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How to find out if the 5G is enabled on a mast.

And if you do only use one port, it may drop MIMO entirely and go SISO (1x1) only - if you were in good enough signal conditions to receive 2 streams in MIMO in the first place then that could have the same effect and halve your potential throughput.

Again, I don't have any first hand experience of what does happen, nor can I test it myself - I don't have an external antenna
 
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You can but then it tells you that you can only use one of 2 antenna ports. At least on the B818. Not really sure why.

818antenna.png
Just had a look on mine and it's the same. I used to be able to use internal and external on both ports so not sure why they removed it.
 

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Ah, perhaps the 'Mix' option does use the remaining (3?) internal antennas, if it can, but is there to let the software know that the Antenna 1 is an external antenna - and to perhaps expect dramatically different metrics from that and compensate accordingly.

However, I don't know what setting to External only would do - if it would disable all the internal antennas, or if it would only disable 2 (assuming there are 4)
 
I'm not 100% sure what happens with using an external antenna, but there is a chance in doing so you'll reduce your maximum number of streams from 4 (4x4 MIMO) to just 2 (2x2) because there are only 2 external connectors - I believe when using external antennas the router disables the internal ones, but I don't have, or have seen, any first hand experience of that.

If that does happen and you were getting all 4 streams before to achieve those speeds, you could halve your speed when using an external antenna.

I'd already considered this, hence why testing it would be something I'd need to do with the assumption it may not work as well as it does right now.

I'm not sure how to see what the modem is using now to achieve the speeds I am getting, is there any software out there I can run on my PC/Laptop to determine this?
 
Hi @Blu3fire what are the ping times like on your 5G connection? Are those much better than 4G ones?

Yes, looking at 16-20ms, and that is going through two routers and supposedly a poor 5G signal, but I don't know how to determine if that is true as my brain is struggling to understand the stats. :(
 
That's some great ping, tbh. Well within gaming thresholds.
 
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@Blu3fire ping the actual speedtest server :D

e.g

Pinging speed1.spitfireuk.net [62.133.0.254] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 62.133.0.254: bytes=32 time=39ms TTL=44
Reply from 62.133.0.254: bytes=32 time=39ms TTL=44

matches what speedtest.net tells me.

You can get a list of the servers here

 
Funny that I get better ping times on 4G

Bash:
Pinging bbc.co.uk [151.101.192.81] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=55
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=55
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=55
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=55
 
Funny that I get better ping times on 4G

Bash:
Pinging bbc.co.uk [151.101.192.81] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=55
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=55
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=55
Reply from 151.101.192.81: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=55

yeah that's odd .. I usually get better ping on 5G (like half of that of 4G) but I can't even test 5G right now as I'm busted down to 4G on my CPE Pro 2 since about 1am this morning. Haven't been able to reset the router due to work... Perhaps you have a good route to bbc instead of a speedtest server?

Interestingly, I'm getting a worse ping to BBC than spitfire's speedtest server :D networking is fun :cool:

Also interesting that my ping on virgin media wasn't really that much better than 4G on three, and was much higher than 5G on three.
 
5G SINR question.

Are the accepted levels the same as 4G for what is considered Excellent to Disconnected? E.g. that lovely colored table that was linked to me.

I seen to be getting SINR of 17dB on the 5G could this be why my ping/jitter is worse then it was before?
 
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@JitteryPinger @GavinAshford

Just wanted some feedback on the mast that is in LoS, this picture was taken from about 1.8-2.0 miles away so sorry the quality isn't all that great. I am just trying to learn more about the masts and how they are configured etc.

Not sure how well this will work as I upload full resolution picture.


EDIT: Added a crop.
 

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@JitteryPinger @GavinAshford

Just wanted some feedback on the mast that is in LoS, this picture was taken from about 1.8-2.0 miles away so sorry the quality isn't all that great. I am just trying to learn more about the masts and how they are configured etc.

Not sure how well this will work as I upload full resolution picture.


EDIT: Added a crop.
The antennas on the building, not the ones on the little lattice in the middle, appear to have massive mimo 5G on them. You can see this with the square-ish looking boxes mounted on the side of the rectangular passive antennas.
 
Gut feel based on the photos alone is is EE/Three with 5G (MaMIMO as you say) on the corners, with VO2 being the lattice at the top (no idea what)

Thanks, is a MaMIMO the usual deployment for 5G of this type? AFAIK this is the mast my 5G Router connects to.
 
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I believe MaMIMO is Three/EEs preferred deployment, at least it was with Huawei (not sure about now), whereas VO2 seem to prefer 8x8 passive antennas in the majority. Saying that, EE have been known to use them too.

I would guess that for a site that covers a populated area is probably the more preferred option as it allows for beam-forming to deliver capacity to where it's needed and I think it can handle more simultaneously connections too.

I think that aligns with the networks strategies - Three/EE being a more dense network of sites (due to needing to be for 1800mhz 4G layer) they have the sites close enough to make use of the (now lots of) 3500mhz for their 5G layer. Whereas VO2s 800mhz 4G sites have needed to generally be less densely located so using lower frequencies for their main 5G layer makes sense there.
 
This is located on Stourbridge Ring Road
@JitteryPinger I think it is still 3/EE. I had a look on Google maps and the site on the lattice had the old style rounded Vodafone panels. the MaMIMO looks all too much like an EE/3 setup for me to think VF/O2.
Screenshot_2021-03-21-19-35-34-590_com.google.android.apps.maps.webp
 
@Blu3fire I've looked into the kit on top of Baylie Court, it does appear that the lattice in the middle is O2/Vodafone 3G/4G setup and Three/EE mounted at the edges.

Based on coverage checkers, its Three's 5G and not EE's.

Scratch that, it's both EE and Three setups, https://pedroc.co.uk/content/three-chariot-huawei-and-5g-masts

Weird why EE says coverage for 5G only average, maybe an EE thing not to give the idea of good indoor coverage, will be interesting to see how sites like this one develop with new licensing due to being Huawei based.

Thanks for the info.

As I said before Three state there is zero coverage where I live, and one light pink block on their maps slightly away from the road where I am located, and I also looked at EE who stated no 5G at all anywhere close.

If they share this locations does that mean they'll offer the same speeds or will the backend equipment be different, and potentially the connection into the the main backhaul for the data connectivity?
 
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