3g/lte mifi and antenna/booster question

[Antóin Óg Ó Cuinneagáin]

My dad got a smartphone and tablet and uses tethering on the smartphone to access the internet on the tablet.

vodafone 3g signal was really bad so now he uses o2 for voice and data.  He lives in the countryside.

I was thinking of getting a 4g mobile router such as this:

http://www.pixmania.ie/wifi-modem-router/huawei-e5372-wireless-router-4g-lte/22163105-a.html

so he could try a few prepay data sims to see which gave the best signal in his area.  

Has anyone bought one of these?

They support external antennaes such as 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antenna-HUAWEI-Router-Mobile-Broadband/dp/B00L57AL10/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421425209&sr=8-2&keywords=huawei+antenna

Are these legal in Ireland?

Is this sort of thing legal, even though the contact address is Ireland

http://www.stelladoradus.com/repeater/home-signal-repeater/

Anthony

[Domhnall Walsh]

Pretty sure they're fine. They don't boost the transmit power of the dongle, only their efficiency...

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[Daniel Cussen]

>vodafone 3g signal was really bad so now he uses o2 for voice and data. He lives in the >countryside.

I was thinking of getting a 4g mobile router such as this:
http://www.pixmania.ie/wifi-modem-router/huawei-e5372-wireless-router-4g-lte/22163105-a.html

so he could try a few prepay data sims to see which gave the best
signal in his area.

That would be a good idea.

>Has anyone bought one of these?

There are various quailities and features of different models. Best tp
check reviews etc.

>They support external antennaes such as
>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antenna-HUAWEI-Router-Mobile->Broadband/dp/B00L57AL10/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421425209&sr=8->2&keywords=huawei+antenna

If using an external antenna you need to get one for the correct
frequency for the correct operator. It needs to point the correct way
to the operators mast. It MUST be in a location with good signal.

There is a list of operators and the locations of their masts here. It
can often be out of date.
http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/siteviewer.273.LE.asp

There are different bands used for 2G, 3g and 4G, dependong on
operators etc. I think most 4G in Ireland is1800Mhz and 800Mhz band.
Coverage is mostly in cities.

>Are these legal in Ireland?
Is this sort of thing legal, even though the contact address is Ireland
http://www.stelladoradus.com/repeater/home-signal-repeater/

The first items are legal. The item from stelladorados is not. If you
read between the lines on their site they basically say it is not
legal.

They suggest some approved ones may become legal in the US shortly but
they are not legal in the EU.

http://www.stelladoradus.com/2013/03/12/fcc-broadband-repeater-regulations/

http://www.stelladoradus.com/2012/12/10/boost-mobile-phone-signal-legally/
they say at the end legal in UK but this is not a booster. It is
basically an external antenna with no boosting. It has no electronics
nor active parts. It is passive. It basically picks up the signal from
the dongle, passes it into coax and out at the antenna. If the antenna
has a massive signal and the dongle none it will help, legally.

Some providers supply a very similar unit themselves (e.g. three
Ireland) that is legal. It can only connect to their masts and only
rebroadcasts their signal. One antenna needs to be in a area with
signal while the other is mounted as far away indoors with no signal

As you suggest trying different networks is a good idea. Sometimes a
local independant phone shop will tell you which network has best
coverage in your exact location, sometimes not. Even if one provider
has 5 bars their network may slow to a halt in the evenings as it is
overloaded. This is very common in the countryside where providers use
one mast to cover wide areas with limited capacity at peak times.

[Tycho Schenkeveld]

Just to add: 2600 Mhz is also a common frequency for 4G so it's definitely worth checking! You can find out the channel with an app on Android or the network survey built into iPhones.

It is indeed very important to get the right antenna. Otherwise it could even damage the phone or mifi box.

[Daniel Cussen]

2600Mzhz is not used yet in Ireland. It is used for MMDS TV by UPC nationwide.

On 17/01/2015, Tycho Schenkeveld <tycho.sc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oops sorry for the triple post. Was posting from my phone through thebgroups
> website on a bad signal, and it kept saying 'posting reply...'. I need a
> better antenna too ;)

[John Woods]

Hi,

I resolved the same problem with signal booster.

https://www.myamplifiers.com/

пятница, 16 января 2015 г., 19:23:08 UTC+3 пользователь AntóinÓg написал:

[Antóin Óg Ó Cuinneagáin]

which one

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[Daniel Cussen]

I think that message was a spammer promoting their product a year
after the question was asked. Or at least they are not Irish