Options for an outdoor Internet relay

darrenheaphy

I live in a rural area so can't get DSL broadband. Vodafone’s and Three’s 4G is extremely inconsistent and even though there the cluster of 4G masts and providers like Alphawave and Imagine are available there, I can't benefit from them. The topography of the land is such the house drops below the signal area, it basically skims across the top of the house approx 70m up and it gets quite windy here.


The problem is that we live on the top edge of a hill within a valley, beyond the ridge is the cluster of masts that Imagine would need to point to. The alternative masts are much too far away.

There is, however, a relay station of sorts that’s permanently powered which I have line of sigh for. I don’t yet know who owns it (it’s not listed on the comreg site like other masts) but I assuming I do find out and assuming I get permission, I want to see if I can get some like

My question is whether anyone knows what hardware I would need to relay the signal and receive it. I’m not sure if it’s a standard wireless broadcast albeit strong enough to direct to us or something else entirely. Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!

I've added some beautiful artwork too.

darrenheaphy

Friendly bump Any one have any suggestions? In short I have a mast that's only 700m away broadcasting 4G and Imagine's wireless service but, due our house hugging the elevation drop we don't have line of sight. Consequently we can't get Imagine and 4G is sketchy.

There's a station to which we do have line of sight that I *assume* I could use to bounce/relay traffic from/to house/mast. No idea if that would introduce high latency or is impractical but any advice is appreciated!

darrenheaphy

That's great advice, thank you. You're right, the masts which do provide line of sight are too far away.

We're tantalisingly close to the mast behind the house as you can see from this fancy drawing it skims across the top of the house so I end up with a middling signal

I tried an omnidirectional router before but it seemed to make 0 difference, so much so I wonder if the damn thing was actually working

darrenheaphy

Here's a survey Ripplecom helpfully did years ago, Imagine LTE were super helpful too, they tried twice to get it to work. Even now that Coillte have cut the trees down it doesn't really make a difference

darrenheaphy

Which is why I was thinking that mast to the right of the house could be a relay for me but no how idea how practical it is. Could I, for example, power a 4G antenna there and bounce that to my house? Or install Imagine receiver there and broadcast across to my house?

ED E

Sorry I missed this before, just my kinda thread.

Going to embed images for easy reading:

ED E

Is the relay basically in the middle of a field? If I had to guess I'd say it was placed by ESBN to link reporting stations. Really thats a guess though. Its not MNO gear anyways.

darrenheaphy

Thank you. You think it impractical therefore to attach a device to that unit and relay to me?

ED E

IMHO forget Imagine. Taking that lets look at the MNOs.

You're quite close to the macro site at Corbally Wood transmitter(1442-Three) but as you say over the profile of the land. Directly opposite you is Carrigadoon hill.



You probably can't see it with the naked eye but its there. The antenna is actually taller than 1m so profile is safer than that image suggests.

Id suggest trying standing on a ladder with a three SIM around 9PM (when its not windy like today) and see what kinda reception is there. Even if its only mediocre you can then get a directional antenna straight towards the other site.

Update: Cellmapper shows B20 reaching the same distance down the N24 to your south so you should definitely be in range for the 800Mhz block. A proper antenna on a decent unit could get you B20 +B3 (maybe B1 too) and that'd be a really solid link assuming not massive congestion.

fenris

That looks to mostly have microwave links (round ones), with a few local cellular and other antennae, the microwave links are pure point to point and effectively the equivalent of a direct cable, so they are most likely the backhaul for the cell and whatever else is on the site such as telemetry for the ESB etc. going back into the network, so there is likely nothing for you there.

It looks like there is another house / structure on the same contour line between you and the site in the field, is that a neighbour that has a good connection?
if so it may be worth having a chat and coming to an arrangement where you pay to get a second broadband setup and also put in a point to point wifi or similar setup, some operators can provide a pico cell that will allow you to backhaul your mobile across the wifi where you are at home, my brother has this kind of arrangement with a neighbour who.

Another thing worth looking into are some of the solutions designed for boats as they have a similar requirement for connecting to weak wifi/4G, the link below gives a starting point.
https://www.yachtingworld.com/gear-reviews/best-4g-wifi-boosters-work-from-yacht-127374

darrenheaphy

That's an interesting idea. Is there a way to *force* a connection to that mast rather than picking up a signal from the Corbally one (which I assume is bouncing off terrain which is what my router catches today)?

Is there any reason why you think I should try with Three?

ED E

Three's 20E/28 days plan cannot be beaten. VF are a shadow of their former self IMO. I use both networks daily, Three's reliably faster in Dublin despite carrying much more consumer traffic.

A directional antenna would encourage your router to latch to the cell its aimed at. It can still be swamped by the closer source and then you'd require a router that lets you specify a cell. Smuggler.ie (username) on here does that so check his posts.

darrenheaphy

fenris wrote: »

That looks to mostly have microwave links (round ones), with a few local cellular and other antennae, the microwave links are pure point to point and effectively the equivalent of a direct cable, so they are most likely the backhaul for the cell and whatever else is on the site such as telemetry for the ESB etc. going back into the network, so there is likely nothing for you there.

It looks like there is another house / structure on the same contour line between you and the site in the field, is that a neighbour that has a good connection?
if so it may be worth having a chat and coming to an arrangement where you pay to get a second broadband setup and also put in a point to point wifi or similar setup, some operators can provide a pico cell that will allow you to backhaul your mobile across the wifi where you are at home, my brother has this kind of arrangement with a neighbour who.

Another thing worth looking into are some of the solutions designed for boats as they have a similar requirement for connecting to weak wifi/4G, the link below gives a starting point.
https://www.yachtingworld.com/gear-reviews/best-4g-wifi-boosters-work-from-yacht-127374

Yeah that's true, was just thinking of that. So get 4G to his house and find some hardware to relay to mine ...

smuggler.ie

Hi all

Just to be clear - i have not found way to select mast for my router(s) .
This achieved by directional antenna pointing toward it. To eliminate "side tracking" from other masts i even had this setup - ugly, but did help. Removed from the roof now as it was threatening to take chimney down on stormy days.

All i able to do so far is to force band. For that i am testing LTE H-Monitor , free version. *For Huawei routers only. **Use on your own risk.

Have two setups, both on Three, pointing same mast(4km):
B818+Iskra P58 L700(on the roof) and B525+whatever brand this is(on the wall, 1.5m off ground)

Latest observation:
B1(2100)=good speed, especially off peak, but got side effect, where router jumps onto cell, that is ~10km in opposite 90° direction, and back, causing disconnects.
B3(1800)=good speed and consistent connection, almost no disconnects
B20(800)= ~10% of speed i get on B3

Course, speeds differ between B818 and B525.


I suggest, before investing into equipment, you gather more info about mast/cell/band your are connecting now:
log in to your router web GUI
on new tab in browser, paste this line and hit “Enter” (should work on B528, not sure about TP)

view-source:http://YourRrouterIPHere/api/device/signal


take note of CellID and band, verify to cellmapper. Consider installing cellmapper app on the phone. Consider test LTE H-monitor on PC to "play" with bands.

Attempt to hit 10km distant mast is somewhat doable, but with local mast just over your head - not guarantied. As anything in midband

darrenheaphy

That's some great feedback, thank you very much smuggler. I'll try the suggestions, once Vodafone outage is resolved (the local Corbally Mast stopped working, so they say).

One more question if I may, given I don't have LOS to mast but am within 1km in a straight line, would a directional mast such as yours be of benefit do you think?

smuggler.ie

darrenheaphy wrote: »

One more question if I may, given I don't have LOS to mast but am within 1km in a straight line, would a directional mast such as yours be of benefit do you think?

Directional antenna you mean...
I dont know if anyone would be able to tell you that without actual test, not me anyway.
Its still antenna and it will be catching signal as long it is there. It most likely will be weaker than direct line.

What speeds ~ you currently have?
You said you had omni antenna with no benefit - was router set to use external antenna?
Did you got reading from your router re band in use?

As you with Vodafone and non reported on cellmapper so far you would need to map cells in your area with that app. Well, we know its there but no ID's and bands. I believe 3, 20 will be there as it looks like proper site.
For what its worth, you don't know if you are connecting to your local, or to the one 10 km away all the time

Also, those trees behind the house - is there more free space behind them? Can you see signal reception there?