Forum Discussion
External Antenna Makes Massive Difference For Me!!!
Ok I decided to see what an external antenna would do and wow.
I got the kit from Waveform as it’s an ok price and reputable money back company.
So I have an n41 tower 3 miles to the SW, a B66 .5 miles to the W, and a n71 2 miles to the NW.
If I put the can in the NW window it get the B66 ok and never holds the n71 for long. If I put the can in the S window it just does not hold the n41 or the B66.
So I have been living with the can in the NW window with the B66 and 75/25 average and solid for days on end slow and steady.
I wanted the n41 tower as my test show it rock on my phone so I figured let’s see if an ext ant can do anything.
So remember can in S window cannot get the B66 to the W and also n41 is to weak. Open up can, remove 3 and 4, snap on new leads, put can back together, hook up ext ant that is just outside window aimed right at the n41 tower. Time to rock great signal and 650/110 speeds.
So not that bars matter but in the NW window B66 was 3 bars almost -100dBm with SNR of 10db so ok but not great. Now in the S window where I had nothing really of used mounting the ant just outside I have that B66 at -76dBm but SNR is 7db 4 bars speed is good. Also that n41 comes in at 4 bars and wow -81dBm with an SNR of 7db so ok. So huge improvement in signal strength and overall quality slight degradation in SNR but bigger ant picks up more of what you don't want too.
They say you will get 9db improvement I have more so I am happy. I mean the b66 improved over 24db and I am not even pointing the ant at that tower. Also if I could get the n41 it was -107db now wow that is at -81db so again same massive gain in power.
The cable they give you is huge 30ft and as thick as your pinky. If this works out for several days I think I need to order a shorter cable as this is to much in my case I need like 3-5 ft max. As you see for testing I have the cable run thru the window with duct tape holding the gap. Again I don't want to go drilling holes until I decide this is good for several days and I am keeping this setup. Plus maybe since my run is so short I can go with a thinner cable and way shorter.
Again only time will tell if this setup hold for several days solid but initial results are looking good.
Ok so before installing just the can best location in my home 75/25 best case. It was solid at this speed but again not what I signed up for but solid 75/25.
My signal was weak 2/3 bars near -100dbm so really weak and could not hold the 5G signals they would drop soon after reboot so I was stuck with 4G speeds.
Now I can hold the n41 tower so we are talking 500/100”+++ speeds solid now for 2 days.
Just now.
007BondMI6 wrote:
Still holding strong the next day things are looking good still getting 600+/100+.
what antenna did u use, would you be able to post a link
gabegellert wrote:
007BondMI6 wrote:
Still holding strong the next day things are looking good still getting 600+/100+.
what antenna did u use, would you be able to post a link
https://www.waveform.com/products/mimo-panel-kit-for-hotspots-routers?variant=39349359476839
There are 2 types one if you have direct line of sight one if not, I used the regular one since I do not have line of sight.
OK I just installed the 10/100/1000 switch so now all the Google Wifi pucks are connected at 1000 and speed at all pucks matches the speed of the main puck. Really the pucks are not that far apart and in the past I always had a great connection so no idea why recently with no changes the wifi connection between them went to good/ok dropping the mesh speed. I seen a few guys claiming that Google dumbed them down for speed so they could get ppl to upgrade to the newer version. I kinda believe this could be true as I see no reason for the reduced mesh connection. But upgrading the switch and connecting them by ethernet has solved the issue. If I am going to buy a new mesh it will be wifi 6 not 5 so Google is not getting my business anyways.
So again to summarize what I did to take advantage of my new found speed.
- Replace the cable that runs from the can to the main Google puck as the old in walls cable was not up to par.
- Ran ethernet to each Google puck since wireless connection would only handle 75-80.
- Replaced house switch with gig since I needed the faster connection to the pucks.
At this point I think I am ok and if anymore is upgraded it would be to a wifi 6 mesh sys. But not sure that's really needed as speeds all around the house are fast enough and every room has an ethernet port if you really want a full speed connection.
Bond, a bit of good news on your outlaw status. A comment in the comment section of a recent YouTube video by Peter Carcione, another external antenna enthusiast, said they called T mobile about their position on external antennas. I'll just quote the comment:
"I called T-Mobile. Just got off the phone with them and we had a lengthy discussion about adding an external antenna to the gateway that I have. She told me that as long as there is no damage to the device that I would be able to return or upgrade."
From watching videos of it, be careful when getting the tabs that are attached to the bottom out, and use any trick people suggest to do it carefully. The little tabs can break as you are trying to remove the bottom. I haven't done anything to my gateway. But in one guy's video, he cracked a tab. Of course, the bottom of the gateway will still stay on with one cracked tab fine.
Anyone install one of these panels inside? I get 3 out of 5 bars where I want to place it and 4 of 5 for LTE and get 350-450Mbps regularly, but if I go outside or move to improve, I get 450-500 regularly and sometimes see 750+. Wondering if I kept it where it should be and just mounted and used one of these antennas inside on the wall if it would make a big enough difference, being a higher gain antenna than whats in the unit.
For reference, I am around .5-.75 miles from the tower. Just prefer not to have to pull the wire up the attic and outside, mostly because I have like R80 blown in insulation now which will be a pain to find and get a wire up and out now.sp90378 wrote:
Anyone install one of these panels inside? I get 3 out of 5 bars where I want to place it and 4 of 5 for LTE and get 350-450Mbps regularly, but if I go outside or move to improve, I get 450-500 regularly and sometimes see 750+. Wondering if I kept it where it should be and just mounted and used one of these antennas inside on the wall if it would make a big enough difference, being a higher gain antenna than whats in the unit.
For reference, I am around .5-.75 miles from the tower. Just prefer not to have to pull the wire up the attic and outside, mostly because I have like R80 blown in insulation now which will be a pain to find and get a wire up and out now.I think if you are satisfied with it inside and you have good signal don't sweat it keep it inside.
007BondMI6 wrote:
sp90378 wrote:
Anyone install one of these panels inside? I get 3 out of 5 bars where I want to place it and 4 of 5 for LTE and get 350-450Mbps regularly, but if I go outside or move to improve, I get 450-500 regularly and sometimes see 750+. Wondering if I kept it where it should be and just mounted and used one of these antennas inside on the wall if it would make a big enough difference, being a higher gain antenna than whats in the unit.
For reference, I am around .5-.75 miles from the tower. Just prefer not to have to pull the wire up the attic and outside, mostly because I have like R80 blown in insulation now which will be a pain to find and get a wire up and out now.I think if you are satisfied with it inside and you have good signal don't sweat it keep it inside.
Well, I guess that's it. Going from $97 a month to $50 a month and having about the same speed I was paying with Spectrum, its savings but with close to same service. So would just have the thought in the back of my mind that hey, if I do an antenna, may be able to keep it inside too and then get another 100+Mbps. I work from home full time (prior to COVID as well) so reliability and latency is key for me due to voip calls, video calls, etc. yet having kids in the house and streaming 4K content and such while I am working.
Anyone ever tried all 4 antenna ports for external antenna or antennas and which antenna you used. Speed difference would be useful too.
