For the past several months, I have owned a Neoflex device and have had the opportunity to experiment to my hearts content in trying to get the most speed out of my connection. In this post I will attempt to give a guide to positioning your device.
1) First off, were going to need something to view the connection stats. I found some software online that was designed for axesstel devices which monitors our device stats. Its called Axesstel EVDO Pst, you can get them here:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=182531&highlight=EVDOpst
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=185035&highlight=software+prime
If youre on a flex device, you must connect to it via USB for the software to work (make sure you flick the switch on the back of ure device to switch from ethernet to usb). If youre on prime, youre already on USB so you are sorted.
Load up the software, select the correct port (Mine was COM3 - you need the Diag Port) and you should begin seeing some stats about your connection. We are going to look at the following:
PN - This is the tower you are connected into
RSSI - This is an measure of signal strength (analagous to the volume on a hi fi - you want it as close to 0 as possible)
EC/IO - A measure of noise (analagous to the crackle in a hifi - you want it as close to 0 as possible)
DRC - Data Rate Control, this is the speed at which you are syncing to the tower and represents your max download speed (you want it as high and stable as possible)
Move your modem around the house until you find a spot where DRC is the highest, RSSI is the lowest, and EC/IO is the lowest. Generally the higher your go, the better these numbers should be. Try to stay away from electrical devices, concrete walls, flourescent lights - right by a glass door/window should be fine.
Unfortunately, if you have no signal enhancers this is all that can be done.
If you own a YAGI proceed to point number 2.
If you own an OMNI proceed to point number 3.
2) If you use a YAGI, your first step is to mount it on your roof. Dont tighten the bolts because your going to need to swivel it. The higher the better!
Connect the yagi to the port that says RX0/TX1 on your flex device. If youre on prime theres only one place to connect it to.
Follow step 1 above and swivel the yagi. You want to maximize DRC whilst keeping RSSI low. Once you find the spot, tighten the bolts. (On prime the max DRC is 2.4, on flex it is 3.1).
If your YAGI allows, you can also twist the yagi so that the pins are horizontal instead of vertical (for some reason, there are towers which are horizontally polarized). Do the same as above until you maximize DRC etc. Compare which gave you better results, vertical or horizontal. Run some speedtests to confirm you are happy - if you had other towers which provided good signal, try those - do a speedtest on them as well.
Once you are done, tighten the bolt and head back indoors. If your device has no phone on it, I suggest you store it in a cupboard with adequate air circulation. The reason for this is that we want to stop signal going to the device directly, we want it to come from the yagi. When signal goes directly to the device, it will only increase the noise.
Hopefully your downloads are blazing. If not, see step 4.
3) If you have an omni, you are going to follow step 2 with the following exceptions - if you have a built in ground plane, your fine. If not, get a large circular metal object - your omni must sit on this. I suggest you get an omni with a built in ground plane if you are considering buying one!
Connect the omni to the port that says RX0/TX1 on your flex device. If youre on prime theres only one place to connect it to.
Load up the PST software and walk around the house (close to a window preferrably and with some tape/prestick in hand) - hopefully you have a laptop or someone sitting at your desktop to shout when u found the spot. Once u get good DRC, RSSI and EC/IO numbers, tape that bugger to the wall/window/toilet/cat!
You can also try point the omni vertically or horizontally, some towers are horizontally polarized. Once youve found the good spot, take your device (if it doesnt have a fone) and put it in a cupboard with good air circulation (this stops excess noise coming directly into the device).
Hopefully you have good signal. If not, see point 4.
4) If you have not been able to get good signal you can either shout at neotel, accept the slower speed, move houses, or buy an amplifier. An amplifier boosts the incoming signal in much the same way as an audio amplifier works. Unfortunately amplifiers are not sold in this country and have to be imported either by using www.wantitall.co.za or www.ebay.co.za. You want to look for an amp which is on the 800MHZ range for EVDO/CDMA. This device sits inbetween your yagi/omni and your neotel device. If you have a long cable between your antenna and neotel device, you want to put this device before the long cable (closer to the antenna) so it boosts the signal over the cable. A confirmed working amp is the 811101 from Wilson Electronics. You will also need a 12V AC to DC universal adapter to power up your amp!
Hopefully after all this, you are downloading blazingly fast and your life is great. If not, im sorry you spent this much money in pursuit of happiness...
Gluck all!!!
1) First off, were going to need something to view the connection stats. I found some software online that was designed for axesstel devices which monitors our device stats. Its called Axesstel EVDO Pst, you can get them here:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=182531&highlight=EVDOpst
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=185035&highlight=software+prime
If youre on a flex device, you must connect to it via USB for the software to work (make sure you flick the switch on the back of ure device to switch from ethernet to usb). If youre on prime, youre already on USB so you are sorted.
Load up the software, select the correct port (Mine was COM3 - you need the Diag Port) and you should begin seeing some stats about your connection. We are going to look at the following:
PN - This is the tower you are connected into
RSSI - This is an measure of signal strength (analagous to the volume on a hi fi - you want it as close to 0 as possible)
EC/IO - A measure of noise (analagous to the crackle in a hifi - you want it as close to 0 as possible)
DRC - Data Rate Control, this is the speed at which you are syncing to the tower and represents your max download speed (you want it as high and stable as possible)
Move your modem around the house until you find a spot where DRC is the highest, RSSI is the lowest, and EC/IO is the lowest. Generally the higher your go, the better these numbers should be. Try to stay away from electrical devices, concrete walls, flourescent lights - right by a glass door/window should be fine.
Unfortunately, if you have no signal enhancers this is all that can be done.
If you own a YAGI proceed to point number 2.
If you own an OMNI proceed to point number 3.
2) If you use a YAGI, your first step is to mount it on your roof. Dont tighten the bolts because your going to need to swivel it. The higher the better!
Connect the yagi to the port that says RX0/TX1 on your flex device. If youre on prime theres only one place to connect it to.
Follow step 1 above and swivel the yagi. You want to maximize DRC whilst keeping RSSI low. Once you find the spot, tighten the bolts. (On prime the max DRC is 2.4, on flex it is 3.1).
If your YAGI allows, you can also twist the yagi so that the pins are horizontal instead of vertical (for some reason, there are towers which are horizontally polarized). Do the same as above until you maximize DRC etc. Compare which gave you better results, vertical or horizontal. Run some speedtests to confirm you are happy - if you had other towers which provided good signal, try those - do a speedtest on them as well.
Once you are done, tighten the bolt and head back indoors. If your device has no phone on it, I suggest you store it in a cupboard with adequate air circulation. The reason for this is that we want to stop signal going to the device directly, we want it to come from the yagi. When signal goes directly to the device, it will only increase the noise.
Hopefully your downloads are blazing. If not, see step 4.
3) If you have an omni, you are going to follow step 2 with the following exceptions - if you have a built in ground plane, your fine. If not, get a large circular metal object - your omni must sit on this. I suggest you get an omni with a built in ground plane if you are considering buying one!
Connect the omni to the port that says RX0/TX1 on your flex device. If youre on prime theres only one place to connect it to.
Load up the PST software and walk around the house (close to a window preferrably and with some tape/prestick in hand) - hopefully you have a laptop or someone sitting at your desktop to shout when u found the spot. Once u get good DRC, RSSI and EC/IO numbers, tape that bugger to the wall/window/toilet/cat!
You can also try point the omni vertically or horizontally, some towers are horizontally polarized. Once youve found the good spot, take your device (if it doesnt have a fone) and put it in a cupboard with good air circulation (this stops excess noise coming directly into the device).
Hopefully you have good signal. If not, see point 4.
4) If you have not been able to get good signal you can either shout at neotel, accept the slower speed, move houses, or buy an amplifier. An amplifier boosts the incoming signal in much the same way as an audio amplifier works. Unfortunately amplifiers are not sold in this country and have to be imported either by using www.wantitall.co.za or www.ebay.co.za. You want to look for an amp which is on the 800MHZ range for EVDO/CDMA. This device sits inbetween your yagi/omni and your neotel device. If you have a long cable between your antenna and neotel device, you want to put this device before the long cable (closer to the antenna) so it boosts the signal over the cable. A confirmed working amp is the 811101 from Wilson Electronics. You will also need a 12V AC to DC universal adapter to power up your amp!
Hopefully after all this, you are downloading blazingly fast and your life is great. If not, im sorry you spent this much money in pursuit of happiness...
Gluck all!!!
