Wireless Joint

First off excuse the crude drawing as I don’t have my iPad handy. So the story is I bought a cabin in the Colorado mountains. I’m trying real hard not to get Hughes net or viasat as those are the only other options. I bought a cheap yagi 8dbi antenna (700 MHz) and an Alcatel router (supports all bands) with an att and a Verizon sim. I quickly learned that I could easily get a better setup and that my closest tower is a Verizon tower (att are all at least 12 miles away) so I have 2 lpda antennas on the way as well as a mimo modem.

The question is why is this antenna only picking up Verizon towers that are 30+ miles away? There’s a verizon tower with band 13 only 7 miles away so shouldn’t this antenna be able to get that tower or is my mountain situation complicating the signals from the plains? Here’s a screenshot of my connection to a tower 30 miles away. I was able to get up to 1mbps download. FaceTime worked well.

Its likely the angle of elevation, the towers just don't have the upward angle. Have you tried higher powered omni antennas to see if you can scavenge their signals?

If that drawing is right and you have a peak above your location to the towers in the plains, your best option is to go with the lowest frequency available. Band 12 is low, Band 71 even lower, but only TMobile uses it. You will be blocked from any of the higher frequency bands by that peak if you're not LOS. From what I've seen most commercial antennas are crap. I made a simple Moxon antenna for Band 71 TMobile and it's way better than any LPDA or the Bolton super antenna, home made and about the size of your hand. I don't believe a lot of the 'cell tower apps' either. I've seen them locate a tower near me that I know is not there. I also have a VZN tower not a mile from me that I can't even get a signal in the house to make a phone call with. Unfortunately there's a lot of 'anecdotal' and bogus information out there. All you can really do is try things. If you want plans for a Moxon, pm me. It's dead simple and all it will cost you is a female N connector and a hunk of #10 copper house wiring and some shrink tubing. And a good soldering iron.