4 ms·

I moved recently from the UK, where my home and office both had fiber, to live in a tiny picturesque village in the Istrian hills in Croatia. Initially, my 4g

I moved recently from the UK, where my home and office both had fiber, to live in a tiny picturesque village in the Istrian hills in Croatia. Initially, my 4g router was getting a signal strength of -110 to -120db, corresponding to two bars and zoom video not working. Spent €90 on an outdoor aerial. Plugged it into the router. Signal now averages -85, four to five bars on the router, zero issues with video calls. My point being: there’s more than one way to skin a cat and you can often improve your mobile signal if you want to.

sails 6y ago
Would appreciate a link to your researched aerial and router. I'm sitting in the country with my phone in a metal kitchen bowl (DIY aerial) for maximum signal, and think I could benefit from some technology!
- zegerius 6y ago
  Take a look at the Teltonika RUTX11[1] with a MIMO LTE antenna from Poynting[2]. Not cheap, but certainly got good results with it. I used Cellmapper[3] to check where the closest tower was. I have heard that the Huawei ones that accept external antennas are also decent, be it with a much smaller featureset. [1] https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/ https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/ [2] https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/urban-rural-cellular-antennas/?filtering=1&pa_technology=cellular-lte-5g-ready%2Ccellular-lte-3g-2g&pa_mimo=2x2-mimo%2C2x2-mimo&really_curr_tax=596-product_cat https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/urban-rural-... [3] https://www.cellmapper.net/map https://www.cellmapper.net/map
  - devxpy 6y ago
    These are really expensive in India, any suggestions for us plebs?
    - TaylorAlexander 6y ago
      I am having good luck with a ZTE MF279 on our farm in California.
- thruflo 6y ago
  An omni-directional "Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001": https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C1DGFPS https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C1DGFPS They make lots of different types: https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/ https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/
zegerius 6y ago
Exactly! I purchased a 4G router[1] with an external antenna to ensure a sufficiently good connection for four people on a small Croatian island. After three months, I am positive that most people would be perfectly fine (or even better off) with just a 4G antenna on their roof. Our speeds were around 50-120/10-20Mbps with a 60-100ms latency to Zoom's closest server, depending on the weather. 1. Teltonika RUTX11: https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/ https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/
- EricE 6y ago
  One problem - there is only so much bandwidth available in a certain portion of radio spectrum. If everyone started doing what you are doing then “most people” would be seeing pretty bad performance. Wired is always better; especially in higher density environments. If you are in a rural or low density area then this is obviously less of an issue - but everyone moving to wireless would be an utter disaster where most people live.
devxpy 6y ago
I dont get why these 4g routers are so expensive. I can get a phone with snapdragon processor, lte chip, display, battery and everything for around 1/2 the price of a decent 4g router, its insane. Market theory sucks for the consumer.
- leokennis 6y ago
  Probably lack of volume and competition?
- cpgxiii 6y ago
  Part of it is certainly an issue of volume, but in the consumer space low-cost (or "free" subsidized-by-plan) 3G/LTE mobile hotspots have long been available. Those models are basically the modems and radios of a mid- to high-end smartphone in a cheap plastic enclosure with a battery. If you want metal enclosures (i.e. actual thermal design for prolonged operation), multiple ethernet ports, better routing support, no limits on number of connected devices, wide input voltages, automotive-grade components, etc, that's a much smaller market.
  - jjeaff 6y ago
    Are any carriers still subsidizing phones? I have only seen buy one get one free with a new line. ATT just has a payment plan but you still pay full price.
  - devxpy 6y ago
    I don't get how this works. Isn't someone down the line earning more profits than they would be in the smartphone industry? Like Obviously, the sheer resources required to create a router are minuscule compared to a phone, so then who exactly will be pocketing these extra resources that I'm paying for, and why?
Hamuko 6y ago
How are you running the outdoor cable to the router? I find the hardest part of this setup actually getting the cable from outside the house to inside the house.
- thruflo 6y ago
  Yup, definitely a head scratcher! So far I've been able to thread through an open window but when the weather turns I'll need to drill a hole somewhere at some point :)
- wffurr 6y ago
  It's similar to installing an outdoor power outlet: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-add-an-outdoor-outlet/ https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-add-an-outdoor...
- meigwilym 6y ago
  My TV aerial is in the attic space, and it works very well (although I do have a line of sight to the transmitter). The cable runs down the wall. I wonder if a 4G aerial would work as well in this kind of environment? The roof is wooden rafters with a slate covering.

sails 6y ago

Would appreciate a link to your researched aerial and router. I'm sitting in the country with my phone in a metal kitchen bowl (DIY aerial) for maximum signal, and think I could benefit from some technology!

zegerius 6y ago
Take a look at the Teltonika RUTX11[1] with a MIMO LTE antenna from Poynting[2]. Not cheap, but certainly got good results with it. I used Cellmapper[3] to check where the closest tower was. I have heard that the Huawei ones that accept external antennas are also decent, be it with a much smaller featureset. [1] https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/ https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/ [2] https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/urban-rural-cellular-antennas/?filtering=1&pa_technology=cellular-lte-5g-ready%2Ccellular-lte-3g-2g&pa_mimo=2x2-mimo%2C2x2-mimo&really_curr_tax=596-product_cat https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/urban-rural-... [3] https://www.cellmapper.net/map https://www.cellmapper.net/map
- devxpy 6y ago
  These are really expensive in India, any suggestions for us plebs?
  - TaylorAlexander 6y ago
    I am having good luck with a ZTE MF279 on our farm in California.
thruflo 6y ago
An omni-directional "Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001": https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C1DGFPS https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C1DGFPS They make lots of different types: https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/ https://poynting.tech/antenna-category/antennas/

zegerius 6y ago

Exactly! I purchased a 4G router[1] with an external antenna to ensure a sufficiently good connection for four people on a small Croatian island. After three months, I am positive that most people would be perfectly fine (or even better off) with just a 4G antenna on their roof. Our speeds were around 50-120/10-20Mbps with a 60-100ms latency to Zoom's closest server, depending on the weather. 1. Teltonika RUTX11: https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/ https://teltonika-networks.com/product/rutx11/

EricE 6y ago
One problem - there is only so much bandwidth available in a certain portion of radio spectrum. If everyone started doing what you are doing then “most people” would be seeing pretty bad performance. Wired is always better; especially in higher density environments. If you are in a rural or low density area then this is obviously less of an issue - but everyone moving to wireless would be an utter disaster where most people live.

devxpy 6y ago

I dont get why these 4g routers are so expensive. I can get a phone with snapdragon processor, lte chip, display, battery and everything for around 1/2 the price of a decent 4g router, its insane. Market theory sucks for the consumer.

leokennis 6y ago
Probably lack of volume and competition?
cpgxiii 6y ago
Part of it is certainly an issue of volume, but in the consumer space low-cost (or "free" subsidized-by-plan) 3G/LTE mobile hotspots have long been available. Those models are basically the modems and radios of a mid- to high-end smartphone in a cheap plastic enclosure with a battery. If you want metal enclosures (i.e. actual thermal design for prolonged operation), multiple ethernet ports, better routing support, no limits on number of connected devices, wide input voltages, automotive-grade components, etc, that's a much smaller market.
- jjeaff 6y ago
  Are any carriers still subsidizing phones? I have only seen buy one get one free with a new line. ATT just has a payment plan but you still pay full price.
- devxpy 6y ago
  I don't get how this works. Isn't someone down the line earning more profits than they would be in the smartphone industry? Like Obviously, the sheer resources required to create a router are minuscule compared to a phone, so then who exactly will be pocketing these extra resources that I'm paying for, and why?

Hamuko 6y ago

How are you running the outdoor cable to the router? I find the hardest part of this setup actually getting the cable from outside the house to inside the house.

thruflo 6y ago
Yup, definitely a head scratcher! So far I've been able to thread through an open window but when the weather turns I'll need to drill a hole somewhere at some point :)
wffurr 6y ago
It's similar to installing an outdoor power outlet: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-add-an-outdoor-outlet/ https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-add-an-outdoor...
meigwilym 6y ago
My TV aerial is in the attic space, and it works very well (although I do have a line of sight to the transmitter). The cable runs down the wall. I wonder if a 4G aerial would work as well in this kind of environment? The roof is wooden rafters with a slate covering.