Thanks for the spam. Post reported.

Thanks.

I will install my outdoor omnidirectional antenna hopefully within the next few days.

In the meantime, I installed an App on my Android phone called "LTE DIscovery", and so can confirm my phone (and thus presumably my 4G router) is now using LTE Band 20, i.e. the lower capacity 800MHz signal.

Out of interest - are there any 4G routers where you can select which LTE Band(s) to connect to? That would help solve the problem. For example, the Huawei B525 looks interesting, and there are other similar 4G routers, but I can't find any further detailed technical info. It seems that this feature is available for some USB 4G modems - for example, see this YouTube Video - a 4G router with an option to lock onto a specific LTE band would be perfect!

In the meantime, luckily, it does look as though a local FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) scheme for my village *may* well go ahead within the next few months (although no guarantees), which should provide hopefully a nice stable 30Mbps downstream, if it does.

Thanks again everyone for all your information & ideas.

Best to google around but given my experience of huawei devices they usually alllow plenty of customisation, so I would check out a few of their products.

Most of us regular posters here are all on fixed line services so we won�t too much hands on experience of this kind of question. There might be the odd one or two who have tried to achieve what you�re asking but I wouldn�t hold your breath.

Let us know how you get on.

In reply to a post by AdamInTheSticks:

In the meantime, I installed an App on my Android phone called "LTE DIscovery", and so can confirm my phone (and thus presumably my 4G router) is now using LTE Band 20, i.e. the lower capacity 800MHz signal.

Remember the capacity is per network, for Band 20 / 800mhz:
Vodafone = 10mhz
O2 = 10mhz
Three = 5mhz
EE = 5mhz
The networks all have other allocations, with EE's and Vodafone's being more than the other two.
EE have 20mhz on band 3 (1800).

Also your phone may not have as good antennas as your MiFi or modem, due to a) size, and b) the human holding it !

My Netgear AirCard 810 has the abililty to force 4G and stop switching to 3G, but I've not seen an ability to force Band 20 only. My Moto E 2nd edition (2015) phone can do this, and you might be able to put a data SIM in the phone and USB connect it to a router (e.g. ASUS RT-AC88U) for your network.

but I think your plan to get an external antenna is the best option, as then you will have better signal on band 20 and the cell site will prefer you are on the more capacity band.

FWA should be able to give you more usage for a monthly fee than the cellular guys, but no guarantees.

I, too, suffer from these occasional phases. I started 4G home broadband last January with EE using an Archer MR200 router and generally it has been fine with average speeds around 15Mbps. Luckily I kept my old ADSL link ( 1 Mbps ) for just such a situation. So when the EE connection slows right down I just swap over to ADSL and even at 1 Mbs it is still faster than the 4G during these times. The 4G router is connected to an exterior antenna by cable and to my computer by wireless. The ADSL connects to the computer, when required, by wireless. I believe there is a way to "bootstrap" the two routers, which would give a more consistent connection but this is beyond my knowledge at the present time. Could someone point me in the right direction?
TIA

The last picture here seems to suggest something http://uk.tp-link.com/products/details/cat-4691_Arch... if you scroll to the bottom of the page

Edited by deleted (Sun 10-Dec-17 12:58:10)

Thanks for that BatBoy. Appreciated. Unfortunately, due to the geography of the house ( 4G antenna on one side and BT socket on another ), a wired connection between the two routers would be too impractical. I was rather hoping for a wireless solution. Maybe it's not possible.

I'm sure it is possible, but the cost may exceed it's usefulness. Switching between 2 wireless networks is quite easy after all.

Instead of load balancing I was wondering if you've heard of Boosty bonding solution since you'll definitely quality as their offering works for people who have an adsl connection of 12mb and less. I'm going to give them a try in January and go for their business resilience solution which allows a higher speed threshold as opposed to the Home solution. Basically the boosty gadget connected to your adsl router would use your 4G connection if and when needed to boost your connection when streaming or a huge download. Search on google. They have two distinct websites one for home (what you need) and business (sold through a third party).

I hope this helps

Oops, apologies for the late reply - and thanks for all the info.

I did find this router: Dovado Universal Access Router
Apparently, in conjunction with a USB 4G dongle (for example: Huawei E3372), you can actually specify LTE Bands to connect to. (See: Dovado Product Website).

Anyway - I'll try the external antenna first in the New Year.

Plus, it looks as though the Fixed Wireless project for the village is likely to go ahead, using Dyfed IT / Dyfed Superfast, which seem to provide good packages.

I'll update this thread again later on.