Standalone amplifiers, do they exist? Going for tmobile - 7.2 miles from tower, elevation loss of 50ft.

[cagordon1985]

So looking at tmobile (see it on B4 and B71 using a crapo app) now, got verizon up and going. I see ATT also. (B2)

So for Tmobile or ATT, it is going to take some elevation but possible. I have a 60ft antenna break over mast. So I can achieve this. My concerns are antenna selection, also where in the heck does one find a stand alone amp? Everything seems to combo?

I am also confused about this band 71 coming in, when I am in the hole/at my place I only get band 71. Once i get on the hill top it is band 2 and showing 5g on my phone. By the tower likewise band 2.

Using band 2 I have achieved 500mbps in town by the tower and 110mbps up the hill by my place. Using band 71 down in the hole at my place I am getting 5.5mbps.

I have been reading about this, but my problem. Apparently my reading comprehension isn't that great, because half the time I buy the wrong stuff or too much.

So for my experienced friends, I am assuming I want to go for band 2, I assume when I am getting 110-500mbps carrier agg is involved?

For my antenna setup, I want to go 2x2 mimo or 4x4 mimo? Also what is the max run of coax I should go for? Is 50-60ft fine or should I keep it under 40ft? I've read the modem should handle CA and band selection? I am worried about not having enough antennas to replicate what this samsung s20 can do on the hill.

I assume I should hold on the amplifier until I have antennas and a modem going... (Must control bi polar ocd buying)

Though I would like some pointers towards stand alone amps if anyone knows of any. Or DIY builds.

Feel free to PM me also. This is going to be an extended project, I found out the fiber run coming to my place is held up due to protected species conservation. SO, time to learn learn learn about this goldmine of wireless happieness.


TLDR:

What modem for tmobile band 2 5g/maybe fake 5g and really 4g? (Have saw 110-500mbps on it with my s20)

What router would you suggest? (I have a feeling its going to be the WE Didneywhorl suggested)

What antenna config for this tmobile band 2? (I'm assuming 2x2 because my distance? Or am I assuming wrong?)

What is the max run of coax I should use? I would like to go for 60ft, to achieve elevation, however I've read 40ft is suggested max. How to mitigate this and get 60ft in the air?

Where do stand alone amplifiers for band 2, 4, 13 exist?

[cagordon1985]

Also I am reading all over the forum, Sometimes it's just better being told. I do realize many post have popped these exact questions.

Also I think I owe thewirelesshaven.com this order... Unless for some reason we run into something I have to source elsewhere.

[gscheb]

Hello
Band 71 is lower frequency so it travel farther and penetrates things better. That is why you get it farther away.
Band 2 is higher frequency than band 71.
Yes band 2 is going to be typically faster than band 71.
You can do longer runs of cable if you have quality cable.
How are you testing all this stuff?Is it on a phone?
Have you tried to see if you can ge TMobile home internet?
And forget about boosters. Don't do well with getting LTE. Way better off with just antenna right to the modem.

[Dr-BroadBand]

PoE.png

The long cable runs make me a little nervous there is a cost in loss signal and a $$cost.
Would think about a PoE setup.

Getting a modem and a SIM working would be Step-1.
Antennas & cable runs can be a little tricky.
For CA with 2x2 or 4x4 and long cable runs can get messy

See what Didneywhorl is got going on looks very ingenious.
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16

[Dr-BroadBand]

Would start out simple and add complexity as needed, 7miles is not that hard to get a signal

Here is another example of a PoE setup

[Dr-BroadBand]

Your s20 is a very nice modem!!

Snapdragon X55 5G Modem
5G Technology: 5G NR FDD, 5G NR TDD, SA, NSA[19]
5G Spectrum: mmWave, sub-6 GHz, 5G/4G spectrum sharing
5G Modes: FDD, TDD, SA (standalone), NSA (non-standalone)
5G mmWave specs: 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2x2 MIMO
5G sub-6 GHz specs: 200 MHz bandwidth, 4x4 MIMO
5G Peak Download Speed: 7500 Mbit/s
5G Peak Upload Speed: 3000 Mbit/s
5G RF: 100 MHz envelope tracking, Adaptive antenna tuning
Performance Enhancement Technologies: Qualcomm 5G PowerSave, Qualcomm Signal Boost, Qualcomm Smart Transmit technology, Qualcomm RF Gaming Mode Boost, Qualcomm Wideband Envelope Tracking
LTE Technology: LTE FDD, LTE TDD including CBRS support, LAA, LTE Broadcast
Cellular Technology: WCDMA (DB-DC-HSDPA, DC-HSUPA), TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE
Downlink LTE: LTE Category 22 (2500 Mbit/s). 7x20 MHz carrier aggregation. Maximum 24 spatial streams. Up to 1024--QAM. Up to 4x4 MIMO on five carriers, Full-Dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO)
Uplink LTE: LTE Category 13 (316 Mbit/s). 3x20 MHz carrier aggregation. Up to 256-QAM
TSMC 7nm FinFET process
Chipsets: Snapdragon X55 5G Modem

[cagordon1985]

I agree. I need to start with a basic setup and sim. See where that takes me before going all out.

I do have ec25-af, ep06-a and 7455. Two spitz to test on. Yagis with be here Tuesday and I can start basic band 2 and 4 testing.

Should grab a USB to pcie... have several old routers with USB laying around. (Archer c7)

I'll get some prepaid att and TMobile sims to start. Would work for proof of concept anyways.

It's just so freaking fun haha.

[gscheb]

Got to make sure your antennas get the frequency you are wanting to pull in. Band 2 is 1900 MhZ I believe. I have had good luck with mimo parabolic and longer runs on cable for higher frequency bands. The dbi gain is higher on those. The Wireless Haven did sell these at one time.
Here is a long post about them.
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=24 ... t=30#p2667

[cagordon1985]

I think we just done business gscheb

[cagordon1985]

Just got a parabolic grid up very similar to the one in some of gschebs post. 2x mimo. 26db gain. 1700-2700mhz horn

Very similar to the one in those posts.

Just wow..

Using a wg3526. Ec160r-gl. 2x 50ft low loss 240 runs.

Hitting 45mbps down. 15 Mbps up. 50ms ping. 2 Ms jitter. 0.0% packet loss. Over several consecutive tests.

Just a 4G single B2 connection. Not showing any CA.

Impressed at performance over the $35 plastic covered 700-2700mhz 2x mimo yagis.

Next week hopefully I get to test on the TMobile Gateway and the RM502Q-AE.

Again thank you all for the pointers.

[mtl26637]

Next week hopefully I get to test on the TMobile Gateway and the RM502Q-AE.

Very interested on how this turns out for you. Still no luck here with exact setup and tower at 3miles. Just can't seem to get a good enough signal on bands 66/n71 to get the 5G speeds that are there. Let us know how it turns out..

[Dr-BroadBand]

Would try to move your setup 0.0 miles from the tower to test to make sure
the problem is the signal and not the modem or SIM

[Ltebnb4]

From what I understand N71 5G is slower than some higher frequency LTE bands however it’s faster than low band LTE like band 12/17 & 13. ^so that would explain your speeds. from what I could find out N71 has a theoretical max of 226mbps hf LTE is similar around 200mbps for single bands and band 12 has a theoretical max of 38 on T-Mobile and slightly higher on att. I’ve achieved 34 mbps with band 12 around 5 miles away from tower no line of sight using dual amplifiers (not inline used dual indoor/outdoor antennas).

-To answer your question yes there are stand alone amplifiers for sale, but I have only found them on eBay.
-People on this forum have told me to stay away from amplifiers and just use antennas which is good money saving advice, esp because you would have to buy multiple to achieve mimo and make it worth your while... also most boosters do not amplify the frequencies you would want(band 12 is slow AF besides n71 you want to use higher frequency bands) However from my testing achieving basically theoretical max from miles away I know amplifiers can do the job and have their place in set ups. This was also using cheap amplifiers not fancy thousand dollar ones so I don’t think you need to break the bank to do the job
-if you do get an amplifier try out the cheap ones on eBay first, I’ve seen ones that have 20dB gain covering 600-6000mhz going for ~50$, would also future proof you if T-Mobile adds n41 mid band which is really fast ppl on T-Mobile isp Reddit regularly get 200-400mbps down
-another option would be phonetone 5G ready amplifier with 65db of gain (afaik it doesn’t seem to cover 5G frequencies besides n71 600mhz but it does amplify high frequency LTE and includes the 2300mhz band which most don’t)
- like others have said if you are getting good signal at the top of your mast I would avoid amplifiers and just place modem up there if possible. Then put it in bride mode and run an Ethernet cable down bc they can run 300ft with a lossless connection, if you need more than 300ft of run to your house there is also ptp air fiber or really expensive Ethernet cable that is able to support longer runs.

[Ltebnb4]

As far as antennas from everything I have read the maximum gain you can achieve is with a parabolic dish. I haven’t seen any of these for sale, besides a huawei antenna that is designed to fit on an old satellite dish with claims of 30dB gain. Thing about grid parabolic is they do not provide an even gain across frequencies... 24db longer ranger is actually 14-24db gain...

[Adm1jtg]

The thing about antennas is the more gain they have the harder they are to correctly aim. With the cheap plastic yagis that kinda look like a white flag you can aim within like 70 degrees of the tower with a parabolic its usually more like 12 degrees. Check the specs on the individual antennas.

Also if you are in an area that has "interference" like trees or mountains sometimes the cheap yagis work better as that added flexibility in aiming can actually capture bounced and reflected signals as well.

In my own personal situtation I got better results from 2 cheap yagi's in a mimo config (angeled 45 degress and all) then I did with a huge grid antenna or even a high end LPDA one.