Hello
I have been reading this thread and linked ones half the day, I would appreciate some advice.
Hey
jenniew ! Welcome.
First off : you don't say which area you are in, but if you are in one of the major centres, a visit to Poynting's physical showroom will get you a lot of good advice. Take your modem with you and they'll be able to advise you on the right antennas and cables and very possibly demo a setup for you.
Poynting also do signal assessments and installations at your premises, if you opt for a fixed installation.
Edit: Oops! You did say Midrand, sorry.
In that case, Poynting's showrooms just off Samrand Road are perfect for you.
I can't get ADSL at home so my boss bought me an LTE modem with a Vodacom 3G sim. Without spending vast sums of money, what should I be shopping for, I can see I need at least an antenna (or 2) which I could then plug into the modem.
Second thing : 3G is one technology and 4G (LTE) is another. Speaking
very broadly, under the right conditions (good signal etc), 3G will get you best-case speeds up to about 15Mbps and 4G/LTE will get you anywhere between 20 and 80Mbps.
However to make use of LTE's speed and reliability, you need a modem that supports LTE, a SIMcard that is provisioned for LTE, a local base-station and operator that provides LTE service, and a dual-channel antenna system that gets you good LTE signal.
Note : "good dual-channel antenna system" for LTE does not necessarily equate to "expensive". It depends what signal you have to start with.
Things to check:
- Your "3G SIM" may or may not be provisioned for Vodacom LTE.
- You don't state what type of LTE modem you have ? Is it a USB "stick modem", or a fixed-wireless device like a Huawei B593 ?
The basic "recipe" to do what you want is as follows:
- Determine which of the cellular wireless operators offers 3G and/or 4G service in your area. Note that only Vodacom, MTN and Telkom currently offer 4G service - CellC is threatening to roll it out, but hasn't done so yet. (see comment on using coverage maps later on). There's also Neotel, who use 4G for last-mile connectivity in some areas.
- Determine whether your current setup (modem+SIMcard) is 3G or 3G/4G capable, and whether that is what you need/want based on services available in your area.
- If possible, try to ascertain where the various operators' local base stations in your area are. Operators do share infrastructure, so you'll often find multiple operators (all four, in some cases) on the same mast, so this is not as much of a schlepp as it might seem. It's a very worthwhile exercise and an investment in your future signal arrangements (4.5G, 5G, .... etc) as these stations obviously don't move (though new ones might be added).
- Using SIMcard(s) from the operator(s) you plan to use, make an assessment of the quality of signal you have already. Ideally this should include a check with the modem up on the roof, as an indication of what might be possible with outdoor external antennas. If you're not comfortable doing this, get a professional installer in.
- The signal(s) you have, and the results you want, will largely determine what antenna arrangements you need and the corresponding budget. Unfortunately there's no sure-fire one-size-fits-all solution - especially if you have no signal or no service in the first place! The budget for an "appropriate" antenna system can range from zero (good signal and internal antennas adequate) to as much as R5k. Again, as a very rough rule of thumb, in developed areas with reasonable signal, I would say that most folks can do very well with an antenna budget well under R2k (parts only).
- Decide whether you're happy to lock yourself in to one network and provider (like Telkom), or whether you want the flexibility to change. That can have a bearing on your antenna choice.
- Make your choice of antenna(s) and modem/router based on the above considerations, and on your budget.
But it looks like if I get a router too then I can use it for my phone and laptop on wifi
Yes. If you get a combination modem/router that has Wi-Fi, then you will be able to access your cellular wireless internet connection using any device that has Wi-Fi, which is a cool setup. An alternative would be a Wi-Fi router that can take a 3G or 4G USB stick modem, though these can be more finicky to set up.
In my opinion, for a fixed-wireless installation, you can't beat a device like the
Huawei B593s-601 that :
- Has support for all current SA 3G and 4G operators and bands
- Works in both 3G and 4G modes.
- Has excellent dual internal (built-in) LTE antennas.
- Has twin antenna ports to facilitate the use of a dual-channel external antenna system for LTE.
- Has a built-in 4-port switch and Wi-Fi access point.
- Works as a "standalone" device that is separately powered and does need to be connected into the side of your laptop to work.
- Does not require any special drivers or software.
A slightly cheaper alternative would be a 3G-only standalone modem/router device like the Huawei B683/B68A.
If you need mobility, then obviously a USB stick modem is a better choice, but it sounds to me like you want to operate primarily in a fixed location ?
do I need lightning protection? I have a pole outside from when I installed old style TV aerials 12 years ago.
That depends if you go for outdoor external antennas or not, how they are installed, and your tolerance for risk.
Tall, isolated external antennas do increase lightning risk, especially on the highveld. Lightning protection does add cost, however, so it's your call on risk versus cost.
My advice is that if you do go for external antennas on a pole, always use protection
- particularly if you are ever going to connect any device(s) to your modem/router with LAN cables (as opposed to with Wi-Fi).
I live in a black hole where it comes to signal, cellc is currently the most likely to have some signal, Telkom say they can't even provide LTE in my part of midrand.
See earlier comment about CellC and 4G.
Best approach here is to use the various providers' coverage maps (like
this one from Telkom). Bear in mind that these maps are approximate and are drawn up for "typical indoor" conditions. If you are not too far from the "edge" of a designated signal area, you still have a pretty good chance, especially from the roof. If you measure even "one bar" of signal during a physical test, you have a very good chance of improving matters dramatically with antennas.
I would really like to have decent signal for working remotely as well as cell phone signal on both Vodacom and cellc.
With a little investment and some effort, it's quite possible you could get great signal for internet access.
Just to be clear, antennas attached to a fixed-wireless cellular internet device have no bearing on other cellphone devices and will not improve "normal" cellphone voice reception at all. They are used purely to improve the performance of the fixed-wireless device itself (which is almost always a data-only device).
However, if you allow your cellphone(s) to connect to your Wi-Fi network and thereby share your (hopefully good) internet connection, they too will benefit by having good internet connectivity for browsing, email etc.
PC and smartphone applications that allow you to make voice calls over the internet, like Skype, and WhatsApp Voice Calling (just launched) are different - they of course will benefit greatly from a good internet connection.
If you are the DIY type, also have a look at the
Antenna installation and alignment thread for more tips.
Hope this helps you!
