Roof-mounted 4g antenna?
Discussion
Too far from exchange to get decent FTTC broadband, Gigaclear expected "some time next year", so I'm looking to use a 4G router.
However, with the 4G router in the house I'm only getting a couple of bars of signal. It seems like an external roof-mounted aerial (maybe with some kind of booster?) should improve things.
Any suggestions as to make/model - are they directional, or tied to particular frequencies/providers?
O2/Giffgaff signal seems to be better than Vodafone AFAICT. The online coverage maps seem to be a work of fiction!
However, with the 4G router in the house I'm only getting a couple of bars of signal. It seems like an external roof-mounted aerial (maybe with some kind of booster?) should improve things.
Any suggestions as to make/model - are they directional, or tied to particular frequencies/providers?
O2/Giffgaff signal seems to be better than Vodafone AFAICT. The online coverage maps seem to be a work of fiction!
silentbrown said:
Too far from exchange to get decent FTTC broadband, Gigaclear expected "some time next year", so I'm looking to use a 4G router.
However, with the 4G router in the house I'm only getting a couple of bars of signal. It seems like an external roof-mounted aerial (maybe with some kind of booster?) should improve things.
Any suggestions as to make/model - are they directional, or tied to particular frequencies/providers?
O2/Giffgaff signal seems to be better than Vodafone AFAICT. The online coverage maps seem to be a work of fiction!
Omnidirectional and directional are bot available. I use an omni in my camper van which means I don't have point it in line of sight of the cell tower but that also means it's slightly weaker than a directional one. If it's to be used in a static location then I think a directional one would make most sense as long as you know where the cell tower is that you'll probably connect to. However, with the 4G router in the house I'm only getting a couple of bars of signal. It seems like an external roof-mounted aerial (maybe with some kind of booster?) should improve things.
Any suggestions as to make/model - are they directional, or tied to particular frequencies/providers?
O2/Giffgaff signal seems to be better than Vodafone AFAICT. The online coverage maps seem to be a work of fiction!
You can use online resources to find your nearest mast; just be sure to filter for the correct technology, it's not uncommon for different technologies to be on sites in different places. There are loads of you tube videos from the van life community who will give great guidance on what would e best for your situation.
I keep flip-flopping around about doing this with my Huawei B535...
Up in the loft, sat on a very specific box at a very specific angle I get 25-30Mbp/s whioch tbh is utterly fine.
But I know exactly where my mast is, and an external antenna just outside my bedroom window (so a nice easy 1 arm job to pop the tiny thing to the wall and feed the cable through the eaves vent and fish it out from up top) would probably work well.
But between my house and the mast, even with the straight line I can give it are many houses and a hill which is the showground... Does that make a difference as to if I would need a directional or Omni-directional antenna?
Should probably just do it as every situation is different but I have heard so many stories of them not doing anything, but with no context about mast placement etc to back it up
Up in the loft, sat on a very specific box at a very specific angle I get 25-30Mbp/s whioch tbh is utterly fine.
But I know exactly where my mast is, and an external antenna just outside my bedroom window (so a nice easy 1 arm job to pop the tiny thing to the wall and feed the cable through the eaves vent and fish it out from up top) would probably work well.
But between my house and the mast, even with the straight line I can give it are many houses and a hill which is the showground... Does that make a difference as to if I would need a directional or Omni-directional antenna?
Should probably just do it as every situation is different but I have heard so many stories of them not doing anything, but with no context about mast placement etc to back it up
sebdangerfield said:
You can use online resources to find your nearest mast; just be sure to filter for the correct technology, it's not uncommon for different technologies to be on sites in different places. There are loads of you tube videos from the van life community who will give great guidance on what would e best for your situation.
Cheers. I've ordered a pair of these. Will report back... 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086J9NBQ8/ref...
beko1987 said:
I keep flip-flopping around about doing this with my Huawei B535...
Up in the loft, sat on a very specific box at a very specific angle I get 25-30Mbp/s whioch tbh is utterly fine.
But I know exactly where my mast is, and an external antenna just outside my bedroom window (so a nice easy 1 arm job to pop the tiny thing to the wall and feed the cable through the eaves vent and fish it out from up top) would probably work well.
But between my house and the mast, even with the straight line I can give it are many houses and a hill which is the showground... Does that make a difference as to if I would need a directional or Omni-directional antenna?
Should probably just do it as every situation is different but I have heard so many stories of them not doing anything, but with no context about mast placement etc to back it up
Your phone / router will be talking to more than one mast. While the closest mast is usually the one that provides service, it's not absolutely guaranteed. The system is far more sophisticated than your tv aerial.Up in the loft, sat on a very specific box at a very specific angle I get 25-30Mbp/s whioch tbh is utterly fine.
But I know exactly where my mast is, and an external antenna just outside my bedroom window (so a nice easy 1 arm job to pop the tiny thing to the wall and feed the cable through the eaves vent and fish it out from up top) would probably work well.
But between my house and the mast, even with the straight line I can give it are many houses and a hill which is the showground... Does that make a difference as to if I would need a directional or Omni-directional antenna?
Should probably just do it as every situation is different but I have heard so many stories of them not doing anything, but with no context about mast placement etc to back it up
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