Vodafone 4g 100m away options?

Timmaay

After spending the last god knows how many years in the utterly dark ages with eircoms "broadband" speed of 0.25mb/s, I changed my phone sim over to Vodafone, and see now that I can get well over 10mb/s out on the farm here, however there is a very poor signal around the house itself, I can see a bunch of trees roughly 1k between the house and the mast which are obviously blocking the signal, however about 100m away, the signal is alot better. I can probably mount some sort of router out on the shed and use a long range wifi transmitter to spread it across the whole yard and house, likes of this http://www.farmwifi.com/broadband/home/25-farmyard-wifi-access-point.html I was thinking. Am I on the right track here? What sort of router would I need, would the b593 work, can it be linked up to the likes of the wifi AP kit above?

Or would the likes of a 3/4G antenna like this http://www.farmwifi.com/broadband/home/73-3g4g-antenna.html be better, it will almost definitely link to the b593, however I'd need a longer cable with it, and I'd be worried the b593 wouldn't have the range to reach the house. I'd also like to install a calving camera in one of the sheds, likes of http://www.farmwifi.com/broadband/home/16-wireless-ip-farm-camera-single.html this one, so I'm thinking the yard wifi AP would work best with this?

Or am I totally on the wrong path here ha? Any opinions welcome!

ED E

Should all be fine. Get a ladder and test theres good reception where you want to place it first. If its only ok now it may get worse in spring when the trees grow out.

List:
1. Pole or post to mount on
2. B593
3. Weatherproof box
4. Ubiquiti Nanostation directed at the house

If the shed already has mains power then that keeps it simple for you as thats most peoples issue with external mounting. You can run an ethernet cable down from the 593 into the shed and directly connect a camera. Inside the house you can directly connect to the Nanostation or if the walls are thick or you're hitting the gable end you can install a second nanostation and a wifi access point indoors.

Ten Pin

Maybe try out a Meteor sim aswell to see what their coverage is like. The other providers are all on Three so unless you're really lucky I wouldn't bother trying their sim.

Check also Vodafone 3G (in your phone settings>preferred network type). It may be more stable.

Check dipol.ie for price comparison of equipment.

Timmaay

I've gone and checked the 4g download speeds at various places around the farm, and our pumphouse (small shed over a well for water, also has power) definitely has more reliable speeds than the other shed (I can see the mast from it, no fear of any tree cover either). It is about 3 or 400m from my house though, however the nanostation appears to be well strong enough to reach this. My only issue will be needed to punch abit of a hole through some light treecover between my house and the nanostation, that's not much of problem. From reading up about nanostations, the cheaper model "loco" seems well enough up to the job, however I might need one on the house also? And either m2 or m5, the 2.4mhz is better if there is any interference? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I4QK8O0/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid= A pair of them is coming in around 120euros so not the worst.

And finally, now that the router will be away from the shed with the calving camera, but still within a reasonably close angle of the nanostation over the pumphouse, can I put up a 3rd nanostation on the roof of the calving shed and link both nanostations into the one on the pumphouse roof? Or will I need another pair of them? As an alternative, I do have a set of powerline wifi extender plugs here, the house and shed wiring are off the same transformer, but different circuit boards, does that rule it out being an option?

ED E

2.4 is slightly better for range/penetration, 5Ghz dodges interference.

Powerline won't work if there are two separate RCBOs which it sounds like there is.

If you have a point on the pumphouse and a link to two other locations, one for the cam and one for the houses AP it should all be dandy. Remember you can always run fibre btw if youd rather leave the trees in.

Timmaay

ED E wrote: »

2.4 is slightly better for range/penetration, 5Ghz dodges interference.

Powerline won't work if there are two separate RCBOs which it sounds like there is.

If you have a point on the pumphouse and a link to two other locations, one for the cam and one for the houses AP it should all be dandy. Remember you can always run fibre btw if youd rather leave the trees in.

Defo leaving the trees in, would just be clearing afew branches to reduce interference. A very quick Google of a fibre cable is telling me 1.5e/m cable, then another 200e min for converters, plus all the hassle of burying the cables, I couldn't see much change from 1000quid once I have it done, against the 150e for a few nanostations?

nagel

I have a similar set up to what you are proposing 500 meters between house and shed with branches trimmed , using locos m2's its working grand. if your using the locos get the proper screened cat5 cable between the poe unit and the loco's
using the speed test feature,of the locos it shows a throughput of 40mb both directions. one thing that I am considering is putting in an gsm switch to reset the router in case it needs to be re-booted

Timmaay

nagel wrote: »

I have a similar set up to what you are proposing 500 meters between house and shed with branches trimmed , using locos m2's its working grand. if your using the locos get the proper screened cat5 cable between the poe unit and the loco's
using the speed test feature,of the locos it shows a throughput of 40mb both directions. one thing that I am considering is putting in an gsm switch to reset the router in case it needs to be re-booted

I've an unused wifi mains switch plug, that should work also?

nagel

if you have a problem at the far end with a loco your wifi mains switch will be no good.. having said I only had 2 issues with the locos over 2 years

funnyname

Similar question so I'll piggyback here if that's ok rather than starting up a new thread.

4g is good in spots where I am, I need to hangout of the window to get a good signal. Currently getting 5mb with Eir so thinking about getting the following two items and attaching the antenna to the side of the house and then running the cables from the antenna to the router and then connecting my home network to the router. Any ideas on which antenna is the best to get?

http://www.irishwireless.net/3g-4g-antennas

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-B593s-22-Unlocked-Wireless-Router/dp/B009QW3ZG4/

Timmaay

funnyname wrote: »

Similar question so I'll piggyback here if that's ok rather than starting up a new thread.

4g is good in spots where I am, I need to hangout of the window to get a good signal. Currently getting 5mb with Eir so thinking about getting the following two items and attaching the antenna to the side of the house and then running the cables from the antenna to the router and then connecting my home network to the router. Any ideas on which antenna is the best to get?

http://www.irishwireless.net/3g-4g-antennas

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-B593s-22-Unlocked-Wireless-Router/dp/B009QW3ZG4/

Supposedly the two little 6/8inch antenna on the 593 really help boost the signal and speeds also, that is all that I ordered. I've heard the length of the wire on the 4g antenna has a huge effect on how much gain you'll get, your better off mounting the router high up in the house and use a short cable to the external antenna rather than say put the route in the ground floor and run a long cable down. I'd assume a directional antenna would be better than an omni one, and point it at your local mast also.

5m/s doesn't sound like the worst from eircom (certainly compared to my 0.25 haha), you might get really good 20/30m/s download now with 4g, but if there are loads of people using 4g from your local mast what will it drop to is the question?

funnyname

I'd say I'd only have to run about 5m of wire for the antenna, I'll check later on Google re the max length that should be used.

Be aware that the signal can change. I was getting a steady 12 to 14 from vodafone 3G in January but am getting a max of 3 to 4 now, even at 5am...

Timmaay

Got the router and nanostations today. Possible a stupid question, what do I connect the nanostation on my own house to ha? Or does it act like a wifi repeater and send the signal around the house anyways?

funnyname

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Be aware that the signal can change. I was getting a steady 12 to 14 from vodafone 3G in January but am getting a max of 3 to 4 now, even at 5am...

This is about what I get most times I do a test.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1781824508

nagel

Timmay,

which nanostations did you get?
have you configured them yet?
#to test them out you can use an computer/laptop with an Ethernet port
if you have all that done youll need a ordinary wifi router at the local end

Timmaay

nagel wrote: »

Timmay,

which nanostations did you get?
have you configured them yet?
#to test them out you can use an computer/laptop with an Ethernet port
if you have all that done youll need a ordinary wifi router at the local end

Done nothing yet with them, put the Vodafone Sim from my phone into the 593, was only getting one bar of signal on it, the APN auto set to a Vodafone one, but still no joy getting Internet on it. This was in a location that I was getting 3bars on the phone and 15m/s download. Picked up a 3 Sim this morning and will try later. They are loco nanostations, wasn't much info in the box on setting them up 2bh.

nagel

timmay,


with regard to your phone's sim in the b593 you you may need to set the apn to live.vodafone.com
I have found vodafone a little more awkward than the rest
for three if you set up the apn to auto it should work
are they nanostation locos m2,s , why I ask is that if you are having problems setting them up, if they are the same as what I have
I could send you the config files that I have.

jay93

If it's a phone SIM your APN needs to be set to live.vodafone.com or the Internet will not work give this a try it should work.

Timmaay

Thanks, that worked grand, needed to put in a three apn also. Have both working on the 593, but still only 1 bar of signal, against 3 or 4 on the phone which is confusing. This is at the location I'm hoping to put the 593, so may have to rethink things. Next step is to try a slightly different location that I can actually see two masts from though ha.

gctest50

you can put external "outdoor" antennas on the 593

nagel

Timmaay,

did you do a speedtest from the 593 when you had 1 bar

Timmaay

nagel wrote: »

timmay,


with regard to your phone's sim in the b593 you you may need to set the apn to live.vodafone.com
I have found vodafone a little more awkward than the rest
for three if you set up the apn to auto it should work
are they nanostation locos m2,s , why I ask is that if you are having problems setting them up, if they are the same as what I have
I could send you the config files that I have.

Yep please do, I got into the configuration but it's a little complicated for my liking ha.

nagel

timmay,

are they nanostation m2's pm me

Timmaay

Taking my time with all of this, as my IP/networking knowledge was very limited, however I've got the nano at the 593 side setup as a AP, and broadcasting towards my house, with a static IP address. I can hook my phone and laptop to this network once I set myown device to have a static IP address also. However I've failed to setup the 2nd nano to receive the Internet on my house yet (set to router mode). Also not getting a great signal, the trees in the way are obviously hugely hindering the signal. However it's all progress and I've learn a fair bit about networking the last few days so will keep plugging away and hopefully get it running over the next day or so.

gctest50

you'd need to set the second Nanostation to "STATION" mode

( ignore other settings in the picture )

Timmaay

If only I lived in the middle of ballsbridge! http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1804457641

Anyways, yep had the nano set to station mode. Tried assigning a static IP to my laptop but no joy either. I'm just trying to get both nanos to talk to each other using a fixed cable between the receiver nano and the laptop. Step after that will be to connect the receiver nano to a router and set it up as an AP to the house. Got my IP camera also, still trying to juggle how I'll set that up, in terms of trees and line of sight it might make sense to put the receiver nano on the shed with the calving camera, and get a very good router which will broadcast all over the yard and my house.

nagel

timmaay,

any updates on this

Timmaay

Still no joy getting Internet on the station nano yet ugh. I've ran through afew different youtube setups, and tried a WDS setup between the nanos but no luck. Actually one question, should my laptop be left with a static IP after I've finished setting up the nanos?

nagel

what settings have you used for the network role under the network tab i've mine set to bridged

Timmaay

Ok finally finally got the nanos to talk to eachother, this youtube video proved to be very helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx8FWBjhkrc

However I needed to uncheck "Auto IP Aliasing" under the network tab which was checked on my nanos but not the chap in the video, he's nanos are on a v5.5 fireware, mine are v5.6, also I put in WPA2 security for the wifi between them whereas there was none in the video.

Next up see how well the station nano works at the house, and setup a router at the house, I've 3 or 4 old eircom routers, d1000s etc, time to mess around with one of them, anyone had any joy with one?