Has an antenna helped you?

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Vaughan

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I have been thinking about getting an antenna for a long time as i get signal at my house but it can be very inconsistant and i have not been able to really get any real indication of how antennas have helped others.

Please would any of you who have iburst and an antenna please tell me how much it helped and which antenna you are using?
If you can post actual DB gain i would be grateful but your opinion is fine as well.

Thanks for reading this and i look forward to your input.
 
I have the normal panel antenna as well and it has improved the stabilty and speeds. Before that i had the modem in a water proof box on a 6 meter pole to get better signal. If in doubt try and borrow one to do tests before you buy.
 
I have exactly the same question as Vaughan. I'm currently getting an avg of -73db's, but the gragh from utTraceStar, looks like something from a ER scene...

I just want consistancy.
 
Hi,

I have one of them cheap flat antenna's iburst were selling right in the beggening. Did it help? It is difficult to say, but it certainly helps when trying to convince help desk that their tower is oversaturated and not delivering like it used to.

Always bear in mind Iburst is a wireless service so anything that improves your signal is good. So even if you think you dont need an antenna get one.

In terms of consistency, yes I definelty get a decent signal all the time. heh - i consistently also get degraded speeds but thats a tower issue :D - sorry had to throw that in.

But overall i am still happy with iburst - better then sentech ever will be.
 
Just out of curiosity I was wondering what is the best signal you can get for Iburst?
 
I mean cause I get 100% constant all the time without an antenna but I've still seen people who post stronger signals than me from iconnect/uttracestar...
 
If your signal keeps dropping, it may just be that there are too many towers in your proximty with similar signal strength. That was my problem. (Randburg, Illovo, Hyde Park). With the result that the modem kept switching towers based on the most recent signal scan. Fine, if it just stuck to one of those three towers, but every few minutes it would connect to some distant or ghost tower, and my signal dropped.

I got the directional 18db gain antenna from Phoenixnet and focused it on the Hyde Park. Not only a stronger signal now (-68db vs -75db) but very consistent and stable. If Hyde Park goes down, I still get Randburg at +-73db.

But tower loads are noticeably rising. Randburg used to be great, but pretty abysmal these days. Hyde Park still has a fairly light load, but I guess that, too, will deteriorate with time.
 
Thanks for all the replys but i still have 1 question is a directional antenna better than a regular or not?
 
Are there any providers that offer a trial period on antennas. e.g.You can send it back in 14 days and get all your money back. or must i try borrow from someone.
 
A antenna only costs R350, trust me it is worth it. You wont want to give it back.

But if you really want to just try it out, then unforuanatley Iburst dont do that for just antennas. Maby a reseller would let you borrow one, or you'll have to try a friend.
 
Thanks but i don't have friends .......... with iburst so i guess i am going to have to just buy and hope. Is the directional antenna the Yagi cos i think it may help my needs more cos i pick up many towers and iburst gets confussed.
Thanks for help.
 
Well there isnt much to hope for man, it will improve your signal if you already have a slowish connection. And it does help with stability etc.

You can just get the -18Dbi antenna from phoenixnet.co.za and focus that onto one tower and it should sort out the problem of having Iburst getting confused between towers.
 
S1ght said:
Just out of curiosity I was wondering what is the best signal you can get for Iburst?
Click to expand...
Depends how close you are to the tower - i mean if you sit with the tower up your butt you could get quite good signal ;) did a test at a mates place - he is 3 floors up and about 200m from the Rosebank tower. utTraceStar rated his signal as "unnaturally good 10/10" think that was in the region of 60-something dB without an external antenna of any description...
Its all about signal strength :D
 
hmmm, my firends old girlfriend lived in the block of flats that had the iburst tower on top. She was like 3 or 4 levels up and it wasnt such a high block.

The signal there probably could have been better, its much closer than 200m.

Would have liked to try that out some time. Your friend should be pretty happy with his Iburst...
 
For R530 from phoenix do i get a fully functional usable antenna or do i still need to buy pigtails and connectors and does anyone know where to get cheaper cable cos R240 for 1,5m is heavy.
 
Vaughan said:
For R530 from phoenix do i get a fully functional usable antenna or do i still need to buy pigtails and connectors and does anyone know where to get cheaper cable cos R240 for 1,5m is heavy.
Click to expand...

You really don't want to use lengthy ariel cable between your modem and the antenna - signal strength deteriorates rapidly the longer the cable. Rather position your modem close to the antenna and run ethernet cable (which is virtually lossless up to 100m) from the modem to your pc/router. The ariel cable and connectors that comes standard with the antenna should be sufficient.

EDIT: BTW, the R530 excludes VAT. Grrr.
 
I have problem i am using pcm cia card in my desktop pc lol so cannot run cable. The reason i get such bad signal is interferance from case, when i used a laptop it was way better.
 
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