I got 99 problems but my WiFi ain't one

If you are getting 39.95 you will probably get more on an 80/20 service. Perhaps not double though.

If you have 40/10 you have a VDSL FTTC service. The data bit is fed from a DSLAM in a cabinet near to your PCP (primary connection point, BT green cabinet). Distance to the exchange doesn't matter, distance to the cabinet does.

The checker at https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL will predict a speed.

If you are bored it will also tell you what cabinet you are connected to (eg P32) You can then tour the local area and find the one with that number on the side. In the example below the number with 32 on is a PCP extension, the middle bit is the PCP and the bit on the far side is an FTTC/G.fast cab. Further down the road is a grey Virgin Media fibre junction cabinet and then further down still is the FTTC/VDSL cabinet.

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go to somewhere like Ofcom broadband checker

This works well but keep in mind that it provides an averaged figure and should you live in a block of flats with old/crumbling cabling you can expect to get a lot less than the figure shown here.

The Ofcom web site says 50Mb should be possible for us but given our circumstances we know that we can only get about 25 to 30Mb. This is why the Att and SNR figures can be useful as it gives an estimate for your actual circumstances.

Yep, as others have said, if you're running Ethernet everywhere then just plug in wireless access points at a couple of points to distribute the WiFi.

I have a couple of these https://www.4gon.co.uk/ubiquiti-unifi-ac-lite-access-point-uapaclite-p-6643.html connected to their router and devices switching between them is automatic.

This is all very good information. The link you recommended is telling me all sorts of numbers between 47 and 76 Mbps. I note there is know 'minimum' observed figure.

Ofcom says 70.

@Stonehedge line attenuation and snr are not available through our modem/router. (Standard Plusnet rebranded BT box, insert rant about why the hell I can't change the crappy Plusnet DNS servers here.) Any other way to find out? We're not in a block, ground floor of a converted house. I can see the cabling all the way from the BT box on the front of the building, through to the master socket. In fact, don't tell BT, but I've made some improvements to the cable routing myself.

Forgive my ignorance on layers etc but essentially this diagram but with a second router connected to the layer 2 switch?

One router, then as many switches and access points as you need. Preferably all cabled.

As @ectoplasmosis says.

You only want one router in your house. Everything should be on the same IP subnet which means they share the first bit of their IP address (eg 192.168.0.xxx).

Some people get fancy and have multiple subnets/VLANs which might be one for trusted devices, one for random bits of tat fr Alibaba and one for guests. Even then a single router probably makes sense although it would have sub-interfaces.

If you want something to compare with mine is below. I get a solid 80/20. My PCP is 170m down the street although I think the cable goes the other way a bit first.

As for the cable, put the socket and modem as close to where the cable comes into your home as possible. And if BT ever need to visit make sure the engineer has been offered tea and biscuits before they look too deeply...

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Maybe I’m mixing terminologies but can’t you just use multiple WiFi routers in access point mode?

When I've tried that in the past I've found that they don't tend to hand devices over that nicely so if you move around they stick on the same AP rather than switching to a better signal.

This is why I like backhauled mesh.

Yeah, this is basically what I was imagining to begin with!
(Plus a load of extra Ethernet for hardwired devices of course)

How fast is your internet? Have you sanity checked whether your TV, Roku and Xbox really need ethernet? How much copying of large files do you do? I've never seen my TV use more than 70Mnps for 4k UHD and my TV tends to have a WiFi sync speed of about 500Mbps.

I was obsessed with ethernet for everything for a while then had the Eureka moment that almost none of my devices ever exceed wireless AC speeds.

Yeah, perhaps I needed the sanity check on that. Tv can definitely just be on WiFi even for 4K HDR. Ethernet is more for the office as two of us work from home and work with a lot of photo/video & design thingies on Dropbox etc, plus a NAS as well soon so it does help. Connection to the outside world is 300MB/s.

It’s more a hangover from having up to now only having the standard virgin router in the living room and no signal in the back of the flat AND having had sub par experience with a shitty Netgear extender, but Ethernet backhauling mesh seems like the best option.

You can sometimes connect routers together using the LAN ports and convince them to be layer 2 devices but you need to do things like turn off the DHCP server.

If you have two routers advertising the same SSID it will go wrong. Client connects to router A and gets an IP from router 1, say 192.168.1.100. Client then spots a stronger signal for the same SSID from router B so connects to that. The client doesn't renew it's DHCP lease as it thinks it is the same network. But router B might be using 10.1.1.0/24 so the 192.168.1 address doesn't work and the client has no network connectivity.

Depending on your wiring you might find top end Powerline devices do a good job for your computers.

My work PC does a bit of heavy lifting on the network sometimes but it seems to have a WiFi sync between 500 and 820Mbps which is fine for my needs. Sometimes I have a 350GB download to do but that is for Blockchain so the processing of the data takes days so it doesn't matter if the download speed isn't quite as fast as it could be.

I have to steer clear of Powerline because it's a bitch for generating wideband RFI and it messes with my radio nerding and sometimes my work.

Hyperoptic fiber has made it as far as our street now. Work to dig trench from road to our building starts next week and then internal risers being fitted shortly after. After five years of shit internet, I'm rather excited. And because I project managed the work, I'm getting first two years gratis. Result.

This is why I like backhauled mesh.

If your APs all have a wired Ethernet port I'm not sure anything is meshed. They are just big standard APs as deployed in hundreds of thousands of offices, hotels, shops etc.

You might be right. Not many mesh points still mesh with backhaul. Lots of contradictory info on whether this applies to my particular model though. I don't mind really, just works well which is the main thing.

Actually, I did just notice a clumsy handover between APs so you might be right.

Looking at Tplink Deco’s now - they even have a page on Ethernet backhauling and it all seems fine. Will probably go this route.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1794/

You can get fancy with 802.11k and 802.11r but some advice I recently had was not to bother as clients do better without.

Sometimes you can get quick performance improvements by turning off 2.4GHz if all your devices are fancy enough.

I use v1 Google WiFi and you can buy them new and boxed for £60 a pop on eBay at the moment. Sometimes auction listings from people upgrading too. Worth a look IMHO. They're rock solid and do the job well.

Anyone aware of a mesh network for sale now with a 6E / 160Mhz backhaul?

Don’t want to run Ethernet up three flights and across the loft.

The router is in the bottom left corner of the house and my new office is the top right corner of the house.

Exterior grade cable behind the drain pipe and over the roof?

Deffo best option.

160MHz is a shit ton of bandwidth to munch for one household’s backhaul if you can help it.