B612 speed limited? - any faster 4G modems?

I thought that my 4G provided by my B612 and Three was rather impressive as it kept on hitting close to 100mb and just assumed that was its limit but today I went into the attic and tested with my new P30 Pro and got 116mb down on three just holding the device in my hand.

The B612 is using a directional antenna and it really does seem that this is a limitation of the hardware.

Is Three allowing my phone to use 4g+ as it's a mobile device?

Any tests I can do?
Any hardware I can just buy to see if its better?

Well to test a theory I purchased the Huawei B715 and wired it up tonight.
Instantly gives me 120mb down and 35-40 up so it is evident that the 612 was hard limiting to just shy of 100mb. I guess that is because it was a single B3 channel in use.

Not sure if I can warrant keeping the 715 over the 612 as it'll mean I'm paying about £100 extra after selling the 612 just to get 20mb extra of download.

Edited by chriscdotcodotuk (Thu 05-Sep-19 20:51:49)

Does the 612 not show 4G+ in the router admin front page when you are doing a speed test? Band 3 only on Three could give up to 112.5mb using 2*2 MIMO. I know the 612 has 4*4 but I don�t think Three have deployed anything higher than 2*2 support.

Adding in band 20 carrier aggregation could yield up to an extra 37.5mb. However both these figures as max and unlikely that both working together would give their maximum theoretical throughout. Sounds like if you are getting 116mb you are on a cell without hardly any other users and using 4G+. Doubt there is a great deal more to give so unlikely worth the extra expense.

Edited by gary333 (Thu 05-Sep-19 22:27:38)

In reply to a post by chriscdotcodotuk:

Instantly gives me 120mb down and 35-40 up so it is evident that the 612 was hard limiting to just shy of 100mb. I guess that is because it was a single B3 channel in use.

Very close to the maximum throughput of 15mhz of spectrum (what Three have on B3). If you want faster speeds, you'll have to either wait for Three to roll out Band 1 in your area, or look to other networks with more spectrum (e.g. Vodafone or EE) if coverage permits.

Also check if the modem has a 10/100 network interface or 1000.

Looking a bit more into this it seems that whilst the 612 is a step up from the 525 I had it actually removes CA so the speed I was getting was going to be the most I could get from Three with B3 at 15mhz. The 612 does have gigabit ethernet so this isn't the bottleneck.

I managed to peak at 121mb down which is getting close to the ~95mb I was getting from B3 and then 28-30 I was getting from B20. I'm not sure if this is really enough to warrant spending the extra £100 to upgrade. Sure it gives me some future proofing and there is virtually zero chance of 5G coming to where I am in the next 5 years at a guess.

This morning it's flicking 4g+ for a split second then dropping back out so maybe it's more congested this morning.

I'm still paying for a standard plusnet line giving me 30/10 so this extra speed boost is negligible but at the same time bigger numbers make me happy

In reply to a post by chriscdotcodotuk:

This morning it's flicking 4g+ for a split second then dropping back out so maybe it's more congested this morning.

Less likely to be congestion than signal reception. More moisture in the air today, and rain about. Damp leaves on trees can impact signal.

Yep, the water conducts the electricity away LOL. All the data goes to earth.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Yep, the water conducts the electricity away LOL. All the data goes to earth.

Well just ask anyone with satellite TV what happens in a thunderstorm.

Plus watch the signal levels (in dBm not the graphical "bars") for various bands. My nearest EE cell site has trees between it and my home, and a damp summer I have a noticeable decrease in dBm than in the winter or a dry summer.

I'm not a physicist but I'm told its a well known effect that amateur radio people would know.

(RF radiation not really electricity in that respect).

Edited by jchamier (Fri 06-Sep-19 17:23:32)

Yes, I was just joking about the electricity. Both my Three connections slow down noticeably in heavy rain.