External antenna reduces connection speed by 80%

daveyjoe

I bought a Huawei B525 for Christmas. To get the best speeds I had it sellotaped to the window. It looked horrible but I was getting about 25Mbps with Vodafone.

I wanted a more elegant solution so I just bought a 4G antenna that wouldn't look so horrible on the window. I figured that I might get similar speeds or perhaps a slight increase. Unfortunately the speed has dropped to 3Mbps with the external antenna.

Anybody got any ideas on how to improve this. I know the antenna was a cheap job, would a more expensive one be any better? I don't currently have the option to mount an antenna outdoors so this will have to do.

smuggler.ie

The cause is probably one of them 22% of "negative" reviews on the link to product on Amazon.

daveyjoe

smuggler.ie wrote: »

The cause is probably one of them 22% of "negative" reviews on the link to product on Amazon.

And 75% give it 5 stars. Some of the negative reviews are silly too, like fellas trying to use it with a TV. Would be great if there was a website that benchmarked this stuff so we could get an objective opinion.

niallb

Are the plugs screwed in tightly?
I had an antenna like that for a while with my Huwaei 4G router, and the sockets were deeply recessed on the back.
A more expensive antenna I bought later had two plastic grips on the cables which allowed me to screw the plugs completely home.
I had a better experience with that antenna on the huawei router, but a needle nose pliers helped me with the huawei!
I've since changed my router to one with more easily accessible sockets and both antennas work reliably on that (It's a Teltonika RUT950)

daveyjoe

niallb wrote: »

Are the plugs screwed in tightly?

Hmmm, it's as tight as I can get it by hand. Do you reckon it's worth getting my hands on some small pliers, would it really make a difference?

smuggler.ie

Position of the antenna play big for the signal.
Don't think someone experience can be taken as standard/benchmark - that many variables in each case.
I personally have my modem located in certain place and at certain angle toward mast - 1/5 inch turn off this angle or move either direction reduces signal dramatically. It was days of trial for me to get modem to right place.
Try different location/angle

Not familiar with Huawei B525 interface - you might need manually select external antenna in settings?

daveyjoe

Ten Pin wrote: »

Something like this (don't know how reliable it is).

No, something more like this: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-wifi-routers,review-2498.html

niallb

daveyjoe wrote: »

Hmmm, it's as tight as I can get it by hand. Do you reckon it's worth getting my hands on some small pliers, would it really make a difference?

When you're tightening it, are your fingers able to fit comfortably around the collar of the plug, or is it already under the surface of the router?
If you've been thinking that's as tight as i can get it with the tips of my fingernail, then maybe this is worth pursuing! If not, then it's something else.
As @smuggler.ie said, try different orientations on the antenna - the stronger the amplification, the more directional they are likely to be. Take it outside where you can turn it around completely to find the best angle and match that as best you can indoors.

On the Huawei model I had, the sockets were completely recessed under a pop off panel. The second antenna I bought had what looked like two biro barrels that slipped over the plugs and allowed you to screw/unscrew them from about 5cm away.

If you're seeing a serious change in signal, then it's likely that the device is using the other antenna, but are you also moving the router? If you only get 3Mb with the external antenna attached, what speed do you get with the antenna unplugged in the same place?

daveyjoe

niallb wrote: »

If you only get 3Mb with the external antenna attached, what speed do you get with the antenna unplugged in the same place?

If I switch to internal antennas then I'm getting about 13Mbps on the window sill.

Thanks for your other tips, I'll do some experimenting.

daveyjoe

Tightened up the external SMA connectors today and unfortunately didn't make a difference.

ED E

It's likely a focus issue, also remember it's vertically polarized so dont mount it "rotated".

daveyjoe

ED E wrote: »

It's likely a focus issue, also remember it's vertically polarized so dont mount it "rotated".

I currently have it mounted in the orientation shown in the photo below, is this correct?



Does it matter whether it's the "front" or "back" that is pointing in the direction of the nearest mast?

daveyjoe

The strange thing is that my upload speed is actually better using the external antenna but my download is much worse.

The modem also reports only one bar (sometimes 2) of 4g using internal antenna and 3 bars of 4g using external antenna but download speed is still performing much worse.

adm

daveyjoe wrote: »

The strange thing is that my upload speed is actually better using the external antenna but my download is much worse.

The modem also reports only one bar (sometimes 2) of 4g using internal antenna and 3 bars of 4g using external antenna but download speed is still performing much worse.

Did you try reinstating your old setup and did it still work?

I have a similar setup (to your new setup) but I am on eir.

Before the new year I was getting 20-25Mbit

But now it is down around 1Mbit and is slightly better on 3G.

I am living in Mayo so I am really hoping the storm may have done some damage or something and that it will be fixed (though they tell me no)

So basically can you definitely rule out an issue with the 4G network in your area?

daveyjoe

adm wrote: »

Did you try reinstating your old setup and did it still work?

Yes. Today I was trying various different positions using the external and internal antennas. Currently using internal antenna and getting about 7Mbps down and 2Mbps up right now (I get about twice that during the day). One thing I've noticed is that the router goes to 4G+ during downloads, so perhaps the issue is that the external antenna doesn't support 4G+ (LTE Advanced) and that is why I'm getting worse speeds with the external antenna?

ED E

daveyjoe wrote: »

The strange thing is that my upload speed is actually better using the external antenna but my download is much worse.

The modem also reports only one bar (sometimes 2) of 4g using internal antenna and 3 bars of 4g using external antenna but download speed is still performing much worse.

That sounds like maybe you're hitting a more distant and busier cell.

daveyjoe

ED E wrote: »

That sounds like maybe you're hitting a more distant and busier cell.

CELL_ID is the same.

adm

daveyjoe wrote: »

CELL_ID is the same.

How are you getting this info? I would like to take a look at this stuff myself.
Is it from the router? I can't see it anywhere.

daveyjoe

On the Huawei b525 it's in Settings > System > Device Information.