lte Extreme LTE Networking (double yagi) (t-mobile) (band 12) (video included)

[WhiteGoblin]

Sup LTT! Well after all the excitement from my building satellite dish LTE signal boosters out of spare parts thread, I've been really looking forward to making it back out to the middle of no where to continue testing. So much so that this time, we brought two almost six foot long yagis with us! This was turned into a video for YouTube that covers the testing of a MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-V2 cellular modem/router in it's stock configuration, behind the satellite dish LTE booster from the thread before, & with all it's antennas being replaced for it's new "extreme build" taking it out of the realm of practical & into the realm of madness! Each different setup is ran through an HTML5 speed test with the modem status page open to show off the signal values live. I also discuss the Time To Live changes in the most recent versions of the proprietary OpenWRT builds that MOFI releases for their products & how it does a much better job spoofing the original cellular device then before. This actually has a rather large impact on latency across the board so FTW! It's run time is just shy of twelve minutes & is overall meant to be viewed in a humorous non-technical to death light. I'm not a professional YouTuber or anything of the sort so quality wise I'm an amateur one man band but I still think it's pretty watchable. It's presented in 4K @ 60FPS! Feel free to check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IddB63xWT7A

 

 

For a build log / parts list the current version is utilizing:

• 1x - MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-V2
  2x - ZDA 698-755 MHz Yagi Antenna (16 dBi)    
  2x - LMR400 Jumper (25 feet) (N Male to SMA Male)
  2x - Gas Tube Lightning Surge Protector (N-female to N-male bulkhead) (0-3 GHz) (90V)
  2x - Alfa 2.4ghz WiFi  SMA Antenna  (9dBi)
  1x - Linco 10ft  Studio Stand (+2 misc random wood blocks for mounting)
  1x - Unlimited Data SIM Card (T-Mobile)

Though it's very important to note that this list is missing two four foot copper poles plus the additional wire required to properly ground those antennas. (this step is not featured in the video as a final location was yet to be determined & dicking around was at hand first) As mentioned in the video I stopped into Collins Communications and spoke with them at length about the importance of properly grounding such devices. They also shared a number of pretty frightening lightning strike situations they've dealt with in the past so do not downplay the importance of that step. I'm going to try and film the installation of this setup at it's final location so that people can see what it takes to do it properly. Not to be a spoiler but in the video our original speeds on the unit itself were 1.9mbs down. Behind the sat. dish we pulled 3.35mbs down. With Yagi power we pulled 17.59mbs down before any refinement or adjustment. (just first location it was put up, pointed out a window, and turned on with both yagi's in vertical positions) Overnight as the video was uploading (10gb video!) I noticed my steam client downloaded a bunch of game updates at 25mbs!! I really wish I would've caught results like that on the speed test while recording.

 

I know speeds will once again come up when we get it outside the house, properly mounted, & aimed. I don't know how long it'll take for that video to come out so for now this will have to hold everybody over! Also I'd like to note that I'm not in this field at all, I'm just a nerd having fun with some gear. If you're looking at all this and laughing as a man of the industry, feel feel to reply with a total knock out educational post! I promise you it will be read & any suggestions you have will be tried as soon as I can make it back out there to the middle of no where. One thing I've really enjoyed about posting these threads is the various responses from different communities. The age ranges are just all over the place from ArsTechnica, to LinusTechTips, to SmallBandwidthInnovation, to even places like /r/Networking. Alot of great ideas have just came out of no where thanks to the beauty of the internet. I'm always willing to look like an idiot infront of the people if it means progress gets made. So to everybody raging over the fact I should be pointing these at a major city, or tilting them differently, or just wanting to call me a n00b, well #solidbois, hit me up with that info on how to do it better.

 

Anyways much love everybody, I hope you enjoy!

 

'Gobby

[WhiteGoblin]

Damn guys this thing just gets more exciting by the moment! So I haven't even got these yagis in their final positions yet, I've just been so busy I've not had time to play around with them. Tonight I finally got back out to them, flipped on the machine they're keeping connected to the net & while steam was updating from my absence I caught this screenshot!

 

 

Good lord guys, I'll take 32mbs down!!! Previously I was getting 1.9mbs as seen in the video.. soooo 32/1.9 = 16.84x increase!? Yes sir.

[Donut417]

Any idea where the nearest cell tower was? 

[sheepbomb]

Awesome! I'm looking to do something similar in my area.

 

Based on the video, it looks like you may have line of sight with that tower? If so, it might be worth calling up the owner and seeing if you could lease space and setup some kind of point-to-point dish.