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What else can I do to improve my landline?

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

DL Bandwidth (MHz)

RFCN

1617,3350,522,156510

RSRP

-105

RSRQ

-13

SINR

2

RSRP-NSA

-90

RSRQ-NSA

0

SINR-NSA

8

TAC

11054
Not too bad a signal on 5G, even on 4G, that's a lot of spectrum this baby aggregates, however the stats are not great at all there.
What speeds do you get with this?
Did you try up in the loft?

In terms of antennas, you either need to get a 4x4 MIMO one (4 cables per antenna) or 2 2x2 MIMO (2 cables per antenna), somehow _must_ use all those ts9 external ports. I recommend you buy "ts9 to sma pigtails" as those ports are very flimsy usually and tend to break easily, plus most proper antennas work with sma, not ts9.

Reputable 4x4 MIMO antenna are the ones from Poynting, but YMMV, eg here's an omni-directional one, although you may get better results with a directional one.. Ideally you should test. Put them up high (or in the loft).
 
Try again without the external antennas, their use can often create additional losses unless the interfaces onto the unit are perfect. Putting the unit as high as possible in the loft is the first action, and then also experimenting with position a little (a difference of a few feet can make a difference)
 
have you considered FTTP On Demand instead of going down the mobile broadband route? with this you will be able to get a FTTP line to your house, the only issue is its very expensive (inital one off build costs and a higher monthly rate with the first contract but it reverts after that to normal home broadband monthly costs), it would give you the best connection.
 
Not too bad a signal on 5G, even on 4G, that's a lot of spectrum this baby aggregates, however the stats are not great at all there.
What speeds do you get with this?
Did you try up in the loft?

In terms of antennas, you either need to get a 4x4 MIMO one (4 cables per antenna) or 2 2x2 MIMO (2 cables per antenna), somehow _must_ use all those ts9 external ports. I recommend you buy "ts9 to sma pigtails" as those ports are very flimsy usually and tend to break easily, plus most proper antennas work with sma, not ts9.

Reputable 4x4 MIMO antenna are the ones from Poynting, but YMMV, eg here's an omni-directional one, although you may get better results with a directional one.. Ideally you should test. Put them up high (or in the loft).

Yesterday I was getting 80mbps, the router's signal strength within the settings describes it as "Excellent 5G". Today, it's been a bit spottier with the speeds but still on "Excellent".
I haven't really had the chance to try every location in the house. But I do know that there is really only a small section where it would work anyway.

Thanks for the aerial advice, I will look into it.

I currently have a Poynting omni directional aerial for my old 4g router but I definitely think I need a directional one. Living on the edge of a small town with all the masts in the centre.

I'll try the loft again. Cheers.
 
Try again without the external antennas, their use can often create additional losses unless the interfaces onto the unit are perfect. Putting the unit as high as possible in the loft is the first action, and then also experimenting with position a little (a difference of a few feet can make a difference)
Yes, quite annoyed with myself for not trying it without the antennas! I'll try it again soon, it's just a bit of a faff getting up there and dragging an extension lead.
 
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have you considered FTTP On Demand instead of going down the mobile broadband route? with this you will be able to get a FTTP line to your house, the only issue is its very expensive (inital one off build costs and a higher monthly rate with the first contract but it reverts after that to normal home broadband monthly costs), it would give you the best connection.
I've never heard of it. What sort of costs are we talking? Thousands? 😬
 
I'm just about ready to throw the whole internet into the bin.

The SIM card I am using (Lycamobile) stopped working on Saturday evening and their customer service is pretty awful indeed. I have since received a new SIM card but I can't get it to work. I am at the point where I think I will just write off this £10 loss and not bothering to renew my subscription to them - ever again!

Luckily, I have been doing this 5G experiment with an overlap from my previous provider (Lebara) so no actual service has been lost.

The conclusion:

The Zyxel NR5103E seemed like a fairly decent recommendation, thank you for that. With my Lebara 4G connection, I can achieve speeds of around 80mbps. The signal does drop out a lot. This could be due to my location and/or lack of experimentation for the best location in my house.

What has transpired this weekend is that the original statement by a possible fibre-optic giga- connection zipperty doodahh was wrong. They can in fact provide me with their services "soon".

So I'm going to return the 5g router and just hold my breath for that email asking me to sign-up to their services.

I've lived in my current house for about 8 years and have had no end of internet (and phone line) problems. If this gigabit connection works, I simply won't know what to do with myself. If I get to a point where I don't even have to think about why the internet is down or slow or buffering a video. What else will I do with my life?
An existential crisis indeed but one I'm thoroughly looking forward to.

Thanks for all your help over the years 🥲
 
It all depends on where your nearest aggregation node is, mine was just under £4000. You pay for a survey then you get an estimated cost based on that, you can chose to abandon if the estimated cost is too high but you still have to pay for the survey regardless, I think the survey is between £200-300. If you are seriously considering/wanting a decent stable internet connection then it may be worth a shot, otherwise the mobile broadband experiments you've been doing recently may be enough.
 
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I appreciate the advice but you might have missed my post where the local gigabit supplier did a 180 and said that they now can supply me with their services soon. So I'm happy to just wait for that.
 
To chip in on existing copper line. Appreciate that avenue might be dead if you can get a full fibre connection soon. Something to try if that falls through. When you were dealing with poor landline, aside from changing the master socket, did they do anything else? Reason for saying is that my Dad has improved his landline by getting switched off a tin line onto a copper one. There was a mixture. This improved FTTC speeds from 10 to 35Mbps. Has also had to deal with flooded ducting. OR came out and fixed.

5G or 4G Router. How big is your property? Of course there is finding the best spot in the house? Have you checked speeds at other places outside, but still on your property.

My girlfriends place. Gigaclear are building out to them. Hopefully can order soon. In the meantime, added a 4G connection that is combined with the existing ADSL 8Mbps connection. Found the best place to get a signal was on an outbuilding with an external directional mast. To get back to the house used a wireless bridge.

To get the best speeds wasn't a case of finding the strongest strength, but find a mast with a reasonable signal, but the most bandwidth. That was using a Lebara SIM on VF. After doing some surverys with O2, EE, and 3.

In your case, you might find right out the front of the house or back of the garden gives best place? Then a case of weather tight enclosure and running a protected cable back to the house.

Also, have you considered Starlink? Expensive up front cost. Expensive monthly cost. Could be the answer. Again full fibre still the best answer.
 
A confusing update:
UPP broadband initially told me that installation wasn't possible.
I then asked Lightspeed broadband, who said they'd look into it, as UPP didn't give me an explanation.
UPP then got back to me and said that they were wrong and they can install.
Now Lightspeed have just got back to me as well and said that they can't install because there isn't a suitable pole outside my house.

What's going on?!

Additional question, you can see it coming: how do I get a pole outside my house? *insert mildly offensive joke*.
 
To chip in on existing copper line. Appreciate that avenue might be dead if you can get a full fibre connection soon. Something to try if that falls through. When you were dealing with poor landline, aside from changing the master socket, did they do anything else? Reason for saying is that my Dad has improved his landline by getting switched off a tin line onto a copper one. There was a mixture. This improved FTTC speeds from 10 to 35Mbps. Has also had to deal with flooded ducting. OR came out and fixed.

5G or 4G Router. How big is your property? Of course there is finding the best spot in the house? Have you checked speeds at other places outside, but still on your property.

My girlfriends place. Gigaclear are building out to them. Hopefully can order soon. In the meantime, added a 4G connection that is combined with the existing ADSL 8Mbps connection. Found the best place to get a signal was on an outbuilding with an external directional mast. To get back to the house used a wireless bridge.

To get the best speeds wasn't a case of finding the strongest strength, but find a mast with a reasonable signal, but the most bandwidth. That was using a Lebara SIM on VF. After doing some surverys with O2, EE, and 3.

In your case, you might find right out the front of the house or back of the garden gives best place? Then a case of weather tight enclosure and running a protected cable back to the house.

Also, have you considered Starlink? Expensive up front cost. Expensive monthly cost. Could be the answer. Again full fibre still the best answer.

Thanks for this!
 
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