Congestion throttling and maximum DL

[deepfringe]

Does improved signal strength increase DL during congestion throttling? Here's an example. With AT&T as my provider I find DL speeds reduced during peak times by about 40% compared to very early morning hours, given similar signal quality. So at 5AM DL averages 20mpbs and midday DL is about 12.

I think there is lots of improvement possible if I upgrade to larger antennas and upgrade to MIMO. I think I can achieve 40mpbs between the two upgrades, at least at 5AM. My question is what happens at the midday peak? Would I be reduced by 40% to 24mpbs or would I still be stuck at 12 as I now am without upgrading?

The algorithm applied by the service providers is probably more complicated than these two scenarios, but maybe the general idea applies. Another way to phrase it is does AT&T reduce the bandwidth based on mpbs transmitted, or on mpbs actually consumed? The answer would determine whether the upgrade would be worth the time and money.

[MattB29]

Interesting question. One thing I have noted is congestion can be related to the band you are receiving /transmitting on. So a better antenna that gives you a less congested band (or CA) you may see a different result. Take for instance Band 12 for AT&T. This is 700mhz which means it can be transmitted further and through obstacles easier. Thus more people can connect with it. More people connected means more likely congestion.

I have seen this in practice when I added a external mimo antenna last week and was able to get Band 2 instead of the Band 12 I had before. My speeds are about double that of Band 12 even during congested times over what I had before (however my upload speeds are poor with it). I am still in the process of deciding if it was worth doing the new antenna.

Better antennas may even mean that you can connect to a less congested tower. Your mileage may vary.

[deepfringe]

That's a possibility, locking onto a different tower/band with higher-gain antennas. I can receive from other towers and bands as it is, but the lower signal quality with those makes comparison difficult.

[websiteperson]

Same predicament here. Local tower, band 2 gave me 9 down / 12 up, while a tower more than twice as far, on band 66, gave me 41 down / 2 up (tested immediately after switching the band). This was with just my phone. Band locking + Carrier aggregation is awesome.

My local tower doesn't do CA on band 2, but does on band 13 (700mhz), but it's still slow because it only has 10mhz available - probably 5 allocated for DL & 5 for UL.

Can't wait to decide on, and get, a good modem to test using external antennas!

Definitely test out different towers. Find out what bands each one has, and you may be able to lock onto one without upgrading antenna(s). Two (or even four) antennas vs one would definitely help, though