Help with 4G speeds + Aerials

[Jsmith2211]

Hello,

 

So i have an unlimited 4G plan with "3". The speeds i get are around 2MBps on a good day with the 4g hotspot from my phone sat in the window. This is better than the 400kbps internet speed that BT is willing to give us (would pay more for more speed but they don't offer it here). What i want to know is how to get a better reception. I want to use a similar thing to these 4G modems, but i want to use my phone's sim (without removing it from the phone because i don't want to have to do that every time i want to use the internet). I would like to use a USB C solution, as then i could buy the sony USB dock (which i am probably going to get anyway) and just dump it on that, enable tethering and that is that. I can't find anything about aerials or antennas that plug into my phone or signal boosters that don't cost an arm and a leg.

 

Thank you in advance

 

James

[Alex Atkin UK]

It might not be reception.

I've gotten 50Mbit on 3 in my house in the early morning, but gotten all sorts of random results during the day time especially the late evening when presumably everyone and their grandmother is watching Netflix/YouTube.

 

I even walked closer to the mast, from within perfect line-of-sight it made zero difference.  Three are just very contended in some areas due to being the only provider doing unlimited data.  Its gradually gotten worse and worse since they re-launched their unlimited data contract.

They ARE supposed to be upgrading both their 4G and launching 5G in some areas next month though, so hopefully the uptake has just overshot their predictions and things will improve, especially if the heavy users move to 5G freeing up more 4G bandwidth.

There is one exception however, as sometimes you will get stuck on their lower bandwidth frequency if the signal IS weak.  You want to be on Band 3 for the best speed but you might get stuck onto Band 20.  An app like LTE Discovery should tell you which band you are connected to and if it IS Band 20 then you may indeed be having reception issues, but on phones there isn't much you can about that (other than have it as high up in the house as possible) as they do not support external antennas.

[Jsmith2211]

1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

It might not be reception.

I've gotten 50Mbit on 3 in my house in the early morning, but gotten all sorts of random results during the day time especially the late evening when presumably everyone and their grandmother is watching Netflix/YouTube.

 

I even walked closer to the mast, from within perfect line-of-sight it made zero difference.  Three are just very contended in some areas due to being the only provider doing unlimited data.  Its gradually gotten worse and worse since they re-launched their unlimited data contract.

They ARE supposed to be upgrading both their 4G and launching 5G in some areas next month though, so hopefully the uptake has just overshot their predictions and things will improve.

There is one exception however, as sometimes you will get stuck on their lower bandwidth frequency if the signal IS weak.  You want to be on Band 3 for the best speed but you might get stuck onto Band 20.  An app like LTE Discovery should tell you which band you are connected to and if it IS Band 20 then you may indeed be having reception issues, but on phones there isn't much you can about that (other than have it as high up in the house as possible) as they do not support external antennas.

OK thanks. I have just noticed i am actually not on 4G at all, but H+. Is there a reason for this? If i stand in a specific window, i can get 4 bars, but no 4G. The LTE discovery said nothing about Band 3 or 20.

 

Thanks

 

James

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, Joelsome said:

t all, but H+

Thats most likely HSPA+. Its kinda like 3.5G. Its faster than 3G but not as fast as LTE. I have T Mobile here in the US and generally I only connect to HSPA if im too far from the tower to get 4G. 

[Jsmith2211]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

Thats most likely HSPA+. Its kinda like 3.5G. Its faster than 3G but not as fast as LTE. I have T Mobile here in the US and generally I only connect to HSPA if im too far from the tower to get 4G. 

would a range booster help? What is the fastest speeds i can see on h+?

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, Joelsome said:

ould a range booster help? What is the fastest speeds i can see on h+?

Not an expert on Cellular data. I would assume this is a question for your provider. According to the Wikipedia page you looking at a max of 168 Mbps, but thats according to the standard and not real world. I would assume you will get much less, and thats not taking in to account your distance from the tower and the congestion on the tower. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Not an expert on Cellular data. I would assume this is a question for your provider. According to the Wikipedia page you looking at a max of 168 Mbps, but thats according to the standard and not real world. I would assume you will get much less, and thats not taking in to account your distance from the tower and the congestion on the tower. 

I just forced my phone onto H+ and got 8.8Mbit down, 1.2Mbit up.  On 4G I got 39.3Mbit down, 3.8Mbit up.

 

Bearing in mind its a Galaxy S10 so older phones could very well be slower due to not supporting the best 3G/4G version the mast uses.

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I just forced my phone onto H+ and got 8.8Mbit down, 1.2Mbit up.  On 4G I got 39.3Mbit down, 3.8Mbit up.

 

Bearing in mind its a Galaxy S10 so older phones could very well be slower due to not supporting the best 3G/4G version the mast uses.

As I said, "According to Wikipedia". The "Standard is capable up to 168 Mbps". To me all wireless standards promise the world but only give you like 20%. If you go in to it with those expectations then you'll be fine. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, Donut417 said:

As I said, "According to Wikipedia". The "Standard is capable up to 168 Mbps". To me all wireless standards promise the world but only give you like 20%. If you go in to it with those expectations then you'll be fine. 

I'm basing on actual phone implementations.  For example the S10 supports HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (7CA) Cat20 2000/150 Mbps (yeah that would be nice).  I'm not aware of any phone that supports more than 42.2Mbit on 3.5G/HSPA.

It stands to reason the one network that offers unlimited data is going to be the worst performing, at least in denser rural environments after a hard-push to sell these contracts.  I can get 50Mbit in the city centre on Three, but that is thanks to carrier aggregation and only outdoors.  At home I've seen it drop down well into single digits with 2000ms ping on a really bad day.