Hi there,
In the absence of a reply from MTNDD, I actually went direct to Poynting several months ago for a data antenna and the pigtail, and the pricing you quote is just about right. Judging from your list though, I'm surprised you actually need three separate units, as Poynting can actually supply a pigtail (the patchcord between your antenna plug and your Huawei datacard) as a complete unit, ready-fitted with a Huawei-suitable plug; that unit was indeed about R273 plus VAT as you suggest. Poynting in Joburg carries a stock of ready-made pigtails for the most common cards, e.g. Huawei, Option, Novatel etc. Obviously the fewer junctions you have the better to avoid precious signal degradation.
May I offer a couple of quick tips? One is that these data antennas are highly directional: you need to know where your mast is, including a rough idea of its elevation, and angle it accordingly. Second is that it's obviously better outdoors, unless like me you are in a timber-thatch-roofed building, where there is no signal interference. Third, order the version with the shortest cable you are likely to need (if I'm not mistaken the standard version is 7 metres, but longer is possible). Poynting technicians pointed out (sorry...) that you could lose up to 1 dB of that precious signal gain for every metre of cable, and your original gain is a stated 11 dB (by way of comparison, the little (optional) clip-on antenna which you may have received with the datacard is apparently 2 db gain).
Good luck! Living in the bush and depending on good data, adding the antenna absolutely changed my life! From two bars on the dashboard software I'm now up to 4, sometimes 5, with far better latency. Doing one of the signal-strength tests often referred to in this forum shows a virtual DOUBLING of speed. Expensive, but well worth it if you are in a dodgy reception area.
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