2TB Anytime data

netstrider said:
Can only think the ZTE has better hardware/antennae then.
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Yeah, I can't figure this one out. Brought the B618 to work which is about 300m from the tower. 5 bar signal, -90 dBi.

Still 4G only. I guess the B618 doesn't get above a certain threshold for 4G+ to kick in.
 
Here's the graph of my Speed Tests so far using the ZTE MF286C. The slow speeds are when the router is showing only LTE. Once it switches over to LTE-A the speeds are generally in the 45+ range

1657833639534.png

If only I knew how to keep it on LTE-A for speeds like these:
MyBB Ping: 39ms, Download: 74.09Mbps, Upload: 10.03Mbps

1657836562593.png

 
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Have you played around with the band tool @Crusader? I didn't see anything posted so sorry if it's already been discussed.
2300 isn't great in my area (congested, I assume, since I have excellent signal). I'm running 1800+2100 down 1800 up. I usually see 90mbps+ down, 20mbps+ up. 4G+ is on permanently.
 
Crusader said:
Here's the graph of my Speed Tests so far using the ZTE MF286C. The slow speeds are when the router is showing only LTE. Once it switches over to LTE-A the speeds are generally in the 45+ range

View attachment 1347206

If only I knew how to keep it on LTE-A for speeds like these:
MyBB Ping: 39ms, Download: 74.09Mbps, Upload: 10.03Mbps

View attachment 1347210

Click to expand...

LTE by design goes into idle mode when no data is being transferred.

On idle the router will drop to LTE until data starts being transferred and then should kick the LTE-A. With Huawei Telkom also controls the bands if the router is on auto. Once you start uploading the router drops band 40 and switches to Band 3 or 1 FDD for faster uploads.

If the connection idles and you do a continuous MTR to an IP the jitter will be quite high but stablise as soon as you start to transfer more data. Usually starting a small data stream like an online radio station or a podcast and keeping the MTR running you will see improved latency.
 
evilspinach said:
Have you played around with the band tool @Crusader? I didn't see anything posted so sorry if it's already been discussed.
2300 isn't great in my area (congested, I assume, since I have excellent signal). I'm running 1800+2100 down 1800 up. I usually see 90mbps+ down, 20mbps+ up. 4G+ is on permanently.
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This is with the ZTE so the band tool wouldn't work.

I still need to figure out hownthe band tool works and might try it on the B618 at a later stage when I know I won't mess anything up.

AfriNatic said:
LTE by design goes into idle mode when no data is being transferred.

On idle the router will drop to LTE until data starts being transferred and then should kick the LTE-A. With Huawei Telkom also controls the bands if the router is on auto. Once you start uploading the router drops band 40 and switches to Band 3 or 1 FDD for faster uploads.

If the connection idles and you do a continuous MTR to an IP the jitter will be quite high but stablise as soon as you start to transfer more data. Usually starting a small data stream like an online radio station or a podcast and keeping the MTR running you will see improved latency.
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Interesting. That explains why the ZTE drops to LTE, but the jump to LTE-A seems sporadic at times. Did multiple speed test and it didn't switch over. Rebooted router and then it gave LTE.

On the B618 it hasn't gone over to 4G+ at all during any of my testing. It's set to auto and gives a pretty constant 40-45 DL and 10-15 upload. You don't get the jump to higher DL with drop in UL like the ZTE does when it switches over.

It's doubtful that we have B40 available here (still awaiting for feedback from Telkom). I'm guessing the ZTE must do B3 + B1 when it goes to LTE-A.
 
Had some feedback from Telkom. As suspected we don't have B40 available, but at least I now know which bands are actually available (thanks @AfriNatic!)

"There is only FDD on the tower no TDD band 40. You would need to use B1/B3/B20 for connection."
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So from that would anyone be able to tell which bands the ZTE seems to be aggregating?
 
Ordered one of these sims and it got delivered on Monday. So far so good. SSH connections don't stay alive very long but haven't looked into settings my side yet
 
Harmonic said:
Ordered one of these sims and it got delivered on Monday. So far so good. SSH connections don't stay alive very long but haven't looked into settings my side yet
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You need to change the apn to unrestricted
 
I seem to be getting someone's banking SMS notifications on my 2TB SIM. Seems the guy likes his KFC!

Other than that the ZTE seems to be staying connected on LTE-A far more consistently now. Pretty much solidly in the 50-70 Mbps range. Which I'm happy with.

Edit: Seems I spoke too soon. Today it doesn't seem to want to switch over to LTE-A for some reason. So speeds are in the 30 Mbps range.
 
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Crusader said:
I seem to be getting someone's banking SMS notifications on my 2TB SIM. Seems the guy likes his KFC!

Other than that the ZTE seems to be staying connected on LTE-A far more consistently now. Pretty much solidly in the 50-70 Mbps range. Which I'm happy with.
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Same happened to me on an MTN SIM I had provisioned for Afrihost mobile.

I landed up cancelling that SIM, and setting up a new one which hasn't had the same issues.

Much easier for me than you, because I had little value attached to the 1st - free data & maybe a bit of airtime.
 
BCR said:
Same happened to me on an MTN SIM I had provisioned for Afrihost mobile.

I landed up cancelling that SIM, and setting up a new one which hasn't had the same issues.

Much easier for me than you, because I had little value attached to the 1st - free data & maybe a bit of airtime.
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I don't actually mind it. Just notice it once in a while when I log into the admin page. I doubt it will have any effect on the service and I'm definitely not keen on waiting 7 days again for a different SIM. I can live with it as it's not as disruptive as it would be if it was used in a phone.
 
Interesting observation with the ZTE MF286C. When it's only on LTE I see a 5 bar signal (signal shows as -92 dBm) on the front of the device. When it switches to LTE-A it shows 3 bars and signal drops to -104 dBm).

Anyone know why this is? Is it due to the signal strength being lower on one of the other bands?

1657970170349.png

And this is about a week's worth of speed tests
1657979346418.png
 
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Did some more testing today. The ZTE seems to switch over to LTE-A more consistently if it is set to 'Auto' and not '4G'.

Tested the XPOL-6. While it didn't increase the maximum download speeds by much, it did hit the 60 Mbps mark more consistently with the antenna. The one place it made a huge difference was the upload speeds which hit 20 Mbps pretty much every time. I did see some more jitter, but that could be due to server issues as I saw quite a drop in speeds closer to lunchtime.

Averages:
XPOL-6: DL 58.53 Mbps, UL 21.62 Mbps Ping 24.93 ms
Internal: DL 52.33 Mbps, UL 7.15 Mbps, Ping 25.13 ms

1658079960609.png
 
Convict said:
I'm just tired of Rain and their issues, so decided to drop rain and get a 2Tb package. Telkom is decent in my area, and stays on during loadshedding,

Will this router work, I have one laying around. https://www.tp-link.com/za/home-networking/3g-4g-router/archer-mr200/#specifications
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It should. You just won't get the high speeds that 4G+ can offer with aggregation. Depending on the tower and bands available for you the min speeds you'd get should be around 45Mbps down and 10 up.
 
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