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What else can I do to improve my landline?

LeeWillRockYou

Pro Member
For years I've had a terrible landline connection with an endless amount of engineers coming out to "check the line". Eventually I gave up and started to use 4g internet with great results. Unfortunately now, the quality of that has deteriorated too! I've also been informed that I won't be getting ultrafast fttp any time soon either.

I'm thinking about going back to landline but before I do, I'm wondering if anyone knows of any route I could take to get that improved?
My neighbours get about 30mbps on average but I was getting 10 or less and it was an extremely unreliable connection too. I've had the engineers change the master socket. I know you have to be persistent but what else is there to do? My line is underground and I can't imagine they'd install a new one?

I've seen you can get NOW Broadband on a 30 day rolling contract, so this is my route to test the waters. I've actually had good experience with them in the past and the price isn't bad.
 
You could always go with Andrews and Arnold, they guarantee they'll fix your line.

Though if it's only going to be 30mbps max, it would be worth checking your post code to see what 4G or 5G services are available in your area and giving the best one a try.

Which network were you using 4G internet with previously?
 
I've tried Andrews and Arnold before, they were good but even they admitted defeat.

My 4g and especially 5g are limited. I'm currently using Lebara, which uses the Vodafone network. I get speeds that range from 20 to 60mbps but lately the mast(s) have been under constant repair and quality has been wavering. It also has an annoying (to me) feature where it switches to 3g during the night.

Before that I tried EE, which were good initially but gradually started to drop in quality and I didn't want to pay for it, so switched back to Lebara.
EE are the only 5G providers in town but I fall outside of their coverage and can't think of a way to test it without losing money.
 
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The solution I had found is to find out who makes your Street Cabinet - Huawei or ECI and then find a router with a compatible chipset. (Or use a compatible modem in bridge mode to connect your normal router to this)

You can either go to the physical cabinet in the street and see for yourself (the two look different depending on who made it). Or there are websites that can tell you which of the two cabinets you have.

I can tell you this really works. As having compatible router chipsets to your cabinet increases your line sync/stability. I improved my line connection by about 5mb/s by doing this. This worked for both aDSL and vDSL.
 
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It also has an annoying (to me) feature where it switches to 3g during the night.
Vodafone are shutting down 3G quite quickly, I think they are the first, so it's possible in a few months this will no longer be the case...
 
The solution I had found is to find out who makes your Street Cabinet - Huawei or ECI and then find a router with a compatible chipset. (Or use a compatible modem in bridge mode to connect your normal router to this)

You can either go to the physical cabinet in the street and see for yourself (the two look different depending on who made it). Or there are websites that can tell you which of the two cabinets you have.

I can tell you this really works. As having compatible router chipsets to your cabinet increases your line sync/stability. I improved my line connection by about 5mb/s by doing this. This worked for both aDSL and vDSL.
Interesting! I'm about to go down the 5g route this week, so if that fails. I'll have a look into this.
 
Vodafone are shutting down 3G quite quickly, I think they are the first, so it's possible in a few months this will no longer be the case...
I've seen that.

I'm wondering if my router wasn't picking up the different 4g signals? I've just bought a Huawei CPE Pro 2 (or something to that effect) and I've noticed it is connecting to 4G+. My other router/modem didn't do that. It is a cheap TP Link unit, can't remember the name M200 or something. Useless basically.
 
I've seen that.

I'm wondering if my router wasn't picking up the different 4g signals? I've just bought a Huawei CPE Pro 2 (or something to that effect) and I've noticed it is connecting to 4G+. My other router/modem didn't do that. It is a cheap TP Link unit, can't remember the name M200 or something. Useless basically.
Huawei CPE Pro 2 is head and shoulders above the Tplink, but even it is showing it's age. You might have been better off with a "soap dispenser": Zyxel NR5103E.
 
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Huawei CPE Pro 2 is head and shoulders above the Tplink, but even it is showing it's age. You might have been better off with a "soap dispenser": Zyxel NR5103E.
It's okay, I bought it off Amazon with the option for return.
I was overwhelmed with the choice of soap dispensers out there.
I'll definitely be returning this at £320 😵 for that cheaper model.
What are the differences, will I be missing out on anything in particular?
I can't really get my head around all these different types of 4g and 5g.
 
It's okay, I bought it off Amazon with the option for return.
I was overwhelmed with the choice of soap dispensers out there.
I'll definitely be returning this at £320 😵 for that cheaper model.
What are the differences, will I be missing out on anything in particular?
I can't really get my head around all these different types of 4g and 5g.
I'll let @The Wee Bear tell a bit more about them as he has 5 and I've got none. Is Cex still a good place to get these? AFAIK avoid the "Zyxel NR5103" models (ie missing the trailing "E" in the model name) as these are typically from EE and really dumbed down.
 
I'll let @The Wee Bear tell a bit more about them as he has 5 and I've got none. Is Cex still a good place to get these? AFAIK avoid the "Zyxel NR5103" models (ie missing the trailing "E" in the model name) as these are typically from EE and really dumbed down.
Yes I have no complaints at all about the Zyxel NR5103E, it stays connected 24/7 to all 4 networks, never had any problems at all with them so far and I've had them for quite a long time now.

As you say Lucian, don't go for the EE version as it's very dumbed down and has no band locking either.

Not sure the price of them now at CEX but on ebay they used to go for around £150-£160. (Might be more now)

I bought all 5 of mine on ebay because the price of them in CEX at the time was £270.

You do get a 2 year warranty at CEX though. (y)

Another thing worth mentioning is that a while back there was a faulty batch of these routers that refused to connect to 5G.

Might be worth asking the seller if you go the ebay route to verify that 5G is working on it.
 
Ok, I've ordered the Zyxel NR5103E. It better be good you guys! *shakes fist*

I'm not having much luck with 5G at the moment. My 4g+ speeds are through the roof though. Getting 80Mbps sometimes.

I live in a bungalow, below road level and between two rather large houses. So my odds of getting any signal at all are rather quite low and against me.
 
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Ok, I've ordered the Zyxel NR5103E. It better be good you guys! *shakes fist*

I'm not having much luck with 5G at the moment. My 4g+ speeds are through the roof though. Getting 80Mbps sometimes.

I live in a bungalow, below road level and between two rather large houses. So my odds of getting any signal at all are rather quite low and against me.
Put it as high as you can then, at the top of the loft etc.
 
I'll try it in the morning. We don't need the whole, "Mummy, there's something crawling around in the loft again!" thing from the kids. Any excuse to not go to sleep 🙄
 
I've received my NR5103E. For a grade C second hand model, it looks almost like new. Great! However, I am not connecting to 5g. I asked the seller before purchasing if it works, they informed me that it does.

Whilst I await a further reply from them. Would anyone have any suggestions as how I can fix it myself?

So far I have attached the included external aerials and switched the switch the external. I have also moved it around to find the best signal with no luck there. I get it could be a signal issue but as far as I can see, there is no movement in the signal indicator at all.

I am currently using a Lyca SIM card, as a cheaper way to access the EE network. I had to manually input the APN - data.lycamobile.co.uk

I'm not sure what else to do?

Update:
I've managed to pick up 5g but it's very weak. I just don't think I'm able to get it at my house.

What's the deal with the external aerials? What's a recommended external aerial I can attach to the exterior wall?
 
Last edited:
Cellular Status

Cellular Status

Up

Data Roaming

Enable

Operator

EE

PLMN

23430

Service Information

Access Technology

NR5G-NSA

Band

83,87,81,n28

RSSI

-91

Cell ID

4529410

Physical Cell ID

100

UL Bandwidth (MHz)

20M,10M

20M,20M,15M,10M

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RFCN

1617,3350,522,156510

RSRP

-105

RSRQ

-13

SINR

2

RSRP-NSA

-90

RSRQ-NSA

0

SINR-NSA

8

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11054
 
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