Advice needed on external 3G/4G antenna

s0000 wrote: »

Hi there,

I am hoping someone might have some advice here, I am using 4G wireless broadband from three on B525s-23a router, the signal strength where I am (Kilcoole Co.Wicklow) seems to be pretty crap recently, it was 4mbps download and about 6mbps upload...so purchased an external antenna (ATK-LOG ALP LTE MIMO 2x2 Antenna 800-3000MHz, 10m cables, SMA plug)
with 10m cables and mounted it to the chimney on the apex of the roof.


I hooked it up and did some speed tests, I noticed that I am getting 5Mbps download and 35Mpbs upload..

1. Can anyone offer any ideas why their is such a difference in the download and upload?
2. Can anyone suggest a way of determining the best position/orientation for the antenna?

1. Everyone is downloading, not that much traffic on upload.
2. Locate your ISP nearest 4G capable mast on site viewer map(click on red tags), point your antenna towards it.

You're in Wicklow. There won't be any quiet cells. You might find one is 8/40 while the next one is 4/40 but they'll all be heavily loaded.

In the past switching to Vodafone would have traded speed for caps but now they've raised their caps to come play in the mud with Three.

s0000 wrote: »

thanks ED E,

I suppose what your saying is the 4G is inferior to the landline alternative (in Wicklow anyway) ..
The marketing would have you believe that 4G wireless broadband is better than is really is..

Somewhat. Say there are 600 homes in an area. If they all have DSL lines at 2Mb they can all use their 2Mb away and be slow but consistent (1200Mb). Or if they all go onto one 150Mb LTE sector thats fine when 3 people are online but useless once 100 are online.

If Wicklow had good alternative options then the load would be much lower but precisely why you want to use the service is also the reason why it'll be slow as the same logic applies to those around you.

IMG_2520.JPG

hi lads, just opened poynting a xpol 0002 v2 now and instead of the two male sma i was expecting got whats in the picture, missing around 4m of cable as well.

What adapters do i need to make them connect to female sma???

I know it wont fix the signal issue but you could always get a smart plug such as tp-link hs100 and schedule it to reset the router once a week. I did this for a relative so I would not be called every couple of weeks to reset their B593 which also needed some power cycling, I had it powering off for a minute at 4am one of the days, haven't had a call for that issue since

Timmaay wrote: »

... Part the reason I'd like to have this in the home yard is I seem to have to regularly (every week or so) have to physically turn on and off the b593, which is a pain when I have to go over to the pumphouse.

You don't have to physically attend B593 - you can reboot it from Web interface(see ~6:15 into video, different model, but work same way).
Another, automated option, could be - introduce timer switch , i use them for Xmas lights when season comes. Lidl or Aldy have them time to time for less than tenner.

Hococop wrote: »

Just looking at these signal repeaters, tempted as my signal is still not great with the antenna, my only worry is they are expensive and I would hate if it ended up not working, just wondering if anyone has bought one and are they worth it?

The repeaters take the same input as an antenna. If that antenna is failing you its very unlikely a repeater will do any better.

Hococop wrote: »

Just looking at these signal repeaters, tempted as my signal is still not great with the antenna, my only worry is they are expensive and I would hate if it ended up not working, just wondering if anyone has bought one and are they worth it?

My brother purchased a Stelladoradus 900 MHz one a few years ago, after using cheap Far East imports over the years. The cheap units generally failed or didn't operate satisfactorily. The Stelladoradus unit is still going strong and without issues since.

Hi all,

I recently got a 4g aerial and set it up. The problem is that I was expecting a far better improvement in speed. I am about 0.5Km from the mast using a E5186.
here is the aerial i got.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Theta-Mobile-Broadband-Antenna-Aerial-Booster-4G-LTE-MIMO/392308894048?hash=item5b576ea960:g:5esAAOSwfx9c9Yjt

I was getting about 10-25 down and 5-12 up during peak times but now I am getting about 10-25 down and 20-40 up at peak times. While it does seem a lot more stable as before the connection was up and down now it is pretty consistent but still was expecting higher speeds.

When configuring the aerial is there some thing we can use to confirm the position is optimal area to pick up the signal from the mast. When setting up the aerial I just pointed it in the general direction of the mast.

Thanks

The one you linked looks used/display unit - clamp nut marks visible on steel bracket.
Judging by image, i got (some time ago, but still in use) same/similar areal.
Not claiming its best on market, but it does the job - it covers required bands.

Are you sure you are connecting to "that" mast and that "that" mast belongs to your ISP?
Can you confirm that "that" mast is 4G capable?
Can you confirm your modem is connecting 4G - 25Mbps down fits under 3G limit and is steady if i set my modem to "3G only" mode.

Speed is just what ISP provides, shared to all customers - with antenna you might have/achieve best available signal, but congestion is congestion, regardless what your expectations are.

grimeire wrote: »

Location cork and the mast is CK0541. I just seen it only transmits GSM. :mad::mad: I can not believe I did not see that.

Router says 4G signal is being received. I am aware of the congestion but was hoping to get some bit of an increase during peak times. as I get up to 60 down in offpeak times before fitting the aerial.

How can i discover which mast I am receiving the signal from?

See https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057916642 , some tips might be handy for you.

Cell mapper has no info about your area, so it will be up to yourself to map it, unless some one in your area could do it for you, i see south side is somewhat covered - ask for it and someone might reply.

gearoid! wrote: »

You try looking in your router admin dashboard. Go to Signal Status and find CELL ID.

Then look that up on comreg.

Can't remember if E5186 have ability to show cell ID or signal data (RSRQ, RSRP, SINR), but even if it does it wont match SITE ID given on ComReg .

Shot below show your nearest LTE capable masts (CK0009, CK0044) - try direct your antenna that way, also - ComReg could be outdated.
I have done without Cell Mapper assistance and was able to achieve "good" results, however, tuning is "labor intensive". Another thing, your situation is different as area is well populated.

Cell ID(from router log) vs Site ID (ComReg)
Site contains multiple cells

Out of the signal data vaules (RSRQ, RSRP, SINR) which is the most important?

I pointed the aerial in the direction of the left Mast(smuggler picture) as that is the side of the house the aerial is on and i am not getting much a of a difference in the values and am getting the same speeds. I thought the values would be well within the excellent range in the chart.

I was messing about with the direction and checking the status on my phone while accessing the router and was getting improved signal data results but after spending 30 mins moving the aerial the results aren't much better and fluctuate a lot.

Also i checked cell mapper and they have no reference to the 2 masts that are closest to me.

here is what I am currently getting.

RSRQ: -9dB
RSRP: -99dBm
RSSI: -67dBm
SINR: 2dB

on one refresh of the page i was getting RSRQ: -4 and RSRP: around 80 which are in the excellent range from ED E graph. but another refresh without moving the aerial is RSRQ: -13 and RSRP: around >100. Is that much of a fluctuation normal?

Any idea without taking into account objects in the line of sight what the best signal data i could hope to achieve is at around 1.2km from the mast.

Hi

Great thread, so helpful.

I currently have Eir Broadband maxing at 1.8mb.

I plan on getting up on my ladder where I plan putting the aerial with the phone and do a speed test with multiple providers to see which is best.

If the speed test on the phone is better than DSL I will proceed with installing an aerial and buying the router.

Can anyone advise is this a sensible approach to take?

Is Dipol the cheapest place to buy the aerial and cable?

Thanks

Peak would be 10-11PM with dusk currently being so late and the weather fine.


"Log in to view prices" = you're being ripped off in many instances. There might be something to be said for supporting a higher c-agg if you plan on keeping it a while and are not totally in the sticks (within 5k of a market town). B715 is a CAT9 device which if a cell gets upgraded can smooth out the peaks and troughs of high demand.

It is, but it can use 4x cell towers at once. In Ballygobackwards there is only 1-2 cells in an area so not much use but in Dublin there are sites with six. This is where it can be an advantage.

Depends on how long you intend to use the system.