In desperate need of help

P

Polemus

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2009
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Location
Three Rivers, Gauteng
I am probably about one or two days away from destroying everything around me.

I live on an agricultural holding, approximately 6km away from a CELLC Fixed LTE tower, there is another about 7km away with clear line of sight.

I tested Vodacom, MTN Telkom and cellc Sim cards, and CellC gave me the only good reception. I knew i was far from the tower so i got myself a XPOL6-10 and connected it to my B618s-22d router.

I tested it for about a week and managed to get around 25mb down and 20mb up, with a solid 24ms ping. I then decided to get the axxess 200gb deal for CELLC.

This worked great and I had the best internet i ever had for a total of 10 days. For the last few days i am stuck with a -5 SINR and i have to constantly switch between 2100mhz abd 1800mhz (using LteWatchH) to try and get a signal and as of this morning my SINR is sitting at -8 and i have no internet.

I desperately need assistance, i use internet for work as i work remotely.

We have no copper and obviously no fibre, so wifi and LTE is my only option.

I used Jenny internet for a few months, but only had internet a short while within that period so i decided to cancel (They are NOT an option).

I am willing to throw money at this and get it sorted.

If there is anyone in the Vereeniging area that can help out i will seriously appreciate it.

What i need:
  • STABLE internet, not just for a week, or a month... but for the foreseeable future.
  • Priced @ R1500 or below per month.
  • minimum of 200GB Data
Nice to have:
  • Low latencies (i like to relax and play a game every now and then)
It would be awesome if CELLC could help out. I really enjoyed the service while it lasted. If you CELLC could please look into the towers in my area it would be great, hell, I even have ample space for CELLC to erect a tower, i will charge them half the price :)

If there is an internet guru this side, please pm me. I need to sort this out.
 
Polemus said:
I am probably about one or two days away from destroying everything around me.

I live on an agricultural holding, approximately 6km away from a CELLC Fixed LTE tower, there is another about 7km away with clear line of sight.

I tested Vodacom, MTN Telkom and cellc Sim cards, and CellC gave me the only good reception. I knew i was far from the tower so i got myself a XPOL6-10 and connected it to my B618s-22d router.

I tested it for about a week and managed to get around 25mb down and 20mb up, with a solid 24ms ping. I then decided to get the axxess 200gb deal for CELLC.

This worked great and I had the best internet i ever had for a total of 10 days. For the last few days i am stuck with a -5 SINR and i have to constantly switch between 2100mhz abd 1800mhz (using LteWatchH) to try and get a signal and as of this morning my SINR is sitting at -8 and i have no internet.

I desperately need assistance, i use internet for work as i work remotely.

We have no copper and obviously no fibre, so wifi and LTE is my only option.

I used Jenny internet for a few months, but only had internet a short while within that period so i decided to cancel (They are NOT an option).

I am willing to throw money at this and get it sorted.

If there is anyone in the Vereeniging area that can help out i will seriously appreciate it.

What i need:
  • STABLE internet, not just for a week, or a month... but for the foreseeable future.
  • Priced @ R1500 or below per month.
  • minimum of 200GB Data
Nice to have:
  • Low latencies (i like to relax and play a game every now and then)
It would be awesome if CELLC could help out. I really enjoyed the service while it lasted. If you CELLC could please look into the towers in my area it would be great, hell, I even have ample space for CELLC to erect a tower, i will charge them half the price :)

If there is an internet guru this side, please pm me. I need to sort this out.
Click to expand...

Hi Polemus

Please PM us your residential address/GPS coordinates, number in question/ID number and a number that we can reach you on.

^MP
 
Steamy Tom said:
Cell c doesn't even work in populated/supported areas now you want special support out in the sticks
Click to expand...

Yes, it is reasonable to expect that you could get "standard" support from someone you are paying monthly for a service.

Your first response is laughing, your second insinuate that i am expecting the impossible.

Do you have any value to add to this thread, or are you here to ridicule?
 
Last edited:
eg2505 said:
Have you tried out RAIN sim card?

I take it it wasnt great?
Click to expand...

It actually worked great for close to a year, and then it degraded to a point where my download speeds were around 0.5mbps.

Stupid as i am, i went and cancelled my Afrihost RAIN deal, and now i cant get it again.
 
go to the RAIN website, and get the mobile deal,
R250 per month between the hours of 11PM and 6PM the next day.

after that time, it becomes R50 per GB, so you make the decision,
but myself, pushed mine to 800 GB in a month and only pay R250

so if you can live with the sometimes slow speeds, and the throttling
then best bet, as beggars cant be choosers.

otherwise, alternate, with 2 modems, one Cell C and another RAIN.
or if you have unlimited Budget to throw at this, get a SIM from each one
and simply alternate until you find one that works for you.
 
Polemus said:
Yes, it is reasonable to expect that you could get "standard" support from someone you are paying monthly for a service.

Your first response is laughing, your second insinuate that i am expecting the impossible.

Do you have any value to add to this thread, or are you here to ridicule?
Click to expand...

In your eyes I guess mainly to ridicule
 
eg2505 said:
go to the RAIN website, and get the mobile deal,
R250 per month between the hours of 11PM and 6PM the next day.

after that time, it becomes R50 per GB, so you make the decision,
but myself, pushed mine to 800 GB in a month and only pay R250

so if you can live with the sometimes slow speeds, and the throttling
then best bet, as beggars cant be choosers.

otherwise, alternate, with 2 modems, one Cell C and another RAIN.
or if you have unlimited Budget to throw at this, get a SIM from each one
and simply alternate until you find one that works for you.
Click to expand...

This is a great option and i will most likely go for something like this. My only issue is that my router is in my pump room with 90m Cat5 running to my switch at my main house. Swopping sim cards is an issue, unless i get two routers and just alternate the cables by my switch a night.

I wonder if there is an automated way of doing this, I don't see a problem if i buy a small pc with 3 NICs and have some sort of software switch.
 
You indicated two logical issues:
a. GSM Signal became poor.
b. You want a lot of GSM data {200G /m} relative cheap with low ping.

We work to solve your issue:
a. i.Please provide RSSI {Signal}, RSRP, RSRQ and SINR for now and past if you have some old numbers.
ii. Your location +- 1 km accurate.

b. When you have issues,
i. Test with prepaid data from the infrastructure owner first.
{Vodacom, MTN, some Telkom are infrastructure owners.
Not sure if Cell C own own towers bu this time in 2019.}
ii. Once b.i, is done, we will know what can work.
iii. Now try and find virtual ISP with good price for data that work near as good as b.i.

An abbreviated truth.
Between +- 2018.12 and 2019.06 re infrastructure:
Telkom moved from MTN to Vodacom.
CellC moved from Vodacom to MTN.

Using the air, ether: GSM is bad, as is Wifi.
If few use it, quality can be fair.
When many use it {more and more will use it}, the quality deteriorates.
 
eg2505 said:
go to the RAIN website, and get the mobile deal,
R250 per month between the hours of 11PM and 6PM the next day.

after that time, it becomes R50 per GB, so you make the decision,
but myself, pushed mine to 800 GB in a month and only pay R250

so if you can live with the sometimes slow speeds, and the throttling
then best bet, as beggars cant be choosers.

otherwise, alternate, with 2 modems, one Cell C and another RAIN.
or if you have unlimited Budget to throw at this, get a SIM from each one
and simply alternate until you find one that works for you.
Click to expand...

I came across this beauty: https://www.senetic.co.za/product/RUT950HG12C0 It allows for dual sim and i contacted the rep, one can porgramme is to switch to different sim cards based on time. Which means i can run RAIn during its free time and another network during the 5 hours that is not free.
 
Polemus said:
I came across this beauty: https://www.senetic.co.za/product/RUT950HG12C0 It allows for dual sim and i contacted the rep, one can porgramme is to switch to different sim cards based on time. Which means i can run RAIn during its free time and another network during the 5 hours that is not free.
Click to expand...

thats useful, especially for remote sites like yours that need connectivity now, before fibre can be laid.
problem is does it support RAIN LTE band.
 
eg2505 said:
thats useful, especially for remote sites like yours that need connectivity now, before fibre can be laid.
problem is does it support RAIN LTE band.
Click to expand...

Looking at the data sheet:

1557826086885.png

B1 - 2100 (LTE)
B3 - 1800 (LTE)
B5 - 850 (UMTS)
B7 - ?
B8 - 900 (GSM)
B20 - ?

I cannot find reference to the other frequencies though.

As far as i know RAIN operates on 2100 and 2600, and when i used to use RAIN i used my B616s-22d Router which only supports frequencies up to 2100 and i had RAIN access. so my guess is that the towers in my area does not run off 2600?

Can anyone else maybe help out deciphering the frequencies listed in the screenshot above?
 
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