I was skeptical, but a fan does seem to help

Yes I agree cellmapper.net is not current and there are more unverified towers than verified it seems. The 4G LTE towers and cell info is a bit better than the 5G but given 5G is new tech that doesn't surprise me. Give it 5-10 years and it will probably catch up. 

I believe you might be correct that they are working on the towers and maybe brought up some n41 equipment. It does not have the reach or the penetration of the n71 given the frequency but yep the bandwidth would be awesome. The fact that cellmapper.net does not report all the various radio frequencies on the 5G is probably due to the database not being up to date. I found using my iPhone 12in field test mode was quite helpful. I used it with the router and confirmed the PCIs and radio signals it reported. Here the only 5G tower is like 5.3 miles direct line of sight or there is another over the hills and dales and through the trees off to the West NW but that one the router never sees. Living in the country or out close does have its limitations. I am pretty sure the router must respond to reflected signals in the house. Any other explanation just does not make sense to me.

iTinkeralot wrote:

I believe you might be correct that they are working on the towers and maybe brought up some n41 equipment. It does not have the reach or the penetration of the n71 given the frequency but yep the bandwidth would be awesome. The fact that cellmapper.net does not report all the various radio frequencies on the 5G is probably due to the database not being up to date. I found using my iPhone 12in field test mode was quite helpful. I used it with the router and confirmed the PCIs and radio signals it reported. Here the only 5G tower is like 5.3 miles direct line of sight or there is another over the hills and dales and through the trees off to the West NW but that one the router never sees. Living in the country or out close does have its limitations. I am pretty sure the router must respond to reflected signals in the house. Any other explanation just does not make sense to me.

Well in this south room the tower is direct line of site from the one window that I have at random times had crazy fast speed. And like I was saying the tower had n41 antennas on it but this is a shared tower with other carriers so it could be not TM. Anyways that tower I can see it with just my eyes so if they were to put it up there I would get it.

What I find odd is on the TM 5G map my home shows Ultra 5G. And odder it is just for my home not either of my neighbors or any to the rear of this tower. So not sure how to read this as my home is the only home with line of sight of that particular tower. This makes me think I should have speeds of 500 down as the map says I should. If I look at the way the ultra 5G area is shaped it makes sense that it would come from that tower. This is confirmed by the fact that the other towers to the west and north west do not show Ultra 5G at all even under and around them. This whole thing is a crazy guessing game.

007BondMI6 - I had a support call with T-Mobile and they confirmed the location of the tower my router links into. I went to Google Earth and confirmed what I suspected and then used my T-Mobile iPhone 12 in field test mode to confirm the PCI reporting. Both the router and the phone did agree on the 4G LTE and 5G NR PCI reporting. I tried the OpenSignal application on the phone due to a suggestion but found it to be 4G only and a 4 year old application. There are also some cellular locator apps for Android and I believe the Samsung phones in effect can provide the same sort of information. For me I was determined to nail down the tower location as I have been considering a 2x2 MIMO external YAGI antenna to make the solution better. With at least a $300-350 investment I will take the time to get it right. If I can place the T-Mobile router better for improved WIFI spread and get cellular signals better without having to invest on both sides that will be a win. So far the WIFI here has been good. OK, so my MacBook Pro antenna sort of stinks but a 50 foot CAT 6 cable has solved that issue. Trying to monitor the router with the web UI over the wireless with the MacBook was frustrating. On the wire, good. I just go with the flow and bend in the wind.

I agree with the shelf and the restriction upon the location of the router you have little to no wiggle room. That is one of my bigger disappointments with the solution is that the location of the router is so critical for reception of signal. Heat can be an issue where optimal location results in conflict with the ambient temperature. I still have to wonder if there are some of the Nokia routers that are more prone to over temp issues due to hardware and a manufacturing anomaly. I have an early revision of the router from when I joined the BETA program. (3TG00739AAAA)  When there was a good bit of conversations about temperature and the router operations I did put my router out on the back porch on a 90 degree day and it kept on working and threw no alarms. Maybe I just am fortunate to have one that does not have heat issues.  If people with temperature issues contributed hardware revision information and other factors and a relationship could be identified that could make a difference. The fact that they did not incorporate a fan into the design where heat is generated seems to be a mistake to me. Passive cooling appears to be insufficient for some users. I am fortunate to have been able to get an improved traffic flow with a window on the NE wall where it is a cooler location. Not everyone has the luxury with the Nokia router to be able to avoid heat issues due to the imposed "location" of the router for optimal cellular signal strength and quality. 

I seem to have a new router mode that's square instead of round.  Has anyone tried a fan with this unit or found that it needed one? Mine is sitting on a top shelf near a skylight.  I actually got a faster signal with it in the attic without any windows, but if they already have heat issues, the attic is out of the question.  Also now that a number of people are using a fan for months, has any one noticed a lot of dust accumulating?  I am thinking a fan without any filtering at all might make things worse eventually. The vary porous low back pressure  filterer material  used in window AC units between the fan and the router may work well enough if it is cleaned every few months.

richjd wrote:

I seem to have a new router mode that's square instead of round.  Has anyone tried a fan with this unit or found that it needed one? Mine is sitting on a top shelf near a skylight.  I actually got a faster signal with it in the attic without any windows, but if they already have heat issues, the attic is out of the question.  Also now that a number of people are using a fan for months, has any one noticed a lot of dust accumulating?  I am thinking a fan without any filtering at all might make things worse eventually. The vary porous low back pressure  filterer material  used in window AC units between the fan and the router may work well enough if it is cleaned every few months.

 

As you can see in the Nokia gateway it is a cylinder design where 100% of air has to flow bottom to top. On the Arcadyan "box", there are vents on the bottom and top, but the entire back and about 80% of the side covers are perforated. I don't see how a fan can do much. I've only had the Arcadyan for about 2 months and so far no heat issues. However, I am not using the built in wifi router so that may be a factor as well.