200Mbps+ 4G at home, what equipment do you need?

[TheBinarySheep]

I've noticed on my iPhone 11 Pro, in the garden I'm seeing 4G download speeds of 220Mbps and 39Mbps upload. 4 times faster than the FTTC broadband I've currently got (36Mbps/9Mbps).

What equipment would I need to swap over my home internet to use 4G at the same speeds my iPhone is capable of?

I'm assuming, an external 4G modem/antenna? But which one.

Do I need a new router, or can the 4G modem be connected to the WAN input on the existing Netgear router than I'm using with the OpenReach modem?

I'm guessing 5G won't be a million miles away, I'm assuming supporting 5G in the future would simply be a case of replacing the modem?

[Dodsy]

Huawei are selling a 4G/5G router which should be future proof.

Im very impressed with those speeds , using the 3 network and previous gen huawei ive never managed more than 45meg.

[TheBinarySheep]

Dodsy said:

Huawei are selling a 4G/5G router which should be future proof.

Im very impressed with those speeds , using the 3 network and previous gen huawei ive never managed more than 45meg.

I think to get the speeds of 200Mbps and over, I'd need to have some kind of external antenna. I'm only seeing max speeds of 140Mbps from inside the house.

[Bikerjon]

I believe the Huawei B818 is currently best of the 4G routers. Don't bother with an external antenna if you're getting those kind of speeds indoors on an iphone. Just put it near a window.

[Gotaw]

You need a router with right category of modem for the best speeds, higher the better. Also check it supports the right frequencies for the network you will use. They are not all the same in the uk. Cellmapper is great for finding this info. Then the better the signal the more likely you are to get the best speeds so a good yagi style antenna too. Also air interface speed is not necessarily the same as real throughput as loading on cell site and back haul also impact. So ymmv.

[anonymous-user]

TheBinarySheep said:

I've noticed on my iPhone 11 Pro, in the garden I'm seeing 4G download speeds of 220Mbps and 39Mbps upload. 4 times faster than the FTTC broadband I've currently got (36Mbps/9Mbps).

What equipment would I need to swap over my home internet to use 4G at the same speeds my iPhone is capable of?

I'm assuming, an external 4G modem/antenna? But which one.

Do I need a new router, or can the 4G modem be connected to the WAN input on the existing Netgear router than I'm using with the OpenReach modem?

I'm guessing 5G won't be a million miles away, I'm assuming supporting 5G in the future would simply be a case of replacing the modem?

Question is, what do you get in your home? That must be the fastest 4g speed I’ve ever heard of. No guarantees your garden and the inside of your house will get the same rate. The signal can fall off dramatically indoors and with a few meters distance.

Maybe test around your house first.

Some modem routers will combine a mobile phone signal and broadband to give you best speeds possible.

The networking cards in your laptop etc need to be upto scratch too. Even if your combined mobile / broadband network could do 500Mbps, there are no guarantees that older wifi and networking equipment will support these speeds. You prob should dig into the specs.

[TheBinarySheep]

wyson said:

Question is, what do you get in your home? That must be the fastest 4g speed I’ve ever heard of. No guarantees your garden and the inside of your house will get the same rate. The signal can fall off dramatically indoors and with a few meters distance.

Maybe test around your house first.

Some modem routers will combine a mobile phone signal and broadband to give you best speeds possible.

The networking cards in your laptop etc need to be upto scratch too. Even if your combined mobile / broadband network could do 500Mbps, there are no guarantees that older wifi and networking equipment will support these speeds. You prob should dig into the specs.

Speeds in the house vary depending on where you are. In my office (an extension) I only get around 15Mbps, but in the living room and dining room (near the window) I get 140Mbps. For me, the best approach would be an outdoor antenna, where in theory 200Mbps speeds should be achievable.

I'd be planning on using EE, although I understand they have a 600GB fair use policy and we currently use around 1TB per month at the minute. I may need to look into running 4G internet alongside our normal internet.

While the extra download speeds would be great, it's mainly the upload speeds that I'm looking to improve. I don't know if it's possible, but it would be good if there was a router or something that could manage both internet connections, and you could choose which devices use which internet connection. That way I could dedicate the 4G network to my work and the rest of the house to standard broadband, while also keeping everything on the same internal network.

[x5tuu]

I did this when I briefly ditched the overpriced BT FTTP service

I bought a "TP-Link Archer MR600 AC1200 Mbps 4G+ Cat6 Mobile Wi-Fi Router Dual Band, 4G/3G Network SIM Slot Unlocked, No Configuration required, Support Guest Net" from amazon

I see speeds of at least 45/23mbps all over my house, sorted an external antenna and ordered an unlimited sim (same network)

The max speed I saw from my solution all connected up was 4.5mbps which was totally unacceptable coming from a 1gbps line. I lasted all of about 4 days before ordering a new overpriced BT service, sent the modem/router back to amazon and cancelled the sim contract

[xeny]

TheBinarySheep said:

I don't know if it's possible, but it would be good if there was a router or something that could manage both internet connections, and you could choose which devices use which internet connection. That way I could dedicate the 4G network to my work and the rest of the house to standard broadband, while also keeping everything on the same internal network.

Anything to stop you giving the two routers different internal IP addresses on the same subnet, and manually pointing your work machine(s) at the different default gateway?

[TheBinarySheep]

xeny said:

Anything to stop you giving the two routers different internal IP addresses on the same subnet, and manually pointing your work machine(s) at the different default gateway?

Probably not, good call.

[theboss]

TheBinarySheep said:

Speeds in the house vary depending on where you are. In my office (an extension) I only get around 15Mbps, but in the living room and dining room (near the window) I get 140Mbps. For me, the best approach would be an outdoor antenna, where in theory 200Mbps speeds should be achievable.

I'd be planning on using EE, although I understand they have a 600GB fair use policy and we currently use around 1TB per month at the minute. I may need to look into running 4G internet alongside our normal internet.

While the extra download speeds would be great, it's mainly the upload speeds that I'm looking to improve. I don't know if it's possible, but it would be good if there was a router or something that could manage both internet connections, and you could choose which devices use which internet connection. That way I could dedicate the 4G network to my work and the rest of the house to standard broadband, while also keeping everything on the same internal network.

Might be worth speaking to someone in their business team rather than looking at consumer tariffs. I have a business SIM intended for office network connectivity (rather than personal use) that I can't find on their website and that is described as truly unlimited which I have in writing somewhere.

The Draytek I use does a good job of load-balancing outbound TCP connections across EE 4G, Voda 4G, Starlink and a fixed WISP, though the Starlink DHCP thing is a bit flakey as I described in the Starlink thread.

You want something that supports policy based routing so you can prioritise use of different connections for different clients on your network.

[page3]

Since OpenReach abandoned me (faulty cable on pole outside which they refuse to fix - 12 months now) I use a Huawei B535-235 on EE.

Some things to note though:

• EE do not offer an unlimited plan. I repeat, EE do not offer an unlimited plan. They might call it such, but it isn't. 600 Gb/month. This may, or may not be enough for you. They reduced this (from 1Tb) at the beginning of the pandemic, which was a pretty shoddy business practice.
• Speed will vary throughout the day, depending on tower usage. I'm lucky that I'm connecting to a tower near the motorway, which doesn't seem to get evening peaks.
• You won't get a 'real' IP address from EE. It'll be behind CGNAT. This may, or may not be a problem for you. For me I use an L2TP VPN service from AAISP to give me a fixed accessible IP.
• Basically, it's great.

Edited by page3 on Thursday 16th September 12:59

[TheBinarySheep]

theboss said:

Might be worth speaking to someone in their business team rather than looking at consumer tariffs. I have a business SIM intended for office network connectivity (rather than personal use) that I can't find on their website and that is described as truly unlimited which I have in writing somewhere.

The Draytek I use does a good job of load-balancing outbound TCP connections across EE 4G, Voda 4G, Starlink and a fixed WISP, though the Starlink DHCP thing is a bit flakey as I described in the Starlink thread.

You want something that supports policy based routing so you can prioritise use of different connections for different clients on your network.

I looked at EE's business offerings, but the terms and conditions listed on the page still have the same 600GB restriction.

"6: Unlimited Data Plans: Unlimited data allowance for your sole use only. Roaming in EU/EEA is subject to 60GB per month fair use policy and limited to three months of continuous roaming. Unlimited Plans are not available with any other discount or promotion. We may consider usage above 600GB/month to be excessive and have the right to move you to a more suitable plan."

[TheBinarySheep]

page3 said:

Since OpenReach abandoned me (faulty cable on pole outside which they refuse to fix - 12 months now) I use a Huawei B535-235 on EE.

Some things to note though:

• EE do not offer an unlimited plan. I repeat, EE do not offer an unlimited plan. They might call it such, but it isn't. 600 Gb/month. This may, or may not be enough for you. They reduced this (from 1Tb) at the beginning of the pandemic, which was a pretty shoddy business practice.
• Speed will vary throughout the day, depending on tower usage. I'm lucky that I'm connecting to a tower near the motorway, which doesn't seem to get evening peaks.
• You won't get a 'real' IP address from EE. It'll be behind CGNAT. This may, or may not be a problem for you. For me I use an L2TP VPN service from AAISP to give me a fixed accessible IP.
• Basically, it's great.

Edited by page3 on Thursday 16th September 12:59

I have a VPN with a dedicated IP that I use when I'm away from my desk, as most of the servers I access for work are locked down by IP address. So I can use that.

Luckily my house is right next to the A19, and the on the opposite side of that road is my closest tower, which is 0.4km away. There's another tower 1.5km away and another 1.6km away.

[TheBinarySheep]

TheBinarySheep said:

I have a VPN with a dedicated IP that I use when I'm away from my desk, as most of the servers I access for work are locked down by IP address. So I can use that.

Luckily my house is right next to the A19, and the on the opposite side of that road is my closest tower, which is 0.4km away. There's another tower 1.5km away and another 1.6km away. Our house is right on the edge of the town, so I would assume that the tower closest to be isn't really covering my properties at all. Next to it is an industrial estate.

[grumbas]

TheBinarySheep said:

xeny said:

Anything to stop you giving the two routers different internal IP addresses on the same subnet, and manually pointing your work machine(s) at the different default gateway?

Probably not, good call.

This, but make sure you disable DHCP on one of the routers otherwise you're in for a world of pain! If the either of the routers is sophisticated enough you may be able to set up DHCP reservations for your work machines with the other default gateway pre configured.

Or you can get a dual wan router, but decent ones aren't the cheapest, so using the kit you've already got probably makes most sense.

[theboss]

TheBinarySheep said:

We may consider usage above 600GB/month to be excessive and have the right to move you to a more suitable plan."

I think the 'more suitable plan' they refer to must be what I'm already on.