Advice Needed 4g external antenna

sonnetpete

sonnetpete

Grumpy Old Retired Moderator and quiz inquisitor..
My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

Seperate 80 cm dish on 28E with a Humax Freesat for SWMBO.
Free Sat V8 meter. Sony Bravia 46" LCD, Sony BluRay and Home Cinema.
My Location
Normandy, France
Recently, the French government decided to pump more money into providing quicker broadband. Their aim is to give all the country access to at least 8mb download speeds by 2020. This has led to promotions by the mobile network suppliers for 4G broadband. My (British) neighbour has subscribed to one of these offers and is receiving 4G via an external antenna. It doesn't look like we are going to get fibre here before 2023 at the earliest, so I've subscribed as well but have yet to obtain my 4G box. Now I realise I could just use an antenna like his, however I wondered if anyone had experience of 4G antennas and possibly had some recommendations. The modem supplied with the package is a Huawei B528.
 
Well....collected the 4G modem this afternoon. Bearing in mind we've put up with 1.5Mbs for years, I'm slightly shell shocked by the results (and it's even quicker when sited next to the window).

 
That ""Ping"" speed will make it a bit difficult for VOIP equipment, most that I have used (Ooma box) want a ping under 15 ms, any higher and it's like your talking in an echo box.

Try different host servers, see if it's distance related.
 
I've been using VOIP with lethargic Ping, via Wireless Internet, for years without any issue at all.

Modern VOIP interface units are very successful in dealing with apparent adversity. Mine is the ubiquitous Cisco SPA112.
 
That's good numbers 'dans la campagne', congrats.
Am using Bouygues when in France, a dedicated internet sim in a phone (placed by the window to get reception), providing good hotspot wifi to the house.

Have been planning (for years...) to get a better system with router & external antenna. What exactly is the offer \ package you got?
 
sonnetpete said:
Well....collected the 4G modem this afternoon. Bearing in mind we've put up with 1.5Mbs for years, I'm slightly shell shocked by the results (and it's even quicker when sited next to the window).
Click to expand...

With a real directional antenna the signal will be mach more stable
(peut être installé sous le toit)
 
Terryl said:
That ""Ping"" speed will make it a bit difficult for VOIP equipment, most that I have used (Ooma box) want a ping under 15 ms, any higher and it's like your talking in an echo box.

Try different host servers, see if it's distance related.
Click to expand...

Other steps to take , that should/will further improve latency.

3 Ways to Improve Computer Ping - wikiHow Tech

"Ping" is a term used to describe the latency that occurs when your computer communicates with a server. The higher the ping, the worse the latency gets. There are a few methods you can try to improve your ping, and you can also combine...
www.wikihow.com
 
Interested in this, so followed the link above. Put in my French address and got back (as expected - nothing seems to work for me in France) - "La 4G box n'est pas disponible chez vous"

Don't understand, I would have thought 4G would work almost everywhere. So is there another reason they would not supply the box at my address?
 
^^^ Same with me, I think they register the address as being too far from any 4g tower \ no coverage.
But none the less one may have a decent 4g signal (as I do at my place, with their map wrongly showing zero 4g).

Does your phone show 4g \ lte signal ? And even if having only 3g, one can get a good internet trough the house using some old phone and a sim. Sometimes the speed is even better than 4g because of less congestion in many areas (but slower ping on 3g).

ftm will continue simply using my old phone (with internet sim) as 4g hotspot\wifi. Works very good, but some day will get a 'real' modem (better reception + longer ranging wifi signal + possibility for cabled).

1st job will always be to find which of the 4 networks best covers one's area. 1 may be excellent while another absolutely zero.
F.ex, at my place, Bouygues good+++, Orange meeeehhh, SFR triplemeeehhh--- , Free nothing (tested with sims from all).
 
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LeBelge said:
With a real directional antenna the signal will be mach more stable
(peut être installé sous le toit)
Click to expand...

This antenna has SMA connector, the router is a Huawei B528 with TS-9 antenna connectors (Huawei B528 B528s-23a Router/ Vodafone GigaCube / A1 Net Cube Plus).
The router is 4G+, I think it knows carrier aggregation and it needs a MIMO antenna to obtain a significant increase in download speeds.
Bouygues telecom is using bands 3(1800MHz) and 20 (800MHz) for 4G. With a directional antenna it is possible that you will receive only one band, then no 4G+ if it is available there.

I think @sonnetpete should find first the location of the nearest Bouygues cell tower (for example on www.cellmapper.net if somebody already mapped the zone of interest, or by installing cellmapper app or netmonitor on a mobile phone). If the cell tower is not at more than 2-3,4Km away, then find in your home the best signal where you can place the router to obtain the maximum speed.
 
Thanks for all the helpful comments. State of play is this :

I've tried the router in various areas of the house, coming to the conclusion that next to the South facing downstairs window is best. I was receiving download speeds of 27Mbs and uploads of 22Mbs there. Opening the window and placing it on the window sill outside increased this to 48Mbs and 23Mbs. Currently the router is raised on a cardboard box on the interior window ledge and is getting 47.9Mbs and 21.5Mbs

I've checked for the cell towers and the closest one carrying Bouygues is 3.7km away. I did some research on antennas and concluded that an omni directional one would be more suitable in this location. A directional one would give me a better signal, however because of the wooded nature of our property and the surrounding terrain it would be more problematical to achieve a good result.

Therefore this afternoon I've ordered a Poynting XPOL - 1, which I'll either mount on the porch or pole mount under my motorised dish. I'll report back when it's up and running.

@Burnham Beech. Have you tried using a VPN so that the Bouygues site thinks you are in France? It may be auto locating.
 
ps, there may (will) be much more use of 700 mhz (LTE B28), recently fully released to operators.
Future proofing, look for routers (or phones) that supports it, else one may have a tower 200 meters away to no use :O)
 
Here is another option, I use two of these, one down in the shop (all metal building) and one up at the house, I get uninterrupted signals with them on, very poor signal with them off.(due to power outages here)

Cell Signal Boosters for Homes - weBoost

Can I boost my cell signal at home? A common question people are asking, and weBoost has the solution. Click here to learn more.
www.weboost.com

A bit pricey, but they work great.
 
^^^ In France free to buy, but totally illegal to use, possible fortune in fines and prison sentence if catched :O)
 
WOW...And I thought California was bad.....
 
^^^ it's not to punish people who may have bad coverage, these signal boosters (mini-celltowers really) can disturb the normal network function in quite large areas, imagine the possible situation if dozens of these were in some appartment block, operating on all kinds of frequencies \ different operators, with cheap china boxes bought on amazon + antennas pointing everywhere, combined with random setup and lack of installation skills.

But it is possible to get autorisation, using specifically approved equipment, installation approved\monitored by national regulator and mobile network provider. At a price. My impression is it's meant for large companies, military, health and the like.
 
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A follow up question :

Today, I received an email from Bouygues (pronounced Bweeg) which was headed with a mobile number which is associated with my contract. There is also an RJ11 socket on the rear of the 4G box. I've tried plugging in the old landline phone (which was used as VOIP) into the 4G box and ringing the mobile number without any results. It may well be an incompatibility issue but I'm a bit (completely) clueless as to the type of phone I could use in conjunction with the 4G box. Any ideas?

OK, as you were...just found out that the Bouygues offer does not include phone services and the socket is disabled....
 
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