Aerial for 3 mobile data

Aodhan5000

Hi all,
So because I'm living in rural Ireland I use mobile data from the network 3 to get WiFi. I use a dongle for this right now (some Huawei model) which seems to have 2 ports for an aerial. Would it be possible to set up an aerial outside and connect it with the dongle inside, how would this be done and would it make a difference? Cheers

ED E

Cart before the horse.

Dump the dongle, get an LTE router. Then add antennas if required.

Aodhan5000

I would've tried that but there's an lte router already in the house and it isn't as good as the dongle

Marlow

Yep .. you can connect an external aerial to that. Ebay is your friend.

This thing works brill: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Omni-Directional-4G-LTE-MIMO-3G-External-Antenna-Huawei-B315-B310-B593-B525/231284385944

You may need some adapters to fit the dongle.

/M

Nowso

dont make a lot of difference - try moving where u get better signal - ie window updates with back to the glass

listermint

Nowso wrote: »

dont make a lot of difference - try moving where u get better signal - ie window updates with back to the glass

An external aerial doesn't make a difference?

Is this a windup..

niallb

I used this antenna - seems to be the same one as @marlow linked to, but an Irish source and maybe a bit cheaper (€75 with VAT).

Poynting Xpol-a0001

It consistently got my speeds from around 4Mb up to 25Mb.

I'm a little surprised you feel your dongle is much faster than the LTE router you already have.
Have you used them in exactly the same place? Same SIM in each? Are you locking to a 4G signal on both?

What are the model numbers on the two devices?
I had several models of both and in general the performance of the larger routers left the dongles way behind without an antenna.
Adding to that the improved wifi coverage, it made it much more flexible about placing the router for best signal too.

orm0nd

Nowso wrote: »

dont make a lot of difference - try moving where u get better signal - ie window updates with back to the glass

with aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854900270.png




without aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854905024.png

coolisin

orm0nd wrote: »

with aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854900270.png




without aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854905024.png

Wow!
What speeds does it drop to at night!

Aodhan5000

@niallb Ya I'm pretty sure the dongle outclasses it just in general. Don't know what the model numbers are right now but even if the modem was faster I wouldn't bother getting one because I should be able to get a Huawei B315 for free in a few months

orm0nd

coolisin wrote: »

Wow!
What speeds does it drop to at night!

I'm rarely at home in the evenings and it would be under load , but any time I log into the cctv cams remotely , they load up without delay

niallb

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

@niallb Ya I'm pretty sure the dongle outclasses it just in general. Don't know what the model numbers are right now but even if the modem was faster I wouldn't bother getting one because I should be able to get a Huawei B315 for free in a few months

Does that mean that the LTE Router you mentioned earlier is being used by somebody else in the house? Did you ever get to try it with the same SIM you put in the "dongle"?

Aodhan5000

@niallb Ya the rest of the family are using an lte router in the other end of the house. I'll try my sim in it again when I get a chance but like I said I'm getting a modem for free in a few months so I won't be getting a new one no matter what the result

Aodhan5000

I'm planning on going ahead and buying the aerial but just wanted to know if anyone knows if my dongle is compatibile with it in terms of software. The dongle model is a Huawei E3372

Ultimanemo

Marlow wrote: »

Yep .. you can connect an external aerial to that. Ebay is your friend.

This thing works brill: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Omni-Directional-4G-LTE-MIMO-3G-External-Antenna-Huawei-B315-B310-B593-B525/231284385944

You may need some adapters to fit the dongle.

/M

I have two of those, they work fine, but when the network is congested they make no difference

Aodhan5000

When you say congested do you mean when lots of people from your local area are using 3 or when lots if people across the country are using it and do you live in a rural or urban area?

Ultimanemo

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

When you say congested do you mean when lots of people from your local area are using 3 or when lots if people across the country are using it and do you live in a rural or urban area?

I live in a semi rural area, at 4 am the speed goes as high as 60 mbps, between 8 and 11 pm it goes as down as 1 mbps.
I don't how but I guess more people are using the same mast in the evening.

Aodhan5000

I'm living in a pretty dam rural area and it's on top of a decent size hill so I'm hoping that might improve my chances of getting higher speeds

Aodhan5000

This could be a very stupid question but is a TS9 connector the same as a TS5 connector? From What I gather they're the same but I just want to be sure.

Jakey Rolling

I use one of those diamond Omni antennas stuck OUTSIDE my window - get good enough signal for 20-30Mbps at roughly 8 km from the mast.

Could get only poor signal inside, the coated glass seems to provide a significant block to the 4G signal. Using Huawei B593 midem and it is solid, maybe have to restart every couple of months.

AirBiscuit

Old thread I know but I figured I'd weigh in with a more DIY system than those Omni yokes: I use the old UHF antenna that we had in the attic for TV for decades because it should (in theory anyways) be the right size for improving signal on Band 20 (800MHz).

I'm using a 4G router that has SMA connections for the antennae, the TP-Link Archer MR200 from Argos (the Huawei B525 Three are selling will also work) as the ports on the back are for external 4G antennae rather than for the Wifi signal.
The antenna is connected to the router using a PAL connector to SMA adapter https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0788LZZCX/

This only works because the antenna doesn't have 4G filtering built in whereas anything new you get in shops these days is likely to have it.

Here are the results:
Before:



After:


It increases the upload speed much higher and makes it much more stable as opposed to working in bursts like it does with only the standard antennae that came with the router

niallb

AirBiscuit wrote: »

Old thread I know but I figured I'd weigh in with a more DIY system than those Omni yokes: I use the old UHF antenna that we had in the attic for TV for decades because it should (in theory anyways) be the right size for improving signal on Band 20 (800MHz).

This only works because the antenna doesn't have 4G filtering built in whereas anything new you get in shops these days is likely to have it.
...

Hmm.
I have one of those in the garage, and I'd say a lot of people would find one handy enough!

Jakey Rolling

AirBiscuit wrote: »

Old thread I know but I figured I'd weigh in with a more DIY system than those Omni yokes: I use the old UHF antenna that we had in the attic for TV for decades because it should (in theory anyways) be the right size for improving signal on Band 20 (800MHz).

I'm using a 4G router that has SMA connections for the antennae, the TP-Link Archer MR200 from Argos (the Huawei B525 Three are selling will also work) as the ports on the back are for external 4G antennae rather than for the Wifi signal.
The antenna is connected to the router using a PAL connector to SMA adapter https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0788LZZCX/

This only works because the antenna doesn't have 4G filtering built in whereas anything new you get in shops these days is likely to have it.

Here are the results:
Before:



After:


It increases the upload speed much higher and makes it much more stable as opposed to working in bursts like it does with only the standard antennae that came with the router

Have you tried rotating that antenna though 90 degrees? Would be interested to see the effect on d/l speed. Did you use only one of the SMA connectors on the modem? These 4G modems are normally Multi In Multi Out (MIMO), with one antenna for horizontal polarisation, the other for vertical. Not sure how the upload /download traffic is distributed across these.

I have a purpose designed Yagi covering 800-1800Mhz, didn't have much success with it but that was Indoors. Must rig it up again outdoors to compare with my omni antenna.

AirBiscuit

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Have you tried rotating that antenna though 90 degrees? Would be interested to see the effect on d/l speed. Did you use only one of the SMA connectors on the modem? These 4G modems are normally Multi In Multi Out (MIMO), with one antenna for horizontal polarisation, the other for vertical. Not sure how the upload /download traffic is distributed across these.

I have a purpose designed Yagi covering 800-1800Mhz, didn't have much success with it but that was Indoors. Must rig it up again outdoors to compare with my omni antenna.

Rotating it didn't seem to make a difference on the day of those tests, but granted those tests were done with me holding the antenna in my hands and aiming it as best I could to the mast

It seems to make a difference which connector it's in, but for this one the aim of the game was better upload so it was just a matter of testing until I found out which was which.

Some more speedtests for comparison on the polarisation
Both vertical (single connection mode)



Attic antenna vertical, Small antenna horizontal (single connection mode)


The plan for the future is to make an 1800MHz Yagi of my own which should make a MUCH bigger difference considering the tower everything is currently pointed at is actually Band 3, but having trouble finding the parts

MuddyDog

Just got one of these over at Irish Wireless. Once delivered and setup I'll share the results. Will be using with the Huawei Dongle box.

mookishboy

I have used these on a number of 3,vodafone and Eir routers
https://www.dipolnet.com/lte_mimo_antenna_atk-log_lte_800-2170mhz_10m_cable_sma_plug__A7056_10.htm


Work great.

Ultimanemo

mookishboy wrote: »

I have used these on a number of 3,vodafone and Eir routers
https://www.dipolnet.com/lte_mimo_antenna_atk-log_lte_800-2170mhz_10m_cable_sma_plug__A7056_10.htm


Work great.

Did you use it with 10m cable?

mookishboy

yes. the 10m cable worked well

orm0nd

orm0nd wrote: »

with aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854900270.png




without aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854905024.png

somebody pm'd me re which aerial I am using but I deleted it accidently. for any body interested it's order no: 60072 on the following link

https://www.wimo.com/lte-4g-antennas_e.html

Jakey Rolling

orm0nd wrote: »

orm0nd wrote: »

with aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854900270.png




without aerial



http://www.speedtest.net/result/7854905024.png

somebody pm'd me re which aerial I am using but I deleted it accidently. for any body interested it's order no: 60072 on the following link

https://www.wimo.com/lte-4g-antennas_e.html

Yep, that's the one I tried out, didn't give much improvement using it inside the window. Must rig it up outside and try again, it's currently got 10m of cable.

Just one thing, how far from the transmitter are you, as 40Mbps with no antenna is pretty good? I'm 8km from tx, and I read somewhere that bandwidth may be automatically backed off for users outside a certain range (to avoid excessive retransmit). Think that was on Editor Sean's page.

orm0nd

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

Yep, that's the one I tried out, didn't give much improvement using it inside the window. Must rig it up outside and try again, it's currently got 10m of cable.

Just one thing, how far from the transmitter are you, as 40Mbps with no antenna is pretty good? I'm 8km from tx, and I read somewhere that bandwidth may be automatically backed off for users outside a certain range (to avoid excessive retransmit). Think that was on Editor Sean's page.

are we talking about the same aerial ?

there are 2 aerials and the stacking distance between them is vital for them to work correctly

I about 10kms from mast . which is actually on a commercial mast in the town so not intended for us out in the sticks