Forum Discussion
Trouble with 5g Internet in Metal Buildings
We have 5G hooked up for our business. It is housed in a metal building. I get great service outside but inside the metal building the service is not so great. Is there an easy way to connect an antenna or similar item? Or will i have to mount the router outdoors?
Indoors, have you tried next to a window that faces the closest tower?
Your best option is to get an external antenna. There are solutions and you should check out the video that Nater Tater has done on YouTube. Nate has reviews and informative videos on each of the T-Mobile gateways. He has even gone into the Sagemcon. Waveform.com has antenna solutions and guides for the connection of external antennas. The connectors in the gateway are delicate and very fragile.
Nota: Attempting to obtain a signal in a metal build building is like being in a big Faraday cage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage
At Aruba Networking we had multiple Faraday cages for isolating APs and scores of clients for controlled testing. The signals don't get in or out of a properly constructed Faraday cage.
If you go the external antenna route you need to know the frequency you receive your 5G signal upon. If you are on an n71 signal a 2x2 MIMO would be sufficient but for n41 a 4x4 MIMO antenna would be required to take full advantage of the signal. External antennas are not cheap. A 2x2 MIMO would cost $200-$300 whereas a 4x4 MIMO is more around the $400-$500 range. I am also allowing some consideration for lightning arrestors and possible cable length adaptation. Every installation is a little different so requirements vary. You don't want to run more cable than is needed or there is additional attenuation of the signal.
None of the T-Mobile gateways are rated for outdoor use. Some users have put them in water tight boxes and done some crazy things with them but if you live in an area where lightning storms are common it is probably not a very good idea. In the summer heat can be an issue.
If you add an external antenna you can better locate the gateway for wireless coverage inside your building and not need another wireless router or mesh solution to distribute wireless coverage in your location. Some users do add an additional router or mesh solution just for the functionality of their own router solution which might be a mesh solution to expand coverage over a larger more complicated floor plan. T-Mobile does not support or promote adding an external antenna so do be aware if you go that route and damage it they will hold you accountable for any damage to the gateway.
Nate has covered all three of the T-Mobile 5G gateways. Waveform has guides for all of them. You can also find them on Amazon. If there is only n71 coverage now you might want to still do the 4X4 MIMO antenna just in case they upgrade the cells to n41. They did that here after about 14 months or so and it came as a surprise to me. So, strange things do happen.
