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Any suggestions on how I could improve my 4G BB speeds?

devs

Pro Member
Hi guys, I live in a rural location and struggled with BT and Sky so decided to ditch them and go for 4G.

My current setup is as follows:

Three mobile all you can eat data sim. (working fine)

HUAWEI B528S-23A 4G Router: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-B528S-23A-Wireless-Gateway-300Mbps/dp/B07PW68TW2


and a

Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0002 Cross Polarised High Gain 4G Panel LTE Directional Outdoor Antenna​


If I were to invest in a better router (or anything) am I likely to see an increase in speeds?

I've just done a speed test and I'm currently getting:

Ping: 102
D/L 5.30mbps
U/L 6.76mbps

These speeds vary quite a bit so I wondered if there is any better kit on the market that is likely to help? I'm sure when I first set this up a year ago I was getting 20+ mbps D/L speeds..

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.

Many thanks :)
 
Ok, so first thing you should try given you are on Three is another provider (3 is often quite bad). Usually 3 and EE share masts, so get an EE payg and see how that goes.

Can you share signal info, such as rsrq, sinr etc from the router? These values indicate the strength and quality of the radio signal and it should be the first check on the list, see attached.
 

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Hello mate and many thanks for the help, appreciated!

The only reason I chose 3 was because I use them for my mobile and can see a mast that they use in the distance from the house. Plus they offer an all you can eat data sim for £20pm :)

Someone mentioned to try and force the router to use a faster band? Can this be done?

I've just had a check and the values are as follows:

Not sure what these mean?

RSRQ:-11dB
RSRP:-85dBm
SINR:13dB
PLMN:23420
 
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Yes, you and everyone else are on 3, hence the "awesome" performance. :)

The signal values are pretty, pretty decent, so the radio link between you and the mast is ok, the problem is likely with 3's backhaul (network uplink).

You can try to play around with the bands, try the huaCtrl android app or ltehmonitor on windows.
 
Hey buddy and thanks again. good to hear the signal is decent. Can I ask what a good range looks like? (May as well learn for future).

Will download the app, is that able the change the band on the router?

Is there a way that I can confirm it’s an issue with 3's backhaul (network uplink)?

if the band selection makes no diff trust I’ll have to seek an alt provider with a mast in the area? If there any recommendations or is 3 still the only one with unlimited?

many thanks!
 
I've just downloaded huaCtrl (looks like a great app!)

I'm getting the following readings...

Any tweaks you would suggest?

Thanks!!IMG_7891.webpIMG_7892.webp
 
Last edited:
Hey buddy and thanks again. good to hear the signal is decent. Can I ask what a good range looks like? (May as well learn for future).

I attached a table with values in one of my previous posts.

Will download the app, is that able the change the band on the router?

Is there a way that I can confirm it’s an issue with 3's backhaul (network uplink)?

Usually if the radio signal is good, then the issue is usually elsewhere, eg backhaul or user's poor wifi (cable connection recommended for testing). I suspect backhaul, Three is (in)famous for it.

if the band selection makes no diff trust I’ll have to seek an alt provider with a mast in the area? If there any recommendations or is 3 still the only one with unlimited?

many thanks!


Most providers offer unlimited, though some don't like if you go over 600GB (EE, O2).
Vodafone, EE, O2 offer contract based unlimited data sim-only, alternatively you could look at Voxi (Vodafone) and Giffgaff (O2) payg sims, at least for testing.
Usually 3 ans EE share masts, so this could be an option. Check their coverage:
https://coverage.ee.co.uk/coverage/ee


Quality differs with area, check their respective coverage checkers, though even that is not so reliable.
 
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I've just downloaded huaCtrl (looks like a great app!)

I'm getting the following readings...

Any tweaks you would suggest?

Yes, it looks like you are on band 20 (primary/upload), on 5 mhz which is not a lot of bandwidth, potentially limiting speeds. See if you can deselect all bands, then choose band 3 only, what results do you get? You can then try to select band 20 again, in the hope your router will be able to aggregate them.

See attached table for bands.
 

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I set the band to use only B3 1800 and my speeds have doubled :)

Is there any downside to just using one band? I've found my mast via cell mapper and it states that it uses Band 3,20 - does this mean I should also select B20 800 via HUACtrl?

Thanks V.Much!
 
Band 3 only seems like the way to go for me. Is there any disadvantage to using only one band? Also are there any further tweaks that could be done via the router that may improve things? Thanks again!
 
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No downside in this case, if it works for you.
Do note you may have to check with huactrl every now and then, as the router could automatically switch to the old behaviour/config.
On Windows you have ltehmonitor which can help automating this to a degree.

What speeds/ping do you get now?
 
No downside in this case, if it works for you.
Do note you may have to check with huactrl every now and then, as the router could automatically switch to the old behaviour/config.
On Windows you have ltehmonitor which can help automating this to a degree.

What speeds/ping do you get now?
Sure, I will keep an eye on things. I think I seen an auto update / restart option on the router - I'll ensure thats turned off.

Is there anyway to hard set the routers firmware to make it use only this band?

Or a recommended router that allows for the band to be set?

My house is fully wired with cat6 so I trust theres no reason to get a router that offers greater than this? Thanks.
 
Sorry I didn't mention... Im getting a ping of 95ms DL 29mbps UL 1.76

Is there anyway to make it use the same server each time?
 
I think you can use fast.com for more consistent results, ymmv.
That upload is not great.

There is no way to lock bands on huawei firmware, but you can use the said apps to change them.
I believe ltehmonitor can even install a script on the router itself to do this, but I've never tried it.
 
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You can use LTEH monitor to set it to specific bands.

I meant the router is LTE CAT6 which limits its connectivity (and how it achieves and maintains connections) to the mast. A CAT12 router is barely acceptable in 2020 for home 4g IMHO, you really need CAT18+ to get a decent speed.

I'd look into your current mobile phone specs and see if its any higher then do a speed test from the same mast, see what you get then.
 
You can use LTEH monitor to set it to specific bands.

I meant the router is LTE CAT6 which limits its connectivity (and how it achieves and maintains connections) to the mast. A CAT12 router is barely acceptable in 2020 for home 4g IMHO, you really need CAT18+ to get a decent speed.

I'd look into your current mobile phone specs and see if its any higher then do a speed test from the same mast, see what you get then.
You don't necessarily need high CAT routers, it's very much dependant on what technology the mast/cell has deployed, the signal metrics you are able to achieve and how much load/contention it is under.

My B311 (CAT4) will happily get within 80% or so of the theoretical speeds for Three (B3 or B1) or EE (B3 or B3C2) due to it being a very lightly loaded cell and good metrics as it's only about 400meters or so away.
 
Thanks again everyone and sorry for the slight delay just back in the house now.

Yeah the upload speed isn't great and I'm sure it was better previously, however I don't do much uploading atm so happy to see an improvement with the download speeds.

Just tested again fast.com and am at 28mbps / 2.6mbps.

Am I right in thinking that if cell mapper states that my mast uses Band 3,20 than there is only ever a need to open these bands on the router?

Thanks for the info on ltehmonitor, I'll take a look now. Great tip!

I'll take a look at CAT18+ routers, is there any in particular that you would suggest?

Sorry I do not fully understand what you suggest here..

"I'd look into your current mobile phone specs and see if its any higher then do a speed test from the same mast, see what you get then."

I'm using an iPhone 11 pro, my home 3/4g isn't too great, most calls seem to get routed over wifi (that comes via an external 4G antenna).

Where would you suggest that I speed test from the phone. I've done a few test previously via my phone and get 45mbps nearer the mast. So I suppose if Im getting full bar 4G reception on the router from the same mast I should be achieving that speed if I had a more capable router? Is that correct?

Cheers all!
 
Only upgrade from CAT6 if you can get better download speeds from a higher CAT phone. I use Three with a 3/20 band only mast and a CAT6 router maxes out the masts capability. If your mast is configured the same way save the money.
 
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