Wireless Joint

Lamengamin wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 5:31 am Watched this video and have come to this conclusion. I have the MOFI4500 Sim4. I have a sim card provided by OTR Mobile which offers an unlimited plan on the T-Mobile network. In my area the only T-Mobile signal I can get is off 1 tower which emits bands 2 and 12 only. 2 is pretty useless, its far less than 1 Mbps down. Since band 12 is the best there is for me (around 5-7 Mbps down), carrier aggregation doesn't really matter correct? Combining with band 2 is rather pointless. My best option would be finding a unit to replace the MOFI that's has a higher "raw" power, I believe is how they put it. Is that correct? I would not necessarily get any more bands, but the relative difference in the units may give me a slight increase. Right now the MOFI being a Cat 6, if replaced with a Cat 18 should have some improvement?

In my opinion no you would not see anything better. Speed is about signal strength combined with amount of Mhz available. There higher category modems combine more bands to give it more speed. If you don't have more bands to get it is not going to help you.
Have T-Mobile here bands on tower 2, 12, 71. Well most modems only have 2 &12. And I have tested all kinds of different modems at my place and yest found a modem that outperforms my Cat 6 modem. Now more bands no more bandwidth to add to that download speed.
Now this doesn't mean all gloom and doom. You can get more speed by looking into your signal strength. This is what I did. For what ever reason where I am at my tower at my location (will still do it at my sisters house same tower) won't do carrier aggregation anymore. So I updated my outdoor antenna to make up for the loss and still doing just fine on only band 2.
By they way since only had band two decided to test out a Cat 4 modem for fun and ran pretty similar to my cat 6 modem since it can only get one band.
So let talk about your signal strength you are getting and don't trust the wifi form the mofi. Plug into the lan ports.

I’m not great at post discussions that explain the physics of radio communication but I do understand these dual 26db antennas are the way to go if you want to improve or maximize internet speeds through the use of different carrier aggregation bands in 4g and 5g capable modems / routers. They are good for other radio communication applications as well but I use them for internet use primarily. There are different philosophies of how to get the best internet speeds but the bottom line is to maximize the limitation use constraints of your equipment. Obviously, antenna signals aren’t going to be technologically maximized with the use of single band connections as opposed to newer multiple carrier aggregation band technologies and acquisition of signal proximity strengths that reduce signal degradation loss. That being said, if you expect internet improved download / upload speeds, you have to remove the bottlenecks commonly found in newer technologically advanced or even antiquated equipment and use the best technologies available if you can afford them, starting with (1.) these high gain 26db antennas, mounted at the highest attainable location and pointed precisely in the direction of (CA) carrier aggregation capable cell phone towers - keep in mind the antennas need to be rigidly stable to keep their fixed “Line of Sight” directed to these cell towers, and these antennas are best mounted to coincide with the polarization phase of the RX / TX from the cell phone towers - my parabolics / feed horns are cocked at 45 degrees because this is how the signals are polarized with signals coming off the local cell towers in my area, (2.) using the shortest - highest grade dB loss coaxial cable, (3.) connected to a multiple (CA) carrier aggregation band modem / router - but keep in mind there are many types out there and they all have limitations in the equipment that will bottleneck your speeds to (usually less) than that stated maximum specification capability - some being dual SIM card operated / some being linked jointly in their technology or more advanced in their carrier aggregation (number of) band and configuration constraint capabilities - along with their higher speed capable 4g / 5g cell tower proximity locations - with some are / some aren’t industrial use rated. Now - speeds of 2gbps and more are possible but the reality is these speeds are highly unlikely for most of us that can’t afford the elaborate equipment costs required to set up these systems and that do not have the local infrastructure technology (advanced 4g/5g) cell towers (particularly in more rural location areas at the time of this post) in the local area of operation, along with the fact these data plans can get expensive for more data download / upload - usage and most people have not yet upgraded from 4g to 5g capable phones or other devices. All those bottlenecks create limitations on internet speed including the limitation further reduced by whether the CA cell bands Rx / Tx converted to WIFI by the router - permit dual / tri band 2.4ghz or 5.0ghz SSID networks that allow faster Rx / Tx mbps speeds through (a.) physical lan port Ethernet connections or (b.) or multiple wireless connected access points with mesh (WiFi 6) technologies to connected devices. Keep in mind again, the closer you are to wireless access points / routers, the signal response is typically going to be better; so more access points (several in an area of operation) are generally better in the area closer to the device or proximity but even these access point / router devices are usually better served when they are located at closer / higher locations to the device communicated to / or being used. If you are connecting such devices in the association with modem access points / routers / GB switches, that equipment is also going to be constrained by that equipment’s physical speed limitations. The idea here is to remove all the bottlenecks to achieve the fastest capable speeds of the equipment. Although CAT5, is good Ethernet cable, I recommend CAT6 or better cable as they usually have better connector / connection attachment and recommend use of good quality coaxial cable / connectors along with weatherizing the fittings from the elements. And, the longer lengths, of coaxial cable creates greater dB line loss. Similarly, longer lengths of Ethernet cable, particularly (PoE) Ethernet cable over 300ft, the signal / frequency is degraded and the signal / internet speed becomes evidently more weak.

I have two separate cellular modem / routers rated as follows: (mofi4500 300mbps capable / Netgear M1 M1100 1.2gbps capable) using single SIM cards (two cellular accounts - both unlimited data plans). I usually use the Netgear setup because it is faster than the mofi4500 300mbps capable getting speeds of 180mbps on average / Netgear M1 M1100 1.2gbps getting so far the highest speed of 960mbps ever and usually about 400mbps on average. I will admit I have unique circumstance, I am a self-taught radio enthusiast and I freely admit I don’t know everything about radio prorogation or new technologies out there but I have mounted two of these antennas - fixed rigidly stable @ 65’ with AGI @ 520’ while the surrounding terrain is generally less than AGI 420’ - connected with two 10’ of high grade lmr400 connected to the mofi4500 modem / router in a weatherproof enclosure (its an industrial grade - rated modem / router) with high heat operation capability - another consideration you need to think about in your application of operation. I have connected LAN ports - 3 relatively short 100’ runs of CAT6 Ethernet cables connected to a GB switch as well as other multiple (3) connected access points to maximize my proximity strength. I generally use the 5.0ghz WiFi SSIDs because it is generally faster than the 2.4ghz WiFi option for connected devices. Keep in mind again, unless you have a high speed modem capable device / phone, you will not receive higher Mbps speeds because the phone or device needs to be rated to receive / transmit those speeds - so depending on the device you use - it will limit the capability of the internet speed for that specific device. I know this is somewhat off topic regarding these antennas but it is important to know - most people with today’s technology will be limited in speed if the bottlenecks are not removed - i find this is the most frequent reason most people are unable to attain higher internet speeds - - because they overlooked some element of connected equipment speed limitations.

I may post pictures of my mounted parabolic antennas and the general setup but it’s raining today and I will do it later. I am also in the process of upgrading surge protectors - shielding for coaxial cable / Ethernet and installing a much better grounding system. I haven’t had this setup very long so before I post pictures, I rather get all the details completed if anyone might have questions I can respond to.

Thanks - dbgainnut

Very thorough dbgainnut. I use one of those Bolton 26db and a big fan, on the verge of adding a second in the same configuration as you have. I have never been able to push a Mofi past 86mbps - probably due to the 100mb backplane on the switch.

I would like to follow up on my prior post 10/15/2020; the cell tower (less than 3 miles away) I was communicating with (given my system setup) suddenly stopped allowing my Netgear MR1100 1.2 gbps to achieve what I considered “super” 400mbps speeds and speeds using the Mofi4500 at 180mbps. This is a relatively new constructed tower site less than a year ago and lately I had noticed a lot of At&T technical people out there at the tower site doing routine maintenance. So I pulled over and basically explained what system I had constructed for my internet service and explained the loss in recent internet speed results. To my surprise, they told me the reason I was getting such high speeds using the Netgear MR1100 was because of the advanced 5ge system (which is nothing more than souped-up 4g that had previously been set unlimited wide open) and that system had been connected to a direct link 1gbps fiber optic server system they were testing. But unfortunately now, they have limited the bandwidth set to serve a number of cell bands which will now not allow me to achieve those excellent speeds. I really don’t know what they did exactly but I just know I haven’t been able to achieve higher speeds than 95mbps now using either modem / router systems. Originally, when I first tested the systems, I was surprised because I had never heard of speeds from lte modem / router systems like I was getting. I even suspected I might be getting false readings but when my testing revealed similar results each time, I was just overjoyed how fast my system was. Like they say - nothing lasts forever. The techs told me 5g technology to my area might come mid next year if I was lucky (live in a rural area) but since these modems are only 4g rated, I don’t see my system getting faster speeds unless I upgrade to newer 5g Lte modem technology which frankly has not made it to the market yet as of this post.