Mifi + aerial

spud17

Following on from THIS thread, BT have not been able to sort the problem.
Some work has been done on one of the poles and still no improvement.
0.37 Mbps is not enough to load the page to use internet banking.
They are totally fed up.
They want to try a mifi, the best signal is on EE.
This is ok for phone use in the house, but go into the slightly higher back garden and a decent 4G signal is available.
I'm thinking a mifi connected to an external aerial mounted high up?
I'm open to any suggestions.
Price is not a huge consideration, say up to £100 for both items.
Before anyone asks, catchup services and Netflix etc will not be used, purely for emails and browsing.

Rubidium

spud17 wrote: »

Following on from THIS thread, BT have not been able to sort the problem.
Some work has been done on one of the poles and still no improvement.
0.37 Mbps is not enough to load the page to use internet banking.
They are totally fed up.
They want to try a mifi, the best signal is on EE.
This is ok for phone use in the house, but go into the slightly higher back garden and a decent 4G signal is available.
I'm thinking a mifi connected to an external aerial mounted high up?
I'm open to any suggestions.
Price is not a huge consideration, say up to £100 for both items.
Before anyone asks, catchup services and Netflix etc will not be used, purely for emails and browsing.

So, okay, basically, about three years ago I used a TP-Link MR2030 here to enable a 3G mobile signal to provide the sole broadband at a rural property without a landline/broadband connection. They are still using this set up today and it has proved to work very well for them.

The 3G/4G dongle can be fixed in the most suitable position for reception e.g. at the end of a USB extension cable in a length of plastic waste pipe mounted high up externally and an Ethernet cable used to connect the TP-Link to a PC/switch, if it is too far away to use the built-in WiFi.

It obviously does need a supply voltage and this could easily be run along with the Ethernet cable to the most suitable location to get the best signal. Every property will be different but with a bit of ingenuity there should be many different ways that this set-up could be successfully implemented for far less than £100.

There is plenty on the net about these e.g. here is the first ad that I found and there are vids on YouTube that you can watch here to learn more e.g. on this page here

kwikbreaks

I use a Huawei E5573 which has dual antenna ports together with a cheap square/diamond antenna I got on eBay in my Holiday caravan in Norfork. The cell is 2.6 miles away and it manages up to 30Mbps downstream despite the indicated signal strength only usually reaching one bar. It replaced an earlier Huawei 3G MifI I managed to find with an antenna port - http://www.digitalham.co.uk/mobile-broadband/

I got the MiFi as part of a 30day EE contract from Carphone warehouse with no upfront charge. Unfortunately they aren't running that deal right now and only otffer that MiFi with Vodafone - they do change regularly and have offered it with Three too in the past. It comes unlocked as I did test it on Three too using a phone sim. Unless you are prepared to gamble on a change coming and wait you'll need to source it elsewhere ( ~ £70 on Amazon atm).

Unless you are lucky the cheap antenna may well not be a lot of good to you as it only has short leads and I haven't sourced extensions so just stick the antenna to the van window instead of using an external antenna as before. There are external antennas that come with longer leads and may well be better too but they are nowhere near the sub £10 I paid from the one I'm using now.

redux

There are various sorts of external antenna. I have a magnetic mount whip one which comes in three sections, and screwed together. This is good for mobile use, as you don't necessarily know which way to the nearest cell. There are more than one type of plug, so you will need to check which socket is on the dongle or mifi.

That might be good enough, but if the signal is a bit weaker, then probably better for fixed use, and if you find out where is the cell you'll be using, and aim at it, there are also directional ones, flat panel or miniature yagi (like a TV aerial on a house, but smaller elements).

Look in the specification for how many decibels (dB) gain. The whip is 6 to 9 dB, and panels and yagis go to about 12 or 16 dB.

Bear in kind that there will be cable losses at the original signal frequencies, so also mounting the wifi router a bit high up can help.

If you fancy a bit of an experiment and have a spare old satellite dish, you might try turning it upside down to point along the ground, needs some looking up the spec and calculation of angles (if it's an offset one like most are, it will look like it's pointing slightly downwards), mount a 3g/4g dongle at the focus where the LNB was, and connect a USB extension cable to it for both receiving signal and supplying power. Not too long, as there are limits to USB cable range. I haven't actually done this, but it would be possible in theory, and a bit cheaper than spending £80 on a decent panel antenna.

If you're going to end up buying something, Solwise is a good make.

spud17

Thanks people for supplying more food for thought.

kwikbreaks
The Huawei 5573 is the model which kept popping up in the various threads I'd been reading, so definitely going to keep an eye open for a deal.

mchale

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-sat-nav/broadband/mobile-broadband/571_4434_32080_xx_ba00005864-bv00301765/xx_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-10-11-12-13-14-15-criteria.html

Be quick

spud17

mchale wrote: »

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-sat-nav/broadband/mobile-broadband/571_4434_32080_xx_ba00005864-bv00301765/xx_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-10-11-12-13-14-15-criteria.html

Be quick

Good spot for the E5573.
The network 3 is very poor where this will be used, so, does anyone know if this is unlocked?
Or can be easily unlocked?
I can't find any good information.

JP1978

I am told that MiFi's are not that good for a semi-permanent solution, they can need constant resetting etc.

You maybe better with a dedicated Huawei Router that has a SIM slot in it - they have bigger antenna within and have two antenna ports on the rear.... such as the Huawei B315

spud17

JP1978 wrote: »

I am told that MiFi's are not that good for a semi-permanent solution, they can need constant resetting etc.

You maybe better with a dedicated Huawei Router that has a SIM slot in it - they have bigger antenna within and have two antenna ports on the rear.... such as the Huawei B315

That's very interesting and looks like a great bit of kit, but too expensive.

kwikbreaks

My EE5573 has been reliable and was unlocked when I got it from Carphone Warehouse as already mentioned. CPW and Currys are the same company. I'd suggest you get one and check it with your own phone SIM - if it doesn't work take/send it back saying you can't get any signal.

I did toy with the idea of a "proper" router but couldn't find one with an antenna connector at a decent price. Many just take a USB dongle and some of those have antenna connectors.

For a proper LTE/4G antenna it needs two independent connectors.

spud17

mchale wrote: »

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-sat-nav/broadband/mobile-broadband/571_4434_32080_xx_ba00005864-bv00301765/xx_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-10-11-12-13-14-15-criteria.html

Be quick

I found that deal on HUKD , there seems to be confusion over when/if you can cancel the contract, suggestions that you have to return the mifi. Altogether too risky in this instance.
Not luck in Carphone Warehouse.
Went into the Three Store, they had the E5573 unlocked on payg, but denied that it had an antenna connection.
I've since double checked on Google, and it seems that there is one, it is hidden behind a panel next to the mini usb port.

Can anyone, kwikbreaks?, confirm this?