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Improving onboard Mobile communications


KJT

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4 hours ago, john6767 said:

At home I have 75 down, 20 up with FTTC, about 200 yards from the cabinet.  We do have full fibre available now as well, but it is more money and I don't think I would use the additional bandwidth at this point, so sticking where I am for now.

 

On the boat I just use my iPhone as a router on Three, but have been thinking of going for a router and external aerial on the boat, but it is annoying that would be another unlimited sim @ £20 a month.  I was thinking perhaps trying Smarty for the boat and just having it over the summer when we are on the boat a lot, assuming their sims will work ok in a router.

My home "3" costs £15per month another reason for going that way.

I use Smarty on the boat / caravan in a Huawei B535, so far since getting the sim 12 months ago I have only paid for the first month,  Thanks to recomending others so far  I have had seven months free internet, I dont have it active every month and still have five free months left to use plus I have £70 credit banked on top of that 

So it will be the best part of two years unlimited internet for £20. ;)

 

Just in case anyone else fancys joining Smarty and getting a free month and a £10 bonus as well

You could use the link below

 

https://i.smarty.co.uk/juliant-139

 

Edited by Loddon
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  • 4 months later...

Hi, I bought a Huawei E 5785 more than two years ago, one day it stopped charging so I bought another battery, it turned up, but its not quite as big in capacity, as the first one, but, guess what it's the charging that's not working, not the batteries. 

As the replacement router is £187, I think, includes big battery, which is said to last 12 hours, which, which I doubt, this would give me three batteries, one device. 

So, can I just buy the device, sans battery? 

Does it harm them to leave them on power, I did notice it was often hot. 

Does it make sense to just leave it on charge 24/7

I'm with three, only watch TV occasionally, YouTube frequently, other stuff, all adds up to 12 to 16 hours per day. 

PS the tablet, also Huawei, Internet etc came as a package, apparently the tablet was free! I will need another tablet due to breaking screen, do I wait till other contracts have run out? 

Tx

PS the glass on tablet is broken, can I get a new tablet from amazon, do I have to do something to connect it to wi fi. 

I already have three contracts running with Three, I don't want another! 

 

Edited by LadyG
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  • 1 month later...

Is there a dual sim 4G router that aggregates the signal to provide improved data rates in rural areas? I've been googling but haven't found anything and it is very slow - my download here is 2.7mbs at best!! Currently on 3, but have looked at O2, Vodafone and EE coverage maps and they all paint the same picture. Even double the download rate would be workable (just).

 

Currently use a Huawei B535 connected to an external Poynting aerial.

 

TIA.

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18 hours ago, PCSB said:

Is there a dual sim 4G router that aggregates the signal to provide improved data rates in rural areas? I've been googling but haven't found anything and it is very slow - my download here is 2.7mbs at best!! Currently on 3, but have looked at O2, Vodafone and EE coverage maps and they all paint the same picture. Even double the download rate would be workable (just).

 

Currently use a Huawei B535 connected to an external Poynting aerial.

 

TIA.

The teltonika rutx12 sort of does this - it "load balances" rather than "bonds" (what you are asking for is bonding, which afaik is difficult and costly). Load balancing means if you have 2x3mbit Sims, you can have 2 devices or downloads/connections at 3mbit. But you can't download at 6mbit. I'm not sure how well all of this works in practise though.

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On 17/04/2022 at 15:42, PCSB said:

Is there a dual sim 4G router that aggregates the signal to provide improved data rates in rural areas? I've been googling but haven't found anything and it is very slow - my download here is 2.7mbs at best!! Currently on 3, but have looked at O2, Vodafone and EE coverage maps and they all paint the same picture. Even double the download rate would be workable (just).

 

Currently use a Huawei B535 connected to an external Poynting aerial.

 

TIA.

There are plenty of dual-SIM routers which can choose which one to use. To combine the rates of two SIMs needs bonding, which means paying a fortune for not just a suitable business-class router but also a service which aggregates the data on the network side -- IIRC the cost of these services (e.g. Peplink) is more per month than the SIMs... 😞

Edited by IanD
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On 17/04/2022 at 15:42, PCSB said:

Is there a dual sim 4G router that aggregates the signal to provide improved data rates in rural areas? I've been googling but haven't found anything and it is very slow - my download here is 2.7mbs at best!! Currently on 3, but have looked at O2, Vodafone and EE coverage maps and they all paint the same picture. Even double the download rate would be workable (just).

 

Currently use a Huawei B535 connected to an external Poynting aerial.

 

TIA.

 

Where are you moored? Maybe someone has solved a similar issue in the locality.

 

Presumably its a permanent mooring, so you cant move along a bit, (or a lot), to find a spot with a better signal.

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1 hour ago, IanD said:

There are plenty of dual-SIM routers which can choose which one to use. To combine the rates of two SIMs needs bonding, which means paying a fortune for not just a suitable business-class router but also a service which aggregates the data on the network side -- IIRC the cost of these services (e.g. Peplink) is more per month than the SIMs... 😞

Yep, that was both what I feared and what I'd found, was rather hoping I'd missed something. Thanks Ian.

37 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

 

Where are you moored? Maybe someone has solved a similar issue in the locality.

 

Presumably its a permanent mooring, so you cant move along a bit, (or a lot), to find a spot with a better signal.

We will be out cruising soon and I know there is much better signal only a few hundred yards either way. Currently In Aqueduct Marina in Cheshire. There is a narrow strip with the marina in the middle where all signals are poor, not sure why either as there are no hills so guess its just not worth putting masts in as it is quite rural.

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18 hours ago, PCSB said:

Yep, that was both what I feared and what I'd found, was rather hoping I'd missed something. Thanks Ian.

We will be out cruising soon and I know there is much better signal only a few hundred yards either way. Currently In Aqueduct Marina in Cheshire. There is a narrow strip with the marina in the middle where all signals are poor, not sure why either as there are no hills so guess its just not worth putting masts in as it is quite rural.

The EE coverage map suggests you should get a signal that your aerial can pick up.... whereas the Three coverage map shows a square of no coverage just on the marina.

 

Could be worth trying a SIM that works on the EE network?

 

https://coverage.ee.co.uk/coverage/ee

 

https://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Network/Coverage#/

 

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1 hour ago, Richard10002 said:

The EE coverage map suggests you should get a signal that your aerial can pick up.... whereas the Three coverage map shows a square of no coverage just on the marina.

 

Could be worth trying a SIM that works on the EE network?

 

https://coverage.ee.co.uk/coverage/ee

 

https://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Network/Coverage#/

 

Worth a shot so will get one. Ta muchly.

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1 hour ago, PCSB said:

Worth a shot so will get one. Ta muchly.

EE itself is quite expensive and restrictive if you just want to try it out.

 

Plusnet uses the EE network, and you can sign up for a 30 day rolling contract, (which you need to cancel if it doesnt work :) ), for as little as £6 a month for 4GB, although 25GB is ony a tenner and 50GB is £15.

 

https://www.plus.net/mobile/sim-only-30-day

 

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I'm thinking that no matter what network you are on there will be problems in a big marina purely down to the number of users.

That is certainly the case in the marina I am in 3 bars of signal 1.4 miles from the mast and lucky to get 10mbs, compared to the last few days in a remote field in Nth Devon 2 bars of signal 4.6 miles from the mast and 30mbs.

 

 

Oh and they have done something to my local mast at home 0.2miles away I now see speeds in excess of 200mbs ;)

1650483460716.jpg

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You need to be careful what you are checking the speed on as well as there could be a limit between the device you running the speed check on and the router.  My phone only does 2.4Ghz WiFi so reports slower speeds than my tablet which does 5Ghz and that is slower than my laptop on Ethernet.

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19 hours ago, PeterF said:

I get moderate / reasonable signal with Smarty (uses Three network) at Aqueduct, Teltonika RUTX11 with an EAD LMO7270 – 4G LTE antenna. I will see if I can remember to check the download speed tomorrow.

Checked with my tablet and phone and got 2.5Mbs which is lower than I recall last year.

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  • 4 months later...
On 20/04/2022 at 20:40, Loddon said:

I'm thinking that no matter what network you are on there will be problems in a big marina purely down to the number of users.

That is certainly the case in the marina I am in 3 bars of signal 1.4 miles from the mast and lucky to get 10mbs, compared to the last few days in a remote field in Nth Devon 2 bars of signal 4.6 miles from the mast and 30mbs.

 

 

Oh and they have done something to my local mast at home 0.2miles away I now see speeds in excess of 200mbs ;)

 

Just upgraded my router to get Wifi 6 and as a bonus 5g. Its a Huawei  h112-370 CPE pro.

Now seeing 350Mbs from my local mast, who would have thought there is usable 5g  in Nth Devon ;)

Only downside for use on a boat is that the antenna sockets are only for 5g  not 4g.

 

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11 hours ago, Loddon said:

Just upgraded my router to get Wifi 6 and as a bonus 5g. Its a Huawei  h112-370 CPE pro.

Now seeing 350Mbs from my local mast, who would have thought there is usable 5g  in Nth Devon ;)

Only downside for use on a boat is that the antenna sockets are only for 5g  not 4g.

 

 

Which means external antennas won't be so useful in the UK (on a boat) since all the 5G networks are NSA (Non-Stand-Alone), which means they use 4G to communicate with the network and set up the link and just use 5G (if available) to accelerate data transfer once this has been done.

 

So without external antenna connections for 4G as well as 5G, low signal strength means no connection, or very low data rates where only 4G is available -- which is a lot of the country...

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20 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Which means external antennas won't be so useful in the UK (on a boat) since all the 5G networks are NSA (Non-Stand-Alone), which means they use 4G to communicate with the network and set up the link and just use 5G (if available) to accelerate data transfer once this has been done.

 

So without external antenna connections for 4G as well as 5G, low signal strength means no connection, or very low data rates where only 4G is available -- which is a lot of the country..

Yes I know all of that hence my comment about no 4g antenna sockets. Plus the unavailability of 5g round the country.

It is however quite an easy matter to add the 4g sockets but it disconnects the internal 4g antennas. You would however need two external antennas in that scenario.

Still full signal strength on both 4g and 5g here so no external antennas needed. 

Think I might have to replace two of my outlying access points as the ethernet return s only 100 on them 🥱

Edited by Loddon
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25 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Yes I know all of that hence my comment about no 4g antenna sockets. Plus the unavailability of 5g round the country.

It is however quite an easy matter to add the 4g sockets but it disconnects the internal 4g antennas. You would however need two external antennas in that scenario.

Still full signal strength on both 4g and 5g here so no external antennas needed. 

Think I might have to replace two of my outlying access points as the ethernet return s only 100 on them 🥱

 

I guessed you knew that, my comments were for the benefit of anyone else who didn't and might go "Hey, that sounds like a great router, I'll buy one!" and was then sadly disappointed... 🙂

 

Most of the available 4G/5G routers either don't have external antenna sockets at all (or not for both bands), or even if they're added on (e.g. by router-mods.co.uk) use separate connections for 4G and 5G, which as you say means two external antennae are needed -- expensive and not convenient for a boat. A modified router plus 2 antennas will cost at least £800 -- or more, depending on router model.

 

Routers which come with ready-fitted connectors common for 4G and 5G tend to be expensive "industrial" routers, for example this one -- which together with a 4x4 MIMO antenna will set you back by at least £700 inc. VAT, too rich for most pockets... 😞

 

https://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/product/rapid-nr550-5g-router/

 

The alternative is an outdoor router, but these are few and far between and similarly expensive, don't necessarily cover all the UK bands, are often poorly supported, and many people have reported problems with them:

 

https://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/product/zyxel-nr7101-5g-router/

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/outdoor-cpes.37141/page-16#post-279752

 

So the overall conclusion is that if you want a 4G/5G router with external antennae (or an outdoor router) suitable for a boat, all routes currently lead to a bill of £700 or more... 😞

Edited by IanD
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Or:

Two of these:

Poynting XPOL-1 V2 5G 3dBi Omni-Directional Cross Polarised LTE 2x2 MIMO Outdoor Antenna, White https://amzn.eu/d/egtL4Cm

 

Two or four of these depending if you want all connections the same:

https://thepihut.com/products/sma-to-ufl-u-fl-ipx-ipex-rf-adapter-cable

 

And one of these:

3 Network Huawei H112-370 5G Home/Office Wi-Fi 6 CPE Pro Router https://amzn.eu/d/770E6MZ

 

Plus a bit of internal re-plugging 

Adds up to just under £370 🤔

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26 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Or:

Two of these:

Poynting XPOL-1 V2 5G 3dBi Omni-Directional Cross Polarised LTE 2x2 MIMO Outdoor Antenna, White https://amzn.eu/d/egtL4Cm

 

Two or four of these depending if you want all connections the same:

https://thepihut.com/products/sma-to-ufl-u-fl-ipx-ipex-rf-adapter-cable

 

And one of these:

3 Network Huawei H112-370 5G Home/Office Wi-Fi 6 CPE Pro Router https://amzn.eu/d/770E6MZ

 

Plus a bit of internal re-plugging 

Adds up to just under £370 🤔

 

For people who aren't up to reworking RF connections, getting router-mods to modify the H112-370 for you pushes the total cost up to about £450... 😉

 

I was concentrating on newer routers that support 4x4 MIMO and all the useful UK frequency bands (1,3,7,8,20,28,32,40 for 4G, 1,3,7,8,28,78 for 5G), on the principle that if you're going to spend a packet installing a 5G-capable system this makes more long-term sense.

 

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/providers-and-required-bands-for-uk-4g-5g-coverage-speed-for-narrowboat.38557/post-279660

 

 

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1 hour ago, IanD said:

I was concentrating on newer routers that support 4x4 MIMO and all the useful UK frequency bands (1,3,7,8,20,28,32,40 for 4G, 1,3,7,8,28,78 for 5G),

That router supports 4x4 mimo and those 4g bands

Only 78 is in use for 5g in the UK.

 

The thing you missed Is that particular one is locked to 3/Smarty but there are similar ones that are not. 🤭

 

Just remember not everyone has unlimited funds like you appear to have.

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33 minutes ago, Loddon said:

That router supports 4x4 mimo and those 4g bands

Only 78 is in use for 5g in the UK.

 

The thing you missed Is that particular one is locked to 3/Smarty but there are similar ones that are not. 🤭

 

Just remember not everyone has unlimited funds like you appear to have.

 

It supports 4x4 MIMO on Wi-Fi only, 5G/4G are 2x2 MIMO (main and diversity only) -- and as you said, the external connectors are 5G only, it needs modding to add 4G connectors.

 

https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/huawei-5g-cpe-pro-review

 

"The router has its own built-in internal antenna for connecting to 4G and 5G networks. However, it’s also possible to attach an external antenna to the device using the two TS9 connectors at the back of the router. "

 

700MHz (band 28) is also now being used for 5G in the UK, especially rolling out in rural areas with long-reach basestations, but not on all networks.

 

https://pedroc.co.uk/content/uk-commercial-mobile-spectrum

 

Of course not everyone has unlimited funds, but spending £450 on a 5G solution which won't allow access to some bands being increasingly used and delivers lower data rates seems like a false economy, because it's still hardly cheap. If money is tight there are much cheaper 4G solutions available, if it's not then there are much better 5G ones available -- this one seems to fall in the middle and be neither. But that's only my opinion, yours may differ 😉

 

2133499185_CPEPro.png.bff6bfdbefa7d041d67ef0cad8695a46.png

Edited by IanD
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26 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

It supports 4x4 MIMO on Wi-Fi only, 5G/4G are 2x2 MIMO (main and diversity only) -- and as you said, the external connectors are 5G only, it needs modding to add 4G connectors.

 

https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/huawei-5g-cpe-pro-review

 

"The router has its own built-in internal antenna for connecting to 4G and 5G networks. However, it’s also possible to attach an external antenna to the device using the two TS9 connectors at the back of the router. "

 

700MHz (band 28) is also now being used for 5G in the UK, especially rolling out in rural areas with long-reach basestations, but not on all networks.

 

https://pedroc.co.uk/content/uk-commercial-mobile-spectrum

 

Of course not everyone has unlimited funds, but spending £450 on a 5G solution which won't allow access to some bands being increasingly used and delivers lower data rates seems like a false economy, because it's still hardly cheap. If money is tight there are much cheaper solutions available, if it's not then there are much better ones available -- this one seems to fall in the middle and be neither...

 

2133499185_CPEPro.png.bff6bfdbefa7d041d67ef0cad8695a46.png

From your link:

When you buy the Huawei 5G CPE Pro on a plan from EE, Three or Vodafone, you’ll receive the version of the product with the model number H112-370. This is the optimum version of the product for use in the UK market. It has support for the n78 frequency band (3500MHz) which is used by all of the 5G networks in the UK. You’ll also get support for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 4×4 MIMO. This supports speeds on wi-fi of up to 5,100Mbit/s.

When you buy the Huawei 5G CPE Pro on an unlocked basis (e.g. from Amazon.co.uk), you’ll get the H112-372 version of the router instead. This supports a couple of extra 5G frequencies (bands n41, n77 and n79). These are not currently used in the UK, but can potentially be useful if you’re travelling abroad with the router and planning to use it in China, Japan, the USA or a few other countries in Asia. On the flip side, you’ll get slower Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) connectivity and you’ll also lose an RJ11 phone port from the device.

 

Says it all really.

Wifi 6 is really quite good 🤭

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