Screw RAIN - B618 Router with Telkom LTE?

[nmccullo]

To be fair Webafrica is a reseller of Rain. There is bugger all they can do about the quality of your connection to Rain's network. They don't control it or have anything to do with it besides being a reseller of the product.

But who do I complain to if the service they resell is below par? If I could speak to RAIN, I would have spoken to them directly.

 

[nmccullo]

@nmccullo 3 Bars signal is RSRP -105 dBm

My RSRP was around -80. The 618 only has 3 lights/bars.

 

[cavedog]

View attachment 654736

Thank you Telkom.

This result with the B618? Do you see 4G+?

 

[nmccullo]

It was a

This result with the B618? Do you see 4G+?

It was at 4G+ this afternoon. I see it's now registering as 4G. Speeds of about 20 - 30 currently. Ping around 20. Hoping to get the B315 tomorrow to see if it makes a difference. But it has definitely dropped from 4G+ to 4G.

 

[cavedog]

It was a


It was at 4G+ this afternoon. I see it's now registering as 4G. Speeds of about 20 - 30 currently. Ping around 20. Hoping to get the B315 tomorrow to see if it makes a difference. But it has definitely dropped from 4G+ to 4G.

You can force it if you want with the huawei band tool

 

[nmccullo]

You can force it if you want with the huawei band tool

I've reset my router and it seems like it's switching between 4G+ and 4G. Which band do I force? I doesn't want to force 2300...

Will I need to force anything with the B315 or will it connect to 4G+?

The HUAWEI B315s-936 LTE is a wireless gateway that integrates LTE and high-speed Ethernet uplink access, which provides users with flexible and diversified data access and voice services.

The frequency bands of the product are as follows.
- LTE: Band 1/3/40/41
- FDD 2100 MHz/1800 MHz TDD 2300MHz/2600 MHz
- UMTS: Band 1/8 2100 MHz/900 MHz
- GSM: Band 2/3/5/8 1900 MHz/1800 MHz/850 MHz/900 MHz

 

[cavedog]

I've reset my router and it seems like it's switching between 4G+ and 4G. Which band do I force? I doesn't want to force 2300...

Will I need to force anything with the B315 or will it connect to 4G+?

The HUAWEI B315s-936 LTE is a wireless gateway that integrates LTE and high-speed Ethernet uplink access, which provides users with flexible and diversified data access and voice services.

The frequency bands of the product are as follows.
- LTE: Band 1/3/40/41
- FDD 2100 MHz/1800 MHz TDD 2300MHz/2600 MHz
- UMTS: Band 1/8 2100 MHz/900 MHz
- GSM: Band 2/3/5/8 1900 MHz/1800 MHz/850 MHz/900 MHz

Well the B315 is NOT a LTE-A router but if you get a B315 you will likely be able to force 1800MHz OR 2300MHz.

To force the B618 to 4G+ you would need to force 2100MHz + 1800MHz and then choose an upload frequency but 1800Mhz will likely be best. You can use the band tool to force that. I have attached it to the post.

Make sure to edit huawei_band_tool_config.txt with your correct username and password and router IP.

Then focus on these

LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_1800.bat
LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_2100.bat

Both will force 4G+ but as you can see you have a choice which band is used for the upload. 1800MHz has 10MHz spectrum and 2100MHz would have 5MHz spectrum so the 1800MHz would give you better upload.

 

[nmccullo]

Thanks cavedog! I've forced it to LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_2100

I'm hoping that connecting my Poynting to my B315 will also improve my speeds a bit. (I'm about 500m from the base station with direct line-of-sight and in the past it has increased my speeds quite a bit...)

Is getting a LTE-A router worth it? Will it offer a guaranteed improvement in speed?

 

[cavedog]

Thanks cavedog! I've forced it to LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_2100

I'm hoping that connecting my Poynting to my B315 will also improve my speeds a bit. (I'm about 500m from the base station with direct line-of-sight and in the past it has increased my speeds quite a bit...)

Is getting a LTE-A router worth it? Will it offer a guaranteed improvement in speed?

Okay just check the UPOAD_1800 one also because it would probably give you same download but better upload speeds so maybe better to force that one instead.

Well you are using a B618 which is LTE-A enabled. If you are talking about the Telkom B525 and B618 then well maybe maybe not but it will be able to do LTE-A on Band 40 aka 2300MHz so might give better speed. No way to know for sure unless you test unfortunately.

 

[Willie Trombone]

Well the B315 is NOT a LTE-A router but if you get a B315 you will likely be able to force 1800MHz OR 2300MHz.

To force the B618 to 4G+ you would need to force 2100MHz + 1800MHz and then choose an upload frequency but 1800Mhz will likely be best. You can use the band tool to force that. I have attached it to the post.

Make sure to edit huawei_band_tool_config.txt with your correct username and password and router IP.

Then focus on these

LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_1800.bat
LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_2100.bat

Both will force 4G+ but as you can see you have a choice which band is used for the upload. 1800MHz has 10MHz spectrum and 2100MHz would have 5MHz spectrum so the 1800MHz would give you better upload.

Thanks cavedog! I've forced it to LTE_1800+2100_UPLOAD_2100

I'm hoping that connecting my Poynting to my B315 will also improve my speeds a bit. (I'm about 500m from the base station with direct line-of-sight and in the past it has increased my speeds quite a bit...)

Is getting a LTE-A router worth it? Will it offer a guaranteed improvement in speed?

Telkom do 1800 and 2300 - I doubt 2100 will be working.

 

[Dan C]

For Telkom I just use my tablet

 

[nmccullo]

How do I know if a router is LTE-A enabled/capable for a specific network? What technical specs do I need to look out for? Thinking of returning my B315 when I receive it and buying an LTE-A router. I don't want to wait till Monday, so I was think about just going to a couple of shops and seeing what they have in stock...

Edit: Or I can just use the search function,

LTE/LTE-A

 

[cavedog]

Telkom do 1800 and 2300 - I doubt 2100 will be working.

Telkom is refarming 3G spectrum from 2100MHz and rolling out LTE on B1 (2100MHz) So they do 2100MH, 1800MHz and 2300MHz.

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/telkom-lte-frequency-bands.1004710/

 

[cavedog]

How do I know if a router is LTE-A enabled/capable for a specific network? What technical specs do I need to look out for? Thinking of returning my B315 when I receive it and buying an LTE-A router. I don't want to wait till Monday, so I was think about just going to a couple of shops and seeing what they have in stock...

You would need to see if it's a LTE-A router firstly then you need to look at the technical datasheet of the router to determine what carrier aggregation bands it supports. Most support B1+B3 or B8 FDD and the usually TDD+TDD aggregation. Very few supports FDD+TDD aggregation and that is what you would need for Rain LTE-A

 

[Willie Trombone]

Telkom is refarming 3G spectrum from 2100MHz and rolling out LTE on B1 (2100MHz) So they do 2100MH, 1800MHz and 2300MHz.

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/telkom-lte-frequency-bands.1004710/

Interesting... What does that mean for my router that they sold me that doesn't do 2100? Assume I can't make use of it?

My B618 does 1800 and 2300. What's the best setup for that combination? I have a general 4G, 1800Mhz 4G and 2300Mhz 4G settings in the profile.

I get higher speeds on 2300Mhz during weekdays office hours but 1800 is more consistent and faster after hours.

 

[cavedog]

Interesting... What does that mean for my router that they sold me that doesn't do 2100? Assume I can't make use of it?

My B618 does 1800 and 2300. What's the best setup for that combination? I have a general 4G, 1800Mhz 4G and 2300Mhz 4G settings in the profile.

I get higher speeds on 2300Mhz during weekdays office hours but 1800 is more consistent and faster after hours.

If you have B618-65d Telkom version your router does indeed support 2100MHz and you can play around with the bands I suggested above to see how the speeds are.

 

[Willie Trombone]

If you have B618-65d Telkom version your router does indeed support 2100MHz and you can play around with the bands I suggested above to see how the speeds are.

I do have that one:




Will the band tool give me what I need?

 

[nmccullo]

I'm sorry that I've turned the RAIN forum into a Telkom forum, but I have (maybe) one last question. Does the B525 come in different variants? (like the B618 22d/65d?)

 

[cavedog]

I do have that one:

View attachment 655070

View attachment 655068
Will the band tool give me what I need?

Yes you are going to need to use the huawei band tool I attached to my previous reply. You won't be able to force B1+B3 4G+ in the router like you do with 2300MHz

 

[cavedog]

I'm sorry that I've turned the RAIN forum into a Telkom forum, but I have (maybe) one last question. Does the B525 come in different variants? (like the B618 22d/65d?)

Yes you do but as far as I know it's only the 65a variant which works with all Telkom bands