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3 HomeFi (Huawei B535) 15mhz bandwidth on 1800mhz

You'll need to remove B3 from that list - setting it to those is basically the same as 'Auto' - those are all the bands that Three have, so you're not limiting anything.

As your most-local mast has B3 it will be the cell it connects to. You'll have to remove it from the list of enabled bands to force it to search elsewhere.
If it then connects to B20 then that is because the B20 signal level is higher than B1, even if there is a B1 enabled mast located physically closer to you - B20 travels further, so its signal level is likely higher at longer distances than B1.
Again you can then disable B20 to force B1.

B32 is pretty rare, and as I mentioned, the B535 can only aggregate that with B20 anyway.

Taken out B3 and good point did not think about that's the same as auto!
 
Using HuaCtrl app, I've done some testing today and got nowhere.

On Auto my router connects to Band3 and 20, the F/TDD is reported as 800+1800 (which I presume is 1800mhz for B3 and 800mhz for B20). I ran a test just now, got 20Mbps.

If I connect to band 1 and band 20, my F/TDD is reported as 800+2100 but it looks like only band 20 is connected. This provides no difference in bandwidth when tested.

Trying Band 1 and Band 3 together, the F/TDD states 1800+2100, it states its connected to band 3 only however, so again no improvement.

Band 32 appears to be not available.

Specifying all these bands does nothing, The Apps specified "width" remains at 15mhz and my router just displays 4G without the + sign.

So even though it's set to do CA I don't believe the router is actually connecting to more than one band at a time.

The annoying thing is I was getting 70Mbps this morning until around 9am, which should mean I'm getting CA at that point, but I've never seen it show up. The mast is literally 300 yards from my house as the crow flies with it's antenna directed pretty much directly at my upstairs window level. Weirdly If I put my router in the window I get a worse signal than if I put it against the chimney breast in the bedroom.
 
Using HuaCtrl app, I've done some testing today and got nowhere.

On Auto my router connects to Band3 and 20, the F/TDD is reported as 800+1800 (which I presume is 1800mhz for B3 and 800mhz for B20). I ran a test just now, got 20Mbps.

If I connect to band 1 and band 20, my F/TDD is reported as 800+2100 but it looks like only band 20 is connected. This provides no difference in bandwidth when tested.

Trying Band 1 and Band 3 together, the F/TDD states 1800+2100, it states its connected to band 3 only however, so again no improvement.

Band 32 appears to be not available.

Specifying all these bands does nothing, The Apps specified "width" remains at 15mhz and my router just displays 4G without the + sign.

So even though it's set to do CA I don't believe the router is actually connecting to more than one band at a time.

The annoying thing is I was getting 70Mbps this morning until around 9am, which should mean I'm getting CA at that point, but I've never seen it show up. The mast is literally 300 yards from my house as the crow flies with it's antenna directed pretty much directly at my upstairs window level. Weirdly If I put my router in the window I get a worse signal than if I put it against the chimney breast in the bedroom.

Did you use the official hauwei app to find the best signal strength?

I can force mine to B20 only and I then see 4G+ now (moved router into my bedroom) but the speeds are so slow it's unuseable.

Still considering an outdoor aerial but may stick the router onto a long extension lead first and see how it behaves outside!
 
Caution: long reply...

Using HuaCtrl app, I've done some testing today and got nowhere.

On Auto my router connects to Band3 and 20, the F/TDD is reported as 800+1800 (which I presume is 1800mhz for B3 and 800mhz for B20). I ran a test just now, got 20Mbps.
This is above the max theoretical of B20, so it must be B3.
If I connect to band 1 and band 20, my F/TDD is reported as 800+2100 but it looks like only band 20 is connected. This provides no difference in bandwidth when tested.
It is definitely connected to B1? Is there a different CellID to the CellID when connected to B3? If so then the speeds might well be similar, 10Mhz of B1 (75Mbps max) over a greater distance may result in 20Mbps to you.
Trying Band 1 and Band 3 together, the F/TDD states 1800+2100, it states its connected to band 3 only however, so again no improvement.
This will likely be connecting to your 'home' mast on B3 again as it will have the strongest signal. This is assuming it doesn't have B1 broadcast from it - if it did have B1 enabled then it should be aggregating with B3.
Band 32 appears to be not available.
Expected, there aren't many places with it, yet.
Specifying all these bands does nothing, The Apps specified "width" remains at 15mhz and my router just displays 4G without the + sign.

So even though it's set to do CA I don't believe the router is actually connecting to more than one band at a time.
As above, it will only aggregate if both bands are coming from the same mast. If the mast definitely has both bands then there does feel like something odd is happening.
The annoying thing is I was getting 70Mbps this morning until around 9am, which should mean I'm getting CA at that point, but I've never seen it show up. The mast is literally 300 yards from my house as the crow flies with it's antenna directed pretty much directly at my upstairs window level. Weirdly If I put my router in the window I get a worse signal than if I put it against the chimney breast in the bedroom.
70Mbps is well within reach of B3 15Mhz assuming the mast is gets low useage - I consistently got 65-75Mpbs before my mast was upgraded and gained B1.
My mast is 450m (~470yds) from my house, with the antenna also directed pretty much in my direction.

When you say worse signal, is that reported signal (bars) or the data speeds. Signal (bars) may drop at your window as there could be other masts in the area causing interference - putting it in the window the router sees those other masts better so the SINR may drop. It depends how weighted the SINR metric is in the bars calculation as to what effect that has on the reported signal level though.


Where are you looking to see aggregation in play? In the top right of the HuaCtrl app or on the router UI itself?

I don't have the B535, rather a H112-370, but I see the following in the HuaCtrl app:
1585657829353.webp

  • Shows LTE+ in the top right - I know its definitely aggregating B3+B1.
  • Band is B3-1800Mhz - this is the primary cell band, and the band used for upload)
  • Width is 15Mhz - we know Three's B3 is 15Mhz wide.
  • Ignore the F/TDD value, this appears to be junk as the app isn't developed with the configuration of my router, but is actually the 'raw' value that the router API reports for the combination of the bands it has enabled.
 
Thanks for that Gavin. I don't believe it's actually connecting to the different bands. I think its like you said and its only connecting to band 3 all the time for me. Neither HuaCtrl or the router ever display the + regardless of what I do.

I used a signal meter app on my phone connected to the same mast to determine the best place for the router.

There are two closer O2 masts than the Three one I'm connecting too so you are probably right and some interference is the issue when at the windows at both the front and rear of my house. If I move the router higher than the top of my desk or put it in the loft the signal drops too. So the router remains in the corner of my desk against the chimney breast.

Looks like I'm going to be waiting on Three upgrading my mast, don't it.
 
I have popped my 3 sim back into my S20 and will be doing a few tests around the house and outside to see what the best speeds are and hopefully near a socket!
 
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@Buggerlugz does the CellID or eNBID change when you force the different bands?
I haven't used the HuaCtrl app myself to do any forcing (I use Huawei Manager) but looking at it now, are you selecting from the drop-down option or are you selecting a custom bands from the tick boxes that are available? You are hitting the Apply button aren't you? The router should then drop its connection and re-connect to the selected band. I think it also resets the connection time counter in the web-UI.
 
If I select only band 1 my router remains red with no signal.

If I select just Band 20 then the CellID and eNBID changes and the width states 5mhz. But if I select band 3 with band 20 it remains LTE only and CA doesn't work for me.
 
So that does suggest there is no B1 in your local area that it can connect to.

It feels like B20 probably comes from a mast that isn't the same one as your B3 mast and therefore it won't be able to aggregate with it. Have you tried to find your B3 and B20 masts/cell IDs on the cellmapper website to see if that is the case?
 
My Three mast does bands 3 and 20, I can get 4G+ on 3 and 20 but the overhead of the aggregation (not the Draytek aggregation but the masts) offsets the increased speeds so there is no actual difference. So using Huawei Manager I stick with Band 3 only, I also tick band 1 and 32 in case one of these days the mast gets these enabled. Band 32 is 20mhz download only so if this is ever enabled my download speeds on Three should double.
 
Yes, just checked, the band 20 mast is some 6 miles away (somewhere in Sherwood Forest!) from my local band 3 mast. Impressed it can reach that far!

Strangely my band 3 mast shares the same cell id with another mast some 1 mile up the road attached to a farm.

So it appears my local Three mast is only capable of band 3 eh!
 
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Yep, sounds like that is the case. The duplicate cell ID might just be inaccurate data on cellmapper - it's crowdsourced so subject to inaccuracies.

B20 certainly can go quite far, I don't think 6 miles is very far for it - remember TV used to be broadcast on 800mhz and TV masts cover massive areas (though at considerably higher power levels).
On cellmapper you can select the masts and see the coverage (that has been logged by the users) of the cells and I'm sure you'll find some B20 cells going much further.

I'd expect Three to eventually upgrade it with at least B1, and depending on usage maybe more. Though with the limitations now being applied for the deployment of Huawei hardware I imagine the plans are being redrawn and probably delayed.
 
This B20 mast near me has been picked up on cellmapper 10 miles to to the south, on the A31 - admittedly it's a road that runs along the top of a ridge in the landscape so has direct line of sight to the mast, but still pretty impressive.

CN9e
 
"Though with the limitations now being applied for the deployment of Huawei hardware I imagine the plans are being redrawn and probably delayed. "

Redrawn/delayed is probably an understatement. I can see all trade with China halting totally for most of the west after the dust settles from this current crisis and the blame game commences.
 
Tried quite a few places in my house and the best overall speed is the place I put it originally, even when I put my sim into my phone the speeds where never more than what I was getting indoors so at least now I know there is little to no point in getting any antenna's for it.
 
Ignored the signal test in the huawei app and now get LTE+ and speed has gone from an average of 35mbits down to 70-80mbits down, upload has suffered though this has now dropped from 25mbits to 5mbits.
 
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Also this has really got me thinking about an external antenna now as the current placement in my bedroom window is very near the TV aerial on the roof so was thinking of utilising this with the Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001
 
A few times today and yesterday the speed drops from a peak now of 110mbits down to 5mbits but still states 4G+/LTE+ on the router, going into huactrl on my phone and changing auto to all fdd or vice versa kicks it back into life.

Suspect as the signal quality is lower that now an external antenna is necessary and will hopefully give me the best signal and speed possible.

Before that though will try one last place in my bedroom where I have a spare socket and see if it's better or worse.

Also after seeing the speeds I can get it's hard to go back to where it was downstairs on 1800mhz only with no CA and speeds between 20-35mbits.
 
Managed to get a much better signal now so will leave it to settle and see how it goes -94dbm to -84dbm is a nice improvement.
 
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