Diminishing LTE Speeds - Southern Suburbs / Cape Town

[LT...EH?]

Hey Guys

So i recently got myself the Telkom Uncapped Mobile Broadband Wireless 3 Package... After getting home and connecting everything up i was really happy with the speeds / Latency and stability while using the service 30-40Mb\s down - 15-25Mb\s UP and Jitter always seemed to idle around 1ms/4ms

For the 1st month the service ran absolutely awesomely, but lately I've been getting speeds of about 2-4Mb\s which is the same speed as my ADSL and that's honestly the reason i cancelled it... So I'm looking for some advise on how to test and hopefully improve my throughput or LTE Experience.

I've got the B315 Router, and using the factory supplied white buddy ear antennas, I also received the External poynting antenna which i have yet to connect permanently.

I installed the router into my spare room (Facing the Diep River Tower) using Ethernet over Power to connect my Media center in the lounge, and built in B315 wireless for our notebooks and phones.

I dont torrent at all, the Uncapped LTE is basically only being used to stream - Netflix / Showmax type stuff and occasionally I'll download a game or two from Steam.

From the Telkom Coverage MAP i see I'm between two towers that are fairly close to where i stay - Img below

If someone could give me some advise on how to properly test or advise on how to improve the speeds I'm getting at the moment, I'd really appreciate the input

 

[Dretastic06]

I am in the same boat had speeds of +30mbps down in the first few months but the last 2 weeks I get max 5mbps, I sent off to complaint to the twitter handle and if they dont fix it before the end of the month I will be reversing my debit order.

 

[Napalm]

I think the tower has a link which is maybe a 30mbit or 50mbit Fibre link (with 100GB of data or whatever data allowance)


Then as they now hookup more people via LTE, HSDPA or 3G. This speed then gets divided on the fibre link.

Obviously the LTE users hog the most bandwidth (because their devices are capable of chowing data much quicker)

HSDPA is also fairly quick (can go upto the 20mbit and 30mbit ranges..)

 

[LT...EH?]

Would you recommend using the external Poynting antenna to increase data throughput?

I'd really like to know if it's possible to check which tower I'm connecting too (since i'm conveniently located between 2x towers) and which provides the better more consistent connection.

Anyone have the idle RSRP & RSRQ ranges for LTE? I know it's a longshot, but i'd like something to bench mark or compare my situation too.. also taking into account the distance from the tower and signal loss, etc etc..

 

[Napalm]

lower is better RSRP & RSRQ....

Move your router/Mifi LTE Closer to a window on that side of the house (Either side of the house facing each tower)



You could also try directional antenna's (but then you pretty much need direct line of site..and know where your pointing it to. - unless ur just winging it.. and check which direction gives best signal)

 

[Dan C]

LTE : I used to get almost 50mbps down ... now

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5531143578

 

[ldmelsa]

LTE : I used to get almost 50mbps down ... now

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5531143578

 

[Napalm]

It could just be that the tower = overcongested.

If you run the same speed test 4 times in a day. (once at 6am, 12:00 , 18:00 , 22:00 )

Do you always get the same... or is it that you get nice speeds at 6am and bad speeds at 6pm ?


Tower can't be congested permanently.. unless you got a tower full of downloaders.. all on an uncapped package. so they trying to leech constantly. (contending for the data)


Or it could be "Capacity" . Where this tower has a limited pipe, overselling it's product. Maybe a 30mbit pipe selling "uncapped" to 100users. leaving 0.3mbit per user.

 

[Dan C]

It could just be that the tower = overcongested.

If you run the same speed test 4 times in a day. (once at 6am, 12:00 , 18:00 , 22:00 )

Do you always get the same... or is it that you get nice speeds at 6am and bad speeds at 6pm ?


Tower can't be congested permanently.. unless you got a tower full of downloaders.. all on an uncapped package. so they trying to leech constantly. (contending for the data)


Or it could be "Capacity" . Where this tower has a limited pipe, overselling it's product. Maybe a 30mbit pipe selling "uncapped" to 100users. leaving 0.3mbit per user.

Could be. I forced the router to 3G and now get a stable constant 7mbps and very decent upload.

 

[fromthewatt]

hi guys. im in northern suburbs and experience the EXACT same as op. from about 6pm to 12pm .2mb/s to 3mb/s... have 2 towers same issue.
it seems we in same boat as gauteng users were.
i have reported this to telkom a week ago no reply no response nothing thus far

 

[LT...EH?]

hi guys. im in northern suburbs and experience the EXACT same as op. from about 6pm to 12pm .2mb/s to 3mb/s... have 2 towers same issue.
it seems we in same boat as gauteng users were.
i have reported this to telkom a week ago no reply no response nothing thus far

Are you using the external Antenna's at all?

I ordered a mast and mounting kit for my antenna from Scoop, so I'll hopefully be mounting the Antenna over the coming weekend, Actually looking to make a 3D printed quick release for the mast, so that if i need to realign the external CPE it wont be such a mission.

 

[fromthewatt]

Are you using the external Antenna's at all?

I ordered a mast and mounting kit for my antenna from Scoop, so I'll hopefully be mounting the Antenna over the coming weekend, Actually looking to make a 3D printed quick release for the mast, so that if i need to realign the external CPE it wont be such a mission.

yes have external antennae rsrp 15 , -77db .. great signal. its a backhaul problem.

 

[fromthewatt]

its a week to the day and i had no response or reply from telkom.
it gets as low as 0.3mb/s upto 5mb/s(if im lucky) download. every evening from 6pm to 12pm