4G Hardware DIY

Hi

As I finally reach wits end with satellite and Fibre won't reach, I've been pleased to notice that Vodafone have extended their 4G network and I can pick up a consistent and stable signal. Currently I use tethering from my iPhone to computer. This means hanging it out of the window, but at least it works.

I'm looking for a more permanent solution, so am I right in thinking I can use an external antenna:

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/15383-solwi...

run through the wall into this:

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/16012-d-lin...

put the highest data sim I can find, and then plug into my switch/WAP's as normal?

Or is it not as simple as all that!

Many thanks...

Edited by deleted (Mon 09-Feb-15 21:07:29)

In reply to a post by trumpet272:

Or is it not as simple as all that!

Nearly! I'm not sure that DLink box has a connector for an external antenna. I think the 4G/LTE antenna must be inside the box, as on the pictures on Amazon.co.uk there is only a slot for the SIM card.

I would check Vodafone, O2 and EE to see which gives you best speeds in your area, get Prepay data SIMs from each network first before signing any contract.

Yagi Antenna

Router

I have this setup, can get 60mb down, 40mb up with EE 4G

Many thanks indeed. I get 25ish down and 3-4 up which is like Utopia compared to what I've been used to.

Any recommendations for 4G routers/antenna much appreciated, there seem to be literally thousands.

Alternatively, vodafone are suggesting I up my current mobile contract by £12pm to give me a 20gb allowance - and 'share' this allowance across devices. this will include a http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/group/devices/do...
Any views on this idea? I currently use 7 Cisco WAP's just to get coverage around the house so I doubt an R215 will cover it?No doubt they will need charging etc...

Cheers for your help.

Thank you - I'll give them a go! Is there much data lost over the cable between the two? I presume this needs to be as short as possible?

Whats strange is that the nearest mast is apparently due East of my house and yet I get my signal on a west facing exterior wall... Perhaps I am picking up another mast with better coverage?

PM me a postcode and I'll see where your serving EE cell sites are.

I have a 10m cable between the 2, and it gives my router a full 5 bars of 4G, but it is mounted on a pole on the end of my house (standard tv aerial pole and mount will do) My mast is approx 2 miles away, and I got no 4G signal at all (just 3g) with the routers built in antenna before I bought that yagi antenna.

So long as decent low loss cable is used then a few metres should be no major problem, but shorter is better.

The Huawei B593s which has 2 x SMA connectors for external antenna has been popular.

Yes, I noticed there was a 35dbi "flat" antenna with dual TS9 connectors for £30 on Amazon. Connected to a router with the appropriate antenna ports, this might be even better than the older router with the 18dbi yagi.

If only I had some spare cash right now - I'd love to play with these to do a real comparison. My old fashioned engineering sense tells me a yagi should be better, and to ignore quoted dbi figures. But the dual antenna connector business seems to be rather interesting and worth investigating, even if I don't actually know the purpose. Hopefully it has a real benefit and isn't a marketing gimmick.

In the B593 it provides support for DC-HSPA.

Well - I've ordered the kit so will have a go!

Does the antenna need to be specifically pointed at a mast? Or can I just mount it where I find a stable 4g signal?

It depends on the antenna you ended up buying.

The Yagi is directional, and needs pointing in the right direction. Preferably with clear line of sight. The one you linked in the first post is omnidirectional, and doesn't need to point at the mast.

However, location is important too.

I had a setup with that omni antenna. From one room I got 5 bar coverage, but not very good speeds. After flashing my (non 4g) router with some open source firmware, it could use the 4g modem over USB. It gave me RSSI signal strength values, which told me that the 5 bar coverage was still only around 60%.

After resiting the antenna, I got the signal strength to 93% and much better speeds.

Lesson... Don't rely on the signal strength bars alone. Try to get a better reading!

The Yagi is very, very directional. But you should be able to swivel it around until you get the highest signal. Just keep in mind that there will be a delay before the router shows the real signal strength, so you may need to be patient and only move it once you are sure the signal shown is the signal you are getting from that direction.

If you know the location of your nearest mast, most of the hard work will be fine-tuning.

If you are very unlucky, you may also have to change the elevation of the antenna.

Ah... looks like I may have brought the wrong antenna then... I have to have the 4g router in a specific room (where a switch etc is located) I assumed that if my iPhone finds a signal literally the other side of that room's wall, the antenna will too.

As for masts one (the further away one, SN84NT) is 3.4 km away:

Name of Operator Vodafone
Operator Site Ref. 3893
Station Type Macrocell
Height of Antenna 15 Metres
Frequency Range 900 MHz
Transmitter Power 21.3 dBW
Maximum licensed power 32 dBW
Type of Transmission GSM

I think from the wall in question that's pretty much a clear line of site.

However one that's much closer:

Name of Operator Vodafone
Operator Site Ref. 37370
Station Type Macrocell
Height of Antenna 15 Metres
Frequency Range 900 MHz
Transmitter Power 30.5 dBW
Maximum licensed power 32 dBW
Type of Transmission GSM


Faces the other side of the house and to put the antenna there will leave me more than 10m (just) from the router...

I guess I will play around with it and see what I can do!

Well I've had a quick go with the kit and a Voda Sim this evening and even without taking the antenna outside and lying it down in the room I need the router in with the 10m of cable, I'm getting 4 bars and certainly decent speeds (20Down/11up) compared to this tripe of satellite I've lived with for so long.

The fun is going to be finding the optimum place to position and point it whilst up a ladder and no idea what the router is doing....

Thanks all for your help, it was pretty simple in the end!

If you're getting that data from the Ofcom Sitefinder site, don't forget that database is very old and not been updated!!

Vodafone sites that offer GSM are useless to you as that is 2G (GPRS) and very slow dialup speed data.

For 4G you really should try EE as they currently have the highest amount of dense coverage (ie, higher speeds) and if they don't work then try O2 and then Vodafone in that order. Three have very limited 4G today.

Hi,

I already checked and EE don't have 4G coverage in that location as yet (very near though) but it's coming soon...

EE recently released the next 3 year plan for the network and another 1.5 Billion investment, key information below and a link to the full 11 page document on the EE press site. EE Press Site The key one for me is highlighted in bold...

Smaller sites, more coverage
� EE is developing a ground-breaking micro network technology that will connect rural communities using discreet smaller site that can simply be attached to the side of buildings.
� The sites are quick to set-up, less costly, and don�t require the digging-up of roads because they are independent from fixed broadband.
� The first of its kind in the world. Early reports from our trials in Sebergham in Cumbria have been hugely promising.
� By changing the technology and approach, we have changed the economics of mobile networks, and can now cover small areas that have remained unconnected.

More spectrum, more coverage
� EE is using its unique spectrum portfolio � the widest in the UK � to reach previously unreachable areas using existing mast sites.
� 800MHz spectrum will be used to quickly improve our current rural footprint. 800MHz covers large distances and is perfect for carrying 4G voice and data.
� We�re already making progress, updating masts at rural sites around the UK and will cover an extra 1,612 square miles � or twice the area of Greater London � via these updates alone in the next three years.
� We will bring the UK�s best 4G network to 99% of the population, and bring high speed data, voice and text coverage to 90% of the UK�s geography.
� We will also roll-out double-speed 4G to more than 90% of the population. And LTE-Advanced to 20 cities by 2018.


Voice for all
� The next few months will see the introduction of two technologies we have been talking about for a while: WiFi Calling and 4G Voice
� WiFi Calling will allow customers to use the latest smartphones to make phone calls and send text messages in places where there isn�t a mobile signal but there is WiFi connectivity
� It will mean we can provide coverage to anywhere with 2Mbps broadband connectivity. Even a nuclear bunker
� 4G Voice will see us using the 4G network, previously only supporting data, to carry high definition voice traffic
� 4G Voice will be supported over our 800MHz spectrum, as well as 1800MHz and 2.6GHz
� Through these technologies our voice services will reach 100% of people in the UK

ah-ha on the coverage

Its a great document, and very impressive. Looking forward to things like WiFi calling and 800mhz coverage.

Wifi Calling is handset dependant only iPhone 6 and 6+ confirmed but expect more at launch.

In reply to a post by bookey:

Wifi Calling is handset dependant only iPhone 6 and 6+ confirmed but expect more at launch.

Hopefully launch will be soon!

WiFi calling and receiving calls? I have an American T-Mobile phone and contract and am quite impressed with the calling and receiving of calls over WiFi. It means even when I'm in the UK I call US numbers as if I am there with no roaming etc..

Can you also call UK numbers in the UK over wifi with no charge?

When you are on WiFi it doesn't look where you are, so it just uses the US plan. Having said that they have GOOD plans, so for $15/month I can call 30 countries for free.

I have a UK mobile as well, I just travel quite a lot and wanted a US number that people could call / I can call out. I used to use Skype with a US number for a while which was great, but then people started sending texts which Skype can't cope with.

In reply to a post by boxst:

.............but then people started sending texts which Skype can't cope with.

Please explain further - I have no problem sending or receiving texts via Skype.

You can't receive text messages on your Skype Number: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA331/what-is-a-sky...

*UPDATE*

It's been a stressful few days with Voda.

I bought a 3gb card to test the gear. All good.

I went away fro the day and came back, dialled into the router to see I was up to 3,85gb - So over by nearly a GB and down another £33.

New 12 month SIM gone in today, £40pm, and 20GB Data, which is clearly not going to be enough. I have a 3month unlimited data Test Drive, so have some breathing space til May 13th, but I'm concerned what I am going to do after that!

In reply to a post by trumpet272:

*UPDATE*

It's been a stressful few days with Voda.

I bought a 3gb card to test the gear. All good.

I went away fro the day and came back, dialled into the router to see I was up to 3,85gb - So over by nearly a GB and down another £33.

Windows Update this month was huge, about 1 GB on my two machines :-/

New 12 month SIM gone in today, £40pm, and 20GB Data, which is clearly not going to be enough. I have a 3month unlimited data Test Drive, so have some breathing space til May 13th, but I'm concerned what I am going to do after that!

This is where I prefer EE who stop when your allowance runs out, rather than charging you more. The test drive should help get the average usage worked out.

Can't recall the situation for the original poster with regards to fixed line, but consider a slow ADSL line might be more economical for the monthly patch/cycle and other large updates. Keeping precious fast allowance on the mobile SIM for when you want it fast.

Unfortunately, I have no ADSL option at all....

Can you provide your post code so I can look at some options for you? Private message me it if you are comfortable doing so.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sun 15-Feb-15 03:00:14)

Gulp....

24 hours and I'm 4.5 GB of usage. No downloads, not even App updates, no streaming.

So, this is never going to work! My dilemma know is whether or not to cancel this 12 month contract within 14 days or enjoy 3 months unlimited and then pay 9 months of £40 and have internet for 5 days a month....

It's looking like a leased line at several thousand pounds a year is my only option or move house!

It's unlikely that the area has absolutely no alternative to mobile broadband although possible. Let me look into it for you if you can provide a post code in private message.

Also with your setup now with the big antenna etc are you sure you cannot pick up some EE signal?

They do 50gb plans at £50. Get two that's £100 monthly (yes a lot) but that's 100gb which would probably be enough.

Do you have lots of devices connected up to the wifi. There's no way you use 4gb with a little bit of casual browsing.

Just got my router delivered today, i'll have a play over the weekend and see what performance I get without the antenna.

I pay £50 to EE and get 50gb allowance.

Speedtest.net
Ping 50ms
D/L - 41.43 Mbps
U/L - 8.71 Mbps

TBB Speedtest
Ping 53ms
D/L - 46Mbps
U/L - 8.5Mbps

4G cell 1.5Km away
RSSI -77 dBm
RSRP -104 dBm