E1820 External Antenna Connector

This antenna is made from number of parts:
1. Connector
2. Coax cable
3. Plastic and magnet
4. 1/4th wave vibrator (emitting and recieving element = 85mm copper wire) inside of the plastic end.

Parts 1-3 is not relevant to recieving and transmtting. Only really working element is 85mm pice of wire.
Equally working device is the 85mm long wire 0.4mm plugged into antenna socket.
Tested. Working.
Price?
1c.
 
ginggs said:
Fixed that for you, the 3G and 3GS don't do UMTS 900.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Only saw your post now... :)
Never knew that, but did not think it would be a problem. I assumed that the existing towers have just been upgraded, so you will pick up the tower irrespective?
 
renierp said:
Never knew that, but did not think it would be a problem. I assumed that the existing towers have just been upgraded, so you will pick up the tower irrespective?
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I've found Cell-C's 3G Cell-IDs are completely different to their 2G Cell-IDs, so you can't be sure they're on the same tower.
 
renierp said:
I am also considering this one
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/29922412/Huawei_crc9_15DBi_HSDPA_3G_antenna_for_indoor_or_outdoor_use_great_for_boosting_signal.html

But I would like some proper feedback from a few people that has bought one first...
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This antenna seems to sometimes improve DL speeds on my E1820, especially when the signal strength from the main antenna is not so good.

I found, however, when I connect it to my Sierra 307, that it works but the internal antenna still gives better signal strength.
 
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1geoff99 said:
This antenna seems to sometimes improve DL speeds on my E1820, especially when the signal strength from the main antenna is not so good.

I found, however, when I connect it to my Sierra 307, that it works but the internal antenna still gives better signal strength.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. Its probably because the external antenna is used only for diversity. I borrowed an antenna (belongs to one of those old PCMIA Huawei cards), it seems to improve speeds by 1-2mb sometimes, but it is not consistent either.
 
wont just sticking any old wire into the the usb dongle damage it??

anyone have pics of their setup?

I had it plugged into the front of my PC and it connects fine and to the fastest connection (HSPA+) but the minute i start using it heavily (downloading or updating) it would drop to HSPA, then EDGE then just DC.
plugged it in the back of my PC and the connection is stable (so far) but not getting full speed. My pc is right nexto the window
I would like to be able to play HON on it, or even DOTA2 (when that happens) so i need a STABLE connection.
any sugestions?

also....which of the connection is the fastest the HSPA+ (Light Blue) or the WCDMA connection (Dark Blue)??

got another question.... what happens onc i reach my 5gig? is it hard capped or will it automatically start charging my account?
 
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We live in Willow Acres which is not a 4G coverage area (according to the map), but after I tested successfully with a friend's modem, I bought one anyway. Coverage in the house varies (better upstairs, better on the western side), but it also hops from 3G to EDGE a lot, or dies if you force 3G. Cell breathing I imagine...

Yesterday I bought a TP-Link MR3420 from Uniterm, and decide to get an external antenna while I was about it. At R570 I went for the 9dBi antenna and coupler kit; the 11dBi kit was R990. I discovered the gain at 900MHz is only 6dBi, at 2100MHz it's 9dBi. Anyway, did some signal tests on the roof - without the coupler, 83dBm, with the coupler, 77dBm. So a definite 6dBm improvement, and the signal seems more stable. Notably if the the antenna is not pointing in the right direction, it makes no difference to the signal strength.

I'll connect the router tonight inside and see how it performs.

Thanks to Paul/Uniterm for the very fast, friendly service.
 
jano said:
Yesterday I bought a TP-Link MR3420 from Uniterm, and decide to get an external antenna while I was about it. At R570 I went for the 9dBi antenna and coupler kit; the 11dBi kit was R990. I discovered the gain at 900MHz is only 6dBi, at 2100MHz it's 9dBi. Anyway, did some signal tests on the roof - without the coupler, 83dBm, with the coupler, 77dBm. So a definite 6dBm improvement, and the signal seems more stable. Notably if the the antenna is not pointing in the right direction, it makes no difference to the signal strength.
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Ran the antenna cable through the roof and ceiling into a cupboard. Signal (according to the router) went from 31% to 61% with the coupler added. Much more stable as well, not disconnecting the whole time (I have forced 3G on the modem).
 
snake eyes said:
also....which of the connection is the fastest the HSPA+ (Light Blue) or the WCDMA connection (Dark Blue)??

got another question.... what happens onc i reach my 5gig? is it hard capped or will it automatically start charging my account?
Click to expand...

The light blue (HSPA+) is the fastest connection.

If you are on pre-paid, when you reach 5GBs you are hard capped.
 
I received a Poynting ADPT 026 sleeve adaptor to connect to my existing Poynting aerial. Interestingly (?) this existing aerial (yagi) was installed to boost my Neotel signal. (I divorced Neotel back in November when I switched to Cell C. I left the antenna up - as one does!)

After buying a patch cable today from Poynting in Centurion - I slid the sleeve over the E1820 (no info on which way is up) and connected up, without any real belief it would make a difference. Hell, the antenna is not even pointing directly at the cell, but off by about 15deg.

I should also mention I connect using a Dovado 3G (the first model).

Sure enough - the speeds were basically unchanged, perhaps a little better, more toward 2 than 1.5. Waste of a trip I thought.

I then decided to connect the E1820 directly to the desktop and also used MDMA to monitor RSSI. Goodness me! As I played with the sleeve, the RSSI moved up and down. The best I could get was -66! I then ran the speed test (sorry no link) - consistently all around 8Mbs (which I have never seen before). One of the tests topped out at 10.1Mbs!

So a brilliant day, and how magical to be able to reuse my investment in the original Poynting antenna for Neotel!

Only two flies in this ointment: why oh why does the Dovado (and Dlink DIR451) have such a dramatic impact on the speed? And does anyone know what is the optimum position for this ADPT026 on the E1820? i.e. which way up and middle or the ends? The RSSI does seem to change but I haven't found a sweet-spot!
 
Cost Conscious said:
why oh why does the Dovado (and Dlink DIR451) have such a dramatic impact on the speed? And does anyone know what is the optimum position for this ADPT026 on the E1820? i.e. which way up and middle or the ends? The RSSI does seem to change but I haven't found a sweet-spot!
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I also find that when I plug my E1820 Cell C stick into my Dovado UMR wireless router, my speed drops down to around 1.5 mbps. When I plug it direct into my MacBook Pro, the speed is always around 7.0 - 8.0 mbps !!! In the test, the Dovado was on the same table as the laptop, so it is not a location problem. If you find out why the Dovado drops the speed, and what the cure is, please let us know

OH, BTW, the Black Cell C speedstick also runs very cool if it is plugged into the Dovado, but get very warm/hot when plugged directly into the MacBook Pro. So probably a software issue - allowing it to run at slower speed in the Dovado
 
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IMHO this may be USB1.1 port on the router! I had the same with the long USB cable plugged into USB2 port. Becouse of the USB cpecs it switched to USB 1.1 mode.
 
Cost Conscious said:
And does anyone know what is the optimum position for this ADPT026 on the E1820? i.e. which way up and middle or the ends? The RSSI does seem to change but I haven't found a sweet-spot!
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The best signal I get is with the ADPT026 at the tip of the modem (as far
from the USB connector as possible), with the antenna cable on the side of the
modem's LEDs.
 
I'm kind of the opposite to Geoff - i have cable on lower side(opposite to LED) & push it on just over half way so i can still just see the LED with the back edge of the sleeve.
Whatever works i guess
 
Tun@ said:
I'm kind of the opposite to Geoff - i have cable on lower side(opposite to LED) & push it on just over half way so i can still just see the LED with the back edge of the sleeve.
Whatever works i guess
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[-]I get the best results in this position as well.[/-] I misunderstood initially. I push just over half of the inductive coupler on to the modem, so I can still just see the LED with the front edge of the sleeve.

I have a (sort-of) official answer as to whether the E1820's external antenna connector is functional/enabled or not.
I spoke to someone from Cell-C's network department who was very helpful in providing the locations of the closest towers.
He also told me that when Cell-C do an antenna installation they always use an ADPT-026 inductive coupler, not a CRC-9 pigtail. He said they found the ADPT-026 more reliable.
 
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Tun@ said:
I'm kind of the opposite to Geoff - i have cable on lower side(opposite to LED) & push it on just over half way so i can still just see the LED with the back edge of the sleeve.
Whatever works i guess
Click to expand...


I agree. The sleeve is pushed from the back towards the USB tip of the E1820 until the LED is partially visible. This seems to be the sweet spot.

Updating my comment about the Dovado UMR: It does have a problem which Dovado is aware of, which throttles the speed. I've no idea whether they intend to fix it. I reluctantly decided to buy a Dovado 4G router and that solved the problem (speeds up to 9mbs observed).

I'm selling my UMR mine on Gumtree at a hefty discount.
 
Cost Conscious said:
Updating my comment about the Dovado UMR: It does have a problem which Dovado is aware of, which throttles the speed. I've no idea whether they intend to fix it. I reluctantly decided to buy a Dovado 4G router and that solved the problem (speeds up to 9mbs observed).
Click to expand...

Glad I am buying the 4GR then... Also seems to be LTE "capable" so should be more future proof...
 
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