Random question about home networking.......I'm based in the UK and only get crappy internet speeds (about 22 Mbps download and 18 Mbps up). For reasons to do with the architecture of my house, I can't get fibre installed. The house is completely wired throughout. Mainly the internet is fine, but the biggest problem is when the kids' computers download updates for games via Steam and Riot, packages which are naturally HUGE in size - they saturate the connection and the TVs downstairs start stuttering. Which annoys me and my wife no end and keeps her complaining about the fact that I cancelled the Netflix and Amazon subs. Would the simplest solution to this issue be to buy a managed switch and weight the connections so that the ports serving the TVs downstairs are guaranteed a certain level of bandwidth at all times? (Current switch is a Zyxel that the builders put in which I figure is unmanaged). That seems the most sensible way forward to me - the wife is constantly moaning about "needing more speed" but I just tell her it just means more bandwidth for the hungry hippos upstairs to chew on, which might reduce the time of the interruptions but not the fact that they happen in the first place. If this sounds reasonable, any recommendations for a good managed switch for the home network? Need 16 ports at least, with gigabit connectivity...any other suggestions to improve our experience always welcome :-)

I've used Ubiquity and Untangled Firewalls. They permit throttling sites as well as internal IP addresses. I would look at that side. I believe PFSense can do that as well. I think it would be easier at the gateway than on the switch itself.

Hmmm, interesting take, didn't think about that. So I could throttle the sites at the perimeter. Would a device of that ilk sit between the router and the internal network?

what about starlink? i'm sure it's a bit more than ur paying now...

I should have mentioned I looked at satellite, sorry. One of my sons is very into online gaming and the "blip" when they switch from satellite to satellite sounded like it might impact his UX. Price-wise, it's actually not much more than what I pay currently (shows how much I am getting ripped off!)

Just noticed they let you have a 30-day trial, which could be interesting...

It would sit between the router and the internal network. And it brings other controls that I like. Blocking troublesome countries comes to mind. IPS is also very useful.

Trying to replace my old USG with this one at the moment. If htey could just keep it in stock https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/cloud-gateways-wifi-integrated/products/udr

I am using this one with a 10GB uplink to my core. I may have too much lab equipment 🤣 https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/all-unifi-cloud-gateways/products/udm-pro

a) A simple solution could be to just use something like a TP-Link TL-SG108E, where you can set each port to be 10mb half duplex, 100mb full duplex, etc. b) 22mb... jfc

more recent review from a UK'er. Overall, the trial is probably the way to go, as it's really location dependent. https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/1fcs8jo/gaming_on_starlink_reviews/

My recommendation was purely wired. I imagine that there may be some wifi routers out there that will allow you to limit bandwidth, though?

Not if you couple the router with both the current internet and Starlink. 🙂

I'm just glad I don't have these issues. My saltwater aquarium controller gets gigabit speeds, lol.

@Richard Faulkner you and your two wan ports can shovel it, lol

Our local provider offers 1GBPs, 2.5 GBPS, and 10 GBPs up and down to every home in the county. I haven't moved up from the 1 GBPs because it's $68 a month and I'm usually limited by the speed at the other end.

My only issue with Starlink is that some of that money makes it into pissbaby jr's pockets, but that's another topic. 🙂

and now we've officially derailed

Sorry

lol, nah, that was me, not you.

OK a lot of food for thought here, thanks all. Don't get me started on politics, the pensioner-killing prisoner-releasing memer-convicting divvy we have in the big chair over here has my blood pressure at dangerous levels. I now need to go and do more research 🙂

Can't answer the Starlink question, but if your router supports it, one good option would be to simply use something like noip.com and set it up on your router. I have to validate my own host record every few months, but it's 100% free and works.

UBNT can also do load balancing/failover internet if you kept existing and added Starlink. If load balancing could even route traffic over a certain link

That would get around the IP issue, assuming his friends can use a hostname instead of an IP

Forgot about dynamic DNS, I used to use it for tunnelling out from the UK prison service networks 🤦‍♂️

I do that today. Have dual link. Load balancing setup. My work stuff primary goes out one and streaming/gaming primary goes out another.

Right definitely off for a couple of hours of research now (over my oh-so-slow internet)

I would put the kid's server on the 22 and let my traffic roll on the starlink. 🙂

I've used a Firewalla to resolve a similar problem, prioritizing traffic from certain devices over streaming services/gaming.

i used to use a tool on my windows machines called netlimiter it was great you could control upload/download speed of individual apps https://www.netlimiter.com/. Also used QOS on routers to prioritise different types of traffic

Yeah, but kids would probably find and disable that.

Especially when they've got admin access (terrible, I know)

Big Ubiquiti/UniFi fan here as well. UDM SE, ProMax switch, U7 APs. Know that for anything more than a flat network, Ubiquiti starts to show limitations (L3, no OSPF/BGP, no intra-VLAN routing). Great for home network, but where it starts to bleed into homelab, it starts to show

no one is asking but how is the architecture of your house preventing you from fiber? for the rest Ubiquity as other said, using it myself as well, not to throttle, my hungry hippos have left the nest.

They'd need to take the floor up to run a cable to my router. Even if there wasn't underfloor heating in there, I'm not prepared to do it

yeah, I get that... here they brought it to the front door and used the old coax cable pipe going to a central cabinet to run it inside..

In the UK alot of areas outside of big cities we can't get decent broadband as there is no fibre optic cable laid in the roads and to the premises (FTTP). We end up being stuck with fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and rely on our crappy phone lines to the property using copper lines so are impacted by things like noise (attenuation) on line and how far away (distance )you are away from the exchange (cabinet)

I live in a small village but "close" to ASML and Philips.. that got us fiber about 14 years ago already... we still wait for plumbing and running water though 😉

If I could get fiber to anywhere on the outside of my house I would move my router to that wall and figure the rest of it out. I’m stuck on 5g and it’s $58,000 to run coax to my property. I use unifi gear as well, so that’s what I’d suggest too to limit the speeds of certain clients.

Just dump the kids and your problem is solved 🤣 But I’m on the ubiquity team, have a dream machine pro. Works like a charm and have rules in there to cut off the internet so my kid goes to bed.

Remember Ryan, one day they need to take of you 😉 "you remember when dad used to cut off the internet?" one time a week showering is enough, dad ..LOL

You have pills for that @Rob Beekmans 😉 🤣

@James Rankin Are you sure you need to take a floor up - BT OpenReach were perfectly happy to run ours up the wall (no charge) to enter on the first floor and from there we ran it under floor boards. Before that we had two different Wi-Fi networks for us and for visitors. Visitors were bandwidth throttled by QoS on the router (possibly TP-Link but would have to ask husband). I think this says something about the quality of guests and parties we host that we had to do this 🤐

Yeah open reach said the same, it's something to do with the converted garage

Move or hand the kids over to social services (just stop feeding them for a while and send them to school smelly)?

Not moving after spending 250k on renovations 😀