Comment by matt_wulfeck | Hacker News Reader

Comment by matt_wulfeck | Hacker News Reader

I was recently fortunate enough to upgrade to 1Gb symmetrical fiber. I can say that it is absolutely fantastic. You really can do things you never did before:

1. I can host time-machine backups for my entire family on my home server, allow them to have off-site backups.

2. I can provide openVPN service for my entire family when they're outside of the home. I can also browse full-time on my own openVPN client at full-speed.

3. I can seed legitimate torrents for far, far longer than I normally would. For example, new Ubuntu releases.

4. I "donate" some of my bandwidth to other people and projects, allowing them to host files from my home.

5. I can test and host my own websites/services from my house. If it gets a little traction it won't destroy my entire internet.

These are all things that simply were not possible when I was with Comcast, with only 10 Mb/s upload and bandwidth caps. If we completely deregulate internet I'm afraid they will be impossible for most everyone.

Your list of things is fantastic and I could see the benefit of each and every one of them.

But here's the issue.

When you tell non-tech-savvy people about "provid[ing] openVPN service for [your] entire family" they go wall-eyed. That's the best-case scenario. In the worst case scenario (e.g. politicians and telecom execs), people become suspicious about what you might be hiding.

Increasingly (for going on 50 years now), the US is an authoritarian state with low tolerance for people who insist on exercising the rights granted them in the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. (I'm thinking of the right be secure against illegal searches expressed in the 4th Amendment and the use of cryptography as a munition protected by the Second Amendment.)

All odd, because the argument ultimately boils down to, "I don't want to wait for X to download."

I think the largest difference for me is in QoS, not in bandwidth. I generally use 802.11ac so I'm capped at 450mbps of the ~1000 available.

The service is always on, it's always stable, there's no weird routing or congestion latency at peak hours, it's just... functional.

That's what's miraculous about it to me - basically never needing to reset the router or reconfigure things. Internet as reliable as electricity. I literally don't even think about it.

Also the total cost difference is $45 a month for a far more satisfying experience.

> I generally use 802.11ac so I'm capped at 450mbps of the ~1000 available.

How come? I generally get between 800-1200Mbps on 802.11ac, real, measured speed with iPerf3.

he only has one wifi antenna , so max 433Mbit. If your Router/Access Point and your client has more then you will also have more speed. 867Mbit with 2 antennas and so on

What wifi router do you use? Also, do you use custom firmware?

I use Mikrotik access points: https://routerboard.com

I use several models, check out the dual concurrent triple chain ones like: https://mikrotik.com/product/RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT

I wrote a little bit about my set-up here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14743866

> Also, do you use custom firmware?

No, just standard Mikrotik firmware.

Thanks for the reference, I picked one up to play with :) I used to hack on a grotty old cisco router for my home network but it's been ~15 years since that was relevant.

With AT&T I actually connect my junction to a (provided) external battery, so if the power goes out, I can hook up my router/modem to a UPC and still have internet for three days. I don't know if this is the same with coaxial/comcast.

If I had a connection anywhere near that fast I'd do (and have done) many of the things listed. The problem for me and many others is that many ISPs don't allow those activities. I work from home and value a solid connection, but I'm on the slowest fiber offered, 20Mb both ways.

I don't need more speed, I need more freedom to use what I have.

>1. I can host time-machine backups for my entire family on my home server, allow them to have off-site backups.

What upstream speed do your family have? I've got the equipment and the bandwidth to do this, but my family have <1 megabit upstream available.

they said 1 gig symmetrical

Doesn't necessarily mean that's what their family are connected with (to the backup server).

They will need to do the backups while they're over if they aren't also on fiber.

Careful - your ISP ToS might explicitly forbid you from hosting internet facing services over your connection.

6. lightning strikes nearby won't enter your home over fiber like happened to me 4x over coax, losing your modem at best. NC summer thunderstorms are brutal.

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