How do I get faster speeds with 4G router?

RealGem

Hi this is my 4G router:


It says it goes up to 150 mbps, but I am mostly getting less than 10 mbps, and often less than 2 mbps with the booster that came with it. 

It's not wired to my laptop, but I did get around 20 - 30 mbps in my old flat, and that was using wifi too, not wired. 

What can I do to make it faster? 

Will buying a SIM that goes up to 150 mbps for 5G help? (I know it won't get 150 mbps on 4G but will it make a difference to 4G? Or would I be totally wasting my money?)

I'm on a cheapo 4G SIM at the moment from Asda, but they do an unlimited one for 5G up to 150 mbps for £24. 

This would be to replace broadband as I can't afford more than £24 a month. 

Thanks

Neil_Jones

The 150Mbps is your connection speed between your laptop and your router.  This will almost always be faster than your actual internet speed down your line.

If you want better speeds you need a wired connection, but if your internet speed itself is slow doesn't matter what you do, that will be your bottleneck.

As you're on 4G the speed will be more about whether you get a decent signal or not; if you only get one bar your internet will be poor.  You may want to put it somewhere else to see if you can get a better internet speed.

400ixl

As above, that is the speed of your device to the router. What you need to find is what speed is the router connecting to the 4G network at as that is likely the bottleneck.

RealGem

400ixl said:

As above, that is the speed of your device to the router. What you need to find is what speed is the router connecting to the 4G network at as that is likely the bottleneck.

How do I find that out please?

Thanks

RealGem

Neil_Jones said:

The 150Mbps is your connection speed between your laptop and your router.  This will almost always be faster than your actual internet speed down your line.

If you want better speeds you need a wired connection, but if your internet speed itself is slow doesn't matter what you do, that will be your bottleneck.

As you're on 4G the speed will be more about whether you get a decent signal or not; if you only get one bar your internet will be poor.  You may want to put it somewhere else to see if you can get a better internet speed.

Thanks, I am not able to connect the laptop to the router right now because I can't find the Ethernet-USB adapter, I have just moved and am reluctant to buy one when I know I have one in a box somewhere. 

matelodave

You could try moving the router around, putting it by a window perhaps or upstairs, try the front or back of the house as well.

Your speeds will mainly be affected by the 4G signal in your area which will be determined by the 4g coverage and location of the antenna that serves you.

You could try sim cards from different network operators as there can be a significant difference in coverage and signal strength. There's no point in getting a 5G sim card, because it's a 4G router, even if you did upgrade the router to 5G you really need to find out whether you've got 5G coverage where you live.

(where I live Three is good, about 25mbits, EE can only manage about 5mbits and both Vodafone and O2 have virtually no coverage at all) Similarly I get better 4g signal strength at the back of my house compared to the front. We have no 5G at all on any network


Has your router got external antennae - rabbit ears which plug into the back which can sometimes improve the signal strength a bit or failing that you could install an externally mounted antenna something like this - https://poynting.tech/antennas/xpol-1/ although theres no guarantee that it would make a significant improvement if you are in a poor service area.

 In the end with 4G coverage its a case of experimentation to see what works and what doesn't where you want to use it.

RealGem

matelodave said:

You could try moving the router around, putting it by a window perhaps or upstairs, try the front or back of the house as well.

Your speeds will mainly be affected by the 4G signal in your area which will be determined by the 4g coverage and location of the antenna that serves you.

You could try sim cards from different network operators as there can be a significant difference in coverage and signal strength. There's no point in getting a 5G sim card, because it's a 4G router, even if you did upgrade the router to 5G you really need to find out whether you've got 5G coverage where you live.

(where I live Three is good, about 25mbits, EE can only manage about 5mbits and both Vodafone and O2 have virtually no coverage at all) Similarly I get better 4g signal strength at the back of my house compared to the front. We have no 5G at all on any network


Has your router got external antennae - rabbit ears which plug into the back which can sometimes improve the signal strength a bit or failing that you could install an externally mounted antenna something like this - https://poynting.tech/antennas/xpol-1/ although theres no guarantee that it would make a significant improvement if you are in a poor service area.

 In the end with 4G coverage its a case of experimentation to see what works and what doesn't where you want to use it.

Thanks, I will try some different SIM cards. I have one with 02 too. 

And I will try moving the router around too. 

I don't know why this happens but despite getting between 4 mbps and 8 mbps yesterday, today I have been getting 12 mbps, and later this evening I got over 20 mbps. It's now 27 mbps. But my friend reckons it's my provider seeing I am chomping through data, and bumping me up, so I will use more data and have to upgrade next month!

Can they do that?! (Bump up the speed on one SIM card)

Thanks

wongataa

RealGem said:

I don't know why this happens but despite getting between 4 mbps and 8 mbps yesterday, today I have been getting 12 mbps, and later this evening I got over 20 mbps. It's now 27 mbps. But my friend reckons it's my provider seeing I am chomping through data, and bumping me up, so I will use more data and have to upgrade next month!

That won't be the cause of the speed changes.  The speed changes will be down to changes in traffic on the mobile phone network in general and to the mast you are connected to.

Regular wired broadband is also subject to speed fluctuations due to traffic on the internet.

matelodave

As said above, the speed fluctuations are a result of network loading, just like the road network especially at certain times of the day. Chucking out at school times when all the kids come out is a classic example of the network slowing down. 

Wireless systems are much more affected by lots of external influences like weather or radio interference than wired systems, so you have to accept that using a 4G connection will be much more variable that a wired connection.