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4G modems/antennas

utonto

Casual Member
Hello!
First post on this forum, so please forgive me if I do/write something wrong!

Openreach won't bring fibre to my house until 2024 (possibly later, since they spent the last lustrum postponing...), so I was thinking to buy a 4G modem and possibly an antenna and use that connection for the time being.

I'm in the centre of a major city, plenty of masts around (I'm told). I'm on the O2 network with my phone, and despite the fact that I'm often on 3G when inside the house (or a not very strong 4G, usually around 7Mbps download speed, apart from a window where I once got 21Mbps), outside the house I reached download speeds between 40Mbps and 60Mbps (in 2 very specific spots, where my phone goes 4G+, the best it can do since it's not 5G enabled).

Now...I have never done something like this and, although it seems pretty straightforward, I have some doubts regarding equipment and stuff...

1) are there some 4G routers you would recommend? Something for which I wouldn't need a loan, possibly :)
2) I assume 4G routers would also handle 4G+, is that correct?
3) I am tempted to try without an external antenna, with some luck I may go fast enough to be satisfied, but if that's not the case...would you go for an omnidirectional antenna or not? Regardless, suggestions on specific models are welcome!
4) are these 4G routers just "normal" routers? Forget the SIM inside, what I mean is...can I build my network in any way I want? For example, at the moment I have a switch connected to a router, which is connected to my ADSL modem. I'd like to keep this topology, connecting my current router to the 4G router. Any reason why this shouldn't work?

Enough questions for now, more will come to my mind, I'm sure!

Thanks!
 
If you are in a town centre you should be able to get 5G from somewhere.. in which case you could look at 5G routers (or to tether off a 5G second-hand phone).
Can you share a partial/approx post code?
 
If you are in a town centre you should be able to get 5G from somewhere.. in which case you could look at 5G routers (or to tether off a 5G second-hand phone).
Can you share a partial/approx post code?
I see what you mean. I checked my postcode the other day and at least 2 providers (O2 and EE) say I should get good 5G coverage outside. I assumed router (and possibly antenna, not sure about 4G-5G compatibility) would be much more expensive, that's why I was willing to stop at 4G. Unless I'm terribly wrong...

I have the Scottish parliament in my area, that's a postcode I can share: EH99 1SP

I have just noticed that they must have come up with SP as in "Scottish Parliament" 😅
 
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Ok, so you live near the Scottish Parliament in EH99.
EE and O2 are indeed advertising 5G there, so I would test both if I were you, if you have a 5G phone.

You are in a good situation I believe, however if you want to go for an outdoor router you need to spend a bit. I believe you'll need around £300-400 for the 5G router itself and be ready to spend around £35/m for a contract.
 
Thanks Lucian. That's quite a lot of money for the router alone!
Decent 5G routers are quite expensive to buy out of contract, but on the flip side they tend to hold their value well.

I sold my previous Vodafone Gigacube (which was locked to them and supplied as part of the contract) aka a Huawei 5G CPE Pro on eBay for £250 once my deal was up. So it wasn’t all bad.
 
Thanks Lucian. That's quite a lot of money for the router alone!
Oh yeah.. chipset shortage, brexit, pandemic.. they all added up and we ended up with significantly higher prices than just a couple of years ago.

Can't believe I've spent £250 on my CPE Win and it's now worth £600 ...

That's why we recommend 5g phones now, you can get cheap ones on Ebay, second hand. The downside is performance is not as good (relative) and keeping one outside is quite tricky. Also, if you get a phone with USB2 port instead of USB3 then your USB tether will be limited to 2-300 Mbps, which is still very decent, but below what you could get on 5G (which can vary a lot from place to place as well).
 
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If 5G is beyond what you are prepared to spend, you appear to be in the catchment for a Three tower offering 4G bands 1,3 and 20. A B818 4G+ router will set you back around £180. Three's rates are the cheapest but from their website, they don't offer broadband for your area, which might suggest congestion. I get ok 4g+ here in South Glos with Three and they don't offer broadband here either so it's pot luck. Others have not been so lucky and have nothing positive to say about Three.
 
That's why we recommend 5g phones now, you can get cheap ones on Ebay, second hand. The downside is performance is not as good (relative) and keeping one outside is quite tricky.
Yes, keeping a phone outside safely may be beyond my DIY skills! But in any case, I guess keeping my network topology would be hard/impossible.
If 5G is beyond what you are prepared to spend, you appear to be in the catchment for a Three tower offering 4G bands 1,3 and 20. A B818 4G+ router will set you back around £180. Three's rates are the cheapest but from their website, they don't offer broadband for your area, which might suggest congestion. I get ok 4g+ here in South Glos with Three and they don't offer broadband here either so it's pot luck. Others have not been so lucky and have nothing positive to say about Three.
What app/website do you use to see towers?
 
Cellmapper.net
My nearest Three tower outputs bands 1 and 3 which I can aggregate and get maximum download speed of up to 200mb/s. In practice due to tower load it can be as low as 20-30mb/s at peak evening times. Mostly I get around 80-140mb/s during the day.
These sort of speed variations appear to be a feature of mobile internet. With users frequently moving from one area to another, mast load can vary from one minute to the next. Two speed tests a minute apart can give wildly different results.
 
Cellmapper.net
My nearest Three tower outputs bands 1 and 3 which I can aggregate and get maximum download speed of up to 200mb/s. In practice due to tower load it can be as low as 20-30mb/s at peak evening times. Mostly I get around 80-140mb/s during the day.
These sort of speed variations appear to be a feature of mobile internet. With users frequently moving from one area to another, mast load can vary from one minute to the next. Two speed tests a minute apart can give wildly different results.
I have their app on my phone, I can see which tower I am connected to. But I believe it doesn't show all the masts (according to someone who works in the field and believes there is a Vodafone tower in a location were cellmapper shows nothing). How do you see which provider uses a certain tower?
 
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There is an option to select provider on the left of the PC based web page. I don't have the app so have no idea about it or if it is any different to the PC version. There is also a drop down menu under "Tools" to enable you to convert your cellID shown on your phone to the tower ID on the map.
 
There is an option to select provider on the left of the PC based web page. I don't have the app so have no idea about it or if it is any different to the PC version. There is also a drop down menu under "Tools" to enable you to convert your cellID shown on your phone to the tower ID on the map.
Screenshot_20220209-175516_CellMapper.jpg

Screenshot_20220209-175034_CellMapper.jpg

On the app when you are on the map, just go to the top menu and click the search icon, you can then select the network you want to show masts for on the map.

There's a few other options you can also select too.😊
 
But I believe it doesn't show all the masts (according to someone who works in the field and believes there is a Vodafone tower in a location were cellmapper shows nothing).
The data for the site is crowd sourced from people with the app turned on collecting data, if no one with the app on has been near a particular mast then the mast will not be on the site. Also it only picks up bands that both transmit and receive, so Three's Band 32 download only band is missing.
 
Just picked up a ZTE MC801A today for £250.

Pretty good. I'll be doing a review on it later.
 
Wow it only took 4 or 5 people to explain to me how things work in that app/website, I really feel like a genius! 🤪

Thank you all!

If someone wants to weigh in on these as well, feel free:
3) I am tempted to try without an external antenna, with some luck I may go fast enough to be satisfied, but if that's not the case...would you go for an omnidirectional antenna or not? Regardless, suggestions on specific models are welcome!
4) are these 4G routers just "normal" routers? Forget the SIM inside, what I mean is...can I build my network in any way I want? For example, at the moment I have a switch connected to a router, which is connected to my ADSL modem. I'd like to keep this topology, connecting my current router to the 4G router. Any reason why this shouldn't work?
Thanks again!
 
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Look forward to that. Is this the Hyperbox one on Amazon?
Yup. Shipped by a company called SoTel in Germany. No import fees
 
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Look forward to that. Is this the Hyperbox one on Amazon?

 
I have a similar issue re: FTTC speeds - I signed up with 4g national broadband and they arranged (for a cost!) for an external antenna connected into my house into a 4g router.

When I 1st signed up my speeds were terrible however O2 have recently upgraded local masts ( I believe to 5g) and I now get approx. 20/20. This is faster than my FTTC.

Regarding set up i just plugged the router into my existing network and works fine. I did enquire about 5G and was advised at the time coverage is limited and I would get a more stable service with 4G.
 
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