Get superfast AT&T Fiber internet
bungeemike's profile

Teacher

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26 Messages

Tuesday, March 14th, 2017 4:27 PM

Just installed Fiber.....have a range about router equipment and wifi range

We just installed Fiber about a week ago and the speeds has been good.  Been getting about 900 hard wired and about 300-350 on wifi.  I have the modem/router that AT&T supplied me with.  The only problem is that the range doesn't seem very far.  Even when we had Comcast, we never noticed a problem with our Ring doorbell losing connection.  Now with Fiber, our Ring doorbell seems like to disconnect to the wifi daily.  

 

My question.  Is it possible to get a better modem/router that'll work with Fiber and provide better performance (we're in a two story house).  If I have to stick with the AT&T supplied equipment, then I wanted to ask if anyone has tried one of those mesh wifi network and what they would recommend?  I tried various range extenders and they provided very poor speeds and didn't help with the problem.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

Contributor

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1 Message

6 years ago

Hi, i just switched from comcast.  I ditched their hardware for a netgear nighthawk ac1900 all in one modem/router.  Now i have the att gatewayand my speeds are not good if im not on the same floor as the hardware. 

So can I plug the att fiber wire from the conversion box straight into my existing nighthawk? I guess I'm fine with dropping a some cash on whatever nighthawk modem/router is compatible with att fiber...I just don't know which qualify as compatible.

 

I prefer the all in one modem/router so I don't have to reconfigure the att gateway...

Contributor

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1 Message

6 years ago

jbucie ...... I'm considering switching from Comcast/Xfinity to ATT U-Verse Fiber. So. I've been doing a lot of research on Gateways and Routers.

(1) You have to use the ATT Gateway/Modem for U-Verse TV, i.e., the TV signal must pass through the ATT device to be correctly displayed on your TV; You can configure any of their newer Gateway/Modems to a pass-through mode for WiFi that will allow you to put your own Router behind the ATT modem. I've found plenty of people that do that and there are web resources to explain how (Google it). Remember the term Gateway = Router. The difference in a Gateway/Modem is that the modem (the device that receives the ATT TV and WiFi signal) is in the same box as the router, i.e., they are integral) . Try this link: http://www.512tech.com/technology/seriously-you-can-use-your-own-router-with-verse/BBvEyCIG3CMrdfWQgnF2ON/

(2) The most common complaints I read about the newest ATT Gateway/Modems is (a) range, (b) dropping signals at the device (your laptop, phone, desktop PC, etc), There are a ton of reasons for this not related to the quality of the ATT Gateway/Modem. You can Google resources on the web and at ATT support to read about these. If you are using ChromeCast in your house or apartment, there are connectivity issues with this and the ATT NVG599 Gateway/Modem that started cropping up in October of last year. The guess is that there are incompatibility issues that revolve around how the two devices connect (data packets). Getting all your home devices to connect to a home network and stay connected can be a pain so, that's why I'd like to stay with my current router and put it behind the ATT Gateway Modem for WiFi only purposes. The range issue with the NVG599 seems to affect device connections/staying connected. However, there are, again, a ton of factors that affect a router's range and therefor how home devices connect/stay connected.

(3) Download Speeds: I can read dozens of posts regarding poor download speeds for ATT Fiber, i.e., people saying they are not getting what they are paying for. There are some good articles on this that explain the factors involved and what you can do about each one. One of them is the age of your router. If you have one that is over 5y old and not equipped with dual band, there's a good chance it can't handle the high data rates available to you with ATT Fiber. Moreover, if you have old devices (e.g. and old iPad that can't handle dual band output), that device is going to have difficulty staying connected to an NVG599, for example. which broadcasts, alternatively your in home WiFi signal over both 2.4 and 5Ghz channels. Update your router to meed your data speed needs - e.g., if you're a gamer or there are lots of people simultaneously using the WiFi signal in your house to download/watch HD movies you are going to see slow service. Quite frankly, if you use WiFi/Routers to distribute your signal to various home devices, you'll NEVER get that 1000 or 100 Mbps you signed up and paid for. Hard-wired (ethernet) devices? You'll get close. So be realistic. Also, regarding internet speeds, know the difference between MBps, Mbps and Kbps. Google this and learn. Also, the ATT Support web-site is an excellent resource to get info on your Gateway/modem, trouble shoot problems and read in the forums what others are saying.  https://www.att.com/esupport/

Contributor

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1 Message

6 years ago

AT&T Giga power internet is NOT advertised or designed to be near gigabit speeds OVER WiFi/WIRELESS. Those advertised speeds are HARDWIRED... and they deliver on that. Every bit of it. Even on older hardware such as my 2009 X58 system with 150 foot Cat6 run I'm still getting 900+ Mbps up and down. Wireless I get between 500-600 on 2.4Ghz and 600-700 over 5Ghz band, again on some older laptops. Iphones (6 and 6plus that my wife and I have respectively) get around 500+ depending on location in the house.

Contributor

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3 Messages

6 years ago

Hmmm... my max over WiFi 5ghz is 340ish, even when I’m standing in the router. What gives?

Scholar

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119 Messages

6 years ago

I beg to differ....this is a recent speed test result I got via wifi sitting about 15 feet from the router ( I use my own nighthawk router via IP passthrough and disabled the wifi in the AT&T gateway). I got this result using the latest MacBook Pro.  Although wifi is hit or miss those that think its impossible to achieve near wired speeds are badly mistaken but you must have the right equipment such as a high end laptop with lots of RAM and a good wifi chip and a good router with at least a 1.7GHz processor. I have gotten speed test results ranging from 600 to 800 plus many many times over wifi connected to the 5ghz band.  It can be done but like I said you have to have equipment thats up to standards.

 

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7217178496

Scholar

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91 Messages

6 years ago

^^Can you post some details about the wifi config of your macbook pro?  Which wifi standard were you using to achieve such speeds, 80 mhz channels?  I don't have any ac1300 clients here, but do have several ac900 (866mbps sync rate).  Have seen ~400-600 mbps in either direction.  Of course, I do prefer wired for overall stability.

 

Scholar

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119 Messages

6 years ago

Hi there.....I have recently had to change my configuration due to problems I've had with using my nighthawk router in IP Passthrough ( DMZ) mode so I am currently using the supplied AT&T gateway ( Pace 5268AC) for wifi so my speeds are definitely not what they was whenever I had posted my speed test result.  To answer your question, the configuration I had been using with my MacBook Pro ( and I do have a MacBook Pro that supports 1300AC and has 16G of RAM and a quad core Intel Processor).....I was using 80 mhz channels and I had mine set to channel to 153 on the 5ghz band.  Also I read an article that suggested to get faster speeds over wifi it was best to use WPA2-Personal ( AES) for encryption so I was using that as well.  I think the most important thing I discovered trying to achieve those speeds was that I had better results and actually was only able to get speeds like that by using a dual band router that had at least a 1.7 dual core or qual core Ghz processor or above and that also supported 4x4 MU-MIMO and was labeled " next gen wifi wave 2".......the routers that I was able to get those specs with were the Netgear nighthawk R7800 (X4S), the synology RT-AC2600, Asus AC 86U, and the TP-Link Archer C2300........all of those routers had those specs that I mentioned above........keep in mind though I could only get those speeds sitting within a few feet from the router.......once I went downstairs ( approximately 20 to 30 feet away) my speeds ranged from 500 to 600 Mbps which was still great..........I hope this info helps.............but it can definitely be done...........

Contributor

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2 Messages

6 years ago

Can anyone answer this, "How do you set up the orbi to work with ATT fiber. Please give step by step instructions?"

Contributor

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1 Message

6 years ago

I can let you know soon: I have Orbi in my house now with AT&T internets and UVerse. They are supposed to come and install fiber tomorrow morning. I am a little surprised to see people are expecting to get full 1K service from their wifi, especially with a Third Party router. I disabled the wifi in my gateway when I put the Orbi is because of poor coverage and Ring dropouts, just plugged it into the back of the gateway. Of course a high speed reliable wifi may endanger my Uverse channel choices and pricing, but that is farther down the road.

Contributor

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1 Message

5 years ago

I feel i need to chime in here as there is some good information in this thread but we need to make it more complete.

 

WIFI is complicated 🙂  most routers you will get with ANY service are nice, average devices that will give you wifi access. many are not sufficient for larger homes or multi-floor operations.

 

there are 2 speeds you need to pay attention to. the outgoing speed of your router and the accepted speed of your wifi card. 

 

also just because it says 802.11AC on it does NOT mean they are all the same. There is AC2000, 2200, 3000, 4000, etc. each one has a different speed. 

for instance...a nice AC1900 router will cost you around $150 and will provide UP TO 1.9 Gbps wifi speeds when in the same room with nothing in between the sight of the PC and the router. go through 1 wall and basically cut that in half if you use a NON MU-MIMO router - MU-MIMO is a technology that will go around the wall and prevent some signal loss.

now, very rarely will you find a PC with a 1.9Gbps AC wifi card in it. many of these cards are PCI-express add-on cards with external antenna. many laptops will have AC built in but the highest rated speed is typically 866, or 1300.

 

an example: i have a linksys AC4000 wifi router capable of 6Gbps combined output.  this is over multiple channels 2.4ghz and 5ghz. you will NEVER get 6Gbps because the advertising combines these channel frequencies. you either use one or the other...not both. now, this specific router has 2x 5ghz bands that CAN be combined so that helps. anyway...it is $300 but it will do most anything you want. this WILL send out 1Gbps out of it at max range.

 

on my PC i do NOT use the included wifi card that came on the mainboard. it IS an 802.11AC card but it maxes out at 1300Gbps. 

 

on windows 10, press your windows key and type Control Panel and press enter -> click Network and Sharing Center. in that window you will see your Wi-Fi connection in blue text....click it.  2 things are important here. signal quality and Speed.  if your signal quality is anything LESS than a full 5 bars you will NEVER get max speed. you may also notice your Speed rating change. 877mbps / 1gbps /1.1 gbps, etc. this changes frequently as the quality of your signal will change. now, again, you will NEVER get this speed on data transfer. basically cut this in half and this is what you will be getting on the downstream...cut in in half again and that is your upload. This is testable via a program: Lan Speed Test lite by totusoft - there is a tutorial on how to use it on their page but you can test your wifi speed (not internet speed)

 

what i had to do was purchase the Asus PCE-AC88 pci-express addon card with 4 antenna. this is a 4x4 AC3100 device - it is $106 and will communicate at speeds up to AC2100 5ghz + 1000ghz on 2.4ghz, but again not simultaneously. it DOES utilize MU-MIMO though. this will allow 2.1Gbps connection to the router.

 

i am currently getting between 800-900 gbps wifi DOWNstream and between 500-600 upstream with burst speed occassionally higher.

it will cost you but you CAN do it if you really want it.

also keep this information in mind when utilizing wifi extenders. if your extender is rated slower than your main router, you will NOT get the router speed.

 

i will also tell you that comcast CHARGES you $10/month for their router - ATT is free. 

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