General Question Regarding Signal

[keags1]

Hi,

I have been going through this forum and looking for answers to a question that I have.

I have recently moved (literally about 800m) from a flat to a simplex. At the flat I was getting pretty good dld and uld speeds from my E1752(?) Cell C modem. However, at the simplex I am getting pretty dismal speeds - latency of 700 and dlds of around 0.9 Mbps, my RSSI is on average listed as -67db.

I have seen that some of the topics in the forum say that an USB extension cable may be used to improve the postion and so signal to the modem, and others say it is not.

So, my question(s) are...
Is an antenna going to help me? If so, what antenna do I need and where should it be placed?
Is an extenstion going to help me - so I can move the modem to a window sill?

I am running Win 7 on a desktop PC in a bedroom that is surrounded by tall trees and an embankment.

Any help / insight will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

K

 

[mogwaai]

Maybe you connecting to an over-subscribed tower? A signal of -67dB is quite good on average but the throughput is terrible. I got a LPDA 7dBi gain antenna, a coupler, strapped my dongle to the burglar bars and spend time pointing it to different towers. What I found is the tower I'm connecting to has a -77dB signal strength which is not the best one I found but the throughput, latency and stability was the best on this particular tower. Had a tower with -71dB but only got ~2Mbps the -77dB signal I got on average ~4Mbps

 

[keags1]

Great thanks for the speedy response.

I am actually not sure where the tower is I am connecting to.
Now for the NooB question, how would one choose which tower to connect to?
The room in which my modem is being used is quite "boxey" and I am unsure on the best way to get a better signal to the modem without having to move the whole PC.

 

[vaalpens]

lol, i put my 3g dongle in a small waterproof enclosure with a 5meter usb cable, and stuck it to the outside wall below the roof skirting to fix my latency and disconnect issues

 

[keags1]

Did you get a significant increase in speeds?
What USB cable did you get?

 

[vaalpens]

your situation might be different, but yeah, for me i went from -78 to -65 +- dbi by putting it outside, speeds also improved from 20KB/s to 110KB/s+

just used a normal usb extension cable from scoop.co.za but i see they do have Active usb cables which lets you get past the 5 meter issue

 

[ISP cash cow]

strapped my dongle to the burglar bars and spend time pointing it to different towers.

This just sounds SOOO wrong

 

[keags1]

Ok I guess its worth a try, before going off and paying a fortune for an antenna.

Thanks.

 

[keags1]

This just sounds SOOO wrong

LOL

 

[mogwaai]

I always do this with a BlackBerry though for all the installs I've done.
Get yourself a BlackBerry and/or put the sim inside it.
Download Signal Location Utility Version 5 at http://f5bbutils.fairview5.com and Google Maps Mobile.
Launch the SLU (It's a bit buggy, just save the defaults when asked), go outside or where you want to install the antenna. This utility will pickup the base station GPS co-ordinates - just make sure they are the Cell C base stations not on Vodacom roaming.
SLU has the option to show the co-ordinates on Google Maps. It will show you where the base stations are.
You may also save the base station co-ordinates to SLU, drive around the block, it will save all the locations of base stations it finds. When you get back to your apartment, go through each one to find the location so you can point in this direction.

 

[mogwaai]

This just sounds SOOO wrong

Now that you mention it...

 

[keags1]

Ok,
I will give this a try this weekend.
Thanks for the explanation!

 

[lotus123]

lol, i put my 3g dongle in a small waterproof enclosure with a 5meter usb cable, and stuck it to the outside wall below the roof skirting to fix my latency and disconnect issues

To help us upgrade your systems for new internet banking services please advise:
Your address
What side of the house the enclosure is situated
Distance from fence to enclosure in meters
How fast is your dog?

LOL

 

[keags1]

Hi,

Just an update:
I bought a USB extension from an A/V store (its a "sound system quality approved cable" <-read GIMMICK), anyways, when using it with the modem I am told that the USB device is unknown and I get a ton of errors.

Is there a solution to my signal / speed problem or am I going to have to move my PC / rely on Telkom?

Thanks,
K

 

[ginggs]

I bought a USB extension from an A/V store (its a "sound system quality approved cable" <-read GIMMICK), anyways, when using it with the modem I am told that the USB device is unknown and I get a ton of errors.

Ah, there is your problem, you bought the "sound system quality" approved cable, you need to have the "data system quality" approved cable.

Jokes aside, I suggest you look into getting an external antenna.

 

[keags1]

Bugger,

I was hoping there would be a cheap solution.
I suppose there is...moving...but I am not too keen on that call it laziness or whatev...

Thanks for all the help, I am a little disappointed that I forked out this cash for the dongle in an area with signal and am not getting the results I was hoping.
I will try my Vodacom HSPA phone and see what connection speed I get, Vodacom has given me some nice speeds in the past.
Will post my results when I get them.