireless boosts can go to 350mps but will go to max if wired.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Agreed with csnarpy. While you can get 1, 2, 3, and now 5 Gbps residential internet service through either Rogers or Telus, and most of their gateways have come with 2.5Gbps ports for years now, whether I think most residential customers even need service that fast is an entirely different matter. Maybe if mom, dad, and all of their 2.5 kids are each streaming a different 4K HDR with DTS-MA A/V stream simultaneously, I could see the need.

Otherwise it's mostly a nerdy willy-measuring contest befitting of the sort of people who would dare venture into this thread -- myself included -- so a little futureproofing to support up to 10Gbps wouldn't hurt.

Izzle: If you're building new, just do CAT6 (or CAT6A if the cost uplift isn't prohibitive). I don't know how big your house is, but my place in Garrison Green was 2,700 sq-ft and the Shaw WiFi gateway was useless, as were the WiFi mesh repeaters that used wireless backhaul. It'll pay dividends to be able to hardwire your meshpoints, and / or be able to hard-wire media-streaming endpoints.

I've got the CGM4331COM. I did use it with a Netgear router, but the router could only do 350Mbps. Before hunting for a replacement, I figured I'd just try it as is. Surprisingly, it's totally fine. I have it in the basement of the house(bungalow) but I get good reception tot he farthest corner of my garage. I know some of them in the past have been junk, but for my situation it's been good.


Now, I'm not gaming in the corner of my garage, don't have three stories to reach, and my house isn't a complete Faraday cage(stucco mesh is only the top half) so I do have some advantages.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Agreed with csnarpy. While you can get 1, 2, 3, and now 5 Gbps residential internet service through either Rogers or Telus, and most of their gateways have come with 2.5Gbps ports for years now, whether I think most residential customers even need service that fast is an entirely different matter. Maybe if mom, dad, and all of their 2.5 kids are each streaming a different 4K HDR with DTS-MA A/V stream simultaneously, I could see the need.

Otherwise it's mostly a nerdy willy-measuring contest befitting of the sort of people who would dare venture into this thread -- myself included -- so a little futureproofing to support up to 10Gbps wouldn't hurt.

Izzle: If you're building new, just do CAT6 (or CAT6A if the cost uplift isn't prohibitive). I don't know how big your house is, but my place in Garrison Green was 2,700 sq-ft and the Shaw WiFi gateway was useless, as were the WiFi mesh repeaters that used wireless backhaul. It'll pay dividends to be able to hardwire your meshpoints, and / or be able to hard-wire media-streaming endpoints.

IMO at that time, the concerns about the cable might be heat tolerances vs data speeds. With high data, increased wireless interference and multiple 100W+ POE + IOT devices. It'll be more about how the cable was manufactured 10-20 years prior vs the type of cable it was.

Wiring > No wiring > differences in 5e/6/6a

I will say though, the amount of people who perceive they have simple internet needs, but actually have slightly complex needs (ie: ioT up the wazoo, multiple family members) is quite high.

[TorqueDog]

IoT and smart devices are becoming way more prevalent, too. In the SFH, I was previously running a lot of Z-Wave and a few ZigBee devices and heavily resisted using WiFi-enabled smart-home gear. The reality now is that I have zero Z-Wave/ZigBee in the condo and everything so far is WiFi-enabled (because the previous owner opted for a lot of WiFi-enabled stuff in her renovation). I haven't even bothered setting up my SmartThings or Hubitat hubs yet.

Still don't see the value in my fridge and oven being WiFi-enabled but eh.