Best bang for buck upgrade

[Speedster]

I've been on Rain uncapped off-peak since November and it works reasonably well most of the time. I get max download of about 10mbps (at about 4am), and about 5mbps when the rest of the neighbourhood is awake. I'm using a B315s-936 router with signal stats as follows: RSRQ: -13dB; RSRP: -101dBm; RSSI:-69dBm. I've tried switching frequency bands but there is no signal on the other band.

What would be my best bet for improving signal quality (or, more importantly, download speed) - should I add an XPOL6 antenna, or switch to a B618 router?

 

[Speedster]

@cavedog?

 

[cavedog]

If band 38 is not working chances you are out of luck. An antenna might help you get to another tower but looking at your RSRP of -101 you are quite a distance from the tower. The reason band 38 is not working is probably because of your distance so an antenna might help with that.

 

[Speedster]

If band 38 is not working chances you are out of luck. An antenna might help you get to another tower but looking at your RSRP of -101 you are quite a distance from the tower. The reason band 38 is not working is probably because of your distance so an antenna might help with that.

So first upgrade would be the antenna?

Edit: might be worth mentioning the router is currently directly under a corrugated iron roof.

 

[cavedog]

So first upgrade would be the antenna?

I would say so. I doubt that 4x4 mimo with the B618 will help with your signal stats.

As far as I know the xpol 6 is still a good option for both Rains frequencies.

 

[lotus123]

As far as I know the xpol 6 is still a good option for both Rains frequencies.

+1
Made a big difference to my speeds on both frequencies.

 

[mrlgm007]

Not here to Hijack the thread but to share and compare results @cavedog could you check the below stats for a mate of mine.

CELL_ID: 26003969 RSRQ: -6d BRSRP: -96dB mSINR: 9dB PLMN: 65538

 

[cavedog]

Not here to Hijack the thread but to share and compare results @cavedog could you check the below stats for a mate of mine.

CELL_ID: 26003969 RSRQ: -6d BRSRP: -96dB mSINR: 9dB PLMN: 65538

Not bad. Average stats. SINR of 9 is okay max is 30 which is the best. On my Telkom I have RSRP - 80dB and SINR 20dB and I get 150Mbps so those stats are not bad. I would say above -100dB RSRP with a very low SINR external antenna would probably be needed.

 

[mrlgm007]

Not bad. Average stats. SINR of 9 is okay max is 30 which is the best. On my Telkom I have RSRP - 80dB and SINR 20dB and I get 150Mbps so those stats are not bad. I would say above -100dB RSRP with a very low SINR external antenna would probably be needed.

Thanks for the feedback getting 10 to 25 up and down in the day time but they have been haveing a few issues, I have just ordered POYNTING Dual Polarised High Gain LTE Antenna (11 dbi) - w/10m cable - Huawei B315, B618.

There is a lot of tress they had a wisp but lots of issues cause of the high tress.

 

[Speedster]

I've been browsing around for antenna options and saw some by Otto Wireless which seem quite a bit cheaper than Poynting. Are the Otto antennae worth giving a go?

 

[cavedog]

I've been browsing around for antenna options and saw some by Otto Wireless which seem quite a bit cheaper than Poynting. Are the Otto antennae worth giving a go?

Never tried those so can't comment on the quality but Poynting is the Rolls Royce of antennas. If you have a choice of s second hand poynting antenna vs a new otto antenna I would go for the Poynting antenna. If a poynting antenna can't increase your signal and speed NOTHING will.

 

[cviveiros]

Never tried those so can't comment on the quality but Poynting is the Rolls Royce of antennas. If you have a choice of s second hand poynting antenna vs a new otto antenna I would go for the Poynting antenna. If a poynting antenna can't increase your signal and speed NOTHING will.

Hi Cavedog and Speedster.... drop me a line at chris@otto.co.za.... I am one of the Directors and founding owners of Otto Wireless.... if you have not tried one of our antennas yet, then you don't know what you are missing. Don't underestimate the performance and quality based on the "lower price tag".... we go to great lengths to ensure our products are extremely competitively priced without compromising on quality. We are an ISO9001 company, we test products before adding them to our portfolio, and ship thousands of LTE / GSM and other antennas every year. If our customers were not over the moon with our product performance, they would not keep coming back for more. I absolutely love engaging with new customers and welcome the opportunity to knock your socks off. Drop me a line and we can discuss one-on-one.

 

[cviveiros]

I've been browsing around for antenna options and saw some by Otto Wireless which seem quite a bit cheaper than Poynting. Are the Otto antennae worth giving a go?

chris@otto.co.za.... drop me a line... let's chat we have been around for a long time and ship thousands of antennas every year. Nothing wrong with our product performance or quality, we have long-standing, happy, regular, repeat customers.

 

[Speedster]

I'm still on the hunt for an antenna but managed to get hold of a B618. Speeds are definitely better, although I'll only be able to do a proper test early morning when the kids aren't watching Netflix. Anyway, the new signal stats are as follows:
RSRQ: -12dB
RSRP: -97dBm
SINR: -4dB

 

[Speedster]

I ran some speed tests now. The B618 has increased download speeds to 20-25 mbps from 10-15 mbps on the old router. Upload speeds are pretty much the same. I'm thinking the increased speeds are due to the 4x4 mimo, but that is just a guess.

 

[Speedster]

Finally managed to do some proper testing on the Otto antenna (ottena as it's branded). Using the B315 it basically tripled my speeds during my testing yesterday afternoon. Now I just need to fix a mounting pole and then I'm sorted.