Summary In this episode, the host tests the internet speed of two WiFi routers, the Google Nest 6e WiFi Pro mesh router and the Netgear Orbi RBK50 mesh router. The importance of internet speed and the role of WiFi routers in delivering that speed are discussed. The host explains the concept of mesh networks and conducts an internet speed test using the fast.com website. The performance of both routers is compared, and the host concludes by highlighting the need to test internet speed and consider various factors when choosing a router.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Setting the Context
01:28 Importance of Internet Speed
03:22 Comparison of Google Nest and Netgear Orbi
05:20 Explanation of Mesh Networks
06:19 Conducting an Internet Speed Test
08:45 Testing the Netgear Orbi
10:36 Considerations for Choosing a Router
11:32 Conclusion and Call to Action
- Good news, I've just got a brand new internet connection in my house, but how do I know I'm getting what I'm paying for? Plus, how do I make the best use of that internet connection? Well, I have here in my hand a Google Nest 6E Wifi Pro mesh router. Oh, that's a mouthful. And also, my good old-fashioned 2017 Netgear Orbi RBK50 mesh router. But which one's better? Well, there's only one way to find out: fight.
- [Narrator] "Shaun of the Shed," an AMI original podcast.
- Welcome back to another episode of "Shaun of the Shed." I am Shaun Preece. I am sat in a garden shed somewhere in Manchester, and today, I am gonna show you how to do a internet speed test. As I said, I've just had installed a brand new fiber internet connection to my home. And I am paying good money every month for a 500 megabit connection. Now, if you don't know what 500 megabits is, you know what, doesn't matter. All you need to know is that the higher the number, the faster your internet will be. So 500 megabits is what I'm expecting to get, is what I'm paying for. But the trouble is, am I getting that? Because your internet service provider will only guarantee a certain number. In my case, it guarantees that we will get at least 250 megabits. That's half of what I'm expecting to get, half of what I'm paying for. But okay, that's what they guarantee. If I drop below that, I can leave the contract with my current service provider and go and find a new one that can give me better service. So it is important to know that you are getting the bang for your buck and you are getting what you're expecting to get. But there's more than that. Because you could have an amazing connection to the outside world, absolutely blazing fast, but I need to pump that signal, the internet, around my home. And of course, we do that through the use of a Wi-Fi router. Now, if that Wi-Fi router you've got isn't particularly good, and I'm thinking about the ones that your internet service provider sends you for free, if it's not the greatest thing, and it only is capable of pumping out speeds of, let's say, 100 megabits per second or less, depending on how far away from it you are, then you're wasting your money. It's no good having a 500 megabits internet connection if your Wi-Fi router isn't delivering that speed. You might as well save some money and go for a lower speed connection. So that's what I'm gonna do today. I have two Wi-Fi routers: the new one from Google, the Google Nest 6E Pro Wifi router, and also my old faithful, I've had it for awhile, the Netgear Orbi RBK50 mesh Wi-Fi router. But which one is better? I'm hoping that the new Google, being brand new and much newer than my old Orbi, is gonna give me better speeds. But will it? Well, I'm gonna go into the home, I'm gonna set up the Google Wi-Fi router now, and then we'll do a speed test. And lucky enough, of course, speed testing is all accessible. It's absolutely easy to do. It's quick, it's accessible, and it won't take us long. So let's test it out. So to set up the Google Nest mesh network, all you need to do is download the Google Home app for your smartphone. Totally accessible and you just follow the steps step-by-step. Nice, easy, painless. I really like that, I've gotta say. Now, if you don't know what a mesh network is, by the way, I keep saying it and I haven't explained what it is, the way we usually set up a Wi-Fi network in your home is by using one Wi-Fi router. A mesh network uses multiple Wi-Fi routers. In the case of this one, the Google Nest, I have three. So I've got one router in the hallway next to the front door, which is where my internet connection actually comes into the house. I've got a second one in the living room, and the third one is upstairs to cover the bedrooms. And a mesh network will basically bounce that Wi-Fi signal from one to the other to the other and so on. You can have as many as you'd like, depending on how huge your house is. And you should get better coverage and no dead spots anywhere in your home. So that's how mesh networks work in very simplified manner, but that's the basics of it. And how I've got the internet out here to the glorious shed is by running a cable from the shed, an ethernet cable, all the way down the garden, and it plugs in to that second Wi-Fi router in my living room. So it's a little bit weird, because my garden shed is a little far away to reach the Wi-Fi, at least to be reliable, so I'm using a cable. But it's plugging into the second Wi-Fi router in the living room, which is connected to the first one wirelessly. Strange, I know. But I'm just explaining how I've got this set up. But it doesn't matter. How does it perform? Let's open up a web browser. I'm using Edge. And go to fast.com. That's F-A-S-T.com. Now, as soon as you hit enter, the speed test will start. So let's switch over now. I've already typed the fast.com address in here, so let's hit enter. So it will take a few seconds to complete the speed test, but once it does, simply use the arrow up and down keys to go through the web page. So I'm just gonna arrow down here until I get to the important number.
- [Computer Voice] Fast.com logo, graph. Link, privacy, English, US button.
- [Shaun] Keep going down.
- [Computer Voice] Your internet speed is Here we go. Arrow down.
- [Computer Voice] 410.
- [Shaun] Not bad at all, let's arrow again.
- [Computer Voice] Mbps.
- [Shaun] Mbps, which means megabits per second. Now, as you remember, I'm paying for 500 megabits per second. But you know what, that's more than enough, 410. I'm quite happy with that. Now, let's arrow down.
- [Computer Voice] Show more info.
- [Shaun] If you want some more information, if you're getting into this, if you're getting a bit geeky, hit enter or space on this link, let's do that.
- [Computer Voice] Internet speed test, fast.com.
- [Shaun] And when you do this, the focus does tend to jump about a bit, so you may need to arrow up or arrow down to find this information. I think I'm at the top here, so I'm gonna arrow down.
- [Computer Voice] Fast dot, latency.
- [Shaun] Okay, so here's the extra information. Latency, now, that's how long it takes for your computer to get a response from another computer. So the web server out on the internet. The lower the latency, the quicker the response. So let's take a look. I'm arrowing down.
- [Computer Voice] Unloaded.
- [Shaun] Unloaded, so if there wasn't much traffic being sent on your internet connection, the latency is.
- [Computer Voice] Five ms.
- [Shaun] Five milliseconds, which is nice again. The lower, the better. Let's continue arrowing down.
- [Computer Voice] Loaded.
- [Shaun] Loaded, so if there was a lot of traffic, if everyone in your house was using your internet connection, the latency is.
- [Computer Voice] 54 ms.
- [Shaun] 54, that's fine. Let's keep going.
- [Computer Voice] Upload.
- [Shaun] Upload, now, this is important. How fast can you send files from your computer to the internet? This could be important for work or something like that.
- [Computer Voice] Speed, 55.
- [Shaun] 55, is that megabits?
- [Computer Voice] Space, Mbps.
- Yes, megabits per second. My internet provider has guaranteed, I can't remember actually what it is for upload, but I'm paying for 70. A download speed of 500 and a upload speed of 70. Again, I'm quite happy with 55 megabits per second. And that's pretty much it. How easy was that? I am getting 400 and, what was it, 10, megabits per second using the Google Nest mesh network. And again, I'm expecting 500 meg, but that's more than enough. I'm quite happy with that. So what I'm gonna do now is jump back in, rip the Google Nest network out, and replace it with the Netgear Orbi. My Netgear Orbi that I've just set up, I've had since 2017. That's seven years. Wow, I'm getting old. So I'm expecting the much newer, the much shinier Google Nest Wifi Pro 6E mesh network to perform much better. Again, very simple, let's just open up Edge.
- [Computer Voice] Loading complete. Internet speed test fast.com.
- [Shaun] It's exciting, again, give it a few seconds just to finish. The number will go up and down on the screen.
- [Computer Voice] Graphic fast.com logo.
- [Shaun] Okay, we're at the top, so let's arrow down.
- [Computer Voice] Link privacy. Your internet speed is.
- [Shaun] Here we go.
- [Computer Voice] 550.
- [Shaun] Wow, okay, 140 megabits per second difference. I wasn't expecting that. Okay, let's arrow down.
- [Computer Voice] Visited link show more info.
- [Shaun] More info, just hit enter on that.
- [Computer Voice] Internet speed test fast.com document.
- [Shaun] Okay, so I'm gonna take a look at the extra information here. Let's arrow down until we find it.
- [Computer Voice] Unloaded.
- [Shaun] Oh, I'm right there already. Unloaded latency, arrow down.
- [Computer Voice] Seven ms.
- [Shaun] Oh, okay. I think the Google was five, but still, seven is perfectly fine.
- [Computer Voice] Upload.
- [Shaun] The upload speed. Again, I'm expecting 70 from my internet provider. I think I got 55 using the Google Nest system.
- [Computer Voice] 67 Mbps.
- 67, again, faster. I am quite frankly shocked by that. It appears the seven-year-old Netgear Orbi is giving me faster download and upload speed than the Google Nest. Now, of course, speed isn't the only thing that matters. I will say, as the Netgear Orbi is only a two-piece system, it means that my upstairs Wi-Fi coverage isn't going to be as good as it is with the Google one. Because there's three pieces, and there's a router actually upstairs to cover up there. So it may be a case that I keep both of them in place and use both of them. That is why testing your internet speed is so important. At least I know I'm getting what I'm paying for. So there you go, as I said, boring and a little bit geeky, but very useful to make sure you're getting bang for your buck and you're getting what you're paying for when it comes to your internet connection. As for which router you should get, again, it's very much swings and roundabouts, really. Because you know, great Wi-Fi coverage with the Google Nest because it's a three-piece system, but the performance isn't as good as the Netgear Orbi. Yeah, I don't know what to do with that yet. I will keep testing and see which one I keep. Anyway, that's it from me. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you liked it, why not hit that Like button? Subscribe if you wanna see more. Hit the notification bell thing, which is somewhere, whatever. Thank you so much for watching. Take care. And why not check out "Access Tech Live" on YouTube as well, an amazing TV show with Steven Scott and Marc Aflalo. Or there's also "Double Tap Video," more of me and Steven Scott. You can find that on YouTube.com/@doubletapvideo. Or why not tune in to our daily technology radio show on AMI Audio or in your favorite podcast app? That's "Double Tap." All right, guys, thank you. Take care, see you next time. ♪ Why did you leave me ♪ ♪ I will follow ♪ ♪ Follow you home ♪ ♪ Why did you leave me ♪ ♪ Why did you leave me ♪ ♪ I will follow ♪