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Speed issue with Lyca sim in MikroTik device

tommydog

Pro Member
I have a MikroTik RBLHGR&R11e-LTE6 dish and have recently signed up with Lycamobile for their unlimited data. On Giffgaff I was getting 35mbps download, but on Lyca I am only getting about 10mbps. This is strange as both Lyca and Giffgaff run on the 02 network. Can't image it is throttling at this stage, as I am just testing for the first time today and my data usage is minimum. I have certainly not done anything data intensive to flag my account.

One thing I did notice is that the Lyca sim did not work in the Mikrotik until I ticked "allow roaming" I did not have to tick this on Giffgaff. Not why I have to do this? I did register the Lyca sim on a phone in England before popping it into the Mikrotik dish in Scotland, so not sure if this effects anything?

Secondly these are the below settings in the Mikrotik, not sure if changing anything here would improve the speed? Should the APN really be "default" and no pin? Not sure if changing anything below would improve the speed?

PIN - blank
Operator - blank
MOdem INit - blank
APN profile - defualt
Registration Satus: roaming
Pin status: ok
Functionality: full
roaming: allow roaming
 
According to lineageos, the lycamobile apn is:
Code:
<apn carrier="UK - Lycamobile Web" mcc="234" mnc="26" apn="data.lycamobile.co.uk" proxy="" port="" user="lmuk" password="plus" mmsc="" mvno_type="spn" mvno_match_data="Lycamobile" authtype="1" type="default,supl"

line 605 of this: https://github.com/LineageOS/android_vendor_cm/blob/cm-14.1/prebuilt/common/etc/apns-conf.xml

According to lycamobile's website the username is lmpl not lmuk:

Code:
APN: data.lycamobile.co.uk
Proxy: Leave Blank
Prot: Leave Blank
UserName: lmpl
Password: plus
Server: Leave Blank
MMSC: Leave Blank
MMS proxy: Leave Blank
MMS port: Leave Blank
MCC: Leave Blank
MNC: Leave Blank
APN Type: Leave Blank

Which LTE bands can you connect to?
 
Code:
APN: data.lycamobile.co.uk
Proxy: Leave Blank
Prot: Leave Blank
UserName: lmpl
Password: plus
Server: Leave Blank
MMSC: Leave Blank
MMS proxy: Leave Blank
MMS port: Leave Blank
MCC: Leave Blank
MNC: Leave Blank
APN Type: Leave Blank
Which LTE bands can you connect to?

Thanks for your reply. LTE band 40 gets the best result (it did non Giffgaff anyway)

Also Is the authentication PAP and not CHAP? Secondly, are you sure changing the APN settings will really make much difference to speed? This is from an online article:

"The APN tells the phone how to connect to the internet. If it’s right it’ll connect, if it’s not it won’t. It won’t connect slower if it’s wrong, it just won’t connect."
 
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What happens if you do not band lock to 40, does it speed up with aggregation?

What's the upload speed like?

Upload speed is about the same as before 1mbps. If I don't band lock things are slower.

Any idea what is going on when it says the below? Why the roaming status and why won't it work unless roaming is ticked?

Registration Statusroaming
 
Band 40 is very high frequency - approx 2300 – 2400MHz so wouldn't travel very well. Even with 20MHz of bandwidth it would
From my tests Band 40 at 20MHZ is by for the fastest option. On other bands I can get under 1mbps! I thought I knew where the mast was, but don't see it on cellmapper? The cell ID is 134192777 and the eNB ID 524190. Not sure if anyone else can see it on cell mapper?
 
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From my tests Band 40 at 20MHZ is by for the fastest option. On other bands I can get under 1mbps! I thought I knew where the mast was, but don't see it on cellmapper? The cell ID is 134192777 and the eNB ID 524190. Not sure if anyone else can see it on cell mapper?

Just here: eNB ID 524190

Can you see Band 28?
 
Just here: eNB ID 524190

Can you see Band 28?
No, there are has been no new data colection for that mast from the 8th Oct 2021. The extra bands must have been added since then. Are you able to run cellmapper app to collect and contribute the new data?
 
Your mast is here

It hasn't been surveyed with Band 40 connected yet but looking at the cell id's surveyed I could believe its there.
If thats really the mast I am connecting to I find that very bizarre. That mast is about 10 miles away. There is an 02 mast just half a mile away from me and that's where my dish is pointing. I should be connected to eNB ID 524983. My dish is not even pointing to the other mast 10 miles away! Below is the link to the mast (eNB ID 524983) I should be connecting to nearest my home. Any idea whats going on?

 
Signals can be weird! Some are affected/reflected by metal structures like sheds, buildings etc and bounce around the place like crazy frogs!

If you go into the lte1 interface and click on the Cell Monitor. Note down the EARFCN and PHY Cell ID with the best RSRQ. (usually this list is sorted automatically, better RSRQ to the top)

You can then lock it to that cell and get more details by using

Code:
/interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT*Cell=2,3,,<EARFCN>,<PHY_CELLID>"

You can reset the cell lock using
Code:
/interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT*Cell=0"

Go back to the lte1 interface page and it will tell you the eNB and cell number you are connected to.
 
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There is only one shown at that is:
PHY Cell ID EARFCN
420 39250

Nothing else is shown
You must have a cell lock enabled on that cell? You would need to reset it (But take a note of it so you can lock it back if none of the other cells are any good)
 
You must have a cell lock enabled on that cell? You would need to reset it (But take a note of it so you can lock it back if none of the other cells are any good)

I reset it and now have 3 coming up (see image below). Problem is for RSRQ the other options are -15 and -17.5, so -10 is already the best one and the one I was locked to. I just don't get it as that transmitter is miles away. I should be connecting to the one that is half a mile up the road, as thats where the dish is pointing. Anything else I can try?

cell monitor.jpg
 
You should definitely be seeing Band 20. Have you it band locked in the lte1 interface page?
Yes I can see band 20, but the RSRQ is much worse for all of Band 20 and the tested speed is much worse than Band 40. What puzzles me is I don't see the following transmitter which is shown in cellmapper:

eNB ID 524983 - Stroupster Road, Nybster, Caithness, Scotland, KW1 4XR

That is only half a mile from me and my Mikrotik device is pointing there. Instead I see masts that are much further away (even 10 miles away). There must be a way of connecting to this mast nearest me (eNB ID 524983)?
 
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You should definitely be seeing Band 20. Have you it band locked in the lte1 interface page?
Welcome to the world of O2 mvnos where band 20 is reserved for O2 and Sky pay monthly customers only.

My Giffgaff SIM only finds bands 3 & 40, and I'm only offered 40+40
 
Yes I can see band 20, but the RSRQ is much worse for all of Band 20 and the tested speed is much worse than Band 40. What puzzles me is I don't see the following transmitter which is shown in cellmapper:

eNB ID 524983 - Stroupster Road, Nybster, Caithness, Scotland, KW1 4XR

That is only half a mile from me and my Mikrotik device is pointing there. Instead I see masts that are much further away (even 10 miles away). There must be a way of connecting to this mast nearest me (eNB ID 524983)?
What information do you have in cell monitor?

Would you be able to check your antenna inside your SXT?
 
Not sure what the roaming thing is about? Does the same thing happen when you put it in your phone? Lyca are usually at the bottom of the pile when it comes to good reviews so it's hardly surprising you're not happy with them too! If GG and Lyca are both mvnos it is weird that the speed is so different though(35 vs 10).
 
If GG and Lyca are both mvnos it is weird that the speed is so different though(35 vs 10).
To be fair the speed has got better on Lyca since I opened this thread. There is just a slight difference between Lyca and GG. The problem is that both Lyca and GG seem to connect to transmitters a long way a way. I should be getting a very decent speed as there is a transmitter half a mile away that my dish is pointing to! Maybe it's time to try a genuine 02 sim? But then with 02 I will probably end up paying double what I do on Lyca.

Are people saying band 20 is normally faster than band 40? As I don't find that in my case.
 
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