Rain 5G: My Experience & Network Setup

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nad_isa

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Okay, so after reading all the negative comments and threads on Rain in general as well as their 5g product I was hesitant to take out the service.

I have 10mbps ADSL and live in an area where internet options are scarce. Vumareach Fibre is rolling out in my area but again its extremely limited in choice and restricted in networking capabilities. When that is available I might move to that. I'm itching to get off Telkom's back.

Last week I saw an article then low and behold I fall in Rain 5G coverage area in Cape Town! By the skin of my teeth but nonetheless enough for me to be able to take out the product.

I took the plunge yesterday (23 July 2020) and will be trialing the service but not yet cancelling my dsl service for the next few weeks.

I'm starting this thread to document my experience and to seek any advice if needed..feel free to post any feedback or questions or comments (or prayers).
 
Will keep an eye on this thread - interested to see if the hardware they sent you is different to the ones we get here in GP. Also interested to see what version of software the CPE ships with and if it has been tailored for the SA type 5G they are rolling out in CPT vs the NSA we have here

Goodluck
 
Okay order completed on Rains website yesterday 23 July 2020 at around 12:30 for delivery to Cape Town. Profiles and what not setup. RAM tracking SMS's received at about 17:40. Telling me to keep ID and RICA ready.

SMS received early on 24 July that package is on delivery truck for delivery today - I run to the local print shop to go get a copy of a bill for RICA first thing. As I pull up at home I see RAM van in the road. Success!

Package delivered at 8:40am (July 24th 2020) - not too shabby so far...

SMS and email that I'm rica'd and good to go received at about 9.35.

Screenshot_20200724-105525_Gallery.jpg
 
Okay so unboxing and setup complete. Currently positioned inside. No time spent positioning yet. Just hooked up to LAN cable and then ran some tests.

Took a while to register on 5G. downloads look promising, uploads sucks b@lls.

ST_20200724.1237.JPG

ST_20200724.1243.JPG
 
nad_isa said:
Okay so unboxing and setup complete. Currently positioned inside. No time spent positioning yet. Just hooked up to LAN cable and then ran some tests.

Took a while to register on 5G. downloads look promising, uploads sucks b@lls.

View attachment 880405

View attachment 880407
Click to expand...

Yeah the first boot does take sometime to register the 5G signal and tower. If you go into optimise on your rain profile how near / far are the towers around you and which one are you connecting to? Can sometimes help with where to position it
 
nad_isa said:
Okay so unboxing and setup complete. Currently positioned inside. No time spent positioning yet. Just hooked up to LAN cable and then ran some tests.

Took a while to register on 5G. downloads look promising, uploads sucks b@lls.

View attachment 880405

View attachment 880407
Click to expand...
I've noticed that if I move my router 2 centimetres to the left my download and upload speeds change drastically. The key is to move your router around and run speedtests each time you move it. You need to find the sweet spot as the router is quite sensitive, but when you get it positioned right it should work well. I'll be following this thread to see your results.
 
powermzii said:
Yeah the first boot does take sometime to register the 5G signal and tower. If you go into optimise on your rain profile how near / far are the towers around you and which one are you connecting to? Can sometimes help with where to position it
Click to expand...

Connecting to one about 1km away, there are 2 more sites about 3.5kms away.
 
Evil-Twin said:
I've noticed that if I move my router 2 centimetres to the left my download and upload speeds change drastically. The key is to move your router around and run speedtests each time you move it. You need to find the sweet spot as the router is quite sensitive, but when you get it positioned right it should work well. I'll be following this thread to see your results.
Click to expand...

okay thanks, will do so - just haven't had time to mess around, wife asked what is this thing - said its for loadshedding
 
So I only have really moved it by turning it on its spot where I put it. Near a corner.

Speeds have been varying quite alot between 50Mbps and 140Mbps Down. Have hit peaks of 200 but not often. Upload has remained quite low from 0.7 to 1.5. Quite disappointing on that front. Signal I think is low.

Over the weekend I will move it to different parts of the house and try outside to see what results I get. So far no disconnects or crawl speeds..
 
nad_isa said:
So I only have really moved it by turning it on its spot where I put it. Near a corner.

Speeds have been varying quite alot between 50Mbps and 140Mbps Down. Have hit peaks of 200 but not often. Upload has remained quite low from 0.7 to 1.5. Quite disappointing on that front. Signal I think is low.

Over the weekend I will move it to different parts of the house and try outside to see what results I get. So far no disconnects or crawl speeds..
Click to expand...

Is it placed near a window? If you can also try outdoors and up high (roof perhaps) - I foresee a weekend filled with speedtests and multi gigabytes of usage
 
Nope. Into corner near exterior wall..will trial it outside facing nearest tower.

Lol. Yebo..
 
powermzii said:
Those are not bad for WiFi tests... Not bad at all
Click to expand...

You think?

It's on 5ghz wifi about 5m from the cpe most of the time. I dont want to setup IP pass through to my asus ac52U yet as I dont want to disable my adsl yet. So testing the CPE on it's own.

Just have to find time to do some tests while moving it around.
 
nad_isa said:
You think?

It's on 5ghz wifi about 5m from the cpe most of the time. I dont want to setup IP pass through to my asus ac52U yet as I dont want to disable my adsl yet. So testing the CPE on it's own.

Just have to find time to do some tests while moving it around.
Click to expand...

That router seems to support dual WAN so you could have both working at the sametime - unless i am mistaken...
 
Hey guys, activated Rain 5G on 21/07/20 (Grassy Park). Situated +-600m from tower according to Rain Optimizer.
CPE currently on desk next to window. I'm yet to do any outdoor tests. Setup is CPE <- Firewall <- Switch <- PC.
Initial test immediately after unboxing and directly connected was 180mb down / 8mb up. Firewall possibly bottle-necking, will confirm over the next 2 days. Below results are consistent at any time of day give or take 5mb.

Speedtest
1595705329784.png
Signal
1595705885580.png
Antenna
1595705946683.png
 
BewmBoy said:
Hey guys, activated Rain 5G on 21/07/20 (Grassy Park). Situated +-600m from tower according to Rain Optimizer.
CPE currently on desk next to window. I'm yet to do any outdoor tests. Setup is CPE Initial test immediately after unboxing and directly connected was 180mb down / 8mb up. Firewall possibly bottle-necking, will confirm over the next 2 days. Below results are consistent at any time of day give or take 5mb.

Speedtest
View attachment 881085
Signal
View attachment 881089
Antenna
View attachment 881097
Click to expand...
I was concerned when i saw NA for LTE then remembered you guys have the SA 5G unlike us (who use NSA 4G for upload)

Decent speeds there given the signal.... I think signal could be better with repositioning or higher mounting

Interested to see how this plays out
 
Last edited:
BewmBoy said:
Hey guys, activated Rain 5G on 21/07/20 (Grassy Park). Situated +-600m from tower according to Rain Optimizer.
CPE currently on desk next to window. I'm yet to do any outdoor tests. Setup is CPE <- Firewall <- Switch <- PC.
Initial test immediately after unboxing and directly connected was 180mb down / 8mb up. Firewall possibly bottle-necking, will confirm over the next 2 days. Below results are consistent at any time of day give or take 5mb.

Speedtest
View attachment 881085
Signal
View attachment 881089
Antenna
View attachment 881097
Click to expand...

Hello Neighbour ;). Some good results there.

I'm about 1km away. Your upload hell of alot better than mine. Did you change any settings on the cpe?
 
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