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Getting the most out of a mobile phone router


EdwardMeades

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Anybody got any pearls of wisdom they would like to share for getting the bet signal/ reliable connection on their Mobile Internet? 

 

I'd love to know what providers people are using and what you're paying. I'm currently on a three unlimited data contract paying £27pm. The EE coverage is much better in the Marina i'm in but it's £37pm!

 

Here are my best ones:

 

  • External Antenna (I use this one) and get it mounted high up
  • Find out where your local Mobile Phone masts are. I have been using this website
  • Change the Cell Bands you are connected to.
    • Some mobile phone towers transmit signals on different wave lengths. On Some routers you can change the settings so it will only connect to one particular band. For example three uses bands B20 - 800 and B3 - 1800.
    • Changing the bands can also force your router to connect to a different Tower. Sometimes there will be two in the area (one transmitting on B3, the other on B20)
    • I use an application called huaCTRL that will let me change the bands. Not every Router will let you do this.
    • I use a Huawei B535
  • Change your APN (Access Point Name). This is the "gateway" or Access Point your router will use to connect to the internet. Sometimes an APN can slow down because it has a lot of traffic. You can google alterative APNs and set them for your Router (For Three, I use 3UK, AUTO, three.co.uk).
    • I change the APN settings in the Huawei App
  • Turn the Router off and on again once in a while

 

It's also worth mentioning that a lot of Routers can be run on 12V - but I'd recommend using a buck converter just in case.

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I'm doing much the same as you but using Smarty at £20 a month for unlimited data and only paying for months when I am on the boat.  I don't always connect the external antenna as I find generally the signal is strong enough to work and stream TV.  I have the B818 router.

 

If you want to try Smarty get a free month through my referral https://i.smarty.co.uk/ptE8nf.

 

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30 minutes ago, EdwardMeades said:

Anybody got any pearls of wisdom they would like to share for getting the bet signal/ reliable connection on their Mobile Internet? 

 

I'd love to know what providers people are using and what you're paying. I'm currently on a three unlimited data contract paying £27pm. The EE coverage is much better in the Marina i'm in but it's £37pm!

 

Here are my best ones:

 

  • External Antenna (I use this one) and get it mounted high up
  • Find out where your local Mobile Phone masts are. I have been using this website
  • Change the Cell Bands you are connected to.
    • Some mobile phone towers transmit signals on different wave lengths. On Some routers you can change the settings so it will only connect to one particular band. For example three uses bands B20 - 800 and B3 - 1800.
    • Changing the bands can also force your router to connect to a different Tower. Sometimes there will be two in the area (one transmitting on B3, the other on B20)
    • I use an application called huaCTRL that will let me change the bands. Not every Router will let you do this.
    • I use a Huawei B535
  • Change your APN (Access Point Name). This is the "gateway" or Access Point your router will use to connect to the internet. Sometimes an APN can slow down because it has a lot of traffic. You can google alterative APNs and set them for your Router (For Three, I use 3UK, AUTO, three.co.uk).
    • I change the APN settings in the Huawei App
  • Turn the Router off and on again once in a while

 

It's also worth mentioning that a lot of Routers can be run on 12V - but I'd recommend using a buck converter just in case.

I moved to Three from EE a couple of years back, on cost grounds. I'm seriously considering moving back. It's clear that Three have way oversold their network capacity in many places, and though it's possible to get a decent signal, either the radio bandwidth or the backhaul capacity is congested and bandwidth and round-trip-times are not good. One trick I have used with success in quite a few places it to force the router to use 3G rather than 4G. Three has/had an excellent 3G network (the clue is in the name) - much better than EEs which was never much cop. It's clearly mostly still in place, and because most devices prefer a 4G connection when both are available, the 3G network is less loaded and often gives better transfer speeds.

 

MP.

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7 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

I moved to Three from EE a couple of years back, on cost grounds. I'm seriously considering moving back. It's clear that Three have way oversold their network capacity in many places, and though it's possible to get a decent signal, either the radio bandwidth or the backhaul capacity is congested and bandwidth and round-trip-times are not good. One trick I have used with success in quite a few places it to force the router to use 3G rather than 4G. Three has/had an excellent 3G network (the clue is in the name) - much better than EEs which was never much cop. It's clearly mostly still in place, and because most devices prefer a 4G connection when both are available, the 3G network is less loaded and often gives better transfer speeds.

 

MP.

Great tip - I always go for 4G, even when i'm only getting 2mbs. I will see if I can use the 3G on occasion.

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50 minutes ago, EdwardMeades said:

Anybody got any pearls of wisdom they would like to share for getting the bet signal/ reliable connection on their Mobile Internet? 

 

I'd love to know what providers people are using and what you're paying. I'm currently on a three unlimited data contract paying £27pm. The EE coverage is much better in the Marina i'm in but it's £37pm!

 

 

 

Tried just about all of them over the years, Voda, EE, Three, O2 and some of the providers that piggy back on them eg Giff Gaff.

 

Purely based on personal experience EE has consistently proven to be the best overall in terms of reliability and coverage. We travel extensively throughout the UK and I can only think of one occasion we were without EE coverage. This curiously was not far from a major motorway so that was unexpected. As you correctly state they are not the cheapest but you know what they say..........

You get what you pay for.

 

Mrs. HN pays around £35 pcm for unlimited on her iPhone and I pay about £30 for 35gb. If I ever get close to using that she just 'gifts' me some of her data, which she can do up to 150gb per month. EE keep nagging me to pay another £5 pcm to get unlimited but given data gifting it would be pretty pointless.

 

Their web site used to be rubbish but it along with the app. seems to have improved of late.

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I'm shocked at what people can pay for their phones/ broadband.

At the other end of the scale

3 home Broadband £15

Sim only Mobile phones 4gb data £6 each 

Smarty unlimited caravan/boat broadband free for another year because of referrals.

Yes there's not much data on our phones but as we have WiFi just about everywhere we go we just don't need it our usage is about 2-3gb on the phone.

I have an identical system to the OP for the caravan/boat except it's on Smarty.

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I'm shocked at what people can pay for their phones/ broadband.

At the other end of the scale

3 home Broadband £15

Sim only Mobile phones 4gb data £6 each 

Smarty unlimited caravan/boat broadband free for another year because of referrals.

Yes there's not much data on our phones but as we have WiFi just about everywhere we go we just don't need it our usage is about 2-3gb on the phone.

I have an identical system to the OP for the caravan/boat except it's on Smarty.

 

 

 

 

But as Ive said before its no good paying for something (even if its cheap) if you dont get the service you are paying for.

 

My personal experience of 3 is poor in terms of coverage and as others have said congestion. I fully accept other people's experiences can be different, but EE works better for us wherever we end up so l'm OK with paying what we do.

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5 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

But as Ive said before its no good paying for something (even if its cheap) if you dont get the service you are paying for.

Apart from when my local mast failed at home, which took out EE as well since they share masts, I have never been without internet that was at least capable of streaming HD. I guess I must have got the set-up right or been lucky. I will admit that I haven't been north of Birmingham for many years maybe it different up there 😯

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In my experience EE is the best network both for connection and for data speed. I have three sims from them on the same account, one unlimited for £25 per month and two x 10Gbyte sims for £10 each.  The unlimited one is in the boat router (TP-Link MR200), the other two are in the house router (also a TP-Link) and my phone. When the house or phone are running low I gift data from the boat. I can gift up to120 Gbytes from the unlimited sim. But it's best if you do the gifting at the beginning of the billing cycle because any data that you use on the unlimited sim comes off your gifting allowance. So if you've used 50 gbytes on the unlimited sim then you only have 70 left to gift. However if you gift all your 120 gbyte allowance at the beginning of the month then the unlimited sim still works and is still unlimited.

 

There was no signal at all (3G or 4G) at Allens Lock on the South Oxford but that is about the only place I've had problems.

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£10 / Month for 100GB from Vodafone. Includes unlimited minutes and text so is a true 3 way sim. I just use it in a d

 link router With external aerials. Running direct off 12v. my opinion is all the talk of stabilised supply or buck converters is bollix, but hey if it makes you happy....

Sometimes the unlimited Deals are not as good as they appear- check the small print on fair use policies and download speed. 

Checking the frequency bands is important as in my case Vodafone use the 2.6ghz band and a lot of  cheap 4g antenna dont go that high. I was surprised what a difference it made. Mind you I think the most expensive one I bought  was about 8 quid...

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I've got the same Poynting external antenna with a Huwaei router on a 3 mobile broadband contract which I didn't get as cheaply as Julian!

 

The internet speeds are great and I have no complaint about that. For my phone I'm on Smarty paying £6/month with 4GB of data which is plenty for when I'm away from the boat. 

 

The only thing that doesn't always work properly is calling over Wi-Fi. The phone signal at my mooring is poor on Smarty (3) and non-existent on O2 which is the network for my work phone. I've set both phones to Wi-Fi calling but it's a bit inconsistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Does anyone know how to solve this? 

Edited by blackrose
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I'm no expert, do I need a data sim, what would it do. 

I get messages from 3 saying I've used my allowance and will be charged, extra, but that does not happen. 

I think that phones are better than tablets, for some things and vice versa, but what I want is a phone and a tablet that work 16 hours a day without needing topped up, that has to be battery related. 

Are these iPads and Samsung actually any better, I think I am constrained by speed, ie mifi, not the actual gadget. 

When you go to a shop, as I do, it's cos something has gone wrong, and they want to sell you something. 

When told I could get more Gbytes or some such, I asked is that per day, week, or month. They don't seem able to cope with those Qs. 

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6 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I'm no expert, do I need a data sim, what would it do. 

I get messages from 3 saying I've used my allowance and will be charged, extra, but that does not happen. 

I think that phones are better than tablets, for some things and vice versa, but what I want is a phone and a tablet that work 16 hours a day without needing topped up, that has to be battery related. 

Are these iPads and Samsung actually any better, I think I am constrained by speed, ie mifi, not the actual gadget. 

When you go to a shop, as I do, it's cos something has gone wrong, and they want to sell you something. 

When told I could get more Gbytes or some such, I asked is that per day, week, or month. They don't seem able to cope with those Qs. 

That's because you are asking in an shop where 99.9% of the customers live in 'ouses with leccy on tap.

All the answers you need are on this forum on lots of threads including this one.

Edited by matty40s
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3 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

That's expensive, I'm paying £19/month for unlimited data on 3 and Julian's only paying £15.

10 x 6 = 60 + 20 x 18 = 360 total 420/24  = £17.50 per month so less than you are paying. The £15 one was available years ago and they allow you to renew the contract but you cannot buy or change it in any way, my son in law had that plan for about 5 years before he emigrated to New Zealand.

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38 minutes ago, Detling said:

10 x 6 = 60 + 20 x 18 = 360 total 420/24  = £17.50 per month so less than you are paying. The £15 one was available years ago and they allow you to renew the contract but you cannot buy or change it in any way, my son in law had that plan for about 5 years before he emigrated to New Zealand.

£15 deal was negotiated in February this year, I was paying £22,

I threatened to go elsewhere and got that and a new B535 router to convince me to stay.

For those that don't know the conversation with 3 went like this:

What can you offer me to renew my contract?

£20 sir

No I was thinking more of £12 

Sorry sir we can't do that

Ok I'm leaving

How about £17 and a new router sir

No 

How about £15 and a new router sir

£14 ?

No sir that's our best offer.

Ok where do I sign?

 

I will go through the same thing in 2023 😉

Edited by Loddon
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3 hours ago, matty40s said:

That's because you are asking in an shop where 99.9% of the customers live in 'ouses with leccy on tap.

All the answers you need are on this forum on lots of threads including this one.

Indeed they are, no doubt, but I don't understand them! 

Just now, LadyG said:

Indeed they are, no doubt, but I don't understand them! 

Do I need a bigger battery phone and tablet? 

 

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Power for phone and laptop? 12v leads with a lighter socket plug are available for laptops, usb 5v sockets are available for the phone. I fitted a combined 12v/5v usb gubbins on our boat. 

 

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1 hour ago, LadyG said:

Indeed they are, no doubt, but I don't understand them! 

 

With a phone, especially on a boat where it acts as a hotspot and also the owner wishes to be extra careful about not dropping it in the water, the phone will be active buy lying untouched for much of the time. One good thing to consider is ensuring that your phone has QI charging facility and then  get a charge that is very quick to dock. 

 

I go one bit further on the boat and have a QI cradle (at home it is a Juice stand type) which can be mounted on the wall near to a window for better reception. 

 

All this means is that you stand a better chance of keeping the phone battery fully charged.

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1 minute ago, Jim Riley said:

Power for phone and laptop? 12v leads with a lighter socket plug are available for laptops, usb 5v sockets are available for the phone. I fitted a combined 12v/5v usb gubbins on our boat. 

 

Every phone/tablet/router etc I run on the boat runs from USB, sockets are placed where needed and  with a 6ft cable I can still sit in my chair and use the tablet/phone even if the battery is flat. Just needs some sensible planning 😎

My phone lasts 12hrs when being used and the Tablet 4hrs but it is 4 years old.

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