Quantum Fiber Installation Tips
 

Because of the recent $35 price for 1Gbs bi-directional, non-shared internet service that Quantum Fiber has been offering, there have been many people, who can get the service, switching from cable and a lot of discussion on how to get the best WiFi coverage with Quantum's included WiFi7 equipment.
From my experience, you should get a premium installation without any intervention but here are some tips to make sure it’s installed optimally.
Quantum will install what they call a SmartNid device usually in the white data cabinet in your garage. This SmartNid is a combination Optical Network Terminator which terminates the fiber optic connection to your home and a Router. It has two 1Gbs ethernet ports, one fiber port and a power supply connection.
They will also provide WiFi7 Pods. One pod will be a larger “main pod” which has to be hard wired via an ethernet cable to the SmartNid in the garage. The remaining smaller pods work wirelessly off of the main pod and are installed in other areas of your home for maximum coverage. The number of smaller pods needed will depend on the size of your home. Because these WiFi7 pods provide wireless signals in the 2.4, 5 and 6Ghz bands, they give you effectively a “stronger” WiFi signal than previous versions of WiFi devices so the main pod might be all you need for a smaller home where in a designer home you may need one remote pod and in a larger premier home you may need two remote pods. The technician has an app that will tell them based on the signal strength in all of your rooms, lanai, etc, how many if any remote pods are needed. If there is any doubt, always ask the technician for at least one remote pod that you can move around your home at a later date if needed.
In most homes here in the Villages built circa 2012 and newer, the builder installed blue cat5 ethernet cables from the white data cabinet in the garage to most of the rooms in your home. They were installed and wired as telephone jacks even though no copper landline service was ever installed. Only 4 out of the 8 wires are typically wired in the wall jacks. I don’t know how older homes in the Villages were wired but I’m sure over the years they were done in different ways. The point is, if you have these blue cat5 ethernet cables, the Quantum technician will use them to provide the hardwired connection from the SmartNid in the garage to the main WiFi7 pod and if you ask them they can also use the 2nd ethernet port on the SmartNid to give you a hardwired connection for your computer in you office if you have one.
Given this background, here are the installation tips:
1) Make sure the main WiFi pod is installed as close to the center of your home as possible. This may mean installing it above or under one of the cabinets in the kitchen where there is an ethernet jack available or in a guest bedroom closest to the main living area. Most every home has a connection somewhere in the kitchen. You can also install it in your office near your main computer if you have one. The main WiFi pod has several ethernet jacks so if installed in your office near your computer you can hardwire everything you want in that room easily. If you install the Main WiFi pod anywhere except in the center of your house you may need a remote pod to get a strong WiFi signal throughout your home.
2) NEVER let the tech install the main WiFi pod in the garage with remote pods throughout your home. This will never work reliably.
3) If you install a remote WiFi pod in a room where there is an ethernet jack, ask the technician to hard wire that pod via the jack to the SmartNid. This will make the remote pod work better.
4) Before the tech leaves the installation, ask them to do a speed test to verify and show that you are getting the speed you ordered. Plugging directly into one of the RJ45 ports on the Main Wifi pod is best but with a not too old cell phone on the wifi should read in the "ball park" of the speed you ordered.
5) Be aware of what's on the other side of the wall where the Main WiFi Pod is installed to make sure there is nothing big and metal there potentially blocking the signal to the rest of the house. If there is, then choose another location.
6) Make sure if you are using a smaller remote Wifi pod for additional coverage that it's plugged in, in another room close enough so it gets a strong signal from the Main WiFi pod but far enough away that it doesn't interfere with the Main Pod.
7) I always recommend using the same existing WiFi network name and password for the new Quantum Wifi so you don't have to go to all your devices and re-connect them to the new WiFi equipment. Always give the technician the existing network name and password so he can configure the new Wifi with this information. Just be aware, even if you do this, there still may be some devices that don't connect to the new WiFi and in these cases you will need to reconnect them manually.

The exceptions for the advanced homeowners:
1) If you have your own WiFi equipment such as an Orbi, TP-Link, Amazon or any other favorite system, all you need to do is plug it into one of the ethernet jacks going to the SmartNid in the garage. You will be double NATing because your equipment will have a router butr the small delay is not noticeable. If you are a purest or have special needs then you can log into the SmartNid and put in ByPass mode which disables the built-in router but I personally don’t believe it’s worth the effort.
2) The WiFi7 equipment that Quantum installs is actually very good and will work great for a majority of people but an Orbi or other premium WiFi7 equipment will be better.

For the Advanced Homeowners who want to prewire your home in preparation for the Quantum Install:
1) Find a central location to install the Main Wifi7 pod. This can be under one of the Kitchen cabinets since almost all homes here in the Villages have an ethernet jack there or in one of the guest bedrooms that's closest to the main living area.
2) Find the blue ethernet cable running from the RJ45 ethernet jack in the room where you are planning to put the Main Wifi pod to the white data cabinet in the garage. There are many ways to "buzz" out the cables to locate the one you want to use. I prefer using a Kolsol AT338 Optical Wire Meter Tracer. It has an Optical power meter (which you won't need) and multifunction cable scanning and continuity testing functions. You can use the cable scanning function to "buzz" out and locate the correct blue ethernet cable at the data cabinet. There are many ethernet continuity testers on Amazon but I like this one the best.
3) Once the ehternet cable is found in the data cabinet, use a RJ45 Ratcheting Ethernet Wire Crimper / Stripper / Cutter, for Pass-Thru connectors such as the Klein Tools VDV226-110 to install the Rj45 plug onto the end of the cable. Always use RJ45 Pass-Thru connectors since they are easy to use and provide a perfect connection 99.9% of the time,
4) Next examine the connection at the RJ45 Keystone ethernet wall jack in the room where you plan to put the Main Wifi pod. You will probably see 4 out of the 8 wires terminated. Since they are almost never terminated properly, pull out what's connected so you can re-terminate the blue ethernert cable on the jack. Look to see if the pin-out on the jack has the T568B code. If it doesn't have the "B" pin-out code then best to replace it with a new keystone jack.
5) Once the blue ethernet cable has the RJ45 plug terminating it at the data cabinet in the garage and the RJ45 "keystone" wall jack on the other end use the Kolsol contunuity tester to verify the terminations are correct. If so, then put the wall jack and plate back together and lable the other end in the data cabinet in the garage for the tech when he arrives.

The Quantum tech will do all this for you but if you want to pre-wire then these are the steps you need to take.

After working at Verizon for 30 years and much of that with Verizon FiOS, I can say we are very fortunate to have fiber internet service in many locations here in the Villages. I hope this post helps provide potential users of Quantum Fiber with some good information. I’ve overseen many Quantum installs here in the Villages so my comments are based on my actual experience. If anyone has any specific questions I would be happy to help. And of course, if you have had Quantum fiber installed and made any tweaks to improve performance, please share them.

Did anyone with Quantum Fiber ever make changes to their installation or come up with a better arrangement?

Not sure what you mean.

I have their new WiFi7 pod in my living room (woodside) and it easily covers the entire house.

Gawd I miss FiOS! 3ms pings! Seriously low latency!

Thanks for this! The CenturyLink ONT boxes in my neighborhood are large and mounted to the outside of the house. Nice they can terminate in the white cabinet now. You could really just use a WiFi7 Access Point. Does the SmartNid provide DHCP?

ua
 

Went with Quantum back in August of this year after the $35 "for life" offer with the WiFi pods. However, the fiber run pre-built into my home only went to one bedroom on one side of the home. Tech installed the "modem" there with a WiFi pod, but the signal wasn't all that strong in the living room, and even worse on the other side of the house. Tech installed a second pod in the living room area but signal still wasn't all that great (< 200 Mbps on wifi; it had been ~350 with Xfinity's wifi). Tech had no more pods and promised to return with an additional pod to hopefully strengthen the signal through the whole home (which is only about 1600 sq. ft.!?).

Long story short... Tech never came back as promised. While everything worked for my uses (streaming, emails, gaming, etc.) it was bothersome that my promised 950 Mbps was well below 200 Mbps throughout even when my PC was hardwired into a Wifi pod. Decided to swap the Quantum wifi pods and purchased and installed a TP-Link AX3000 mesh wifi (3 units across the home). Speeds improved markedly, and while directly hardwiring into a pod on wifi my speeds are about 500 Mbps (pod directly wired to Quantum's "modem" gives the 950 Mbps). Anyway, a bit disappointed with Quantum's install, but overall happy with the service after some "self-help".

I believe they switched to the WiFi7 pods probably right after you had yours installed. Initially they had a lot of issues getting the main and remote pods to sync up. That's all fixed now and they sync up very quickly and provide good coverage.

Do you remember if they were using the newer WiFi7 pods? If they were there would have been one large pod as the main and a smaller as the remote. If they were all the same size then they were the older WiFi6 pods which didn't have as good range. The new WiFi7 main pod has a better antenna system effectively giving you better and stronger coverage.

The TP-Link mesh wifi system you purchased is very good and I'm glad you got it sorted out. WiFi is not 100% so you need to "play" with it to find optimal placement for the devices depending on your specific home.

I feel the WiFi7 equipment that Quantum provides is more than adequate for most here in the Villages but if you want something better I like the Orbi and TP link Wifi7 WiFi systems since they offer several models at different price points depending on you specific requirements. You can't go wrong with either system. I have the Orbi 970 because I wanted the best backhaul system I could get because I didn't have an ethernet jack behind my main TV in the Living Room. The more affordable Orbi 770 works great as well. I installed one for my neighbor who teaches remotely from home. Both the husband and wife work from home.

Thanks for your feedback.

You are likely correct with regard to the Quantum wifi pods. Both are exactly the same size and I believe the tech indicated they were only wifi 6 capable. I'm fine with my current set up with Quantum, though disappointed in their failure to properly provide the wifi they claimed.

My only question for the future is when they likely say I have the "for life" plan but try to impose a fee for their wifi pods, where do I take or send their equipment (wifi pods) back? I've looked online and don't see any locations to return equipment.

Quantum's web site is very good although its very slow like they are running it on an iPad LOL. On the lower left side of their home page are a variety of links including returning equipment. Basically you print out a mailer and return via UPS. This is the link:
Equipment Returns | Quantum Fiber

Agreed, I sometimes think about if they start charging for the equipment what will happen? Although we will never know until or if it happens, my guess is they won't charge because the trend in the industry is to provide the WiFi equipment as part of the service.

Since i've been here in the Villages, Quantum's pricing for what they provide is very reasonable compared to the rest of the country and they let you easily switch between plans on their web site at no charge so I believe we will be OK for a couple more years.

And Remember, When the cable guy comes by your house trying to win you back with a "great" temporary offer, tell them to come back when they offer non-shared, bi-directional service. It's a shame how many here in the Villages don't realize that the cable companies offer good download speeds but terrible upload speeds that can vary especially during prime time due to the limitations of the copper cable.

That is an awesome detailed article…. Thank you. Are you for hire???

Having your own Mesh router is the best way to go. I have been using Eero system for years. They have been bought out by Amazon but I have not seen any changes. I believe that TP-Link is a Chinese company.

:wave: President Xi!

Sure if you need some help, please PM me.
John

Agreed, but for the majority of homeowners who live here in the Villages, most want a turn-key system from the internet provider which is why the system that Quantum installs, in my opinion, is very good.

Concerning the Pods that Quantum uses, the older WiFi6 pods were built and licensed by another company who makes and sells them. The new WiFi7 pods, Quantum had them either built specifically for them or have some arrangement where they own the device making it cheaper which is why I believe they are sending WiFi7 pods out to their existing customers. This is what a tech relayed to me. The new iPhone16 use WiFi7. Whats nice about WiFi7 is the protocol is much more efficient when you are using lots of devices and there are lots of throughput improvements too complex to discuss here. Good reading if you google WiFi7 or search YouTube videos.

One more thing about WiFi7. I'm not suggesting that everyone should go out and get WiFi7 routers. My point is, WiFi7 offers new technology that makes it more efficient, faster ( if you have newer devices ), and most importantly, More Reliable. Quantum and a host of other companies are starting to deploy WiFi7 equipment because 1) they are more reliable which means less call-backs and 2) as a selling point to get customer's to sign-up because this equipment, right now, is fairly costly.

WiFi7 technology is way ahead because there are not many WiFi7 devices available. The largest up-tick is the recent iPhone 16 which has WiFi7. Because of this, my guess is WiFi7 will be leading edge for many years until the newer devices catch-up.The next step will be higher frequency bands which may be problematic since the higher the frequency, the shorter the range.

From my experience with my iPhone 16, the most significant difference I see with WiFi7 is my phone switches to the strongest node in my home more seemlessly vs it hanging on to one node until the signal gets too weak. I also can get pretty close to 1Gbs speeds, not that I need it, on my iPhone when in the same room as the WiFi equipment.

It will be interesting to see what the future of whole home wireless networks holds and how all plays out.

If you get Quantum Fiber installed and are not getting the advertised speeds or the installation doesn't look correct to you, please PM me.
John

Anybody having trouble with 2.4 stuff like light bulbs and cameras. I’ve had Quantum for a month and my devices outdoor were pretty solid with my router, but not so much with the Quantum router. I have the Quantum WiFi 7 currently running. Switching locations didn’t help. Might try installing the router up high on the wall.

Just to clarify, the white SmartNid which is the Optical Network Terminator And the Router should be located in the data cabinet in the garage. The main WiFi pod is the white square thin box hard wired to it. Where is this main WiFi Pod located? And do you have a 2nd smaller box which is a remote WiFi Pod?

If you want to learn more about Quantum Fiber check out their web site. Get Blazing Fast Fiber Internet for Your Home or Business
Its slow but loaded with good information if you are thinking about it.

For $35/month, if you can get the service, you can't go wrong. So many people here in Osceola Hills and the surrounding Villages have been signing up that they had to expand capacity here.

Exceptional article, thank you. I am having this installed on Dec 26, so it is timely. I do have a few questions. We only have the correct ports in the kitchen and one bedroom in a Jasmine so NOT central, especially when I want good WIFI out on the Birdcage to the far corner of the house. I would much prefer the main pod in the living room in the center of the house. Will they be able to run a port there? Should I push them to or just accept the kitchen?

Also - Since all our Cell phones (Google Pixel 8 and 9 Pro XL) have WIFI 7 capability and I want them to be able to use it in the birdcage, will they check for that or allow us to? I am guessing we are going to need a satelite out there in the Lanai, but how will I know?

Last- should I be pushing him to activate the ethernet port in the bedroom (my office) so I can hard wire my desktop computer and home cloud, etc? What does he need to put there for me to do that? Would like highest speeds in there....

Any advice is appreciated. Glad I am getting rid of my $81 a month Xfinity 200 service for almost a Gig of fiber!

Quantum internet DEAD again
 

Since this thread seems to be active...Im posting my recent ordeal with Quantum fiber. 3 weeks ago inet went out at approx 2am. Tech came out and replaced modem. All was well until next Monday inet died again around 2am. Got a second tech out (always seems to be 3 days later) and replaced the router. Didnt work. Replaced 3 routers and no joy. He did talk with support tech(in Philippines of course) and they still could not resolve inet issue. Tech left and said maybe inet would come back on, inet came back on that afternoon. So was good until this morning around 2am...no inet. Of course I did all the usual unplug power stuff. No joy! Everything looks fine from the support end. Internal wifi is fine...just no connection to inet. The fact that the inet drops out at 2am surely is a clue. I have devices that logs data to inet...thats how I know when the inet connection fails.

Modem and router show green lights.

The wifi is fine....but no inet. Could it be the router? Should I buy my own router? Will that fix the problem?

I live in village of Fernandina. Curious if anyone else is having similar issues. This 3 week issue is getting old. BTW Im posting this via mobile hotspot.

Inet update
 

This is too funny!

I remembered I had several old Asus routers I brought here when I moved to the villages. These old asus routers are running Fresh Tomato. I had 4 of them in a network before I moved here.

I removed the quantum router and replaced with the asus router and it connected to the quantum modem and inet is working fine! Speed is a 100 up and down...but at least its working!

Im going to purchase a mesh network from amazon today. Seems the quantum routers are trash!

This is odd. First you don't have a modem, that's cable. The white box in your data cabinet is called a SmartNid which is an optical network terminator and router. When the router boots, The light should go from Red to flashing blue to solid green. The fact that your router light is green means the router believes it's connected to the internet. If it were not, the light would remain flashing blue.

You are correct, the fact that it fails at 2am is not a coincidence. Something is happening back in Quantums network. Getting your own router will not help.

I just want to make sure, when checking for the internet you are plugging your laptop or whatever device into one of the ethernet ports on the SmartNid in order to isolate the rest of the system?

If so, I would call Quantum support today and tell them what's been going on and tell them you want to be put on a "different DNS" server. Back at Quantum, each customer is on a specific server and it's possible the one you are on is overloaded and you are getting what we call a "stale IP address".

The fact that they replaced the SmartNid several times means it's not the hardware.

I would be happy to talk to you to help troubleshoot this.

Based on your information, your best choice is to have the tech activate the ethernet jack in the kitchen. You can have him install the main Wifi pod under the cabinet near the jack. There should be enough room even though you probably have under counter lights. The other option is to instal the main pod at the top of the kitchen cabinet but that means drilling a hole to get the ethernet wire through the cabinet to the top. They will not run another new port to the living room because this involves going into the attic and running a line. If you want this you will need to call an electrician such as Galaxy Home Solutions but the install in the kitchen should be fine. I've done several of these without issue. If you can get him to install the main WiFi hub under the counter, I can come by and "clean up" the wiring if needed.

As far as the Lanai, ask them to install a remote wifi pod that you can plug in anywhere near the lanai so you have good coverage there.

UPDATE: So Bob was nice enough to let me come over to his house to see what was going on with his situation.

I first checked the Quantum installation and everything seemed fine. I also used my ethernet cable tester to double check the hard wired ethernet connecton from the SmartNitd in the garage to the Main WiFi pod in the kitchen. Again, everything was fine. Bob also had an old Asus wifi/router connected in place of the Quantum Wifi pods and everything was working.

So after disconnecting the old Asus Wifi/Router and reconnecting the Main and remote Quantum WiFi Pods, we were getting WiFi internet on our phones but all the other devices, laptops, etc in Bob's home had a WiFi connection but No Internet.

At this point I was concerned that the 2.4 and 5 Ghz Wifi bands on the Quantum pods were turned off since our phones that were connecting were using the 6 Ghz band. So I looked at the Quantum App on Bob's phone and eventually found that he had the parental controls turned On for all his devices which is why he was loosing internet, but not WiFi on a schedule. The minute I deleted the parental control profiles, everything started working.

This was an interesting learning that I wanted to share with everyone since in all my time, I've never seen anything like this issue. We have no idea how the parental controls could have been set up but they were.

Bob want's to see if the problem re-occurs but I'm confident the problem is solved.

Status update on Quantum Inet issue
 

All is working well this morning. John(jrref) found and solved the problem. I have no idea how the parental stuff was turned on. John was very generous with his time to solve this problem. I dont think 100 calls or visits from Quantum support could have found this problem. We are very lucky to have someone with his skills and generosity to help us here in TV.

Merry Christmas to you John. You gave me a great birthday present as today is my birthday and saved my the cost of buying another mesh system.

Cheers
Bob

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas to you Bob and thanks for the kind words.

Investigating and solving these internet issues involves a lot of "detective work" and can be fun, for me, at least. I know most of the Quantum techs who work in this area of the Villages and I'm surprised that none of the several who were out to your home were able to diagnose this problem. I have to admit, I've never see your issue especially here in the Villages since no one has teenagers in the home where we would potentially need to use the parental controls in the router and my guess that's what threw them off the trail.

As we discussed, although I'm retired, I do sign-up my friends, neighbors and any referrals I get for Quantum Fiber here in the Villages. They have a referral program where we both get $100 for signing up. In return, I go to home and configure the data cabinet to accept the Quantum SmartNid, instruct the homeowner what to tell the installer for the best installation locations and am available after the install to troubleshoot any issues or answer any questions that might arise. This "service" usually makes the process go smooth and without issue.

I'm looking forward for the next challenge so if anyone is having issues, please post them here.

What's strange is pulling a cat5 cable to the living room jack was an OPTION when you spec your own home. It should have always been a standard feature. I luckily checked that box when spec'ing my home. The placement of the cable modem router is near the center of the house so I have entire home coverage (and then some) at 5ghz WiFi 6. I still use 25 dollar a month cable modem from Xfinity (80mbs) but will probably go with Quantum Fiber when a PFL sale happens.

Do you recommend putting the NID in bridge mode or my WiFi 7 router in AP mode?

I logged into my SmartNid and put it in Transparent Bypass Mode and use my Orbi WiFi 7 router to do the routing. The firmware on the Quantum SmartNid was fixed so this now works. The only difference is the light on the SmartNid will be white instead of Green. The router in the SmartNid is actually very good and gives you lots of control but my feeling is using your own router is probably best since you are in control and can either call the company or google the web to find out any information if needed. Also your router will probably be better. Quantum router support is OK but they are not going to give you much information. Congratulations on having the Ethernet cable installed behind the TV in the living room. Until recently they installed cable outlets and installed cat5 wire for phones. Fortunately they used cat5 and the right connectors so they could be repurposed for Ethernet. Always check the socket wiring because they only wired 4 of the 8 wires.

Thank you for this! You are most helpful!

Yeah...The option was for a phone line jack to be installed in the living room...that was literally an option on the home spec sheet that probably not many people checked. They wired 4 wires of the cat5 8-wire at the phone jacks and in the white cabinet.

I wonder if the cat5 they pulled will handle 10gbs at that length...I guess it really doesn't matter.

Always remember - When you can't figure it out, "Factory Reset" is your friend :)

No, the installer set the white square box up in a bedroom. I moved it to the centrally located living room. I call it a router because there are 4 spots to plug stuff in. No other pods.

Thanks for the information.
The Main WiFi7 Pod includes an ethernet hub which is providing those ports. The Routing occurs in the SmartNid installed in the white data cabinet in the garage. The SmartNid also has two ethernet ports.

From my experience, most of the Quantum Tech's are very competent when doing the install but in some cases they don't install the WiFi pod in the most optimal location which is why I created this thread.

In most homes circa 2012 or newer the most centralized location to install the main Wifi pod is in the kitchen unless your home was built with an ethernet jack in the livingroom area. The only homes I've seen with this livingroom area jack are when the homeowners requested it at build time or they got an electrician to run an ethernet cable after the fact. The kitchen always has a power outlet and hard wire connection to the white data cabinet in the garage. Below is a picture of how It should be installed if you choose this location. When installing it in this location, most homes will not need any additional remote pods. If you have a larger home, then you can add an additional remote pod to get full coverage. I've re-worked several Quantum installs for my friends and neighbors like this and they all are very stable and work well.

When installing this main pod in a bedroom, you will always need additional remote wifi pods to get full coverage throughout your home.

I'm glad you were able to move the Wifi pod to a more central location. When you did this are you now getting good coverage?

Interesting you mentioned this. From the homes I've seen here in the Villages, the Cat5E runs are usually 50-75 feet at the most. With larger homes they will be a little longer. Cat5E and above can handle different data rates depending on how long the run is. At spec, Cat5E can handle up to 1Gbs but it's been tested to work at 2.5Gbs and even 5Gbs with shorter lengths. I did an experiment where I set up an OpenSpeedTest server in my home to test the speed of my wired internal network and was able to get 8.5Gbs over an installed Cat5E cable running from one of my bedrooms converted to an office to the data cabinet in the garage. In addition, If you don't have ethernet cabling where you want it and you don't want to hire and pay an electrician to run a line, you can get a TP-Link or Orbi Mesh system which can give you near wire speeds wirelessly using their dedicated wireless "backhaul" system. I have an Netgear Orbi to get near wired speeds to my home theater system in my livingroom area. You can also get a Multimedia Over Coax Moca device to run ethernet over your existing coax in your home. I tried this too and it worked fine up to 2 Gbs if you get the right adaptor. Just depends on what you want to accomplish but I though this information would be interesting and maybe useful.

My tech told me they don't do the small pods any more. We still get good coverage throughout our house. Speed test shows 950mb to the house, but only 90 ish for down/up load from the router for wifi.

Great information from a professional
 

Great information from a professional on here willing to help others publicly. This is what i love about TOTV web site.

Our custom build in 2019 had spec'd out no phone system wiring and all ethernet connected wiring at the room outlets. We had to call them back the second day to get the correct wiring connectors made in every outlet in the house. We spec'd an ethernet outlet in the ceiling in the center of the house, and they got that one right, as it was non standard. I was seriously surprised that they didn't get the connections correct as part of the build spec. Most likely someone didn't read the fine print and just did the normal routine.

So the smart house concept here in TV is not something that has been well designed into the standard house features. So new buyers please spec what you can about the wiring and check ASAP you take ownership, as the internet is now a modern day requirement for living.

I'm not 100% sure but I think the "Smart Home" concept here in the Village's new builds means they install ethernet cabling to all your rooms and an ethernet hub connecting all these cables in the data cabinent in the garage to your internet connection. If you didn't get the "package", Centric Fiber will install a hub and terminate everything for you at an additional cost. With today's WiFi mesh systems I don't feel you need every room wired but it's nice to have if you want to hard wire a computer in your office or the TV in your livingroom. I think the wifi thermostat and irregation controller are now standard on all new builds. But beware, when I visited the new models down south recently, some data cabinets are wired nicely and some not. Below is an example of bad and good installs. If your's looks like the Bad one, get them to come back and install everything correctly. You can see the ethernet hub isn't even mounted. It's just laying on top of the irregation controller. The "good" install is my data cabinet where I have the Quantum SmartNid on top, Rachio Irregation controller, temperature sensor, and a battery backup so my internet is still running during a power outage for a little while.

Quantum was having problems with the Pods linking a couple months ago which is why they didn't want to install the extender pods. But now the firmware has been fixed and everything works well so it shouldn't be an issue.

When you do a speed test, the speed you get will be dependent on which device you are testing with. If you have an older phone it may only use the 2.4Ghz band and 90 ish is about all you are going to get. Newer phones that use the 5 and 6 Ghz bands will go almost full speed if you are in the same room as the Wifi device. Also always use this speed test with the CenturyLink Orlando server as the target.
Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

Using iPhone 14. This is fairly new, yes? I have my smart TV connected by LAN using adapters over the electrical lines in the house. Haven't figured out how to speed test this.

holy Crap! i can't believe you got a UPS in there! Can you tell me what model that is?

I put in two wiring cabinets to easily fit everything it without squeezing everything in and then having to replace something that's broken and the replacement is larger and doesn't fit. .

Most impressive. .

This is the largest unit that I was able to fit in there with all my equipment. It provides about an hour of backup power for the internet and the Rachio irrigation controller. The blue outlet strips I got at Home Depot.
Amazon.com