Mofi4500 Sim7

[zach98]

Hello,

I have been using the mofi4500 since march and have had no major issues. The one thing I am concerned about after reading through this form is my speeds and I'm looking to improve them.

To start I am using a Tmobile Sim bandlocked on band 12 with the following stats:

Operational Mode: FDD LTE (LTE BAND 12)
Registered on Network: YES
CSQ: 26
Signal Strength: 83%
RSSI: -61 dBm
ECIO: -9 (RSRQ) dB
RSRP: -85 (RSRP) dBm

Everything appears good my only issue is the bandwidth of 5mhz down/up. The only band with highers bandwidth is band 2 but it's signal strength is always something like-108... Now my question is what can I do to either speed up this band 2 or get higher mhz bands. I think I would need an antenna to solve these issue but I also saw that the cat4 modem is bad within the mofi. I'm willing to replace parts and get antennas just looking for recommended next steps. I appreciate it!

[Didneywhorl]

You've got decent signal, what are you speeds? Your likely to get no more than 20-25Mbps on any 5Mhz band. But those bands tend to be further reaching, therefore more favored by the modems.

[zach98]

I’m getting about 10-15 mbps down and about 2-4 up it works and the speeds are good enough just looking for faster speeds due to youtube tv and other streaming services as now we use those for tv and shows and it does have pretty poor quality at times

[gscheb]

Try band locking to band 2 and test speeds. 108 is not awesome signal but it is usable. Band 2 typically always out performs band 12. Is there a chance you could put the router in another location to get better signal for band 2? Is it currently near a window towards the tower? Do you happen to have two story home and can put it upstairs.
Near window towards tower to lock to band 2.
Please report back to let us know if band 2 is faster.

[zach98]

So after going around my house looking for the best spot on band 2 I got the following stats:

Operational Mode: FDD LTE (LTE BAND 2)
Registered on Network: YES
CSQ: 16
Signal Strength: 51%
RSSI: -81 dBm
ECIO: -12 (RSRQ) dB
RSRP: -108 (RSRP) dBm

Now for speeds I got 6-8 down and 2-3 up. Now I was able to find band 4 for the first time ever with 20mhz bandwidth but its signal strength was -122 and the speedtest wouldnt even work when I was bandlocked onto it.

[gscheb]

Ok
How much bandwidth is on band 2? Signal of -122 is like unusable so not surprised there. Refer to this chart.

Screenshot_20200423-013113.png

[zach98]

The bandwidth for band 2 is 10mhz

[gscheb]

Surprised that you get more out of band 2. Do you know anything about the towers? How many how far away and stuff? If you did just get a higher Cat modem in theory would at best just combine those two speeds together with Carrier Aggregation. If that is enough for you? If not might be time to start thinking outside antenna to get that Band 4.

[zach98]

Yeah kind of sucks... Now for the towers I have 2 nearby they are both about 2-3 miles away. There is another one that is 7 miles away. If I were to go the route of getting a higher CAT modem is there something you'd recommend? I know I saw a lot of information on here about modems and certain firmwares that are used just looking for the best option. I think at some point I'd like to get an antenna as well but that can probably wait would you have any recommendations for an antenna?

[gscheb]

Directional wide band antenna.
Use directional antenna so you can control what tower you connecting too.
Wide band so you can can connect to band 4, 2 and 12
Can you see these towers or is there trees and stuff in the way?

IF you have the ability to put up a antenna think that might be the best choice right now.

I am connect to band 2 signal of -99 and get good enough speeds out of it.

[zach98]

I can not see the towers as there is a big hill and some corn fields in between me and the tower. Now with that I know there is a certain length of wire and you’ll start to lose connection or signal strength dependent on that length how much wire do you have from your external antenna to your router?

[gscheb]

Mine currently has too much wire. Going to fix that down the road. What you do is look at the antenna you are looking at and the dbi gain. Then subtract the wire loss from that and will give you your theoretical gain.
This calculator will show you your loss with the wire.
https://www.timesmicrowave.com/Calculator

[Dr-BroadBand]

Since your are with T-Mobile is there b71 near you? b71 is what works best for me.