Advice Needed 4g external antenna

BednaR said:
It should be ok as it was marked as a tri-band. I attached some photos. Antenna is nothing to write home about ...standard plastic encased one.
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The term 'triband' has been used as far back as the early 2G rollout and top out at 1900 MHz, which isn't of much use these days

You need to take the lid off the antenna housing to check the various dimensions.
 
Thank tou very much for coming back to me. It supposed to work on 900/1800/2100 but I'm very green on all this. What dimensions should I check? Any ideas why it doesn't get any internet signal through although bars are to the max?

I know that they dont matter as much as fast internet on 3 bars is better then no internet on 5 bars... but it is really annoying to not understand this scenario.
 
Take the lid off the trapezium and either measure the active (metal ) bits, or place a ruler next to them
 
Be careful if you take anything apart as you probably won't then be able to return it - personally, I would send it straight back right now for a refund as being "not fit for purpose" /"does not work"!
 
Bednar didn't say he had purchased it.
 
BednaR said:
just got myself a 4g signal booster
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Just curious, how's the legality of your booster model ? > https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/mobile-phone-repeater ("Prices are likely to start at around £400 for the simpler models" to get stuff that is legal + reaaly works). Have checked in France, some 'real' boosters are immensely expensive, the cheap ones one can buy are totally illegal (comes with threats of immense fines + prison if discovered!) & the pro ones need authorization. Got a neighbour who got one of these amazon boosters, struggled with it for months before putting it in the bin after all kinds of random unreliabilty, boosting wrong networks, loss of internet etc etc. I quickly dropped the whole idea here. Will just one day replace my dedicated phone (hotspot wifi) with a decent 4g router and some external antennas.

Anyway, good luck (...with the upcoming weeks of experimentations, bewilderment and headscratching :O)
 
4wd said:
Will just one day replace my dedicated phone (hotspot wifi) with a decent 4g router and some external antennas.
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Slightly OT and mainly for 4WD, but my Bouygues 4G router and external aerial are still working really well. The external aerial cost me about €100 and I get between 40 to 50mb download speeds.
 
Channel Hopper said:
Take the lid off the trapezium and either measure the active (metal ) bits, or place a ruler next to them
Click to expand...
Sorry for late reply. Lockdown meetings everywhere. It was easy to take it off and it doesnt seem like there was a seal or anything. I put it back no issues. Photos attached of what I got inside.
 

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sonnetpete said:
Slightly OT and mainly for 4WD, but my Bouygues 4G router and external aerial are still working really well
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Totally on-topic. Thanks for the long term testing report, very helpful for my planning.
 
BednaR said:
Sorry for late reply. Lockdown meetings everywhere. It was easy to take it off and it doesnt seem like there was a seal or anything. I put it back no issues. Photos attached of what I got inside.
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Holy Moley ! :-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow:-wow

For a start it's a yagi design, therefore directional, so where are you pointing it ?
 
BednaR said:
Sorry for late reply. Lockdown meetings everywhere. It was easy to take it off and it doesnt seem like there was a seal or anything. I put it back no issues. Photos attached of what I got inside.
Click to expand...
That's a directional and polarized "Yagi" antenna, and thus, asking the "obvious" questions, are you sure that you:
- pointed it in the correct direction (I assume you have found out where the nearest/strongest network mast is and pointed it pretty much exactly towards it, as Yagi antennas are very directional and the "gain" drops off quite rapidly on either side of the direction in which it is pointed) ?
and
- whether it transmits in Horizontal OR Vertical polarity, and thus have set your antenna to the same polarity?
 
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Channel Hopper said:
For a start it's a yagi design, therefore directional, so where are you pointing it ?
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I use an omni directional antenna, which seems to work well..
 
Ok. I done some tests and it's still very confusing.

I have pointed/tested it at 2 locations on opposite sides of the house, where I know the local masts are, and tried to aim in a similar direction like the rest of the houses around. Results are as follows:

1. 4G Router - Antenna. Speed was similar to the one without external antenna, no real change here
2. 4G router - booster - antenna
2A. I clamped the antenna to the window wing, and could test position a bit easier. Temporary solution but good for testing. On some locations 3 green lights (for the signal bands I assume) on the booster were on, but the router showed "No Service" message. Also no internet.
2B. I just propped it on the window sill: signal lights for 3 bands on the booster were off, not even blinking, but on the router I had max bars for signal / service ...but No internet! On router settings I changed it from 4G only to auto and it started to show a very slow internet access...
I was thinking it was maybe only getting the 3G signal through, but the router did show 4G... which was weird.

I am really unsure what to do next... maybe my kit is wrong? I was hoping to save some money and not call the company to install their own equipment as they would charge arm and leg for it ...but I dont know enough about the subject to do it myself I think...
 
OK, is there a page in the manual that gives the specifications ?
 
Does the repeater require any customising via a setup page to enable the external Network to identify it?
 
BednaR said:
I didnt get any specifications with it :-(

Tri Band Amplifier 900 1800 2100MHz GSM DCS 3G Universal Signal Booster Intelligent Repeater Kit- Tomtop.com

Tri Band Amplifier 900 1800 2100MHz GSM DCS 3G Universal Signal Booster Intelligent Repeater Kit
m.tomtop.com m.tomtop.com
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The product description mentions 3G on 2.1GHz

Tri Band Amplifier 900 1800 2100MHz GSM DCS 3G Universal Signal Booster Intelligent Repeater Kit- Tomtop.com

Tri Band Amplifier 900 1800 2100MHz GSM DCS 3G Universal Signal Booster Intelligent Repeater Kit
m.tomtop.com m.tomtop.com

Where did you see 4G ?
 
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