Wireless Joint

Hello,
I'm new to lte routers so if I get some things wrong please be patient with me. I'm currently in an area where I get great signal, but for some reason I'm seeing high ping and slow dl/ul. I've used 3 different devices with very similar results (all netgear products).

So when I started down this path I went for the path of least resistance. I am very close to a Micro-center so I went there picked up a nighthawk m1 (mr1100). Seemed to work fine till I started using it for voip, then I noticed a significant delay. This is when I started checking latency,dl, & ul. Moving the sim card between devices looks like
Ping Dl Ul
MR1100 - 90ms 20-30Mbps 20-30Mbps

LM1200 - 80-90ms 20-40Mbps 20-40Mbps

LAX20 - 58ms 25Mbps 25Mbps

CellPhone 19ms 132Mbps 42Mbps


I'm also using an external mimo antenna mounted on the roof with a very good signal.

So I think the bottleneck is the hardware but I'm not sure what to buy at this point. I was looking at WG1608 router with EM160R-GL modem; however I don't want to just keep purchasing hardware if it's not going to improve my results.

In the opinion of experts on this forum is it likely my problem is netgear hardware & would it be worth building my own setup?

Thanks for reading my rambling

What plan and carrier are you using in your router versus the plan and carrier in your phone? What phone?

Unfortunately cellular ping under 100 is pretty common. I have gotten sub 20ms ping on speed tests with cellular routers. (WG3526-P from thewirelesshaven.com with a Quectel EM160R-GL, the WG1608D-M should be the same really), but that doesn't necessarily reflect true application ping.

Cell phones are very very veyr optimized devices and seem to be very hard for the router makers to mirror as far as modem to network efficiency. I'm personally not real sure where the specific bottlenecks are in these setups, but it's usually in the firmware.

I'm using a t-mobile data only SIM. They aren't different plans. I'm physically moving the SIM card between different devices. The phone is a OnePlus 8. Which is a 5g phone, but I'm only testing on lte.

I thought it might be firmware but I didn't see any 3rd party firmware for any of these devices.

I've had a few plans across pretty much all of the providers typically used and usually see anywhere from 25ms to 100ms latency. 25ms is about the best I've seen in a few years. If using an MVNO provider they are even higher latency due to additional routing on their end of things through different apn portals. I don't think you are going to see anything better than those numbers with current LTE tech. Now when 5G is implemented down the road that is one of the main benefits, however, that is probably pretty far away still. If you are looking for anything better than that you may have to turn elsewhere rather than current wireless connection unfortunately. On the other hand if those numbers look bad, try one of the satellite providers, lol. I was very happy when I seen the aforementioned numbers after moving from sat. internet. Their latency numbers are horrid for obvious reasons..

You mentioned having issues with VOIP. Seems I recall some comments here recently with others having that same issue with VOIP calls dropping out for unknown reasons. Might search around here and see if you can't find them or maybe they will jump in if they found a solution.

Even though you mentioned this was a "data only" sim that you were moving from phone/device/device, it may still be a result of the phone actually being able to prioritize your VOIP packets or something similiar? All of that is handled in the apn/mbn files and settings I believe. I'm not sure the available routers or firmware are setup to be able to handle certain prioritization settings such as data vs phone call vs VOIP packets etc.

See if t-Mobile home Internet is an option??

https://www.t-mobile.com/isp

The high ping can be many things.

Would bring your modem on a road trip and test with different towers.

Take good notes

mtl26637 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 6:03 pm Even though you mentioned this was a "data only" sim that you were moving from phone/device/device, it may still be a result of the phone actually being able to prioritize your VOIP packets or something similiar? All of that is handled in the apn/mbn files and settings I believe. I'm not sure the available routers or firmware are setup to be able to handle certain prioritization settings such as data vs phone call vs VOIP packets etc.

I never actually used the phone for services or VoIP. I only used it for latency& speed tests.

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:21 pm See if t-Mobile home Internet is an option??

https://www.t-mobile.com/isp

I checked with them first they say they don't service that address. I find this weird since I basically built home internet off their network.

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:36 pm The high ping can be many things.

Would bring your modem on a road trip and test with different towers.

Take good notes

So I did this before trying the other devices. I was only swapping the SIM between my phone& the mr1100. My results were basically identical. Speeds were different but the drop off was the same.

Thanks for quick insightful responses.

thethirdmurph wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:11 pm
I checked with them first they say they don't service that address. I find this weird since I basically built home internet off their network.

Fyi
Only need a friend with an address with service.
Have the modem ship to that address and setup auto pay
The modem is not locked to address.

thethirdmurph wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:11 pm I never actually used the phone for services or VoIP. I only used it for latency& speed tests.

Right, however, the phone still may have the ability to prioritize certain packets differently than a data only modem/router setup. I'm not saying this is what is happening, just offering that it may be a possibility of why pings seem to be lower using the phone.

On that topic, wouldn't it be nice to know the exact specifics of how that is handled and what bits need to be set to prioritize all of our packets? Would be interesting to mark all data packets from modem/router as 'voice' packets to get top priority and see just how much faster or better things work..

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 8:46 am Fyi
Only need a friend with an address with service.
Have the modem ship to that address and setup auto pay
The modem is not locked to address.

You know I like to think I'm pretty sneaky, but apparently my sneaky skills are getting dull. Lol. This is a good one I didn't even think about.

mtl26637 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:12 am
Right, however, the phone still may have the ability to prioritize certain packets differently than a data only modem/router setup. I'm not saying this is what is happening, just offering that it may be a possibility of why pings seem to be lower using the phone.

On that topic, wouldn't it be nice to know the exact specifics of how that is handled and what bits need to be set to prioritize all of our packets? Would be interesting to mark all data packets from modem/router as 'voice' packets to get top priority and see just how much faster or better things work..

This is above my knowledge level ... But it sounds like it would useful information to someone more wise in the ways of lte networks than myself.

thethirdmurph wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 2:23 pm I'm using a t-mobile data only SIM. They aren't different plans. I'm physically moving the SIM card between different devices. The phone is a OnePlus 8. Which is a 5g phone, but I'm only testing on lte.
I thought it might be firmware but I didn't see any 3rd party firmware for any of these devices.

Don't know why this happens but it does. For some reason way better with phones. Wasn't always that way. Started doing it around the time they merged with sprint and doing more 5G things. Here is a post had along time ago about.

https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1899

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 8:46 am Fyi
Only need a friend with an address with service.
Have the modem ship to that address and setup auto pay
The modem is not locked to address.

This was genius... I just ordered it. They only need the address to verify service, but they were still willing to send it to my address. So I ordered for service at my buddy's house and had it shipped to mine. We'll see if this works any better

thethirdmurph wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:20 pm This was genius... I just ordered it. They only need the address to verify service, but they were still willing to send it to my address. So I ordered for service at my buddy's house and had it shipped to mine. We'll see if this works any better

Do you get a T-Mobile at your location?? What are the signal levels ??
Keep the group updated

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 6:36 pm Do you get a T-Mobile at your location?? What are the signal levels ??
Keep the group updated

Yes. I got t-mobile home internet. Ordered it for my buddy's address & had it delivered to my address. I disconnected 2 if the internal antennas & hooked up a mimo external antenna. I'll post whatever signal info I can get.

thethirdmurph wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 8:03 pm Yes. I got t-mobile home internet. Ordered it for my buddy's address & had it delivered to my address. I disconnected 2 if the internal antennas & hooked up a mimo external antenna. I'll post whatever signal info I can get.

Cool

Fyi there have been reports the power brick for the "Trash Can" is very noisy.
May want to wrap it in a few layers of foil, and keep it away from your antenna

Keep a eye on your SINR a larger number is better.

I was doing some road testing with the modem, testing at the tower, had awesome signal but very low data.
Note the SINR number is 1 which is very low!! The RSRQ also is very bad. This game is more than just bars

I'll keep digging around, but this is the info I'm finding so far

thethirdmurph wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:07 am I'll keep digging around, but this is the info I'm finding so far

Your Numbers all look good and you even got a 5G signal, n41 Wow Awesome!!

But for some reason your RSRQ sucks, like off the chart bad!!
Are you using a booster??

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:22 am Your Numbers all look good and you even got a 5G signal, n41 Wow Awesome!!

But for some reason your RSRQ sucks, like off the chart bad!!
Are you using a booster??

no booster. external antenna on the roof for antenna 1&2. still utilizing the internal antenna for 3&4

What type of cable and antenna??

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 12:10 pm What type of cable and antenna??

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P84VLTR?ps ... ct_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FC8PVZS?ps ... ct_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CRH3KGM?ps ... ct_details

Hummmm you can do better.

RG174 is not your friend

Would be better off with LMR400
https://www.amazon.com/Low-Loss-Coaxial ... r=8-5&th=1

What band are you trying to get??

Are you happy with your signal and speed?

I the high ping your only issue?

See
https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/antennas/cellul ... l-antenna/

I don't have a particular band I'm trying to hit. Just get stable service (latency/speed).

As of right now I'm keeping ping below 50 & speeds above 300Mbps so I'm pretty happy with that. I was having latency issues with my prior setup, not this one. It was screwing with my Voip service.

I'm right in between 2 towers. I thought of running another external antenna (like the one you linked to)to replace the other 2 internal antenna. Should I point that at the other tower or the same I'm picking up off service from now?

Then again what I've done seems to have alleviated my issues so perhaps I should just leave it alone and stop spending money

I am all for KISS (keep it simple stupid)

I have not worked on latency problems
maybe someone else could help.

I would think that is more a Tower issue. And how The tower is connected to the Internet. Fiber or microwave.

You may want to bring your modem to the tower for testing that removes cabling and antenna issues from the equation.

Finding a good band that is stable and not congested is the trick. Then band lock to that band.

This is not always the strongest signal you’re looking for just the most stable.

Cheers and happy hunting. You have speeds that most would kill for, so be happy with what you got.

Just a thought, are you using WiFi for you testing?

If so replace with good quality ethernet cable cat-6/cat-7

WiFi is only half duplex also bring a whole another can of worms.

Also have you tried a different computer could be your operating system.

Maybe DNS server settings.

Dr-BroadBand wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 2021 6:16 pm Just a thought, are you using WiFi for you testing?

If so replace with good quality ethernet cable cat-6/cat-7

WiFi is only half duplex also bring a whole another can of worms.

Also have you tried a different computer could be your operating system.

Maybe DNS server settings.

Those are numbers from the T-Mobile gateway webpage.
I didn't think that would change based on which device you access it from. I also haven't wrapped the power block in foil like you suggested yes