need antenna recommendations for WE826 w Quectel EC25

[ericj205]

I am building a solar powered wifi camera system to monitor a residential construction site. I plan to locate the WE826 in the attic area. Would an upgrade to external antennas for ATT LTE signal show an increase in download/upload speeds? What is your recommendation for antenna type and necessary components? Would I need to run a cable thru the ridge vent and mount the antenna on the roof hip for optimal signal or would it work just as well in the attic near the router? I can get by with 1Mb up/down speeds but to view the cameras live in HD I really need better speeds, particularly on the upload.

[terryjett]

Really hard to recommend any antenna without knowing your current signal levels. If you are currently using AT&T, is the signal level on your phone good or bad when in the attic?

If you have pretty good signal, use something like these: https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/antennas/4g-lte ... ennas-sma/

If you have bad signal levels, then you will need to use the dual external route.

Little more info and someone will be here to help you:)

[ericj205]

Well the signal level right now where I am testing the router is full strength on my iphone7 (ATT) and 100% on the modem per the ROOter GUI. However, the job site signal strength will vary from site to site. One location could be only 1 of 4 bars on my iphone and another could be 4 of 4 bars. I guess I am looking for a "universal" solution.

The speeds I am achieving for this camera system are fine but I am always thinking of the next project, which could be replacing my cable provider at home with a 4G LTE system.

Therefore, I was also wondering if for my current location and hardware setup ( w/ 100% signal) if either the antennas or modem are a bottleneck (which I can improve) or is it the signal from the tower itself (which I cannot improve)?

I was hardwired to the WE826 and used Speedtest.net, results ranged from:
39-88 download
14-38 upload

Tower Connection 12_15_19.png

[terryjett]

I was hardwired to the WE826 and used Speedtest.net, results ranged from:
39-88 download
14-38 upload

Pretty good results (and signal stats) if you are just using stock antennas.

Therefore, I was also wondering if for my current location and hardware setup ( w/ 100% signal) if either the antennas or modem are a bottleneck (which I can improve) or is it the signal from the tower itself (which I cannot improve)?

I am not familiar with the Quectel EC25. If it is not capable of CA (carrier aggregation) you may just get what ever bandwidth the band receiving offers. But, your current speedtest.net results should be fine for your intended use.

If you are going to mount router+antennas in the attic and using traditional shingle roofing (no roof decking with radiant barrier), you may be able to use two antennas like https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/antennas/4g-lte ... -n-female/ with down to 2 bars.

You can of course try an omni-directional - https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/antennas/4g-lte ... -lte-omni/.

This all depends if you are rural, suburbs or city. So many variations depending on terrain, foliage and distance to tower.

No matter what external antenna you use, always use quality coax and keep runs short as possible. At the very least use LMR200 like https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/cables/antenna- ... al-cables/

Noticed that your stats showed you using band 2. This is around 1900MHz (1.9Ghz) and taks a very good cable with short as possible runs.

It may sound like I am talking in circles, but very hard to give solid recommendations without a good site survey. Then the other factor you will be moving to different locations. Makes it hard to say "exactly" what will be best performance package.