How to prepare internet capabilities for 3 people on zoom (or something similar)?

[mom2binsd]

We have FIBER internet, at 250 mbps, we pay 49 month. It is plenty for us to game/stream/run devices all at the same time for our family of 3.
We have a Netgear R6300 Smart Wifi Router that we use instead of the one the fiber company offered, I already had it.
We bought a booster for 50.00 at Best Buy that DS has in his room because he thinks he needs it for his xbox up on the second floor (the router is in the kitchen and we have a 3000 sq foot house, I watch netflix streaming in my room upstairs and it is superfast. I don't think the booster is needed, when DS was having issues we later discovered it was his xbox as he had th
No mesh network or anything fancy.

[nfowife]

With our mesh setup we can connect to it or the old router so I can still compare the 2 speeds.
FIOS router: download 29.2, upload 26.8
Mesh system: download 81.9, Upload 88.7

[niccig]

I suggest you get the fastest speed you can. DH has always needed high speed internet and it paid off in the Spring


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[WatchingThemGrow]

DH just upped our service to 200 as we will have 4 doing calls Plus my pod (2 more) all at random times. We have some interior brick walls/fireplaces, so he got some blue cave things to extend our signal to the new deck and patio and also cover the front and back yards. The service upgrade was $10 more with spectrum.

I just did speedtest.net and got 179

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[mommy111]

I would get good speed and then hardwire. I just hardwired my computer and everyone tells me how much better my voice quality is

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

We upgraded to fiber earlier in the pandemic. Then we got a mesh network. Seems to be working OK.
Our school district was giving out hot spots in case you have multiple people streaming. We'll have 4 of us taking meetings all day and have had, but only the kids are required to use video.

[meggie t]

We have always had wifi issues b/c our house is old and has very thick, mostly plaster, walls. Terrible for connectivity. About 1.5 years ago, we upgraded our FIOS to the gigabit speed, which is the highest. We also invested in the Google mesh wifi system. It is an amazing difference. We no longer have any dead zones (which, even with 4 extenders, we still had). I can manage the mesh from my phone if necessary.

Your internet speed is also dependent on your equipment. Prior to today, I was working off a 10 year old iMac desktop. Even with the gigabit, the speed was sorely lacking. I just got a new computer and it is a huge difference in upload/download. I just ran the speed test and I got 844.8 Mbps download and 893.9 Mbps upload.

The Google wifi system is extremely easy to set up. Definitely worth the investment if you have connectivity issues.

[ang79]

Asking a tech dummy question here - how can I ensure stable wifi connection for the 2 kids chromebooks if they are working remotely around the house? We have Comcast Xfinity (only because it is the only internet provider in our area). When I logged into my account to check what we are actually paying for, it gave me the option to do a speed test. I did it three times using wifi on my chromebook, sitting in the exact same location and got 12, 15, and 42, but my plan says I should have 100 mbps. I then stood right next to the router with my chromebook and did a google speed test and only got 26. I am arguing with DH because he currently has our router set up in a closet in the living room and he doesn't believe me that it should be out in the open to send the signal farther in the house. He has no problems with connecting for work because his desktop is hardwired and very close to the router, but the girls and I are working farther away in bedrooms on wi-fi. When he speed tests his desktop that is hardwired, he gets around 50 mbps. Do we need to upgrade our plan for a faster speed? Its less than $10 more to upgrade to 200 mbps, which says it is good for up to 8 devices (4 computers and 4 phones). Or do we need a better quality router? We have a NetGear but its one of the cheaper ones. The girls will be using Google Meets for their live lessons each day, DH works from home on his desktop, and I may end up working from home with a laptop.

In the spring the girls sometimes had things freeze up with the Google Meets, but its hard to say if it was on our end or on the teacher end. They also had Zoom and Facetime break up frequently on my iphone when they did violin lessons this summer while DH was also working.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Asking a tech dummy question here - how can I ensure stable wifi connection for the 2 kids chromebooks if they are working remotely around the house? We have Comcast Xfinity (only because it is the only internet provider in our area). When I logged into my account to check what we are actually paying for, it gave me the option to do a speed test. I did it three times using wifi on my chromebook, sitting in the exact same location and got 12, 15, and 42, but my plan says I should have 100 mbps. I then stood right next to the router with my chromebook and did a google speed test and only got 26. I am arguing with DH because he currently has our router set up in a closet in the living room and he doesn't believe me that it should be out in the open to send the signal farther in the house. He has no problems with connecting for work because his desktop is hardwired and very close to the router, but the girls and I are working farther away in bedrooms on wi-fi. When he speed tests his desktop that is hardwired, he gets around 50 mbps. Do we need to upgrade our plan for a faster speed? Its less than $10 more to upgrade to 200 mbps, which says it is good for up to 8 devices (4 computers and 4 phones). Or do we need a better quality router? We have a NetGear but its one of the cheaper ones. The girls will be using Google Meets for their live lessons each day, DH works from home on his desktop, and I may end up working from home with a laptop.

In the spring the girls sometimes had things freeze up with the Google Meets, but its hard to say if it was on our end or on the teacher end. They also had Zoom and Facetime break up frequently on my iphone when they did violin lessons this summer while DH was also working.

I think I’d upgrade.
And I think you should invest in a mesh system as discussed up thread. It evens out your connection throughout the house to make things more consistent. Helps eliminate dead spots too.


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[twowhat?]

We upgraded (Fios) to 1 GB up/down but keep in mind those speeds are the max speeds attainable under the BEST conditions (hardwired, good ethernet cord, fast computer, etc.). We all work on WiFi because we only have one wired connection (looking into trying to increase our number of wired connections, hasn't been easy!) but on WiFi, I get the fastest speeds at around 250 mbps from my office near the WiFi router on my coupld-years-old MacBook and 300+ on my 1-year-old ThinkPad (work computer). DH is upstairs in a converted office over the garage and gets about 70, as do the kids from their room upstairs in opposite corners of the house. Which is sufficient for zoom calls. We have a Google mesh system throughout the house, which is super necessary given that our router can only be hardwired from my office, which is the front corner of the house tucked away.

ps we have a TON of devices...I have 3 just for myself. DH has 6 (work phone, personal phone, work laptop, work iPad personal laptop, kindle and probably more I don't remember), the kids have a lot too...each has phone, school iPad, personal iPad, desktop computer, Kindles) plus we have 2 apple TVs in the house and 2 thermostats connected to Wifi...it's kind of ridiculous. What we don't have is a Ring doorbell With our current setup we do not have any connectivity issues or hiccups unless we lose power.