Why are my 5G router speeds are so slow?

[MonkeyMalloo]

Hi,

I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to get better 5G speeds with my new mobile router setup but it’s really mashing my melon now!

So I’ve got a 5G router (TP-Link Archer NX200) paired with an external 5G antenna (Poynting XPOL-1-5G V2). This is then using a Lebara sim.

So the bit I can’t understand is that in various places outside my house at ground-level I can get speeds of 300mbps on my phone using a Vodafone sim, yet when I installed the antenna up on a mast on the roof the maximum I get on the router is 50mbps.

I tried swapping my VF sim over and put it in the router - still 50mbps. If I put the Lebara sim from the router into my phone I get 200mbps. Spent hours trying the antenna in loads of different spots on the roof and at any spot the router was getting no more than 20-50mbps, whilst standing next to it I could easily get 200-300mbps on my phone.

I could see the router signal strength light was fluctuating between 50% - 75%+ even when the antenna was fixed in position and nothing was moving.

I’m running out of ideas and just wondered if it could be a setting on the router, currently everything is just on its default, out-of-the-box settings? Or is the antenna I’m using just no good? Surely a dedicated 5G antenna should get better speed than my iPhone, or is that not the case?

Would be really grateful for any help or ideas?

 

[Journey]

Or is the antenna I’m using just no good? Surely a dedicated 5G antenna should get better speed than my iPhone, or is that not the case?

Have you even tried it without the external antenna? Also did you turn on the external antenna in the devices setup menu?

Sounds to me like it could also be running in 4G mode.

EDIT: Which mast have you pointed your antenna at, and what 5G bandwidth does it have and on which bands?

 

[MonkeyMalloo]

Yes have tried without the external antenna and not really much difference.

No I didn't change anything in the router settings, I assumed it would just use the antenna signal that it was getting. Ok I need to check if there is an option to enable the antenna, thank you.

I don't know anything about the masts in the area, just that I get good speeds quite easily on my phone (VF sim). Sorry I'm not super technical. Tried pointing the antenna at every angle, but no massive difference.

 

[uscool]

Yes have tried without the external antenna and not really much difference.

No I didn't change anything in the router settings, I assumed it would just use the antenna signal that it was getting. Ok I need to check if there is an option to enable the antenna, thank you.

I don't know anything about the masts in the area, just that I get good speeds quite easily on my phone (VF sim). Sorry I'm not super technical. Tried pointing the antenna at every angle, but no massive difference.

I've had this router but not with external antenna
Router has setting to enable on and off if using external antenna

I would also test without external antenna connected and the external antenna setting disabled and do tests on both phone and router same location same SIM and connect to the 5ghz WiFi when testing router

Just to confirm it at least matching the phone and nothing looks off before moving to external antenna

This site gives information what masts are local to you use the 4G option as that will cover the 5G

Cellular Tower and Signal Map

CellMapper is a crowd-sourced cellular tower and coverage mapping service.

www.cellmapper.net

 

[MonkeyMalloo]

Thanks so much, really appreciate that!

 

[Personality+]

Hi,

I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to get better 5G speeds with my new mobile router setup but it’s really mashing my melon now!

So I’ve got a 5G router (TP-Link Archer NX200) paired with an external 5G antenna (Poynting XPOL-1-5G V2). This is then using a Lebara sim.

So the bit I can’t understand is that in various places outside my house at ground-level I can get speeds of 300mbps on my phone using a Vodafone sim, yet when I installed the antenna up on a mast on the roof the maximum I get on the router is 50mbps.

I tried swapping my VF sim over and put it in the router - still 50mbps. If I put the Lebara sim from the router into my phone I get 200mbps. Spent hours trying the antenna in loads of different spots on the roof and at any spot the router was getting no more than 20-50mbps, whilst standing next to it I could easily get 200-300mbps on my phone.

I could see the router signal strength light was fluctuating between 50% - 75%+ even when the antenna was fixed in position and nothing was moving.

I’m running out of ideas and just wondered if it could be a setting on the router, currently everything is just on its default, out-of-the-box settings? Or is the antenna I’m using just no good? Surely a dedicated 5G antenna should get better speed than my iPhone, or is that not the case?

Would be really grateful for any help or ideas?

Try it near a window at ground level instead?

I luckily get a good signal from the window above my stairs so have it placed there, but if I had poor signal indoors I would just have a outdoor 5g router installed at ground level somewhere, if the performance differential is that significant.