increasing 3G signal ?

Headshot

my brother cant get proper broadband unfortunately so its 3G ****e will have to do but he can only get 1-2 bar 3G signal on the modem. Any suggestions on how to increase the signal ?

My brother is in a NBS area and the 3G signal is crap so is there a way to NBS satellite broadband ?

Spooky1666

Headshot wrote: »

my brother cant get proper broadband unfortunitly so its 3G ****e will have to do but he can only get 1-2 bar 3G signal on the modem. Any suggestions on how to increase the signal ?

Get a 3G router, place it in the best place you get signal in your house, connect to it via wifi and vola its the best you can do. Unless you want to get a weatherproof box and place the 3G router in it and leave it outside. These are your best bets. As far as I know signal boosters are illegal here cus they mess up the signal coming from the mast but I could be wrong.

JonathanAnon

Spooky1666 wrote: »

Get a 3G router, place it in the best place you get signal in your house.

+1
They only thing I would suggest is that you borrow a laptop (before buying the router) and go around to each window in the house to make sure that there is good coverage at least at one window in your house... If you are simply just too far from the mast then there is nothing extra that the router can do.

But if you can get signal at one point in the house, then the router is a really good option.. You can find out where the nearest mast is (and find what direction to point your 3g device) on this

http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/siteviewer.273.LE.asp

jor el

Headshot wrote: »

but he can only get 1-2 bar 3G signal on the modem.

Even 1 bar is enough signal to get a decent browsing connection (no good for downloads), but signal strength and speed are not linked together. Even a good signal, or full strength signal, could have very low speed. It can all come down to capacity in the cell.

If he's got the NBS product, then Three can install a signal booster, which might help, but these will do nothing for the end user if capacity is the problem.

mshaw43488

if your brother is on the nbs scheme is signal is poor or youare getting speeds under 1mb at any time give three a ring on 1913 and tel them about it. its in the contract that the min speed must be at least 1.1mb at all times. they will first send a repeater then they will fit an outdoor antenna if all that fails to increase speed the will put you forward for the sat option.
also jor el is correct ifits network congestion the repeater or the outdoor antenna will do nothing even tho its showing full signal both are a waist of time and money push for the satellite option. have had it 2 weeks now a few teething problems at the start, with a few phone calls all is well now. skype is perfect now like a normal phone except the short delay but i would rather that than sound breaking up all the time.

ruffmut

As above if you are in the NBS area 3 have to provide the service. When I signed up a few weeks ago 3 sent out a repeater box to me. This has not worked so I am having an engineer out to me next Tesday to fit an outside aerial.

According to the engineer If I don't get a signal with the aerial they will send a report back to 3 who will then organize a satellite connection.

ubuntulinux

Headshot.

If your brother has a laptop,take it outside and test signal strength/speeds etc from there.If things do not improve then there is little hope of it working any better inside the building.

The current 3G mobile broadband networks are operating at high frequency(2100mhz) and these signals do not like obstructions or distance.Things will improve when the lower spectrum frequencies become available.

There are solutions,firstly some usb dongles have external antenna sockets and you can connect a directional outdoor antenna,however you will also need a 3G wireless router if you want to use a laptop in different rooms around the house.

Secondly a slightly more expensive option,you can purchase a 3G/UMTS active repeater and booster which will boost your 3G signal inside your home,to your 3G mobile phone,broadband dongle etc. <link removed>

As I mentioned above get your laptop and dongle ouside first and get testing to see the max your location is capable of.:)

jor el

You cannot install a 3G repeater yourself, as it would be illegal. Any 3G transmitter/repeater must be supplied and fitted by the operator.

ruffmut

3 send out repeaters to be self installed in the house. You get a unit and an aerial that sticks to a window. I have had not any lunck with it though.

mshaw43488

i would jst like to confirm that three send out the repeater and you install it yourself. which is simple to do , its a black box which a signal display on it, has a short wire with an antenna on it that sticks to the window. it does improve the signal but wont help with congestion issues was a waist of time for me.

watty

I suspect that is of dubious legality and that the "base" part should be installed by an authorised technician and bolted in place.

mshaw43488

the coiler repeater the comes with the external antenna is fitted by a tech and bolted to the wall

Sponge Bob

You gotta escalate through the NBS Helpdesk in 3 ....ensure your brother is on an NBS contract and is in an NBS area....BOTH.

If on standard 3 contract change to NBS contract first then hassle for the free repeater.

ubuntulinux

It is not illegal to purchase your own repeater and I doubt very much if "Three" or any of the other operators would take any notice as long as they are getting revenue,plus it saves them the cost.
If you rang Sky as a new subscriber and told them you did not want the free digibox as you were purchasing your own,think they would complain:mad:

watty

It *is* Illegal to use any active repeater you obtain, without Mobile company authorisation and advice.

A 3G repeater is an active transmitter on the Basestation TX channels. As such it may not be deployed without a licence. The Operator has such a licence.

A dumb repeater will re-transmit ALL cell-phone bases and if mis-installed will damage reception for nearby users of all operators.

A smart repeater is a modem connected by 5.x WiFi or cable to a femto cell (minature basestation). It has to be programmed to the correct channel to re-transmit on (usually different from the channel receiving on) and often the receive modem is locked to a channel. It's a much better solution than the "dumb" repeater but adds some latency.

You can buy either type, but legally they can only be installed by the Licenced Phone operator or their approved agent (which can be you on self installed).

It's illegal absolutely to install any "active" Repeater gear for GSM or 3G without it done under the operators licence. The "Dumb" Repeater inside part is only deployable in places with no signal at all so that it doesn't create interference. Such as underground carpack, inside of a metal building with k-glass or no windows.

It's not WiFi.

A passive repeater is simply a pair of aerials (outdoor and indoor) connected by cable with no amplifiers. That is totally legal.

ubuntulinux

jor el

Regarding a link removed by yourself in my first post on this thread to a perfectly legal product ,is it ok to dedicate a thread and links to a certain brand of 3G router and not the above!

Mode edit.
As far as I can see, that product uses licenced spectrum, without a licence. This is illegal. Do not post that link again.

Sponge Bob

That yoke seems illegal to me ( see Wattys explanation) ubuntulinux...only once you turn it on though

watty

ubuntulinux wrote: »

jor el

Regarding a link removed by yourself in my first post on this thread to a perfectly legal product ******* to dedicate a thread and links to a certain brand of 3G router and not the above!

Why repost link to "illegal to install" product and not the router then?
Are you selling these?

There is a thread for 3G routers. Put your router in it. Though if it's your shop you should ask the Moderator/Admin

See
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055506944

JonathanAnon

I had a client with one of those 3G booster things.. first one that I'd seen... really didnt make much difference..

like what ubuntulinux said above, check to see what the coverage is like outside, and on top of your house if possible.... that will determine whether there is any point in you proceeding with 3G broadband....

If you find that there is good coverage in any particular direction, you then have to work on how to deliver that signal to the part of the house where you have your computer.. i.e. whether using long USB cable, router with long ethernet cable, wireless router, etc etc.

watty

External Aerial on Modem that takes aerial (17dBi directional panel, try several directions),
Optionally Short USB cable
WiFi + Ethernet Router.

A repeater is inappropriate and much more expensive solution that doesn't even work as well.

ubuntulinux

It is perfectly LEGAL for "Three","Vodafone" or "O2" to install such a device in Ireland.Just curious to know why the link was removed and no I have no connection with the company and it is not a "Dodgy" box.;)

Sponge Bob

It is not legal for Watty or I to install one so it cannot possibly be legal for you

watty

ubuntulinux wrote: »

It is perfectly LEGAL for "Three","Vodafone" or "O2" to install such a device in Ireland.

If you search Comreg's Web site you will find that

• Meteor (Eircom, Singapore's STT)
• 3 (Hutchinson Whampoa Ireland, Hong Kong)
• O2 (Telefonica Spain)
• Vodafone (Originally answering machines in UK)

All have 3G licences.

An active repeater is either a Transmitter on 3G band, or a miniature base-station on 3G Band (2100MHz). The "dumb" Active repeaters (no base-station) can only be used in completely isolated environments such as underground car park.

The only transmitters that can be legally deployed by self purchase are SRD and Licence free CE marked devices listed by band by Comreg.

• "itrip" nanowatt SRD.
• CB radio (only device with more than 0.5W, and that can have any non-directional aerial).
• 27MHz SRD
• 49MHz SRD
• 433MHz SRD
• 446Mhz PMR "walkie talkie"
• 864 .. 870MHz SRD
• 2.4GHz WiFi and Video Senders
• 5.xGHz Wifi
• 10.45GHz SRD movement detector

(SRD = Short Range Device. Not all SRDs are CE approved and not all CE approved devices are legal to use in Ireland or all of EU look for /!\) mark added to CE (may be (!) )

A modem or phone handset is of course a transmitter, but it's ultimately controlled by the SIM and only transmits by operator permission on the channels authorised to the Operator. When you change the SIM to a different operator, you are actually changing the Licence it is covered by!

In the US they have phones without SIM (CDMA-1) but these are operator locked. Their rules on Transmitters and such are similar, but apply to different bands. User installed repeaters are seized regularly by FCC with large fines.

It's irresponsible to publish links to equipment on Forums for ordinary public that can't be used by ordinary Public. See how far you would get publishing links to all kinds of "legal to buy" things on Boards. I won't list the possibilities.


The Hobby Radio forum may have links to Transmitters that can only be used with an Amateur Radio licence. It would be irresponsible to have them in some other Forum here as it's illegal to operate them without a licence. The Hobby Radio forum charter makes it clear here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055083524 what is permitted and what isn't.

You can add links to any Router for 3G to any thread or to the 3G router thread as these need no licence.

jor el

ubuntulinux wrote: »

It is perfectly LEGAL for "Three","Vodafone" or "O2" to install such a device in Ireland.Just curious to know why the link was removed and no I have no connection with the company and it is not a "Dodgy" box.;)

It's legal for the operators to install a transmitter because they have the licence. I don't have a licence, nor do you, nor does any other private individual, so it would be illegal to set up a transmitter, just as it's illegal to set up a pirate radio station.

Wifi routers, and some other transmitter equipment, use unlicenced spectrum, so they're OK. A 3G repeater must be set up and owned by the operator. I don't know how that website is able to sell them, because it's illegal to do so in pretty much all of Europe anyway, and certainly illegal to buy one here in Ireland. That's why it was removed.

ubuntulinux

Watty

How could Comreg come down hard on any individual here when we clearly have overspill of signals from the mobile networks north of the border into the south and vice versa.
Have TMobile,Orange etc. been hauled before the courts here.