Henchard
Casual Member
Hi, newbie alert please be gentle (especially if this has been covered previously)
I live in a valley in Wales where despite earlier promises I am unlikely to get fast/fibre broadband anytime soon (or even before I die!).
In fact our complaints hit the BBC News last weekend as one of the most read items on their website (not that it will do any good)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46468398
As it hapens I am one resident (because my house is higher up the hill) who has found that I can get a 4G signal on the 3 and EE networks where I live. Accordingly I bought a cheap Huawei 4G router off Ebay and tried it with a data sim card on the 3 network. I could just get a signal inside the house and near an upstairs window I got about 5Mb/s down and less than 1Mb/s up. This is an improvement over our landline though.
After further research I installed a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0002 directional aerial outside. I chose the directional aerial because I know that the signal can only come from one mast 12km away down the valley. Most people reckon that an omni directional aerial, with less gain, is better for most regular situations because of reflections etc. I just lined it up by sight to where I know the mast is. Instantly I was getting 80Mb/s down and 20+Mb/s upload. Result.
Here's a photo of my aerial installation which I did myself.
Now I need to find the best deal for a Sim card and the 3 network seems to have the best deals. However, phone cards seem better value for data (particularly unlimited) than data only sims. Is it possible to use a phone sim contract in the 4G router? Searching various forums indicated initially it isn't because the networks don't like them being used in routers using lots of data and that they have conditions against this. However, one post on another forum indicated that a new European ruling back in the summer confirmed that the public had free use to do what ever they wanted to do with their sims. Can anyone shed some light on this for me before I make a decision. Can a phone sim with unlimited or say 100Gb data be used in a 4G router?
Thanks in advance.
I live in a valley in Wales where despite earlier promises I am unlikely to get fast/fibre broadband anytime soon (or even before I die!).
In fact our complaints hit the BBC News last weekend as one of the most read items on their website (not that it will do any good)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46468398
As it hapens I am one resident (because my house is higher up the hill) who has found that I can get a 4G signal on the 3 and EE networks where I live. Accordingly I bought a cheap Huawei 4G router off Ebay and tried it with a data sim card on the 3 network. I could just get a signal inside the house and near an upstairs window I got about 5Mb/s down and less than 1Mb/s up. This is an improvement over our landline though.
After further research I installed a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0002 directional aerial outside. I chose the directional aerial because I know that the signal can only come from one mast 12km away down the valley. Most people reckon that an omni directional aerial, with less gain, is better for most regular situations because of reflections etc. I just lined it up by sight to where I know the mast is. Instantly I was getting 80Mb/s down and 20+Mb/s upload. Result.
Here's a photo of my aerial installation which I did myself.
Now I need to find the best deal for a Sim card and the 3 network seems to have the best deals. However, phone cards seem better value for data (particularly unlimited) than data only sims. Is it possible to use a phone sim contract in the 4G router? Searching various forums indicated initially it isn't because the networks don't like them being used in routers using lots of data and that they have conditions against this. However, one post on another forum indicated that a new European ruling back in the summer confirmed that the public had free use to do what ever they wanted to do with their sims. Can anyone shed some light on this for me before I make a decision. Can a phone sim with unlimited or say 100Gb data be used in a 4G router?
Thanks in advance.