Improving 4G signal and bandwidth
Discussion
Currently using the Huawei 618b router and a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 Cross Polarised 4G Omni LTE Antenna.
Download speeds are around 20Mbps down and 10Mbps up, off peak i can see 60Mbps down and 30Mpbs up.
However today it's dropped to about 10Mbps down and 2Mps up, which causes an problem when both myself and my partner are both on conference calls.
I know that 4G isn't a constant and there are many variables that need to be taken into consideration to account for bandwidth throughput. But if i were to upgrade to a Huawei 818b router (CAT19) and a better antenna (please recommend), would it be fair to say that i should be able to see an improvement in bandwidth in both directions?
Download speeds are around 20Mbps down and 10Mbps up, off peak i can see 60Mbps down and 30Mpbs up.
However today it's dropped to about 10Mbps down and 2Mps up, which causes an problem when both myself and my partner are both on conference calls.
I know that 4G isn't a constant and there are many variables that need to be taken into consideration to account for bandwidth throughput. But if i were to upgrade to a Huawei 818b router (CAT19) and a better antenna (please recommend), would it be fair to say that i should be able to see an improvement in bandwidth in both directions?
With EE at the moment, and i've tried Vodafone,3 and O2 Sims in the router; EE giving the best speeds at the moment.
Would a directional give that much more of an improvement over a bi-directional and is there one that's recommended?
Also at the moment, the antenna has 5 meters of cables, running to the back of the router.
If i were to increase the cable length to circa 10 meters, so the antenna can go onto the chimney stack, would that have a negative impact on data transmission, to the router? Or would it be negligible?
Would a directional give that much more of an improvement over a bi-directional and is there one that's recommended?
Also at the moment, the antenna has 5 meters of cables, running to the back of the router.
If i were to increase the cable length to circa 10 meters, so the antenna can go onto the chimney stack, would that have a negative impact on data transmission, to the router? Or would it be negligible?
bunchofkeys said:
If i were to increase the cable length to circa 10 meters, so the antenna can go onto the chimney stack, would that have a negative impact on data transmission, to the router? Or would it be negligible?
There _will_ be a -ve impact, how much will depend on a number of factors, including the quality of the cable. However, hopefully that would be outweighed by the gains from the stronger signal.M
Have you tried moving the router round the house with/without the aerial attached? To see where you get the best signal.
How much data are you getting through?
I ha e an 818 without an external aerial and get great reception without an aerial - am out in the sticks. But everywhere varies.
Does the interface show what signal you're getting? (3G, 4G, 4G+)...I get 4G+ and think that's needed for higher end speeds.
How much data are you getting through?
I ha e an 818 without an external aerial and get great reception without an aerial - am out in the sticks. But everywhere varies.
Does the interface show what signal you're getting? (3G, 4G, 4G+)...I get 4G+ and think that's needed for higher end speeds.
Murph7355 said:
Have you tried moving the router round the house with/without the aerial attached? To see where you get the best signal.
How much data are you getting through?
I ha e an 818 without an external aerial and get great reception without an aerial - am out in the sticks. But everywhere varies.
Does the interface show what signal you're getting? (3G, 4G, 4G+)...I get 4G+ and think that's needed for higher end speeds.
Not able to move the router around the house, as i have the external antenna installed at the back of the house, which is the side of the house that faces the cell tower that services my area. Checked on CellMapper. How much data are you getting through?
I ha e an 818 without an external aerial and get great reception without an aerial - am out in the sticks. But everywhere varies.
Does the interface show what signal you're getting? (3G, 4G, 4G+)...I get 4G+ and think that's needed for higher end speeds.
Pulling down about 500GB, and uploading around 80GB a month.
From my understanding, the 818 has 4xMIMO internal antennas, compared to 2xMIMO on the 618.
But if my external antenna has 2xMIMO, then surly i would need to change this to match that of the 818?
Or does this not matter at all, because it is an external antenna?
bunchofkeys said:
From my understanding, the 818 has 4xMIMO internal antennas, compared to 2xMIMO on the 618.
But if my external antenna has 2xMIMO, then surly i would need to change this to match that of the 818?
Or does this not matter at all, because it is an external antenna?
In theory, all you need is a single antenna, pointing in the right direction. The 4x MIMO antenna system is simply making it easier for the 818 to pick up a signal from any direction.But if my external antenna has 2xMIMO, then surly i would need to change this to match that of the 818?
Or does this not matter at all, because it is an external antenna?
Caveat - My knowledge on RF & antenna design is a bit rusty these days but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to critique my comment.
M
I tried a omni directional where I am. Which is fairly remote and its a weird arrangement of local 4g masts that means 3g is my only reliable connection with a decent speed.
It made things worse so I returned it - my understanding is that a directional is better in these situations where maybe the local masts are fewer or further apart so you can lock onto the best option.
There are some mast maps that can give you an idea of whats around you. Amazon do a no questions asked returns, so you could always try an external and see if it improves things?
It made things worse so I returned it - my understanding is that a directional is better in these situations where maybe the local masts are fewer or further apart so you can lock onto the best option.
There are some mast maps that can give you an idea of whats around you. Amazon do a no questions asked returns, so you could always try an external and see if it improves things?
camel_landy said:
In theory, all you need is a single antenna, pointing in the right direction. The 4x MIMO antenna system is simply making it easier for the 818 to pick up a signal from any direction.
Caveat - My knowledge on RF & antenna design is a bit rusty these days but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to critique my comment.
M
Certainly fir WiFi, MIMO benefits bandwidth as you get a degree of parallelism. I don't know if that holds true for 4G though. My impression from a quick google is that it is implementation dependant: https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/connect...Caveat - My knowledge on RF & antenna design is a bit rusty these days but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to critique my comment.
M
OP, what you don't know is the cause of the loss in performance at busy times. If it is that the link from the base station you're using to the rest of the providers network is saturated, then antenna upgrades aren't going to help.
I don't know if it is also worth evaluating Starlink or any full blown WISPs in the area?
Murph7355 said:
Have you tried moving the router round the house with/without the aerial attached? To see where you get the best signal.
How much data are you getting through?
I ha e an 818 without an external aerial and get great reception without an aerial - am out in the sticks. But everywhere varies.
Does the interface show what signal you're getting? (3G, 4G, 4G+)...I get 4G+ and think that's needed for higher end speeds.
I echo this. The difference that positioning makes is huge. Try every room in the house and every corner. You might find that you get a better signal even without using your aerial. I can increase speed 4X by correct positioning of my router. This seems unrelated to the location of my nearest mast? I use a TP Link Cat 6 4G+ router and Poynting directional aerial. How much data are you getting through?
I ha e an 818 without an external aerial and get great reception without an aerial - am out in the sticks. But everywhere varies.
Does the interface show what signal you're getting? (3G, 4G, 4G+)...I get 4G+ and think that's needed for higher end speeds.
eta: I'm currently getting 20 Mbps in my ground floor office and 120Mbps in my first floor bedroom.
Edited by Amateurish on Thursday 1st April 10:32
xeny said:
Certainly fir WiFi, MIMO benefits bandwidth as you get a degree of parallelism. I don't know if that holds true for 4G though. My impression from a quick google is that it is implementation dependant: https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/connect...
FWIW - With 4G (LTE), you have the added complexity of the different frequency bands, as the usage varies between operators and even between cell sites.M
The 818 seems a decent choice at the moment. I tested one out recently and it was better without the external antenna (poynting omni)
Thing with 4G is that if you're in an area with marginal coverage you have to try all the networks/ all sides of your house/ upstairs/downstairs etc before you can get a good idea of what's going to work - unless you use an external omni antenna. It really does take a lot of time to experiment, but the difference it makes can be huge.
Thing with 4G is that if you're in an area with marginal coverage you have to try all the networks/ all sides of your house/ upstairs/downstairs etc before you can get a good idea of what's going to work - unless you use an external omni antenna. It really does take a lot of time to experiment, but the difference it makes can be huge.
Bikerjon said:
The 818 seems a decent choice at the moment. I tested one out recently and it was better without the external antenna (poynting omni)
Thing with 4G is that if you're in an area with marginal coverage you have to try all the networks/ all sides of your house/ upstairs/downstairs etc before you can get a good idea of what's going to work - unless you use an external omni antenna. It really does take a lot of time to experiment, but the difference it makes can be huge.
I've bought a new 818, which is now on the way. Thing with 4G is that if you're in an area with marginal coverage you have to try all the networks/ all sides of your house/ upstairs/downstairs etc before you can get a good idea of what's going to work - unless you use an external omni antenna. It really does take a lot of time to experiment, but the difference it makes can be huge.
Will have to see how I get on and if there is a noticeable difference between the 618 and 818.
The 818 router was delivered today, same day on Amazon, and I now have it setup.
Tried it with the internal antenna, external and mix.
Found that the external antenna gives the best download/upload speeds, and consistently.
On the 618 the download/uploads could be all over the place, even within the space of 10mins. However, that doesn't seem to be true for the 818.
Will try again a bit later and over the weekend to see how the speeds fluctuate, although I'm hoping it hovers around what I've already achieved.
Also noticed that Netflix, Amazon and YouTube all seem to be a bit more snappy when flicking through them. Will jump on to Steam and see how quickly things can download too.
Tried it with the internal antenna, external and mix.
Found that the external antenna gives the best download/upload speeds, and consistently.
On the 618 the download/uploads could be all over the place, even within the space of 10mins. However, that doesn't seem to be true for the 818.
Will try again a bit later and over the weekend to see how the speeds fluctuate, although I'm hoping it hovers around what I've already achieved.
Also noticed that Netflix, Amazon and YouTube all seem to be a bit more snappy when flicking through them. Will jump on to Steam and see how quickly things can download too.
I'm impressed, just in the bedroom, on the phone and my WiFi connection pumped out this.
https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/7228698904
Never achieved anything like this on the 618, even during off peak times.
https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/7228698904
Never achieved anything like this on the 618, even during off peak times.
bunchofkeys said:
Currently using the Huawei 618b router and a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 Cross Polarised 4G Omni LTE Antenna.
Download speeds are around 20Mbps down and 10Mbps up, off peak i can see 60Mbps down and 30Mpbs up.
However today it's dropped to about 10Mbps down and 2Mps up, which causes an problem when both myself and my partner are both on conference calls.
I know that 4G isn't a constant and there are many variables that need to be taken into consideration to account for bandwidth throughput. But if i were to upgrade to a Huawei 818b router (CAT19) and a better antenna (please recommend), would it be fair to say that i should be able to see an improvement in bandwidth in both directions?
Just out of interest, when did you start using this system?Download speeds are around 20Mbps down and 10Mbps up, off peak i can see 60Mbps down and 30Mpbs up.
However today it's dropped to about 10Mbps down and 2Mps up, which causes an problem when both myself and my partner are both on conference calls.
I know that 4G isn't a constant and there are many variables that need to be taken into consideration to account for bandwidth throughput. But if i were to upgrade to a Huawei 818b router (CAT19) and a better antenna (please recommend), would it be fair to say that i should be able to see an improvement in bandwidth in both directions?
My only thoughts are to check Line of Sight to make sure you're not going to get any tree growth killing your signal, which often happens this time of year on new systems.
Evanivitch said:
Just out of interest, when did you start using this system?
My only thoughts are to check Line of Sight to make sure you're not going to get any tree growth killing your signal, which often happens this time of year on new systems.
Initially i just used the internal antenna, but from about March i bought an external one and had it mounted on the roof. My only thoughts are to check Line of Sight to make sure you're not going to get any tree growth killing your signal, which often happens this time of year on new systems.
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