well after extensive testing I think I am settled on EE.
During peak evening times all three networks suffered on both download and up speeds and more jitter as more users used the masts. During the day and night its fine though, even EE settles down.
AT 2.30am this morning I had 170Mbps dl and 40Mbps upload with latency of 39ms and jitter 1ms. on EE
O2 was the next best but still maxes out at 70Mbps even in the middle of the night.
Can get a good signal with vodafone with the directional aerial but their downlad rates are awful. Maxes out at 40Mbps even in the early hours. The latency is by far the best on vodafone though at 30ms hardly any worse than my BT landline FTTC latency and always really low jitter.
But being able to leave games downloading at 170Mbps overnight has swayed my decision towards EE. When EE isnt being over used on the mast, I get 3 times the download speed and when it is being overused, its still slightly faster than O2 and although the jitter can go a bit awry (it does on all three networks to a degree) that doesn't matter so much for evening TV streaming or browsing.
My other half has worked from home during the day and has had several zoom meetings and has reported zero issues unlike what she used to get on the FTTC landline. Her stuff saves to the cloud instantly (we were getting between 0.25 and 0.5 MBps upload previously on the FTTC line so I am not surprised now its up to 100 times faster upload speed!)
EE has a offer on atm for unlimited data for £28.20 per month for 2 years on their business tariff. Thats a good deal for unlimited data on EE, its £37 for personal customers.
I just wished I had looked at 4g broadband a couple of years now.
My only issue now is which router to keep.
The B535 has superb wifi throughout the house from the loft and even two floors down in the lounge its still 5 bars.
The B818 has much weaker wifi (which surprised me, even stood 1m away from both routers my wifi analysis shows the signal from the b535 is 10db to 20db stronger.
But the B818 gives better download speeds from the mast than the B535 does.
Such a pain. I really want to keep the B818 but if I do I might have to use it as a bridge to another router for the wifi so more costs
On the other hand 3 bars in the lounge is good enough for 170Mbps connection speeds and since my internet in isnt higher than that then it shouldnt be a problem.
No nothing has arrived yet sadly. It might come in the post today, usually around 1ish. If not I'm guessing it'll defo be tomorrow.
It would seem to be the answer over an indoor unit. I have the pole so may as well move the solution all outside. If it looks like it won't work I'll return it for a refund within 14 days. And if it does work, I will sell the NR5101 with the antenna. It will do someone very nicely!
