Nextivity Mobile Booster | Any takers?

ROS123

Sponge Bob wrote: »

In Ireland Ros ???

Yes in Ireland, I have an office, it is a very old building. One side is ok for mobile reception, no reception at all in the other half of the building. As the crow flies, this building is ony 100 meters from a mast, lots of trees in the way though. I was hoping a nextivity would help.

watty

It's a Mobile Phone Solution. Not really for "mobile" Internet.

If there is GOOD signal outside office, and NO signal inside, then a Repeater is appropriate. A wired one is superior to the Nextivity as it uses WiFi to link. Inherently if 3G signal is good where one bit goes and really non-existant on other bit, then the WiFi link will be rubbish. The Nextivity is for an open plan metal building with only one window at front. You put one part there and the other part near where you are selling /demoing the phones. It's a useless product for typical home or office. Any of the wired repeater products with Outdoor part for pole/chimney/high wall and cable to indoor part are cheaper and work FAR better.

Any repeater needs 3G operator supply/authorisation/install to avoid being illegal and accidently damaging Cell coverage by leakage of indoor "part" to outdoors. The Indoor part of a Repeater (Nextivity or otherwise) must have No outdoor signal.

Any femto cell is designed to be very short range, often less than WiFi to avoid cell interference. Again only the 3G operator can install and decide channel & power to avoid cell interference.




see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/22/informa_femtocells/

The solution for you is real broadband + Femto cell for phone coverage.

rebel.ranter

watty wrote: »

Any femto cell is designed to be very short range, often less than WiFi to avoid cell interference. Again only the 3G operator can install and decide channel & power to avoid cell interference.

Most Femto cell equipment choose their own frequency based on a frequency scan by the Femto cell at start up. There is no need for operator intervention at the local end (only to approve their use via a contract & accept connection at gateway). Femto cells are not going to be a reality in Ireland any time soon in my opinion, fixed providers may not be happy to carry moile operator traffic without an uplift in revenue. Mobile operators will not want to hand over money to fixed operators either. Meteor are probably best placed to get the jump on the rest given the tie they have with Eircom & their fixed network. A lesser issue is that none of the mobile operators are geared up to interface with Femto cells at the Core/OSS side, although this could be addressed quite easily.
Nextivity units are a lot easier & cheaper to deploy that is the main reason they are "preferred" over a traditional repeater. Engineers & perfect design will not always win over the needs of sales people to sell & a requirement for fast deployment. Nextivity uints are plug & play & will adjust/switch off their output power to limit interference with the outside cell. The better the isolation the more power output.

You are right to say that a Femto cell would be a voice rather than data, why would one use a 3G/LTE connection with the associated overheads when you could use a WiFi connection at the same location?

It will be interesting when the 900MHz spectrum is re-allocated, there are a lot of 900MHz repeaters being used for GSM which are not really causing issues now but may cause problems if UMTS900 is used in those locations.

watty

It can only use one of the operators own channels. Not any 3G channel

You are right to say that a Femto cell would be a voice rather than data, why would one use a 3G/LTE connection with the associated overheads when you could use a WiFi connection at the same location?

Some 3G smart phones have no WiFi.

The operators want people to use 3G rather than WiFi. (they get to bill them for using their own BB, yes really).

The Mobile operators need there to be cheap universal BB for Femto cells to be beneficial

A Nextivity simply isn't a sensible solution compared to outdoor directional aerial + modem and Router, but that only works for Data, not Mobile phones.

A Nextivity is a solution for Mobile Phones inside a faraday cage, not a typical user wanting data.

rebel.ranter

The Femto cell would be instructed by the OSS as to which frequency band it can use but that is just pedantics.
I would say operators would only be delighted to see traffic routed away from the 3G networks, it makes sense. With current flat rate pricing operators get their money anyway no more, no less. Operators don't make more money for carrying more traffic, maybe you could cite those that go over allowances but in general these people are in the minority, hardly a cash cow.

Technically you are right about Nextivity but practicalities dictate what actually happens it doesn't matter what is sensible. It comes down to cost, to deploy a Nextivity is a lot cheaper than a full blown designed repeater solution. Also when things go wrong support is cheaper too.
Nextivity units are not deployed for voice solutions as network operators try to keep voice off their 3G networks (except 3 obviously). That does not mean it is the right solution for data it just means that is what is happening.
All that matters is sales people like the simplicity, sales people bring on the money. Customers want a solution, this "fixes" their problem, you think too much like an engineer.

watty

But the Nextivity doesn't "fix" and in many cases makes the cell worse. For Data rather than voice, etherent (optionally WiFi) is what EVERY other non-Dialup ISP provide.

Nextivity provides no firewall.
Each device needs a SIM and 3G Modem
A Router + modem + Outdoor aerial costs less, WiFi gadgets work, cable to location not reachable by WiFi Works.

Sorry, but you are thinking like a Nextivity Salesman, Not an Internet provider. Nextivity isn't a solution. It's a very expensive Placebo.

People are very careful on Mobile not to go over cap as the charge is €100 to €900 a Gigabyte. Compare that with eircom's few Euro a Gigabyte or Digiweb Throttle to 128K till you are at 80% of Cap.

Fact is that Voice subsidises Mobile data and €100 a gigabyte is closer to a realistic charge.

rebel.ranter

Off on another rant again!

I put "fix" in inverted commas as it does solve problems for some customers, I didn't say it was without it's draw backs for the network. Nor did I say that it was the best solution to the problem. I don't sell anything, I merely pointed out the realities of what is happening. Of course is a very limiting solution especially where you have multiple devices running through it.

Who mentioned caps & voice subsidies? Is it relevant to this thread? BTW I'm not here to defend any company I am just making comment on Nextivity & Femto cells.

murraypjm

Condi wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Hi I am not in the National Broadband Scheme area but use 3 as in internet service providor, am wondering if anyone has or knowa how i could get a Nextivity Booster, am willing to pay

watty

They ARE USELESS...

Get a Router + Outdoor aerial.


Only your Mobile operator has licence to install a "booster/Repeater"

murraypjm

watty wrote: »

They ARE USELESS...

Get a Router + Outdoor aerial.


Only your Mobile operator has licence to install a "booster/Repeater"

Any suggestions on a router and outside aerial , think 3g in uk use them

watty

See Router threads.

Linksys
Dovado
Netgear
Solwise
Dlink
Edison/Edimax?

NOT a portable WiFi Hotspot, unless you live in a different hotel each week.

Make sure it supports the Modem you have.

jor el

murraypjm wrote: »

Hi I am not in the National Broadband Scheme area but use 3 as in internet service providor, am wondering if anyone has or knowa how i could get a Nextivity Booster, am willing to pay

This would be illegal. You cannot use a 3G repeater without licence, and only the 3G operators are licenced to install them.

murraypjm

I use a 3g dongle, am hoping to improve the signal to get faster speeds,

jor el

There's really nothing you can do to improve signal. Improving signal won't necessarily improve speed anyway, as the two are not quite linked. No signal obviously means no speed, but full signal could easily mean no speed too. Even with a bare 1 bar of 3G, you'll get about the highest speed you're ever going to get. Congestion on 3G networks is far more important, and you can do nothing about that. In fact, no one can do anything about it.

-Corkie-

I think them Nextivity boosters are a waste of time. I had one and was getting low speeds and constant disconnections. I purchased a Dovado 4Gr router and all problems are solved. No disconnections and I am getting 6MBS download.

murraypjm

jor el wrote: »

There's really nothing you can do to improve signal. Improving signal won't necessarily improve speed anyway, as the two are not quite linked. No signal obviously means no speed, but full signal could easily mean no speed too. Even with a bare 1 bar of 3G, you'll get about the highest speed you're ever going to get. Congestion on 3G networks is far more important, and you can do nothing about that. In fact, no one can do anything about it.

Thanks, for your help, will probably save me a few euro and time,

alexstan

Has anyone ever tried one of these? I have had a good chat with one of the chaps in cetag that sell it and he reckons it should double your connection speed if you are in a poor area, as it is clever and searches out the cell tower with the best internet signal and lowest number of users.

http://www.wibe.ie/home/

Cheers
Alex

watty

No. It won't, or if it does, in almost all cases an ordinary router + modem + directional aerial will be better and cheaper.

The mast density is not high enough.

54kroc

watty wrote: »

No. It won't, or if it does, in almost all cases an ordinary router + modem + directional aerial will be better and cheaper.

The mast density is not high enough.

Do you connect the directional aerial to the 3G stick,If so how.
My brothers house doesn't have great reception and I'd like to try what you suggested in this post.

Do I just mount a 3g router and 3g usb stick outside?

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

54kroc

Is the Huawei E1820 the only 3g modem that you can put an antenna on, anybody know of any other one's.

William Powell

cork45 wrote: »

Is the Huawei E1820 the only 3g modem that you can put an antenna on, anybody know of any other one's.

The connector Huawei use is a CRC9 and a qiuck google gave me this list of Huawei dongles using the same connector E156 & E156G E160 E160E E160G E161 E169 E122 E176G K3520 E1762 E1820. But double check if your going to be buying.

s_gr

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone knows what the external antenna connector on the solid technologies WCDMA home repeater three supply is. Was going to connect external antenna to it instead of the window mounted one supplied as signal still not good enough.

Cant seem to find any info anywhere about them...

s_gr

bump

BengaLover

Hi, resurrecting this old thread, i was given a Cel Fi window unit and coverage unit, also with 3 logo on it, is it any use to me as i dont use 3 mobile or 3 broadband?
Will it boost my eircom broadband?

jor el

A 3G booster can only be supplied by an operator as it requires a licence to broadcast in the 3G spectrum. A 3G signal booster has nothing to do with eircom DSL broadband over a phone line.

Closing thread, because unless your operator provided this, then it's an illegal 3G transmitter.