Mobil mi-fi

[Pandaman2020]

Earlier this year we were out of communication completely for 2 months as our cables had been taken down by a tractor load! No landline, no broadband and no mobile phones as we have no reception at home so rely on wifi calling.
In desperation I bought the mifi in from the van and surprisingly the Huawei modem itself gave me 2 bars of signal (remember none at all on our phones) and with an external Poynting antenna connected it gave me 4 bars. This didn’t have any impact on speed however, getting downloads of 10 to 15mbps both with and without the antenna. However it was a life saver for us as it meant we were back in touch with the outside world again.
So conclusion for where we live is that mifi router alone grabs better signal than phone and an external antenna grabs even better signal but no impact on speed.

There are different types of cell mast UMTS and LTE and data and speech come from different masts as 3G and 4G so it’s possible your home is closer to a data mast therefore your mifi will work where you cannot use the phone. The one to look out for is an NR mast as that is pushing out 5G, I treated myself to a HUAWEI HT12 Router which I use in the house where I only get 4G internet or if I go up to Rivington I can get 5G with the best download speed so far of 500 mbps though Three say they will eventually be able to go much faster up to 1.3 GBPs. Only problem because everything is so new with 5G it’s more expensive my HUAWEI router cost £330 but as I’m a speed freak I was happy to pay that. One last thing because 5G is so fast you will need unlimited from your supplier (Three do an unlimited data sim only 12 month deal for £18 per month) as you use up your bandwidth quicker.

 

[Pandaman2020]

Preparing my van for the near future,I sent back my Huawei 5577 and the poynting puck 1 then I bought a Huawei E5785 modem and a Poynting puck 2 aerial. However on doing a series of speed check the aerial was sometimes half the down loading speed but twice the uploading speed of the bare modem inside the van, I cannot understand this as it should be better . I reconnected the aerials to the connectors and it was a bit better but I am sorely disappointed that it was not better than just the modem by itself, I spoke to Poynting, and they said it gets a better signal but the speed depends on the mast?????? It just seems odd to be better without an aerial outside.
I Have not checked the Ipad by itself with the sim card in it direct but in the past found that it was unable to get a signal that was adequate in some places, (New Forest) I have looked on line to find some details of the modem to find if there needs an IP change but no mentions anywhere, All I got with the box was a quickstart strip of paper, no details or real manual. I would have thought that sitting in a double skinned aluminum box would have made the outside aerial vital, but it seems I have wasted £200. As we a not going anywhere again maybe it is not necessary anyway but the signal inside my house with 18inch walls is abysmal but I wish to dump the virgin TV package at £56 and go with the EE 100gb per month sim.
I do need to find WHERE the EE mast actually is to be able to face the correct wall of the house, but I never seen any masts at all around here, the EE maps show one where one is but there is nothing at all, unless it is hidden up inside somewhere.

Sometimes the masts are built into church towers or to look like trees to blend in, try an app called FindTower and that will scan where you are, show you the masts, wether They are data or speech masts and which providers are transmitting from it!

 

[Pandaman2020]

I can confirm that data speeds do indeed to be mast-dependent. At home, I have connected to two 3 transmitters on different masts (one of which I am unable to locate). The transmitter giving me the strongest signal when using an external aerial systematically gives lower speeds than the one giving a weaker signal, to which my router connects when using internal aerials or when the external aerial is pointed away from the strong signal.

The slower signal will be coming from a UMTS mast which will be 3G but can be stronger than from an LTE 4G mast. The best is yet to come from new NR (New Radio) masts which will be 5G with speeds in excess of 1 GBPs.

 

[trevskoda]

All eval burn burn i say.

 

[Wooie1958]

The best is yet to come from new NR (New Radio) masts which will be 5G with speeds in excess of 1 GBPs.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ................................................................... Utopia

 

[maingate]

Brought mine in Now but normally our router in the van parked on the drive serves our house well for wifi

That is the same here but not where the OP lives apparently.

 

[witzend]

https://tinyurl.com/y2fb8jmb try finding you cell towers here but have you tried different sims yet you can get all the PAYG by post top up by £5 and try them if you can't borrow them

 

[Pandaman2020]

All eval burn burn i say.View attachment 88846

Yes we had a couple of masts burned near here because the idiots thought they were 5G masts and of course as you all know 5G infects us all with COVID-19 and causes the birds to fall dead from the sky, DUH!

 

[witzend]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ................................................................... Utopia

Yes it would be but we got to wait untill at least 2025 for full coverage if then

 

[Biggarmac]

This thread has baffled me. For data I use my vodaphone mobil and tether my tablet and my laptop both at home and in the van. The information about enhancing the signal with some sort of ariel has completely confused me.

 

[Obanboy666]

This thread has baffled me. For data I use my vodaphone mobil and tether my tablet and my laptop both at home and in the van. The information about enhancing the signal with some sort of ariel has completely confused me.

Same here, I’ve have a three sim in my mifi that I use in the motorhome. No ariel and I can count on one hand the number of times I haven’t had a signal In the last 7 years travelling to many out of the way locations.
all for £8.00 per month for 20gb of data.

 

[jagmanx]

Never bothered with any system to enhance the phone signal !
I do have a £15 aerial for the laptop (USB). This does find lots of wifi.
Mainly password protected but not all (McDonalds). Once in France for a month we signed up with a wifi provider for £30 unlimited data. Handy when stopped. Also possible to link the phone to use the laptops wifi.
But in general the phone and tethering the laptop to the phone works.
Beware Switzerland ! Not all sim cards include in no roaming fees !

 

[maingate]

This thread has baffled me. For data I use my vodaphone mobil and tether my tablet and my laptop both at home and in the van. The information about enhancing the signal with some sort of ariel has completely confused me.

The main concern of the OP is getting a signal at home. That is not always easy. I know because although I live in a town I am in a bad spot for reception. After getting expert advice I would need the correct long range directional aerial mounted at least 1 metre above my roofline to get good reception from my nearest mast.

So I have reluctantly taken the easy option and signed up for unlimited fibre broadband from BT. £26.99 on a 2 year contract.

While away in the van it is rare not to get a good signal on phone or with the mifi.

 

[Tonybvi]

There are different types of cell mast UMTS and LTE and data and speech come from different masts as 3G and 4G so it’s possible your home is closer to a data mast therefore your mifi will work where you cannot use the phone. The one to look out for is an NR mast as that is pushing out 5G, I treated myself to a HUAWEI HT12 Router which I use in the house where I only get 4G internet or if I go up to Rivington I can get 5G with the best download speed so far of 500 mbps though Three say they will eventually be able to go much faster up to 1.3 GBPs. Only problem because everything is so new with 5G it’s more expensive my HUAWEI router cost £330 but as I’m a speed freak I was happy to pay that. One last thing because 5G is so fast you will need unlimited from your supplier (Three do an unlimited data sim only 12 month deal for £18 per month) as you use up your bandwidth quicker.

5G up here where we are in Scotland - some hope!! Funnily enough we do get great signal (not 5G though) when we’re down the road around Balmoral / Crathie area. I wonder why!