No fibre available - what do I do?!

GrumpyDil

I ended up going to FTTC when the nearest antenna to me was taken out of service meaning that the signal was not sufficient for two WFH adults and two students in their A level and GCSE years.

The antenna comes with a set of suction pads so in theory you could place it on a window to help boost the signal. 

We connected ours to our external TV aerial mount, ran the cables into the attic and placed the router there. From there we ran an ethernet cable to another router we had knocking around and then used the second router to handle the WiFi connections. 

It really is a case of seeing where you get the best signal etc and you might find a location that works without having to place an external aerial and run ethernet. 

matelodave

Unfortunately radio/wireless is a bit of a black art and there is no guarantee that a good signal in one place will be as good even 4-5 feet away so, apart from getting as much advice as you can, there's no substitute for trying stuff out at the location where it's going to be used.

If you are getting a good signal and reasonable speeds using a mobile phone, then a proper 4g router is likely to give much better performance as it has got better antennae and more of them than a phone and usually better innards as they dont have to be miniaturised to fit into such a small space, neither do they need to be as power efficient either as they aren't battery powered.

You've probably got about as much advice as most on here can give without actually coming round  with some test equipment.

As I said, see what information and advice is available on t'interweb or alternatively go with a company that might give you some sort of performance guarantee (although most wont because wireless is inherently variable unless you spend a lot of money on professional grade equipment and have it professionally installed)

Many people have a lot of trouble just getting wifi from their lounge to a bedroom let alone adding in the vagaries of a 4G signal from a mast several miles away which may be serving several hundred or even thousands of others as well.

dsingh26

Really appreciate your help guys, I have one final question before making the plunge.

I went on cell mapper and wanted to check which carrier has a better signal. Both are from the same mast, please see below:

02



Vodafone 



Can someone explain which one is better?

Thanks again guys.

GrumpyDil

Those guides really are only that, a guide. You just need to do what was suggested earlier, get cards on each carrier and see which one gives you the best signal. 

According to that data for my house EE would be by far the best but in practice 02 is better.

dsingh26

Thanks @GrumpyDil!

[Deleted User]

dsingh26 said:

Really appreciate your help guys, I have one final question before making the plunge.

I went on cell mapper and wanted to check which carrier has a better signal. Both are from the same mast, please see below:

02



Vodafone 



Can someone explain which one is better?

Thanks again guys.

The previous comment is right in terms of testing it, but the interesting things from that data are:

Vodafone are using 800Mhz which penetrate indoors better than the O2 2360 Mhz so you might see a difference indoors and outdoors between those two providers. 

But O2 are using 20 MHz bandwidth which can give up to 100mbps data speed vs 10 MHz with Vodafone which is about 50mbps. 

But none of that tells the final story, very localised things like the position of trees near your house and the number of people actively using each network can affect your end results and of course the device you are using to connect and the antenna etc. 

dsingh26

Hi guys,

I ended up going for the Archer MR600, which arrived today and was just about to buy the tesco sim (unlimited data 12 month contract for £30 a month) but I read somewhere that tesco sims only work on mobile devices - not routers. 

Can anyone confirm if this is true? If yes, what o2 carrier sim would work in the Archer MR600?

Thanks

matelodave

have a look at these to see who can offer you what you want - Who uses O2's network? (4g.co.uk)

GrumpyDil

@dsingh26

The problem is that there are data sims specifically sold for data and phone sims with data as part of the package. Strictly speaking you should be buying a data sim rather than a phone sim.

I say that because in the scenario I described above I got away with purchasing an unlimited O2 phone sim and using that in the router. There was always a chance that O2 could have terminated the contract or contacted me to say please do not use it in a router but they never did. That resulted in me paying 18.00 a month after cashback but could have gone wrong. 

So to keep within the rules you do need to look at data sims, make sure if you get a phone sim the provider is happy for it to be used in a router or cross your fingers. 

dsingh26

I'll try the O2 website and get an unlimited data sim for £30/month (phone contract). If that doesn't work, i'll return it within 14 days and opt for the mobile broadband sim which is £34/month..