Mobile 3/4g signal booster

barryd said:
I think from research its a non starter trying to "boost" a phone signal in the motorhome. I am now considering the possibility of a powerful router I can use both at home and in the van with an unlimited SIM which could also potentially mean I can dump my frankly rubbish and over priced BT Broadband line. However its not straight forward as mobile signal here is not great and there is also the issue that I will lose access to BT Wifi hotspots. Not a problem as long as the router and sim works wherever I go but how likely is that?

I might end up just buying a 12v Router with an EE PAYG Sim and hoping it works when the Vodafone phones dont.
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Some 18 months ago, I purchased a Teltonika router and went for a Smarty SIM. It generally worked well in the moho on a trip through southern England (though I did need to raise the mobile aerials a few extra cm above the roof in one forest area). I then went tried the unit at home, experimenting with aerial locations (including puting them outside through windows) and eventually went for a Poynting aerial for home (installed in the loft) in order to connect to the weaker of two of 3's cell masts (which provided faster data than the one with the stronger signal). After a month's experience with the system at home (and before getting the loft aerial), I ditched my landline. Last year, with a Poynting puck aerial fitted to the moho roof, I was seldom without a signal when touring Scotland (south of a line between Oban and the Firth of Tay). On a couple of occasions, my partner (on EE) had a mobile signal when I did not; on a couple of occasions, I had a signal when she did not. I liked the flexibility offered by Smarty in terms of no ongoing commitment, flexibility on data allowance, etc., giving me the opportunity to check that it would be a satisfactory replacement for (rather slow) fixed broadband before ditching the landline. I now enjoy much improved speeds and greater flexibility. Having subsequently installed some smart devices at home, I've acquired a second Teltonika router and will be getting another Smarty SIM before touring this year, adjusting data allowances on the SIMs as required from month to month.
I would definitely recommend trying the mobile broadband solution using a good router and, initially at least, a SIM that does not require too long a commitment in order to satisfy yourself regarding signal strength and data speeds at home at least on whatever network you choose to try first. With a Teltonika router with aerials connected with cable (rather than connected directly to the router) you can experiment with positioning of the aerials around the house in order to determine the best location and then consider a loft/external aerial if you want to increase signal strength.
 
mistericeman said:
I paid £80 for a used teltonika router 4g... BUT out in the sticks 5g is thin on the ground anyway
And £40 for a second hand directional antenna/cable

Then a sim from EE at whatever capacity you wish to spend...

There's plenty of bargains, out there as the techy types love to upgrade so often ;-)

Obviously I pfaffed with some brackets etc to get it to all work and a, spanky new TV aeriial too
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TJBi also bought a teltonica router. What models did you get? what parameters are important?
 
Derekoak said:
TJBi also bought a teltonica router. What models did you get? what parameters are important?
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I bought a Rut 950

Dual sim 12v and 4g and ability to connect an external antenna were the only bits I was concerned about.

Not sure IF teltonika do a 5g version BUT I figured there wouldn't be, much in the way of 5g signal in the middle of nowhere anyway.

Think the model I have is an older version BUT seems fine for what we use (and to be honest it often seems faster than virgin fibre at home)
 
Derekoak said:
TJBi also bought a teltonica router. What models did you get? what parameters are important?
Click to expand...
I started off with a Teltonika RUT955 on the basis that it's what Phil has, and if good enough for his requirements it's more than good enough for mine. Also good to know that there was a chance of advice if I ran into problems setting it up! When I decided that an additional one was required in order to control/monitor things at home while touring in the moho, I bought a RUT950 (supposedly used, but looked brand new and unused on receipt), which lacks the GPS facility of the RUT955.
As @mistericeman says, 12V, dual SIM, 4G and external antennae are all useful features. I believe that Teltonika do now offer a 5G router, but the price is substantially higher.
Very useful to be able to reboot the home router using SMS when away from home if one is having problems accessing smart devices and the router may be the issue. Probably not something that one can do with most fixed line routers!
 
What is the power usage like on these routers? I think my iboost draws about 9 watts so not much at all.
 
Phil had a video on this but I can't find it now. I watched another. My problem with a mifi router is you require yet another sim and so another contract. Is there a point in a dual sim device without 2 other contracts?
 
barryd said:
What is the power usage like on these routers? I think my iboost draws about 9 watts so not much at all.
Click to expand...
This is for the later one...
Screenshot_20220121-155135_Chrome.jpg
 
Thanks all

Negligible power usage then. What might be a useful idea for me at least would be to trace the places we went last year in the van in the UK over four months and highlight the "not spots" and then maybe look at the few places we are likely to go again. This may sound odd but they are limited. The only places we are likely to go are the Yorkshire coast which was fine on Vodafone and BT Wifi, The Isle of Arran and possibly a couple of other islands, the Lake district (Grim connectivity in many areas) and possibly the far south West (Devon and Cornwall). Then find a sim that says it has good coverage in those areas. I might even just get away with a mifi unit and a topped up data sim.

Ideally moving forward though I think I would prefer something that I can use in the house and in the van and dump the landline but we are very restricted on which providers have coverage.
 
barryd said:
On our epic UK tour last year which was mainly rural and island locations despite having loads of data on my phone half the time we really struggled with getting a decent voice and data signal. Generally there was some kind of signal, just very very weak and unusable half the time. I know there are Mifi solutions with roof mounted antennas but presumably these require a separate sim. What I would like to explore is improving the signal in the van for our two smart phones one of which is also used as a hot spot for our two laptops.

I found this https://www.ukmobilebooster.com/products/cvc-mobile-booster

Any ideas? Anyone have a good solution?
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I bought one of these.
www.mobile-signal-boosters.shop

Vehicle cell phone Signal Booster Nikrans NS-GDW-Drive

Nikrans NS-GDW-Drive is a perfect vehicle signal booster to amplify poor GSM, 3G and 4G in car when you are on the way home, to work or travelling!
www.mobile-signal-boosters.shop www.mobile-signal-boosters.shop
However I was very disappointed with the performance until they sent me a directional Yagi aerial to replace the standard car one. I haven’t had many occasions to use it but it worked well in the New Forest last year when I had no reception without it. The amplifier gain has to be limited to stop a feedback loop between the external receiving aerial and the re-transmitting internal one in the motorhome, so you need to keep them as far apart as possible and not in a direct line of site. You also need to keep your phone close to the internal one. Not sure I would buy it again, it is a rather expensive solution.

The one you found is a 4G only booster which will not help if the only signal available is a weak 3G one. I suggest you might need one that operates over more frequencies.
 
Okta said:
I bought one of these.
www.mobile-signal-boosters.shop

Vehicle cell phone Signal Booster Nikrans NS-GDW-Drive

Nikrans NS-GDW-Drive is a perfect vehicle signal booster to amplify poor GSM, 3G and 4G in car when you are on the way home, to work or travelling!
www.mobile-signal-boosters.shop www.mobile-signal-boosters.shop
However I was very disappointed with the performance until they sent me a directional Yagi aerial to replace the standard car one. I haven’t had many occasions to use it but it worked well in the New Forest last year when I had no reception without it. The amplifier gain has to be limited to stop a feedback loop between the external receiving aerial and the re-transmitting internal one in the motorhome, so you need to keep them as far apart as possible and not in a direct line of site. You also need to keep your phone close to the internal one. Not sure I would buy it again, it is a rather expensive solution.

The one you found is a 4G only booster which will not help if the only signal available is a weak 3G one. I suggest you might need one that operates over more frequencies.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Like you say though its going to add up and sounds a bit of a faff.
 
Don't buy the Teltonika stuff, they use CAT4 modems which are old hat now. Better to buy a Huawei B818 router which is 12v and has a CAT19 modem, just chop the plug off or buy a 12v plug on amazon.


this is a good antenna

MikroTik mANT LTE 5o 5dBi LTE Antenna with Two SMA (MTAO-LTE-5D-SQ) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy
www.amazon.co.uk

You just then need to sma cables to connect it all up and sma to ts9 adaptors to plug into the router.

You'll never get these speeds off a CAT4 modem:
1643133136526.png
 
Thanks. To be honest I am not after blistering speeds just a half decent reliable connection when out and about and maybe something that can be used in the house so I can dump my landline. From what I can gather EE is the one to go for but ill need to test a sim here really.
 
Old hat is cheaper and fast enough for me. I just want a signal more places and unlimited data in Europe, and to be used in the house as I have already junked my landline years ago
 
Bit of an update. It was time to renegotiate my home broadband today so Ive been on the phone haggling with BT and did alright out of it in the end. While I was on she tried to flog me their EE Broadband package but at £55 a month which is £25 a month more than we are currently paying and even more now I negotiated down the current package so I decided not to go for it. EE have always been rubbish here but as mentioned earlier and as confirmed by the advisor from BT apparently it should be good here now. So I agreed to take on a BT / EE sim contract for a mobile. Will test it in my phone and if its as good as or better than Vodafone I could possibly transfer both our Vodafone numbers to BT / EE. If not ill just cancel it. This might be a cheap and cheerful solution as in the locations we generally travel to in the van EE appear to be much better than Vodafone. So maybe I wont need a router or antenna.

Of course its all dependent on if the signal is also good here at home. That is the crucial factor.
 
We plan to travel for more than 2 months in the Eu soon so we will swap one Smarty contract for a long EE contract soon. I am still thinking about say a teltonica router and a roof aerial for that sim. There is the cost of the kit say 150 pounds but also there must be an increased cost in contracts if we add a router as we would need another sim for the router as well as one for each phone.
I downloaded a data signal app and where we are now, with a signal but a poor one gave around 112-116 strength for my phone inside the camper. Stuck on the roof vertically jammed in the skylight it gave 99-102. Lower figures are better. Even 100 downloads emails and browses slowly but say you tube videos buffer too much to be usable.
Would a router and proper roof aerial give a better strength?. Any guesses as to how much better in this sort of situation?
 
Derekoak said:
We plan to travel for more than 2 months in the Eu soon so we will swap one Smarty contract for a long EE contract soon. I am still thinking about say a teltonica router and a roof aerial for that sim. There is the cost of the kit say 150 pounds but also there must be an increased cost in contracts if we add a router as we would need another sim for the router as well as one for each phone.
I downloaded a data signal app and where we are now, with a signal but a poor one gave around 112-116 strength for my phone inside the camper. Stuck on the roof vertically jammed in the skylight it gave 99-102. Lower figures are better. Even 100 downloads emails and browses slowly but say you tube videos buffer too much to be usable.
Would a router and proper roof aerial give a better strength?. Any guesses as to how much better in this sort of situation?
Click to expand...
Since I fitted the teltonika rut 950 and external antenna with a EE sim...
I've had a good signal even in some of the places I couldn't get signal before....
On 3.
 
i have an huawei hub mi fi on 3 it’s the 3 rd year now as my only broadband router used in home and while travelling 95% of the have a good strong signal and perhaps tellingly del who is parked next to us on a riverbank in rural portugal had no internet on his vodaphone package till i parked next to him and subsequently lost it when i went on a laundry run , with two i phones and an i pad + the router, i currently have four sims with 3 two are unlimited &two 100gb so all our phones and internet cost £58 a month the last contract runs out in june & i intend getting a couple of different network sims to see which works best
 
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