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Steve_Conley
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Joined 4 years ago
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Re: Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED
Yet another datapoint for those who may be testing. (BTW, iTinkeralot, I am definitely going to look into the external antenna - but quite busy at the moment, it may be 2-3 months). I have continued monitoring my unit and doing speed test BECAUSE it switches among cell tower bands. I have traced them ALL to the same tower I mentioned above - hidden by LOTS of trees but theoretically near line of site 0.7+ miles away. What I have found is very interesting: Speed measured with browser on laptop connected via ethernet cable: Primary Secondary Down Up b2 n71 112.3 14.6 177.2 20.2 171.0 17.8 126.6 18.7 174.5 23.1 143.0 15.0 147.7 19.6 124.5 19.5 b2 n41 165.9 7.4 265.3 6.5 170.3 4.64 b66 n41 186.5 9.13 As you can see the download speed increases, but the upload speed to to poor whenever n41 is in use, whether b66 is primary orb2. My guess is the n41 (2.5GHz) is scattered more by the trees and the n71 (600MHz) can make it through even though theoretically it is slower speed - but only, of course, given equal signal strengths. It could also be that the n41 power of the T-Mobile CAN is insufficient to make it through the trees, for upload, but the cell tower has sufficient power to make it through the trees for reception by the CAN. So you might keep that in mind - that the n71 will both go farther and through more obstacles than n41. (And forget n260 or n261 - unless you live next to them with line of sight! - I think they are for mounting on buildings only.) Another thing to consider - I think the cell towers are never omni-directional. I.E. they have beam antennas that cover various beams depending on the need. For example, one near me is pointing AWAY from me and is a VERY narrow beam designed to go straight down an incredibly heavy traffic road. So even if you have 5 bands on a tower (I have at least that many on the one mentioned), They may or may not be pointing in your direction. So it could be that n71 is more in my direction than the n41 one. one thing you learn as an amateur radio operator - radio wave propagation is extremely complicated when you through in all the variables. itinkeralot, from that photo, has a near perfect line of sight - assuming that antenna has a beam pointing in his direction.1Ver1like0ComentariosRe: Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED
iTinkeralot - Wow - nice. Looks like a place I would like to live. And looks like a place one of my brothers lives in TN. The other two also live outside of small towns. BTW - on lightning - I am a REAL believer in it. Neighbor on one side - lightning hit tree on the other side of the yard next to the other sides fence and exploded bark all the way across the fence in between and into our yard. from about 15 ftup the tree. Houses across in the front and diagonal in the front - lightning hit trees and came in on cable line and from there fried just about every piece of electronics in the house - including garage door opener. Both houses - separate times. We had a big oak tree in the front hit - and one side of it from a split about 20 feet up - just died totally. With that and having 4 different houses no more than 2 houses away have trees fall on them from near tornado winds over the years - I had alltrees that might split the house cut down in the last 10 years. A number of other folks have too. This is a 45-50 year old neighborhood and one of the largest trees I had cut - within 50 foot of house - was an oak over 120 ft tall. the base where they cut measured 5.5 feet wide - and I counted tree rings putting it back to about 1870 - soon after Sherman came through and burned nearly everything in Atlanta. We also live in what is called tornado alley - or at least GA's version. We have had 3 tornados within 1 miles of house in the 37 years we have lived here. The alley stretches from mid AL to to here. the other reason not to have large trees ….2Visto1like0ComentariosRe: Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED
Actually we have a covered screened porch on the Southside I could put the antenna on the side of the house on the South Side while standing on the roof of that porch. I had been thinking of that after discussing it with my wife. But I was wondering if I would be better off with the yagi versus the panel. Since I now know that I'm getting everything from one particular point. I certainly hear you on the lightning arrestor. I actually have two 12 ft copper ground wires on a 12ft to part on the south side of the house grounding the house wiring. Because I found out that crazy builders had not even grounded the interior grounds. I also use a one shot lightning arrester on my ham antenna. And PHYSICALLY unscrew the coax cable outside when not using it. We have a LOT of lightning here in Atlanta.1Ver1like0ComentariosRe: Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED
New data: Wife got home with ere Galaxy GS9 and I tested with it - turns out - as you said - cellmapper is out of date which is why I could not find the cell towers the T-Mobile CAN was finding. They are ALL on the same physical tower - the 0.7 miles away tower through a TON of heavy woods - but then only Line-of-sight (except for woods) cell tower I have anywhere near. in addition to the 12,66 it says in cellmapper, it has b2, b41 and b71. So that accounts for every connection the can has made from anywhere in the house. and the PCI's match and the cellmapper cell identifier when I could get a phone to give it to me. Again, to describe my situation - imagine a canyon (Atlanta is hilly), and I live 2/3 way up the canyon - and down the canyon is basically straight west. And I have NO west windows. So the North and Sorth, west corner windows are the best available and where I get the best signal - EVEN in the basement, (which again, surprises the heck out of me). so - if I come to a point of needing it - mounting a MIMO on the west side of the house - 3 stories up - should actually give me a SUPER signal …I should probably do that sometime before I can't climb a 32 ladder anymore ... as for other matters - not quite technical ... I agree totally on the "tone", iTineralot - in fact, I have ALWAYS for well more than a decade got prompt and helpful response from t-mobile service. And I try not to comment on forums (and I don't do social media), unless I have something to "add" to the conversation. I have not bothered t-mobile this time, since I knew this was basically brand new with them - and the poor service call folks were probably covered up. I don't comment "too" much about the limited S/W -because I am hoping that gets better - and the cell towers get better, etc. I don't have an Apple anything - almost everyone else in my extended family does - and I am so fed up with M$ - that as soon as my current Dell Laptop finally dies (it is only 2.5 years old and the screen is "separating"), I think I will finally get a MacBook. The problem is ALL the S/W I have built up (and written) over the years for Windoze.1Ver1like0ComentariosRe: Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED
Itinkeralot, Thanks for the reply. I am in a NW suberb of Atlanta - outside the I285 perimeter. I have looked into the MIMO antennas and getting into the box - yeah - as a ham that was irresistible to avoid looking into. But currently - it seems - I am fine with 50M+ down and 10+ up. I am not a gamer or streamer - and I have an advanced antenna (necessary) in the attic for TV and MythTV as my VCR - the same box running Xubuntu Linux has been at it for 11 years now …and has only required that I replaced the external video decoder box (because the first one failed). Never had cable … I DO appreciate pushing me to cell mapper - had not looked into it yet. Interesting results: Nearest 5G tower - 3 miles to West. I have no west window. All the 5G towers are basically next to I75. Which handles a TRMENDOUS amount of traffic - 11+ lanes EACH DIRECTION when it hits I 285. Ridiculous. There is a CLUSTER of 3 tower at a park nearby 0.7 miles. BUT there is a hill between us. A direct line to tower from my upper floor would be about 50 down in the dirt or so … But sitting at my desk IN THE BASEMENT - no windows - my phone shows a B12 connection to a tower 0.76 miles - to the SW. This is the only one Ihave been able to identify. At the basement windowI am connected to a B2 but I cannot find it by PCI, or any other number I have found. Cellmapper wants not accept the 7 digit CellID from OpenSignal - and I cannot seem to make it lock onto the one that the T-Mobile can is seeing. Unfortunately the CAN only gives PCI, Band, EARFCN. And try as I might, I have not been able to located that tower on Cellmapper. Also - it seems that the 3 programs I have to try to find this stuff - all disagree to some extant and worse they use deferent sets of identifiers. For example I have found no one else that uses the eNB ID that cellmapper uses. So at this point I still have no idea where the b2, b66, n41 and n71 I sometimes hit are.1Ver1like0ComentariosRe: Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED
Hey timsw, et. al., (I you want to skip my intro - go down to "=====") I'll join the club of reporting here. First, I have been programming since 1968 - my have things changed. Also, I am a ham radio guy - "extra class" (3 rd level license). I also have a brother who was 30 years a Verizon network guy last number of years in VOIP. I thought I knew something - until I met this device ... I have lived in a house in a reception "hole" for ever. Things good up the street in one direction, good down the street in another direction - just not at my house. I got t-mobile in 1998 (actually it one of the companies it acquired later). I have lived with having to go outside or to the top of my 3 story house to make a call. Finally I got a t-mobile "cell spot" which was a total savior. I good finally be in any place in the house and it worked. But my internet has always been AT&T - dialup, then DSL, then U-Verse. ALWAYS lousy - but my only other choice was more expensive and super unreliable Comcast. So the best I ever had was UVerse 10M down and 1.2M up. Yeah - and for $60 / mo. So I jumped all over this deal. It is definitely a keeper because at worst I am doing 6 times better than UVerse and $10 cheaper a month. ===================== BUT - TO MY EXPERIENCE WITH 5G21-12W-A. Top floor - windows N/S/E Mid floor - windows N/S basement - window S Now line of sight to nothing - hill N/S/E. West house 20 ft away, trees, etc. Brick house N, siding S/E/W. all floors, "about" the same" - but getting 2 of 4 bands - varying from time to time. pairs are bands are: b2 / n71 b2 / n41 b12 / b2 b66 / n71 b66 / n41 b12 is seldom seen. b2/n71 is most common. ALWAYS 2 bars of Five on the unit. Just taking B2 ones and looking at Location DirectionRSSIRSRQRSRP SINR Basement S -83 -11 -113 8.2 Ground Flr S -76 -11 -107 6.3 Top Flr S -73 -12 -105 6.8 NOTE - the SINR 8.2 in the basement - MAKES NO SENSE - especially on same band/tower and facing a thick woods and hill. But just showing readings from the basementand internet speeds from computer on network plugged into the can's ethernet port, taken at various times of day over 2 days: Band Up Down b2 / n71 112 14.6 89 7.2 177 20.2 171 17.8 126 18.7 174 23.1 143 15 148 19.6 b2 / n41 166 7.4 205.3 6.5 I am assuming difference must be loads on the cell tower(s). I get no better speeds - on average - at ANY of the other locations. And yeah - the UI's are pretty bad. Lack of settings worse. The lack of making the 2.4GHz Wifi to anything but 1/6/11 is really bad as I have signals IN THE HOUSE from neighbors nearly as strong as mine, and the best channel is 8 - but cannot use. So I have external ASUS router - and using wifi from it. That's my story … Steve1Ver1like0Comentarios