****The Official 5G Home Broadband Thread**** (Three/EE/Vodafone/etc)
- Thread starter TallPaul_S
- Start date
Didnt get chance to buy any sims on the way home but used the apps to check and see what i could get with vodafone on my phone. Sadly vodafone only has 3 aerials on my local mask and according to cell mapper none of them point directly at my village and i am between two of them.
I can see both of them on my phone and as i move around the house, my phone jumps between the both of them. only 3/4 bars on either.
Inside it fluterates between 3- and 12 Mbps. Outside in the garden though I was getting a solid 40Mbps on vodafone which gives my high hopes for something better from EE.
I had a look at the my local mast and i see that O2 has a cell covering my village on the mast and it has data that the av download speed is 126Mbps and 26Mbps upload.
So hopefully either O2 or EE should be the ones to go for
Anybody know if O2 are truely unlimited or is there a cap please?
I can see both of them on my phone and as i move around the house, my phone jumps between the both of them. only 3/4 bars on either.
Inside it fluterates between 3- and 12 Mbps. Outside in the garden though I was getting a solid 40Mbps on vodafone which gives my high hopes for something better from EE.
I had a look at the my local mast and i see that O2 has a cell covering my village on the mast and it has data that the av download speed is 126Mbps and 26Mbps upload.
So hopefully either O2 or EE should be the ones to go for
Anybody know if O2 are truely unlimited or is there a cap please?
Well that seems pretty positive re: the outside signal strength.
Even if you had to use Vodafone you could always opt for an MVNO like Voxi and to test O2 you could go with a month of GiffGaff, both options are £35 with no contract, just a months usage. That just leaves EE to test, to be honest I'd probably just use them for a whole month if you do get a good connection, and monitor what the stability is, and connection speed at the various times of the day. It'll take 3 months to do a complete test of all the networks and you'll get a much better feel for what is possible, only pain in the bum would be moving the antenna if required, but I guess you can check just how close the masts are to each other, some may/will be shared.
Luckily for me they are all on the same mast, the one I can see from my house.
So once i set up an external directional antenna I should be good to go to test between sims.
Luckily for me they are all on the same mast, the one I can see from my house.
So once i set up an external directional antenna I should be good to go to test between sims.
Be careful if going with a fully directional antenna as you'll need proper equipment to set it up, or spend a couple of days adjusting it by a mm or two, also your up/down angle plays a big part. Getting a good Poynting Omni directional would be much easier, and you'll end up will similar results as you aren't 20Km away just a few.
I shall bear that in mind, thanks.
This is all so new to me, having to read up and learn lots fast
Thanks for all your help.
I shall bear that in mind, thanks.
This is all so new to me, having to read up and learn lots fast
Thanks for all your help.
No problem.
That's why I suggest the cheapo 4G router, to get some hands on experience with the technology, makes a lot more sense than just reading sometimes.
Did you figure out if you have a window in the right place for just getting indoor reception before you commit to an external antenna?
I agree that the OP would be better with an Omni and I would also say you're being a little extreme with regards to you description of setting up a directional antenna.
For 4G/LTE you don't need to be mm perfect, you just need to know the elevation difference (up/down) which you can get from an OS map online and the heading which you can either get by LoS or with a compass. I've set up several (more than 10) directionals and a little bit of map reading and a compass were plenty good enough. How many antennae you have in your array is much more important. If you can get 8 channels (8 antennae arranged as 4 cross polaised pairs) into a CAT20 device then you'll see over 600Mbps but I've never put up more than 4 (2 cross polarised pairs). All the 5G external stuff I've done has used the multi-array panel directional antennae and they're pretty good in terms of pointing them in generally the right direction and they work pretty well.
We do the 60GHz Mikrotik LHG PtP systems and they are properly finicky with alignment once you get over 500m, but they give you a signal strength gauge on the antenna body to see when you're getting close and then you can zero it in.
Got a b535 coming so will check indoors in the windows first. Certainly with vodafone, even with my mobile in the window it isnt even half as good as outside on the ground in the garden.
O2 or EE may be different.
Will get an external aerial later for stability more than speed if needed.
Higher up isn't always better, as pointed out above, the up/ down angle is very important, so being at ground level may out put you in better alignment with the cells on the mast, as they are normally angled down.
Thanks I will bear that in mind. Will just keep moving the router around the house and test test test. When I have found the best place for each network, Ill leave it there and monitor it for a week or so on each network.
Then get a contract sim on the best one if all is good and get a cat 19/20 router and external aerial if necessary.
Just be aware that a CAT19 or 20 receiver is pointless unless the manufacturer has made allowances for the number of combined 150Mbps chains. On the Mikrotik Chateau 5G for example it's a CAT20 chipset but they only fitted 4 antennae so potentially it's hobbled to CAT6 speeds on LTE. It has the spaces (holes in the back of the case and connectors on the mainboard) for another 8 antennae but they're not physically installed. To be honest, because I'm using mine in 5G mode I've not bothered trying to install the missing antennae but some users on the far east Asian Mikrotik user groups have reported massive speed increases on LTE by fitting more antennae.
God its a minefield! I will bear that in mind, thanks
Was thinking I would get a Huawei b818 which claims "reaches up to a remarkable 1.6 Gbps, thanks to 4 x 4 MIMO, 256-QAM and 4-Carrier Aggregation". Can pick up unlocked ones for under £200 on ebay.
I assume that it actually has 4x4 MIMO antennae installed?
Might even consider a modified one with external antennae connectors added
I thought the b818 was 8x8 MiMo for LTE and 4x4 MiMo for the 5GHz AC WLAN? It should be quick. Certainly my LTE guy rates them very highly.
[Edit]I just re-read that statement and "my LTE guy" is our antenna installer so please don't think I'm having delusions of grandeur![/Edit]
[Edit]I just re-read that statement and "my LTE guy" is our antenna installer so please don't think I'm having delusions of grandeur![/Edit]
I had one before I replaced it with the CPE Pro 5G, there are two versions, the 818-263 which is the one I had was 4x4, I am pretty sure anyhow. However yes it was a great device, but I only paid £183 brand new delivered, it also only has 2x2 MIMO external ports.
Perhaps you are right, difficult to find out exactly. But I would have assumed it had all the necessary internal aerials for its quoted speed. The issues only comes about if you want to use external as you drop half the speed unless you buy a modded one.
the 263 is meant to be 4x4 internal antennae for LTE and 3x3 for wifi from what I have read.
But gets good reviews and ratings.
Oh totally forgot to say earlier, if you want to give Vodafone a go, you can sign up for the Home Broadband on a 30-day contract for 100GB (£30), and get a B818-263 for £100.
Link! - select 4G from the round buttons, and 30-days from the options, routers are fully unlocked and you can keep it even if you only pay for one lot of 30-days plus the £100.
Oh totally forgot to say earlier, if you want to give Vodafone a go, you can sign up for the Home Broadband on a 30-day contract for 100GB (£30), and get a B818-263 for £100.
Link! - select 4G from the round buttons, and 30-days from the options, routers are fully unlocked and you can keep it even if you only pay for one lot of 30-days plus the £100.
Hmmm only issue i have with vodafone is i dont know how good it would be as would definitely need an external aerial. Its only a decent signal in the garden. Shame to get the Gigi cube unlocked costs £50. With the sim and the £100 up front I am it ebay used prices for one.
I did see on a forum earlier this week they messed up and had the 5g gigacube on the 30 days tariff for £100 up front and £30 for the month as well. Lasted one day before they changed it to £325.
that was a steal for anybody who grabbed it.