Mobile 4G/ 5G broadband solution for use at Home

james_smitha

Hi All,

I've been reading good things about internet from Mobile Phone Networks.

Where I live I've checked, it says that 4G coverage is excallent for a good distance.

That I see unlimited data is a real option. Speeds to the device look good to.

I keep coming across 4G **LTE** which a quick check tells me means middle ground between 3G and 4G.

I'm more interested  in a soluion that straddles 4G and 5G, I see that 5G is in progress.

Ideally a full fat 4G modem that takes an outdoor antenna that is 5G ready that you can use as is with one device or attach a WI-FI solution like with Cable Broadband.

What are real examples of kit that people use at home, please?

jon81uk

We had a Huawei 4G WiFi hub from Three for a while until our fibre broadband got connected and it worked very well for us, got pretty good 4G speed. But it mainly depends on how good the signal is in your area.

4G & 5G Home Broadband | Three we had the 4G one for £49upfront and £30 a month on a 30 day contract.

There isn't something that "straddles 4G & 5G". LTE is 4G. Most networks have additional stuff that improves their 4G but still call it 4G.

james_smitha

High 5 to you jon81uk  letting go of the 5G won't hurt me. Coming from a home fixed line broadband, I'd be more interested in a 12 month comitment. What is a well respected LTE/ 4G modem that has the option of an outdoor antenna but uses ideally three stick antennas, please? 

matelodave

In the end the only way to find out is to try several network providers to see if you can get a half decent service and speeds with your mobile phone.

Try at different times of the day, especially at the peak times when the kids get home from school and in the evenings. If you can then it's likely that a 4G router will be as good and by fitting it with an external antenna then hopefully it should be a bit better.

But when it comes to wireless of any sort nothing is guaranteed and radio signals can be subject to intererference and degradation by trees, new building works, the weather, congestion etc. 

have a shufti here - https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/three-homefi-review and have a trawl of the interweb for more info and reviews.  https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/04/how-to-choose-an-external-4g-or-5g-mobile-broadband-antenna.html
What works for some wont necessarily work for you so ideally you should try it first before committing lots of money and dont rely on coverage maps.

Where I live they suggest  that EE has the best coverage and others are a bit iffy.

However when I've tried it (with both a Mifi unit and a couple of mobile phones) Three is far better and EE is rubbish. Using the mifi unot around the country there are plenty of places where none of them work satisfactorily.

james_smitha

matelodave  Some good text there. I've spent the day reading up, been seriously windy outside. I see that the proper term is

mi-fi. As I recall many vendors of mi-fi devices give you a 30 day try out period that you don't appear to get with fixed line broadband. The 2 urls I recognize the main sites but shall have a proper look

jon81uk

james_smitha said:

High 5 to you jon81uk  letting go of the 5G won't hurt me. Coming from a home fixed line broadband, I'd be more interested in a 12 month comitment. What is a well respected LTE/ 4G modem that has the option of an outdoor antenna but uses ideally three stick antennas, please? 

Three offers 30-day, 12 month and 24 month contracts if you want a longer term to bring the price down 4G & 5G Home Broadband | Three

We had a Huawei B535 WiFi box.

I've no idea where to find the hardware you want though, but the Home broadband 4G hub (like we had) will be better than a MiFi device. The home ones are designed to cover most of the home (same as a cabled WiFi hub) and support around 100 devices. Battery powered MiFi will support more like 10 devices with a much smaller range.

droopsnoot

I'm using a Three mobile connection via a Huawei E5573 that they supplied. I'm just into the second year of the 24-month contract, I think I paid nothing up-front and slightly over £10 (it went up by a small percentage recently) per month for 20Gb data. For me that's OK, but I think if I was streaming I'd struggle both with the performance and the monthly usage limit. I'm in a poor coverage area, I have to have the mi-fi box sitting on the open window to get a decent signal, but last time I tested them the other networks wouldn't connect at all, so it's pretty much all I can do. I'm using it on a desktop PC, so it's just wired into that via the USB port (which is how it charges anyway).

akwexavante

I'm also looking for a good Mobile Broadband Solution.  I'm moving into anew house soon (I hope) where landline speeds are just not acceptable. Openreach have no plans to upgrade to fibre at the hamlet where the house is.  Been exploring mobile modems, external antennas, data sims and i'm trying to find out where and how far away all the local masts are.

There are many mobile modems available with price tags all the way up to £450.  There are even more external antennas costing as little as £40 and as much as £400+

There are two (at the moment) 5G backward compatible 5G modems available via comms365 £475 & £540 each.

With antennas it's best to get 2X2 MIMO with the highest gain you can afford.  The higher the gain the more the signal strength can be increased. The more MIMO's there are the more of data can be transmitted simultaneously reducing the time it takes to download stuff.

A directional antenna gives better performance, better speeds etc but it's downsize is a tricky setup.  You need to get it lined up to a specific mast precisely and if that mast goes offline you're offline too.  A omnidirectional antenna  doesn't need lining up, it'll get the strongest signal from wherever and switch from mast to mast as required on its own but at a cost insofar as the gain on the product is reduced somewhat.

At the mo i'll be buying a comms365 5G modem and a OMNI-402 - Poynting High Performance 2X2 MIMO Linear Marine & Coastal Antenna.

My nearest masts are (5 of them) are 4 to 6 miles away, fortunately they are in direct line of sight with no obstacles at all whatsoever used by EE and Vodafone.  EE is the closest mast but there are more vodafone masts!!!!!!  I'll need to choose which one to go with and when i'm ready may buy a "Pay As You Go" sim from both network providers for a tenner.  Try and compare them then go into a data sim contract only with one of them.

james_smitha

john81uk I've looked at three, I've no problem with 2 year contracts. I've just been looking at 3,  £22 pcm for unlimited is good in the context. CV37 where I live EE has the best coverage. Some good ideas there that if shell don't sort things, I'll be looking to leave as, as I said earlier speeds do not halve for no reason. If I have to the ombadsman will be called upon. Changing from fixed line to mi-fi is a serious expense