Looks like its near the Randburg Post Offic and Sanlam Centre by Sentrum road and Pretoria Ave. You can see them on the coverage map. If you look at the Orange Coverage, you can almost see where its being broadcasted from if you know what i mean.
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External aerial for Neotel
- Thread starter Robocop
- Start date
Looks like its near the Randburg Post Offic and Sanlam Centre by Sentrum road and Pretoria Ave. You can see them on the coverage map. If you look at the Orange Coverage, you can almost see where its being broadcasted from if you know what i mean.
Ive got another question. Those lights on the neoflex modem list the signal strength.
green = weak, orange = average and red = strong. But there are 2 bands of signals, 1x and EVDO, so my question is, what is the signal strength meter measuring? The stronger of the two or EV-DO when it is available?
green = weak, orange = average and red = strong. But there are 2 bands of signals, 1x and EVDO, so my question is, what is the signal strength meter measuring? The stronger of the two or EV-DO when it is available?
cyberbyte
Active Member
Indoor Antenna Don't you like the idea of being a Lightning Rod in the area.. Just joking.. But that is a good question...
On another note, outdoor antenna is really a lot better. The Frequency Neotel uses 800-900Mhz is affected (not hugely, but still, especially with data) by buildings, trees and steel structures. I think the more external and higher you can go the better.
My 5cents!
cyberbyte
Active Member
Well, all antennas do as far as my science knowledge goes, it all depends on the wattage of the transmitter in the phone/device
But better to have it on the top of your roof than next to your coffee and snacks while surfing for 4hours in a row
Neotel work on the same principle as Vodacom/MTN phones, so the radiation is very little and should not have any affect.
I still would prefer a constant transmitting device (that can cover 4-7Km radius) to have an antenna on my roof.
Neotel Connect Prime (only connecting at 2.4Mbps)
Hi All
I'm new at this so please be patient with me....
I invested in a Neotel Connect Prime and requested Mac drivers! When I received my parcell it had XP drivers so I downloaded the mac driver from their website.
1.) Neotel keeps disconnecting every 5-10 minutes
2.) I can receive emails but can't send any after checking and double checking Neotel outgoing smtp server name.
3.) I then tested the phone on my old PC and it stays conneceted for 2-3 hours before disconnecting, I can also send emails using the same settings I used on the Mac. This is upsetting because my Vodacom 3G usb device works perfect on Mac & PC!
4.) I'm only connecting at 2.4Mbps and it takes atleast 10-15 seconds to open a simple page like google using Internet Explorer (I have 4 bars reception on my phone)
5.) When I ordered the phone the sales rep told me that the Neotel connection is faster than ADSL & Vodacom 3G ... If there's a way to connect and download at atleast 3.6Mbps I will be a happy camper!
Really bad technical support for Mac users at Neotel!!!!!!
- There's not even one person at the call centre that can assist me with email settings on my Mac!!!!
Question:
What can I do to boost my connection & download speed?
Will an external antenna make a difference seeing that I 4-bars reception?
Thanks all!!!!!
Jacques
Hi All
I'm new at this so please be patient with me....
I invested in a Neotel Connect Prime and requested Mac drivers! When I received my parcell it had XP drivers so I downloaded the mac driver from their website.
1.) Neotel keeps disconnecting every 5-10 minutes
2.) I can receive emails but can't send any after checking and double checking Neotel outgoing smtp server name.
3.) I then tested the phone on my old PC and it stays conneceted for 2-3 hours before disconnecting, I can also send emails using the same settings I used on the Mac. This is upsetting because my Vodacom 3G usb device works perfect on Mac & PC!
4.) I'm only connecting at 2.4Mbps and it takes atleast 10-15 seconds to open a simple page like google using Internet Explorer (I have 4 bars reception on my phone)
5.) When I ordered the phone the sales rep told me that the Neotel connection is faster than ADSL & Vodacom 3G ... If there's a way to connect and download at atleast 3.6Mbps I will be a happy camper!
Really bad technical support for Mac users at Neotel!!!!!!
- There's not even one person at the call centre that can assist me with email settings on my Mac!!!!
Question:
What can I do to boost my connection & download speed?
Will an external antenna make a difference seeing that I 4-bars reception?
Thanks all!!!!!
Jacques
Andre123
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2008
- Messages
- 139
- Reaction score
- 3
Hello
If you check the recent posts and hang around the forum a while you will see that there are a lot of problems with the speed and reliability with the network at the moment. Neotel even posted an article about this. Check the news section. There are a lot of frustrated people out there. I have NeoFlop and the throughput is horrible, 16 kb/s download speed according to speedtest. I eventually logged a call. They said they will get back to me in 24-48 hours. I'll see if that actually happens. Here are a few points to cheer you up, lol.
1. I have an IMAC. In the beginning I had to put up a big fight just to get installation instructions that worked. I now run a windows partition that I use most of the time.
2. From reading the forum you can see that there are numerous people with problems. I told the Neotel people that if they cannot resolve my call I want my money back. They say that realistically you can expect between 300 and 700 kb/s download speed with NeoFlop. I can manage only 16 kb/s. That is almost as bad as a normal dial-up connection. I cannot even browse normally. What I do is I go to a page and then I play a game of Majong. After I finished the game I go back to see if the page loaded. Really, I'm not even joking.
3. From what I've read the antenna from Poyinting direct seems to be popular. Look around at the beginning of this thread for their website.
4. Good luck.
If you check the recent posts and hang around the forum a while you will see that there are a lot of problems with the speed and reliability with the network at the moment. Neotel even posted an article about this. Check the news section. There are a lot of frustrated people out there. I have NeoFlop and the throughput is horrible, 16 kb/s download speed according to speedtest. I eventually logged a call. They said they will get back to me in 24-48 hours. I'll see if that actually happens. Here are a few points to cheer you up, lol.
1. I have an IMAC. In the beginning I had to put up a big fight just to get installation instructions that worked. I now run a windows partition that I use most of the time.
2. From reading the forum you can see that there are numerous people with problems. I told the Neotel people that if they cannot resolve my call I want my money back. They say that realistically you can expect between 300 and 700 kb/s download speed with NeoFlop. I can manage only 16 kb/s. That is almost as bad as a normal dial-up connection. I cannot even browse normally. What I do is I go to a page and then I play a game of Majong. After I finished the game I go back to see if the page loaded. Really, I'm not even joking.
3. From what I've read the antenna from Poyinting direct seems to be popular. Look around at the beginning of this thread for their website.
4. Good luck.
speed_seeker
Well-Known Member
Hi Jacques,
I have just got the NeoConnect Prime Unlimited option and am using it with an iMac and am very happy with it.
1. To prevent the disconnecting after X minutes you need to do this:
System Preferences => Network => DuPont ModemPort => Advanced => PPP => Uncheck the "Disconnect if idle" checkbox and also untick the "Prompt to maintain connection" if it is checked.
2. The maximum speed the device is capable of is 2.4 Mbps (With my 4MB unshaped line from webafrica I only get true speeds of 1.5Mb) , but with my Neotel device(also unshaped by default) I get between 550 - 650 kbps which is good enough for the price. I bought myself a 4.8m USB extension cable and keep my device close to a window - if I have 3 bars I get the speeds I mentioned. (Tested with http://www.internetfrog.com and http://speedtest.net )
3. Neotel did tell me they are working on new hardware to achieve faster speeds, and you will be able to do an in-contract hardware upgrade. But for now 2.4 Mbps is the limit I'm afraid - I have had speeds occasionally of 1.1Mbps.
4. I also share my Internet connection on my iMac through airport , so my iPhone and netbook can access it when I am not at my desk.
I will look into the mail thing for you - let me know what settings you have made so far.
Cheers
Bluedevil678
Active Member
Update:
It’s been a while since my last post but thought this would be interesting for all those uncapped lite (good coverage users)
Im getting Neotel to install my antenna after my legal sent a breach of contract to them for not delivering the speeds promised on the contact.
Currently Im on the Uncapped Lite package, with a TRANSFER speed of about 6-16KBPS
Speedtest.net results (12/10/09, 12:51pm) :
Ping: 1411ms
Download: 0.07mbps
Upload: 0.04mbps
In an excellent coverage with 2 base stations (towers) within 1km from me.
I will report back tomorrow after the installation as to the difference made.
It’s been a while since my last post but thought this would be interesting for all those uncapped lite (good coverage users)
Im getting Neotel to install my antenna after my legal sent a breach of contract to them for not delivering the speeds promised on the contact.
Currently Im on the Uncapped Lite package, with a TRANSFER speed of about 6-16KBPS
Speedtest.net results (12/10/09, 12:51pm) :
Ping: 1411ms
Download: 0.07mbps
Upload: 0.04mbps
In an excellent coverage with 2 base stations (towers) within 1km from me.
I will report back tomorrow after the installation as to the difference made.
Greetings.
Just wanted to pop in and share an experience I had this weekend mounting an external antenna - non poynting.
My house is 3 stories high, so about 9 meters + 3m for the roof. Make it 12 meters in the air.
I live in the ruimsig area and I was allways under the impression that I was using a tower situated in a specific part of this area.
So this weekend I finally took the plunge, hired a ladder and climbed on my roof and mounted my antenna on a 2 meter pole. Properly grounded and now having direct line of sight of the transmitter and my entire surrounding area.
( Antenna now roughly elevated 14 meters in the air on an already elevated geographic area.
Now for the good stuff. Using the router in my living room on the middle floor I managed to get reasonable speeds from time to time (up to 1.4mbps) but I was not happy with the stability of the signal and I wanted to reduce my RSSI which was 79 at best.
Upon completion of the mounting of the antenna I found I now had an RSSI of 65 which indicated to me that all was 100's.
This was not the case, I could not get a download speed of more than 200/300kb's.
I moved the router back downstairs and true as bob once again I had up to 1.4mbps on a speedtest, whilst having an RSSI of 79.
I then resorted to using the "AxesstelPst EvDO" software via USB to my laptop to investigate this occurance.
Within a few minutes ( it was a long day ) I managed to establish that I was in fact using a different tower with the antenna mounted on my roof to the one I was receiving a signal from in my lounge.
I then realligned the antenna to point at the "other" tower in my area and whola, I managed to match the "PN" number to the one I had found in my lounge.
Now for the interesting thing, the router by the looks of things does a sort of handshake, I managed to observe this whilst using the software mentioned above and simulating traffic. Using the external antenna pointed at my now tower of preference I found that the router requests a speed of 1.295mbps, which is "granted". This "speed" is then maintained until another reading "ec/lo 4.2db" exceeds 11db at which time the router steps down to 968kbps.
Neotel was down most of the day today so despite having now done all my testing and being happy with my results I could not do a propper internet speed test.
Neotel came back online later this afternoon and the weather isn't so great now so I am only managing to get a 968kbps reading from the software with spikes to the 1.295mpbs "handshake".
Now for the good part, questions arrising from my experience this weekend:
Firstly, with my now 65 RSSI why (A) is the first tower only performing a handshake at about 300kbps? - Bandwidth testing graph on the EVDO tool is showing a solid line when doing this so at least it's a perfect signal right?
Secondly, why when the EVDO signal is testing 1.295mbps is my speed tests ranging anything between 495kbps to 1024kbps.
Thirdly, why on a 3mbps capeable device do I only manage to get a maximum of 1.295mbps on my initial handshake.
Just wanted to pop in and share an experience I had this weekend mounting an external antenna - non poynting.
My house is 3 stories high, so about 9 meters + 3m for the roof. Make it 12 meters in the air.
I live in the ruimsig area and I was allways under the impression that I was using a tower situated in a specific part of this area.
So this weekend I finally took the plunge, hired a ladder and climbed on my roof and mounted my antenna on a 2 meter pole. Properly grounded and now having direct line of sight of the transmitter and my entire surrounding area.
( Antenna now roughly elevated 14 meters in the air on an already elevated geographic area.
Now for the good stuff. Using the router in my living room on the middle floor I managed to get reasonable speeds from time to time (up to 1.4mbps) but I was not happy with the stability of the signal and I wanted to reduce my RSSI which was 79 at best.
Upon completion of the mounting of the antenna I found I now had an RSSI of 65 which indicated to me that all was 100's.
This was not the case, I could not get a download speed of more than 200/300kb's.
I moved the router back downstairs and true as bob once again I had up to 1.4mbps on a speedtest, whilst having an RSSI of 79.
I then resorted to using the "AxesstelPst EvDO" software via USB to my laptop to investigate this occurance.
Within a few minutes ( it was a long day ) I managed to establish that I was in fact using a different tower with the antenna mounted on my roof to the one I was receiving a signal from in my lounge.
I then realligned the antenna to point at the "other" tower in my area and whola, I managed to match the "PN" number to the one I had found in my lounge.
Now for the interesting thing, the router by the looks of things does a sort of handshake, I managed to observe this whilst using the software mentioned above and simulating traffic. Using the external antenna pointed at my now tower of preference I found that the router requests a speed of 1.295mbps, which is "granted". This "speed" is then maintained until another reading "ec/lo 4.2db" exceeds 11db at which time the router steps down to 968kbps.
Neotel was down most of the day today so despite having now done all my testing and being happy with my results I could not do a propper internet speed test.
Neotel came back online later this afternoon and the weather isn't so great now so I am only managing to get a 968kbps reading from the software with spikes to the 1.295mpbs "handshake".
Now for the good part, questions arrising from my experience this weekend:
Firstly, with my now 65 RSSI why (A) is the first tower only performing a handshake at about 300kbps? - Bandwidth testing graph on the EVDO tool is showing a solid line when doing this so at least it's a perfect signal right?
Secondly, why when the EVDO signal is testing 1.295mbps is my speed tests ranging anything between 495kbps to 1024kbps.
Thirdly, why on a 3mbps capeable device do I only manage to get a maximum of 1.295mbps on my initial handshake.
Quick Update:
02:03 AM - hopefully no one on this tower I am getting the following speeds:
Last Result:
Download Speed: 1092 kbps (136.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1093 kbps (136.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
I am not 100% happy with the daytime performance so I am pointing it back to the original "faulty" tower and investigating further.
I did some extensive reading on EVDO this evening and actually figured out what the ""ec/lo 4.2db"" means, and it aint good.
I never noted the results from the closer tower so I will investigate in the morning and hopefully have some positive feedback!
02:03 AM - hopefully no one on this tower I am getting the following speeds:
Last Result:
Download Speed: 1092 kbps (136.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1093 kbps (136.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
I am not 100% happy with the daytime performance so I am pointing it back to the original "faulty" tower and investigating further.
I did some extensive reading on EVDO this evening and actually figured out what the ""ec/lo 4.2db"" means, and it aint good.
I never noted the results from the closer tower so I will investigate in the morning and hopefully have some positive feedback!
And now for the confusing part, the test results posted above ( 1092kbps down and 1093kbps up) I was in fact using the tower which only gave me 300kbps during the day.
Reset my router and it is pointing back to the other tower, speeds now:
Download Speed: 1215 kbps (151.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 313 kbps (39.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
So based on this information, I definately want to be on the "faulty" tower.
Now if anyone can tell me why I was only getting the 300kbps during the day I might actually have a way forward...
Reset my router and it is pointing back to the other tower, speeds now:
Download Speed: 1215 kbps (151.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 313 kbps (39.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
So based on this information, I definately want to be on the "faulty" tower.
Now if anyone can tell me why I was only getting the 300kbps during the day I might actually have a way forward...
So, after 2 days I can now say I am almost ready to give up.
The tower I found last night with the reasonable speed appears to be awol today.
The slow tower is almost non-existant this morning and old faithfull is still there and still performing at more or less the same speed:
RSSI: PER: EC/LO:
-64 0.0 -1.23
Download Speed: 1379 kbps (172.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 636 kbps (79.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
I managed to get the score above after about 3 tries.
So, with ADSL at 512kbps in my area, Screamer running WIFI with a 100ms latency, it would appear that my hopes of coming anywere close to the 3.1mbps transfer rate on the Neotel Router has been destroyed.
:-(
The tower I found last night with the reasonable speed appears to be awol today.
The slow tower is almost non-existant this morning and old faithfull is still there and still performing at more or less the same speed:
RSSI: PER: EC/LO:
-64 0.0 -1.23
Download Speed: 1379 kbps (172.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 636 kbps (79.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
I managed to get the score above after about 3 tries.
So, with ADSL at 512kbps in my area, Screamer running WIFI with a 100ms latency, it would appear that my hopes of coming anywere close to the 3.1mbps transfer rate on the Neotel Router has been destroyed.
:-(
ting
Active Member
1. That base station is probably congested. The signal is perfect. Anything above -70 is good enough.
2. They use a fancy prioritization algorithm that still needs some fine tuning. It will get better and more constant with time.
3. The speed that you receive depends a lot on how many users there are on the base station at that specific time. You will notice faster speeds at 3:00 PM than 3:00 AM. Improving the signal strength does put you higher up on the priority list to a curtain threshold, the antenna also helps that once you received that “fast pipe connection” at the BS AP. Then it can be utilized to the max. But if the BS is maxed out, you will only receive as much as it can deliver.
PS. Next time use a Poynting.
Quick Update: Speeds now dropped 60% with the external antenna down to +/- 500kbps down and +/- 200 - 400kbps up. Without the external antenna I now get 80kbps down.... Called Neotel, congested tower blamed, contract being cancelled at no cost to me as of the end of the month... Can anyone guess what service I am getting as a replacement... ?
Blindwitness
Member
Ok so it seems theres no serious data on the effect of External Aerials and Neoflex. Has anyone tried an external aerial with Neoflex and connected both aerial jacks to the same antenna? Or 2 different antenna?! Its marked that one of the antenna on the device is for 1x RTT connectivity and the other is for EVDO. Is anyone happily running the neoflex system off external antennae only? I understand antennae diversity but it can hardly provide better signal than outdoor mounted high gain antennas. I get an RSSI of about 75 when its not raining but my speeds never cap more than 150KBps nowhere near 3mb.
Id like to see some test data from Neotel showing the results of external antennas attached to Neoflex devices. Dont just fob us off by saying "u need antenna diversity" show me that my RSSI will be higher and speeds will be lower with an external antenna and that it is not advisable with real numeric meaningful data.
Id like to see some test data from Neotel showing the results of external antennas attached to Neoflex devices. Dont just fob us off by saying "u need antenna diversity" show me that my RSSI will be higher and speeds will be lower with an external antenna and that it is not advisable with real numeric meaningful data.
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