4G 24hr uncapped VS 4G 19hr uncapped. Just an observation i made today.

[KopiteZA]

So a friend of mine who's on 24hr uncapped, who lives 3 doors away from me, gets to stream DStv Now and Netflix to his heart's content without any buffering of any kind, at any time of day even during peak hours. We compared stats on our routers and I actually get better signal than him but I cant even get my Netflix app to load the homepage. We have the exact same Huawei router, the b315-936s. I also noted that we are connecting to the exact same tower. Do rain prioritise 24hour users or what the hell is going on? I'm on the 19hr uncapped and the highest speed test I ever achieved for the past month or so is something just under 1mb. I currently cannot afford to move to another provider unfortunately, so I would like to know if there's anything I can do on my side to get better speeds. Will an external antenna help? I'm closer to the tower than my friend is, I'm actually something like 300 meters away from it. Any help or advice on what i can do?
What exactly is the determining factor in who gets priority, isnt it the one closest to the tower is supposed to get better speeds? Your input is appreciated, thank you.

 

[KopiteZA]

My RSRP is at -78, SINR is 13 db. I'm sure an external antenna will improve those stats but I'm just concerned that even after getting an antenna I wont see a significant jump in speed. It's not a gamble I'm able to afford right now. If someone 3 houses away from me with worse signal can stream and download no problem, what guarantee do I have that the antenna would make a difference? Does Rain pick and choose who gets all the bandwidth?

 

[Scorpion101]

Hey there, I can confidently say an external antenna like the Xpol-06 will make a difference in your download speeds. But also try switching between the two bands that Rain use. Some stats on your current signal strength etc would also help.

 

[KopiteZA]

Hey there, I can confidently say an external antenna like the Xpol-06 will make a difference in your download speeds. But also try switching between the two bands that Rain use. Some stats on your current signal strength etc would also help.

Hi, thanks for the input. I checked and the only available band is the 1800mhz one. I'll try to get my hands on one of those antennas you mentioned, I've seen quite a few people in my area have externals installed so I'll ask around to see what kinds of speeds they're getting, that's now if they're using Rain as well. What do you make of the fact that my friend who's further away from the tower and with worse signal strength is getting better speeds? I'll hop on the computer quick and post my router stats so you can see if there's something that needs improving.

 

[kongwane]

Hi. Take your router to your friends place and do a speed test from there. and bring his router to your place and do the same test. That alone should let you know if it a Signal issue or if Rain has some thing going on between the 2 packages.

Let us know

 

[KopiteZA]

Hi. Take your router to your friends place and do a speed test from there. and bring his router to your place and do the same test. That alone should let you know if it a Signal issue or if Rain has some thing going on between the 2 packages.

Let us know

Hi kongwane that's actually an excellent idea. I'll make sure to report back tomorrow with my findings. Thanks.

 

[KopiteZA]

having a bit of a problem trying to get a screenshot of my router stats but here's a quick summary of what i can see:
RSRP: -75dBm
RSRQ: -10dB
SINR: 12
RSSI: -51dBm
Model: B315s-936
Provider: Rain
Numeric: 65538
Cell ID: 53175811
Wifi Users: 1
Signal Bars: 5
Network Mode: 4G Only
Band 2600 + 1800 Mhz- Bands 38 + 03

I had it on the 1800Mhz Band 3 only but it made absolutely no difference. 2600Mhz band only gives me a red light, no connectivity so i'm guessing band 38 is not available on the tower I'm connecting to.

 

[Kiemo]

I’d love to see what’s happening in this thread ... see what’s your friends stats ...

 

[Zurg]

Rain's 4G Home Unlimited (24Hr Unlimited) is actually pathetic overall, I'm literally stuck with this piece of **** company till we move which we can't because of lockdown and I'm not prepared to purchase an external antenna when their support is poor. This company has gone from bad to worse.

 

[Zurg]

I'm using a Huawei B618 and the second band isn't available, I'm lucky if I get 100KBs well past midnight.

 

[Polymathic]

My RSRP is at -78, SINR is 13 db. I'm sure an external antenna will improve those stats but I'm just concerned that even after getting an antenna I wont see a significant jump in speed. It's not a gamble I'm able to afford right now. If someone 3 houses away from me with worse signal can stream and download no problem, what guarantee do I have that the antenna would make a difference? Does Rain pick and choose who gets all the bandwidth?

Try moving your router, preferably near a window facing the direction of the nearest rain tower.

 

[ngoni615]

Meanwhile, on the other side of SA...................

 

[Scorpion101]

having a bit of a problem trying to get a screenshot of my router stats but here's a quick summary of what i can see:
RSRP: -75dBm
RSRQ: -10dB
SINR: 12
RSSI: -51dBm
Model: B315s-936
Provider: Rain
Numeric: 65538
Cell ID: 53175811
Wifi Users: 1
Signal Bars: 5
Network Mode: 4G Only
Band 2600 + 1800 Mhz- Bands 38 + 03

I had it on the 1800Mhz Band 3 only but it made absolutely no difference. 2600Mhz band only gives me a red light, no connectivity so i'm guessing band 38 is not available on the tower I'm connecting to.

Those are quite good I can only think it must be congestion on the tower. Does your friend by any chance have an external antenna ? Also clear line of site could also be the reason why he gets a better download speed

 

[nom4d]

I'm very interested in these results. Where are you located if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Durban and currently been looking into lte and the 24/7 rain has me interested but seems to have loads of bad reviews. Anyone using Rain in Durban and getting good results?

 

[KopiteZA]

Those are quite good I can only think it must be congestion on the tower. Does your friend by any chance have an external antenna ? Also clear line of site could also be the reason why he gets a better download speed

Funny thing is this.
His router used to stand next to his Tv, in the open, and he was having the same issues as me. So Sunday I introduced him to the LTEview app which allows you to see detailed information about what kind of signal you're receiving. Last night I went to his house and guess what..
He's streaming DStv now on the the TV, the wife is busy on a video call, I ask what happened and he tells me to look in the kitchen cupboard . Router chilling inside the kitchen cupboard. No external antenna, just the default paddle antennas that comes with the router. Which prompted me to run back home and check mine because I thought maybe by some miracle Rain sent out technicians at 11pm on a public holiday. Needless to say, I was wrong.
What he did tell me though is the router signal was just very bad when it was still stood in it's old spot. Moving it to inside the cupboard he gained something like 15 SINR, it used to be in the minus.
I'm just finishing up some chores then I'll go around with my router and uhm.. ask him if I can put it in his cupboard. Just to see if Rain is giving us 19hr uncapped users the short end of the stick. We have the exact same routers connected to the same band and same tower so I'm sure we can come to some kind of conclusion after I'm done with my little experiment.
I'll be sure to keep you guys posted.

 

[KopiteZA]

I'm very interested in these results. Where are you located if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Durban and currently been looking into lte and the 24/7 rain has me interested but seems to have loads of bad reviews. Anyone using Rain in Durban and getting good results?

Blue Downs in Cape Town.

 

[linkinpark]

In Durban, i took my router outside with direct line of sight of the tower, around 400 meters away and even though my signal stats improved a bit, i still get around 0.5Mbps on both bands.

 

[nom4d]

In Durban, i took my router outside with direct line of sight of the tower, around 400 meters away and even though my signal stats improved a bit, i still get around 0.5Mbps on both bands.

Oof sounds like rain isn't so great

 

[ngoni615]

In Durban, i took my router outside with direct line of sight of the tower, around 400 meters away and even though my signal stats improved a bit, i still get around 0.5Mbps on both bands.

Durban here

 

[nom4d]

Durban here

I stay in Westville would you recommend Rain? Also what package are you on with rain? Needing to make a plan soon and lte is my only option