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Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 8:04 am
by che10
Hello guys,
I bought a Huawei 4G B535-232 Route and I am looking for two external antennas to get some more speed as I can reach 100mbps on my phone a mile away from home but currently getting between 25-50 mbps.
Some stats:
* I get full signal.
* RSRP between -82 & - 85 dBm.
* SINR between 9 & 19 dB.
I live in a 10 story building(2nd floor) in an urban city so I am looking for indoor options preferably small and compact as I can't place anything outside due to several reasons so I would like to know what my best options are and if there is any point in buying indoor antennas according to my stats?

Video of signal strength

https://sendvid.com/lj54z8xc

Video of speed test

https://sendvid.com/b2k79600

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 12:28 pm
by Didneywhorl
What kind of antenna connectors does it have for adding external antennas? I've never touched any Huawei routers myself, that I know of.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:01 pm
by che10
Didneywhorl wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 12:28 pm What kind of antenna connectors does it have for adding external antennas? I've never touched any Huawei routers myself, that I know of.
SMA Female.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:39 pm
by Dr-BroadBand
Your numbers look pretty good not sure if an attendance going to help.

Your modem is a Cat-7, your phone is most likely a Cat~20+. Not fair to compare the two.

Make sure to use a hard Internet cable connection for your speed test. This would remove WiFi from the equation.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:56 pm
by Didneywhorl
The only reason I can think to get antennas is for directional antennas that can help you use one cell tower over another. Otherwise the generl point to upgraded antennas is to get good solid signal. you seem to have that already. The SINR fluctuation you mention is a bit much of a flux, but I'm sure that's fine really.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:30 pm
by che10
Dr-BroadBand wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:39 pm Your numbers look pretty good not sure if an attendance going to help.

Your modem is a Cat-7, your phone is most likely a Cat~20+. Not fair to compare the two.

Make sure to use a hard Internet cable connection for your speed test. This would remove WiFi from the equation.
Thanks for your reply! I was actually thinking about what you said few days ago but what is confusing me is if Cat-7 supports up to 300 mbps then why can't I get the same results as on my phone? Phone is Cat-19. After midnight speeds can go up to 80 mbps sometimes up to 100 mbps(rare though).

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:35 pm
by che10
Didneywhorl wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:56 pm The only reason I can think to get antennas is for directional antennas that can help you use one cell tower over another. Otherwise the generl point to upgraded antennas is to get good solid signal. you seem to have that already. The SINR fluctuation you mention is a bit much of a flux, but I'm sure that's fine really.
Problem is I do not know where the tower is, used the cellmapper app and went to where it shows the towers but could not find them but their signal was much better so I think I was pretty close so that's why I got up to 100mbps on my phone. The tower is about 1 mile away(straight line) from my home according to the app. I do not have a direct line of sight though as I live in a crowded urban city.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:58 pm
by Dr-BroadBand
Is there a way to tell what bands your modem is connecting to?

Cell mapper is a good staring point but is often outdated information .

Most cheaper modems do not have

Carrier Aggregation & MiMo which are helpful for better speed.

https://www.cashify.in/what-is-carrier- ... d-on-phone


MiMo
https://commsbrief.com/what-is-mimo-in-4g-lte-networks/

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 6:02 pm
by che10
Dr-BroadBand wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 5:58 pm Is there a way to tell what bands your modem is connecting to?

Cell mapper is a good staring point but is often outdated information .

Most cheaper modems do not have

Carrier Aggregation & MiMo which are helpful for better speed.

https://www.cashify.in/what-is-carrier- ... d-on-phone


MiMo
https://commsbrief.com/what-is-mimo-in-4g-lte-networks/
In my country there are only two bands for 4.5G/LTE-A, B3 and B20. Now I am connected to a different tower than the usual one which is using B20 but usually my router is connected to a tower than uses B3+B20. Router is MiMo too.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:37 pm
by Dr-BroadBand
A good test to see if an antenna will help is bring your modem to the cell tower for a speed test.

Use a good quality power inverter or better use 12v from a vehicle if you have access to one.

This would give you a baseline of what speed is possible with a good signal.

Keep an eye on your signal to noise ratio

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:40 pm
by che10
Dr-BroadBand wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:37 pm A good test to see if an antenna will help is bring your modem to the cell tower for a speed test.

Use a good quality power inverter or better use 12v from a vehicle if you have access to one.

This would give you a baseline of what speed is possible with a good signal.

Keep a eye on your signal to noise ratio
Great suggestion! I have been thinking about it actually. I have a mini UPS that lasts for 2-3 hours so will be enough for me to ride around on my bike and test the speed and SINR. Let's say speed hit 100 mbps again in the area I tested on my phone, would omni antennas help me then or I will need directional ones? I do not have a line of sight.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 10:56 am
by Didneywhorl
Is your LoS blocked by trees or land masses?

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 11:26 am
by che10
Didneywhorl wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 10:56 am Is your LoS blocked by trees or land masses?
Blocked by buildings, I live in a city, second floor(10 story building) so LoS is impossible, not even outdoor antennas.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 11:57 am
by MattB29
You could try a inexpensive MIMO indoor antenna and see if it gains you anything. It might help if your modem router setup does not have internal antennas. Many modem routers don't. That is why they have whip or paddle antennas. Your cell phone likely has at least two internal and maybe 4 antennas.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 12:21 pm
by che10
MattB29 wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 11:57 am You could try a inexpensive MIMO indoor antenna and see if it gains you anything. It might help if your modem router setup does not have internal antennas. Many modem routers don't. That is why they have whip or paddle antennas. Your cell phone likely has at least two internal and maybe 4 antennas.
I am not really sure what my router has inside to be honest but it still gets a good signal, I am just trying to get more speeds if possible. Do you have any suggestions for antennas to buy?

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 12:25 pm
by MattB29
If you do not have whips or paddles already you can start with those. Since you mentioned being in another country it would be hard to recommend any but I am sure an Internet search would turn some up. You could look at this Forums merchant website for ideas of types.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 1:28 pm
by che10
MattB29 wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 12:25 pm If you do not have whips or paddles already you can start with those. Since you mentioned being in another country it would be hard to recommend any but I am sure an Internet search would turn some up. You could look at this Forums merchant website for ideas of types.
My friend is coming from the US for Christmas in 1 week so he will buy me the antennas from Amazon or any other site in the US since shipping from there is not available to my country so I can get anything from the US or Amazon at the moment. My router has two ports for two external antennas(SMA female ports).

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 3:50 pm
by punkguy00017
Here's my setup in the attic

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 3:54 pm
by punkguy00017
Here's what I get

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:01 pm
by che10
punkguy00017 wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 3:50 pm Here's my setup in the attic
What antennas are you using? I already have a good signal don't think I will need such a big setup but would like to explore any indoor option.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:06 pm
by punkguy00017
I have 2 em20-g modems on Firstnet one ca on band 14 and 2 and the other on band 2 and 29

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:08 pm
by punkguy00017
I have 2 of these as u can see in the picture. and recommend buying these

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:38 pm
by punkguy00017
Also would recommend these

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 4:56 pm
by che10
Thanks man! Sadly I have no way of mounting these so I think my best option will be "rabbit ears" antennas on the back of the router.

Re: Indoor Antenna Suggestions

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 6:48 am
by che10
Video of signal strength

https://sendvid.com/lj54z8xc

Video of speed test

https://sendvid.com/b2k79600