****The Official 5G Home Broadband Thread**** (Three/EE/Vodafone/etc)

-109dBm on 4G B1 (2100Mhz) I'm guessing dBm is RSRP, with a -2dB SINR so anything over -100dBm is cell edge / disconnect territory and you want positive SINR figures. -92dBm on 5G N78 with SINR 12dB is low. All not looking ideal tbh. Any chance you can select a 4G bands on the Router? Changing to B3 (1800Mhz) may help (will be slightly slower speeds but should improve signal strength).
 
Thanks for the help, guys, I appreciate it.

Apologies, those stats are with the router downstairs and we already knew it wasn't great there, but they wanted to test it again.

Here's the connection with the router upstairs by a window, which currently gets the best upload (and download):
connection2.png


Upload went from 5 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s, but they still have rubber banding issues.

So will a directional antenna help? I don't have a clear line of sight tho
 
TheGreatDivide said:
Upload went from 5 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s, but they still have rubber banding issues.

So will a directional antenna help? I don't have a clear line of sight tho
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You can try something simple like a piece of carboard shaped like a parabola, and covered in aluminium foil placed behind the router about 12-24 inches. Not a permanent solution but it can improve the signal significantly. Also you don't want you router too close to the window as the frames cause interference.
 
sandys said:
I'll be honest I don't really understand what IP passthrough is, if it is like modem mode that would be fine that's how my VM router works but there seems to be a distinct difference between this and modem or bridge mode.

It gives me an odd 10.xx.xx.xx IP address where normally my gateway would be a 192.168...
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I use IP passthrough on my edge router, that then connects to my ZenWiFi XT12 Mesh router/node. IP passthrough is like bridge mode, in that it'll stop any double nat issues etc. The reason you get a weird IP is that the public WAN IP from your ISP gets passed through, and assigned yo your as if the first router isn't there. Can be annoying when you try and connect up and the lease has changed as it doesn't stay static. :D
 
About the TS9 ports on the MC801A, will they help with the 4G signal strength too? I read here that they only help with the 5G signal, but the manual seems to imply otherwise:
antenna.png


I ask because I'm getting a pretty good 5G signal, but not so good 4G signal. Sometimes I see 4G SINR drop to 5-10 dB.

Also, this looks like the Bluespot Mini, only significantly cheaper :D
Aliexpress 5G antenna
 
TheGreatDivide said:
About the TS9 ports on the MC801A, will they help with the 4G signal strength too? I read here that they only help with the 5G signal, but the manual seems to imply otherwise:
antenna.png


I ask because I'm getting a pretty good 5G signal, but not so good 4G signal. Sometimes I see 4G SINR drop to 5-10 dB.

Also, this looks like the Bluespot Mini, only significantly cheaper :D
Aliexpress 5G antenna
Click to expand...
Reading that you would think that is workable for 4G/5G as the spectrum range fits. I have a Solwise Directional Antenna (5G-XPL-A0002) just sitting here if you want to try it? I can post it down and if no good just send it back to me. It has 5m SMA cable, but I also have two TS-9 adapters that I can add on for you. Let me know. If it works, great we can work something out. :)

Poynting-4.jpg
 
Firegod said:
Reading that you would think that is workable for 4G/5G as the spectrum range fits. I have a Solwise Directional Antenna (5G-XPL-A0002) just sitting here if you want to try it? I can post it down and if no good just send it back to me. It has 5m SMA cable, but I also have two TS-9 adapters that I can add on for you. Let me know. If it works, great we can work something out. :)

Poynting-4.jpg
Click to expand...
That's pretty damn kind of you and trusting, I have fewer than 10 posts here and my account is only one week old haha
I appreciate the offer, but I bought a 4G/5G Bluespot antenna this morning. Someone had a like-new one on eBay for £75 shipped :)
I figured at that price I probably won't take a huge hit if things don't work out, so it's worth a shot.

I was wondering, can aggregating the bands cause issues? I noticed that it's using B1 + B3 with the router upstairs. I currently have it locked onto B3 and I'm waiting for them to test it.
 
TheGreatDivide said:
That's pretty damn kind of you and trusting, I have fewer than 10 posts here and my account is only one week old haha
I appreciate the offer, but I bought a 4G/5G Bluespot antenna this morning. Someone had a like-new one on eBay for £75 shipped :)
I figured at that price I probably won't take a huge hit if things don't work out, so it's worth a shot.

I was wondering, can aggregating the bands cause issues? I noticed that it's using B1 + B3 with the router upstairs. I currently have it locked onto B3 and I'm waiting for them to test it.
Click to expand...
No worries at all. :)

Erm I would have thought aggregated bands = winning as you're getting the benefit of mutliple bandwiths. But yeah, try locking to B3 and see if it makes a difference. Best way and no harm to unlock it if there is no improvement.
 
If it wasn't for PC gaming, i'd be very interested in switching to a 5G router, I have a 5G mast about 200m from my house, clear view. I get about 400mb download speed just on my phone alone.
 
Just to confirm, an external antenna through the MC801A will only improve the 5G signal. A bit disappointing, I was hoping to have the router somewhere else and have the antenna do all the work, but looks like you still need the router in a good area.
 
I am On three 5g CPE pro2 router connected to my friztbox Getting good results. i am looking to replace the CPE Pro2 provided by three, can anyone recommend the best 5g LTE modem to go for ?
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
In the dead of night, my Zyxel NR5101 can reach 1.1GB, but 500+ down and 67 up in the daytime isn't too shabby either. This is with the router being downstairs as well. Outskirts of Stafford, ST17, on Three network.
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Similar to how my connection behaves these days, with a clear variation in day and night speeds, but it is never actually slow. I knew eventually as more people move across to 5G devices that it would happen, but hope they continue capacity increases to ensure the quality and speed stay around. Hoping a NA connection will be available in the not too distant future as well, for better upload speeds.
 
^^ nice one :-)

Another thing: I know us smart guys use the Three network because of the £16/month for unlimited data, committed for 12 months. However, I have just checked EE and Vodafone. I know the router is probably included, but these are their going rates for unlimited:

EE - £50 upfront then £50/month for 18 months = £950.
Vodafone - £60 upfront then £50/month for 24 months = £1260.

Granted my Zyxel router was £350 upfront, but eventually that would equate to £350 + £16*12 (£542 after 12 months) or £350 + £16x24 (£734 after 24 months). Then if you stick to it being 12 months and change sim cards every 12 months (as the mobile number doesn't matter) then you get cashback every time. The cashback amount varies but at the moment it's £50.25.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
^^ nice one :)

Another thing: I know us smart guys use the Three network because of the £16/month for unlimited data, committed for 12 months. However, I have just checked EE and Vodafone. I know the router is probably included, but these are their going rates for unlimited:

EE - £50 upfront then £50/month for 18 months = £950.
Vodafone - £60 upfront then £50/month for 24 months = £1260.

Granted my Zyxel router was £350 upfront, but eventually that would equate to £350 + £16*12 (£542 after 12 months) or £350 + £16x24 (£734 after 24 months). Then if you stick to it being 12 months and change sim cards every 12 months (as the mobile number doesn't matter) then you get cashback every time. The cashback amount varies but at the moment it's £50.25.
Click to expand...

I don‘t know where you’re getting those numbers from. We have one main EE contract (£77pcm with unlimited everything) and additional SIMs are £6 per month on that account with unlimited shared data, minutes and texts. They are all on 24 month contracts.

On the Vodafone network we have two users both paying under £30pcm for unlimited everything. And they are both no contract.

We do tend to use Three for standalone 5G because they are the cheapest with no contract (£27pcm) and we very often just want a mobile hotspot on a customer’s site for 2-4 weeks while we install and test everything. Customers usually don’t get their broadband switched on until the day they arrive/take possession which is proper pain in the backside when you want to test comms.
 
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