Wireless Joint

So is the T-Mobile SIM still coming?

Didneywhorl wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 8:17 pm Usually a high upload and a terribly low download means your tower is saturated with users and you are being deprioritized.

Hoping the 15dbi antennas allow me to pick up bands that are not saturated. Will I still be deprioritized or is it band specific?

gscheb wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 11:15 pm So is the T-Mobile SIM still coming?

Yes, I opted for the cheapest shipping, I am hoping to get it by Mon. or Tues. next week. I am holding off on driving the MoFi around until I have both SIMs to test with - lazy - it is currently screwed into the wall. Will test with my phones Verizon plan as well.

Not so Super Slow anymore!

Got the T-mo SIM in and fought it for a while. Got it working.

Without adjusting antenna or modifying anything other than carrier and APN, I am now getting 10-20Mbps down. Band scan only shows band 12. Signal stats aren't that much different than before, no surprise, and the ping times are similar.

Still think those 15dbi panels are going to make a big difference.

Alright success story.
You can do allot with 15-20 down.
If you want more could see about tweaking those antennas next to get another band besides 12.

Yel, stronger signal may gain you dome numbers. Good stuff.

Which antennas did you get, specifically?

Didneywhorl wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 10:51 am Which antennas did you get, specifically?

Haven't gotten them yet. I have the Amazon yagi's I mentioned in an earlier post on this string. I am looking to get the 15dbi panels you referenced from The Wireless Haven. Still not back in stock, I check every day.
These specifically: https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/antennas/4g-lte ... l-antenna/

gscheb wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 8:02 am Alright success story.
You can do allot with 15-20 down.
If you want more could see about tweaking those antennas next to get another band besides 12.

Agree, this is a great success story (so far) and despite saying in an earlier post that I had no interest in learning this stuff (just wanted an easy button), I am finding great enjoyment in the journey. I am grateful to all who have patiently helped me along with countless others on this site! Looking forward to 40+Mbps soon.

LogHomeLatency wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 11:43 am Agree, this is a great success story (so far) and despite saying in an earlier post that I had no interest in learning this stuff (just wanted an easy button), I am finding great enjoyment in the journey. I am grateful to all who have patiently helped me along with countless others on this site! Looking forward to 40+Mbps soon.

One of the best investments you can make is to get a higher CAT# modem, such as a Sierra 7511/7565 or Quectel EM12/EM16/EM20 which can aggregate multiple channels for higher speeds. Course a good high gain antennas helps too.

LogHomeLatency wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 7:42 am Not so Super Slow anymore!

Got the T-mo SIM in and fought it for a while. Got it working.

Without adjusting antenna or modifying anything other than carrier and APN, I am now getting 10-20Mbps down.
20200526_083015.jpg

Hello LogHomeLatency,
Taking about activating T-Mobile on this post maybe you can chime in on how you got your plan and sim card please.
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32 ... 8602#p8602

gscheb wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 2:30 pm Hello LogHomeLatency,
Taking about activating T-Mobile on this post maybe you can chime in on how you got your plan and sim card please.
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32 ... 8602#p8602

Just did. Thanks!

BillA wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 7:13 pm One of the best investments you can make is to get a higher CAT# modem, such as a Sierra 7511/7565 or Quectel EM12/EM16/EM20 which can aggregate multiple channels for higher speeds. Course a good high gain antennas helps too.

That is what I am finding. I wrote a post a few days ago as a primer for folks like me (https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1286). Mentioned buying an all-in-one device is not wise. I hope to get the antennas set up, wait for the dust to settle (meaning keeping my wife from yelling at me for spending more) and then look into new modems.
Thank you BillA

LogHomeLatency wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 5:20 pm Mentioned buying an all-in-one device is not wise

Sigh, I wish you would put this in bold red letters.

Last evening at our weekly update meeting I had to really put up a fight against a 200 unit order of MoFi Network 4500 SIM7 from going out. There are a large number of youtube and forum posts on how its awesome.

Yeah it's probably going to be a relief but at this scale, we can order something much better. My proposal of actually resurrecting some WISP hardware was shot down though because the community has gone through some of that a few times.

Don't get me started on the Starlink fanboys.

You can build a gigbit router with a WAY better modem for less than the MOFI4500

Hell send me the needs and Ill quote you out a whole set with full specs.

Didneywhorl wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 9:41 pm Hell send me the needs and Ill quote you out a whole set with full specs.

Will do.

At the moment, we decided that by next week we will be handing out ~$10 (used) USB2 routers with GO loaded with bandwidth monitoring enabled on them to help us collect datapoints.

The assumption being made is that everyone thinks they need super duper Gbps bandwidth but really, they would be OK with sustained 4MBps download with an ability to "burst" download and upload to 10MBps per device.

We need to collect data to figure out whether this is the case.

What's more important, it seems, is to figure out the total volume of traffic they consume.

In other words, it's not high speed people are after but volume - we would have very upset neighbors who had 40Mbps connections and burned through it in a week than neighbors who had 4Mbps connections that lasts them a whole month.

The simplest model would be to charge every household a rate based off how much they consume. Then we can purchase plans from a reseller (or do it ourselves) to get that capacity.

Since we cannot make a profit on this, people are more willing to be transparent and volunteer.

I have taken the responsibility of going the DIY route while the ex-owner of an ex-WISP that used to operate in our area (who we drove out of business in 2019 after mass migrating to the now cancelled TMobile "home ISP" plan) is reaching out to his contacts for a ready to go solution.

Our next presentation to the community is due 20th July once we have a week to collect and report on the numbers. A decision to build or buy will be made soon after

None of this would have been possible without the warm and helpful team we have here on this board!