Why has my upload speed gone down after using antenna?

I switched over to home 4G as my broadband is terrible (less than 1mbps). Before attaching a 4G antenna to the router I was getting 15-30mbps download speed and 15-20mbps upload speed. After attaching, I'm getting 40-60mbps download but 5-15mbps upload. Can anyone tell me why the download speed has gone up but the upload has gone down? Thanks

In reply to a post by chiko930:

Can anyone tell me why the download speed has gone up but the upload has gone down?

The cable to the antenna is usually the cause of the problem.

An antenna can also increase the level of interference received as well as signal. possibly you could be getting 4g+ with the better signal and ending up on a overly contended band.

LTE signals are more black magic than science, throwing an antenna into the mix is just adding a voodoo doll variable too.

In reply to a post by buggerlugs:

...,a voodoo doll variable ...

But poking pins in the cable will NOT help

If you are even more keen to mess with 4g demon summoning sorcery, then I highly recommend using those flat type CAT 6 cables on your LTE router too for added bonus effect!

Could be connecting to a different cell tower too through your new antenna.

As others said, it's a bit of a mystery sometimes. Experimentation required!

What type of antenna is it? Omni-directional or directional? Omni are generally better unless you have line of sight to your mast. As others have said, the additional gain that the antenna has given you may mean you're picking up signal from an alternative mast, perhaps further away, perhaps less contended.

Maybe take a look at any stats the router gives you. Look for RSRP (roughly equates to signal strength) and RSRQ (roughly equates to signal quality).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

The cable to the antenna is usually the cause of the problem.

~ Ever wondered why they typically only bundle a maximum of 5 metres or so of that awfully thin coax with many LTE antennas...often or not its signal loss with the thin/cheap/rubbish coax cancels out whatever paltry gain the antenna makes.

For this reason alone, many a (cheap) external antenna is worse than the rabbit ears that come with the router.

Poynting X-POL or some of the better Panorama antennas are generally OK. A decent external antenna setup could cost as much as an entry level 4G router.

Elevation/height, line of site, obstructions and directivity to mast are also important factors in success (or not).

Edited by Pheasant (Wed 29-Jul-20 15:36:26)