Single or 2 15dbi mimo antennas is there a difference?

[Macusers]

700-2700MHz 15dBi Cellular 5G 4G LTE Directional Antenna (Linear ± 45°) N Female Connector
$88.75

High Power Wide Band Multi-carrier Cellular 5G 4G LTE Directional Antenna



700-2700MHz HIGH POWER 15dBi 2x MIMO Cellular 5G 4G LTE Directional Antenna (+45°/-45°) N Female Connectors

$155.00

High Power Wide Band Multi-Carrier Cellular 5G 4G LTE 2×2 MIMO Flat Panel Directional Antenna

thewirelesshaven has 2 options for there 15dbi antenna. One has it broken up into 2 antennas and 1 that is built in with both. One is obviously easier to install but is there an advantage or disadvantage on buying 2 or 1 with it built in. Will one give me better signal and speeds over the other? If there is no difference then one is slightly cheaper. This will be used with a nighthawk m5 router with Mimo. Wanted to know if there is much of a difference.

Thanks
Macuser

[mtl26637]

IMO, 2 is better than one, however, if both antenna's are identical then i'd guess the combined antenna would be very similar. Having 2 singles you could spread them out or point in slightly different directions for 'better' diversity but I wouldn't think you would gain much. I guess it all depends on your signal too, if you have decent signal already then I'd it be more convenient to go with combined unit. Been researching antenna's/design/LTE/RF pretty extensively lately and have come to the conclusion that best case scenario are to avoid 'wide bandwidth' antennas and look for single antennas that are tightened down in your specific bands you are connecting to but that taking things further than typical users will need to do. The wide bandwidth antennas work over a wide range, however, the gains are lower across the entire covered spectrum.

Just an fyi for anyone else curious or looking, I've also been through my fair share of different types and styles of antennas (cheap and pricey). It's a pretty safe bet that if you stick with The Wireless Haven store you are purchasing what I would consider quality antennas. Some of the cheap ones out there are just that and severely inflate their claims to gain. Not trying to say there aren't good ones out there, but it can be a risk to take if you don't know them or the brand already. LOL, no affiliation to the site either, just based on personal observation.

What carrier are you planning to go with? We may be able to further suggest based on what typical bands that provider uses if you don't know them already or cellmapper is a good place to know which bands certain carriers have available in your area too.

On final note, I purchased a couple of the "AD 1DP727L15 NF" couple years ago and am very pleased with quality and gain even though they are wideband.

[Adm1jtg]

Just be carful when you read something that says 15db or whatever rating as on a multiband antnna the db rating is usually for the highest frequency of the antenna. Using the model above as an example its ONLY 15db gain at 2700mhz at something more in the LTE spectrum like 2100 (band 4,66) its about 11 or 12 db or so and at 700 mhz its about 8 or 9db if I recall. Its all on the charts just be aware all companies always list the highest possible gain but at the highest frequency so if you use a lower frequency band like 700mhz (band 12,13,17)or 850mhz (band 2,5) your gain will be substantially lower then the advertised number.

[Macusers]

I’m using Verizon and its locking on b66. My speeds are between 3 and 5 on downloads and 1 to 2 on uploads with a weboost Yargi antenna on the outside. Also at times it’s switching to 5G as well. Not sure if that is n261.

Thanks
Macuser

[Adm1jtg]

You mean like one of these:

https://www.weboost.com/products/314411

I started with one of these and then purchased a second one to run in mimo config. They are SLIGHTLY worse then the The Wireless Haven ones, at least on paper, but also can be found for about $50 each.

Would be curious what @mtl26637 thinks of them since he obviously has much more expierence in antennas then I do. I put my entire system together during early covid so my choices were extremely limited (The Wireless Haven was closed), but honestly I dont think there is enough difference between the wilsons and the The Wireless Haven antennas for me to buy new antennas and go back up on the roof and aim new antennas. Hard to read the specs directly on the The Wireless Haven ones but at 2100 (band 4/66) it appears to be about an 11-12db gain at the most and the wilsons CLAIM 10.5db, the upload gain will obviously be less on both as thats around 1800mhz if I recall properly.

[mtl26637]

Lucky you! Vzw 5G isn't that wide spread from what I know around my parts but anxiously waiting on that as it will be my next go-to setup. No too familiar with the M5 but on the older MR1100 you had the ability to enable telnet and could log into and run some AT commands to show CA aggregated bands to get a better idea of your target signals. Depends on how far you want to go with it but in a location that has vzw 5G enabled I would think your speeds should be capable of 100's of megabits in the download. Vzw sub 6ghz (FR1) frequency ranges are n2, n5, n66 which equates to ~850Mhz or 1700-2100Mhz ranges so your typical LTE antennas should be able to do the job fairly well. It not like the Tmob main 5G band which is 600mhz and most LTE antennas don't have very good gain down that far.

[mtl26637]

I too have one of the linked wilsons and was fairly happy with its performance. Unfortunately it was one of my first purchases and is located up past my 'climb limit' on my outside antenna so not much testing was done with it, lol. I did have good luck with it on ATT setup for what its worth.

Might keep note that if the M5 is anything like the MR1100, it has 2 external antenna connection ports (TS9) but does not have all 4 ports so it would at best use 2 external and 2 internal antennas. That being said it did show when comparing overall signal connections from say the MR1100 vs. a 4 antenna port modem with 4 external antenna connections (ultimately not exactly sure how the M5 has its RF frontend configured and when the 2 external ports are enabled if any internal antennas are disabled or even used?). Then again, I would assume if you were to use 2 of any of the aforementioned antennas discussed combined with the 2 internal antennas of the M5 you should see ^100mbps I would assume. But it does ultimately depend on how far away the tower is and how much a a 'line of site' you may have.

BTW, I'm assuming the M5 is similiar to the MR1100, please correct me if i'm mistaken. Last I looked I thought it was similiar but may be confusing modems.

If you can, post what info on your signal stats you have access to. It might help in deciding how much extra uumph you may need to get the results that modem is capable of.

[Macusers]

I looked up the cell tower it’s less than a mile but it’s through heavy woods. It’s showing bands 5, 13 and 66. Are any of those 5G bands? Not sure what constitutes 5G but my router switches from lte to 5G. Hope that helps.

Thanks
Macusers

[mtl26637]

I looked up the cell tower it’s less than a mile but it’s through heavy woods. It’s showing bands 5, 13 and 66. Are any of those 5G bands? Not sure what constitutes 5G but my router switches from lte to 5G. Hope that helps.

Thanks
Macusers

Close proximity is a MAJOR plus for sure. Woods is gonna be the biggest obsticle. Done some quick looking at datasheet for M5 (MR5200) and it looks like 5G bands n2 and n66 are out so if you are seeing 5G intermittent connection I would put my money on that its band n5 (850Mhz). I'm actually kinda surprised that you aren't seeing better speeds with a single external antenna and being within 1 mile from tower. Possible to go higher vertically with external antenna(s)? Might try some late night speedtests to see if congestion is playing a role?

In my area vzw loves to use LTE band 66 as their primary LTE anchor band that is if your signal is strong enough to latch on to it. Weaker signals will latch on to B2 or B13 if B66 is too weak. I would guess with a stronger solid signal you will see your LTE bands being B66 (1700-2200mhz) as your primary anchor and B5 (800-900Mhz) and B13 (~750Mhz) as your CA bands and possibly/hopefully n5 as your 5G band when operating in EN-DC mode. If you go with 2 external antenna setup you have the option to either go with 2 wideband antennas to 'catch-all' and let the modem decide whats best or if you knew more about the RF front end of the modem you could get 1 external for the lower bands (750-900Mhz) and the 2nd external for the (1700-2200Mhz) to get more overall gain to the modem. Since the antenna frequency-port mapping on that modem is probably a mystery it may be safe to just go with 2 wideband for now.

Been on a role today! Sorry for all the rambling, lol.

[Macusers]

I’ve looked into sending my m5 to Britain to add 3 additional SMA ports. I think they charge like a 150 to modify it. I found it on eBay by typing in nighthawk m5 modification. Below is the info. Not sure if this would help any.

The modification will give you 5x external antenna connections (4x 4G and 1x 5G).
This converts the internal 4G & 5G antennas for external use and allows you to attach external antennas to your router that wouldn’t have external inputs as standard
Some routers as standard have 2 external antenna inputs, however they only allow for 2x antennas. Due to the nature of 5G NSA (see below for more information on 5G types) 5G still needs a 4G signal before it can negotiate a 5G link. As the router is reliant on the 4G internal antennas weak signal to obtain 5G link it can struggle to negotiate a 5G link.

Other benefits to having your router modified:
Allows you to connect 5G antennas
Allows you to connect 4G antennas
Allows you to boost your speeds using 4x4 MIMO on 4G
Allows you to aggregate 4G and 5G speeds combined to boost speeds
Allows for carrier aggression on 4G (use multiple frequencies at once) boosting speeds
Increases signal, improving its speeds
Increases latency/ping
Increases stability and downtime

[Macusers]

I should of mentioned that I’m using an m5 mr5100 which doesn’t support b13.

[Adm1jtg]

Well I can only speak on verizon 4g but in my case the strongest signal is 13, the signal my router would pick by default is 5 and the best band for actual use is 66.

My situtation is heavy trees, mountains and a the closest line of site tower is over 6 iles away.
66 is still best but the only way to get it is to bandlock to 66. Luckily with my modem EP06-A band 66 can CA to itself so I connect to band 66 (20 mhz) and when needed it will CA to band 66 (10mhz)

@mtl26637 did you see my question about the wilson antenna?

[Macusers]

You mean like one of these:

https://www.weboost.com/products/314411

I started with one of these and then purchased a second one to run in mimo config. They are SLIGHTLY worse then the The Wireless Haven ones, at least on paper, but also can be found for about $50 each.

Yes it’s very similar but I think my we boost is a 75ohms yargi. I connected RG6 cable from the antenna to the weboost to an internal antenna. Covers 5000 sq ft. I might of used the wrong cabling and not realized it. But I have 4 green lights on the unit and it is boosting the bars to full bars.

[Macusers]

Is there a company in the United States that can modify the m5??? Don’t want to ship out to another country.

[Adm1jtg]

ok yeah i think i remember this now from earlier in this thread. Since you already have a 75 ohm booster and its working I would do like I have in my home and have 2 seperate systems.

A booster for phone use (use your 75 ohm booster system)
A router for internet, in my case a wg3526 with an EP06-A
I have a total of 3 antennas on the roof, one for the booster and 2 in a mimo config for the internet router

This allows me to make clear phone calls via the booster with a backup method of calling via wifi calling and also gives me some minor redundency by allowing my phone full internet access though the booster in case the internet router goes down or has issues. Each system can partially backup the other.

[Macusers]

So I decided to go with the single antenna with 2 Mimo connections built on it. But i did have an installation question. The cell tower is less than a 1/2 mile away in heavy woods. Would i see much of a difference in speed if I mounted the unit in an attic or outside? The height will be about equal in the attic or outside. This cottage was built in the 50s with aluminum siding.

Thanks
Macusers

[Didneywhorl]

So I decided to go with the single antenna with 2 Mimo connections built on it. But i did have an installation question. The cell tower is less than a 1/2 mile away in heavy woods. Would i see much of a difference in speed if I mounted the unit in an attic or outside? The height will be about equal in the attic or outside. This cottage was built in the 50s with aluminum siding.

Thanks
Macusers

I would say that you would "technically" see a difference, but in practice a that distance its worth testing. It should work great inside the attic as long as you don't have a radiant barrier foil coating on the underside of the roof decking, and assuming you don't also have metal roofing.

[Macusers]

So I was able to finally install the antenna today. I placed the unit in the attic with 30ft of LMR 400 with a 6 inch ts9 adapter. Im not seeing any difference in speed with the unit connected or not. Not sure if im doing something wrong. Im using an m5 5100 pro. The cell tower is less than a 1/2 mile away. I expected to see some increase. Not sure what is wrong. Is there power that i have to connect to this antenna? Not sure how to tell if its on. Im using verizon with bands 5 and 66. Any help would be appreciated. I purchased the signal antenna with 2 mimo outputs.

Thanks
Macuser

[Macusers]

I di have ine question. Does this unit have to be mounted a special way? I have it mounted squarly and not at a 45 degree.

[Didneywhorl]

Typically 45 degrees like a diamond.

Look at speeds last. You should be looking at signal strength and quality. Antennas should get you better signal strength, which can get you better speeds, but the key metric is signal strength and signal quality (low or high RF noise on the signal).

Do you have a strong signal, and noise free? That is the place to look first. Is there foil "radiant barrier" on the bottom of your attic roof decking? Are you mounting the antennas near high voltage lines or equipment? These things can block signal and lower your quality of signal causing terrible network performance. The only way to know is to find these metrics in your devices UI.

I'm not familiar with the M5 to know where to look for this.

[rickmilles]

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[Macusers]

There is a lava 8008 tv antenna and weboost antenna for cell boost on the same side. Would that affect it? These 2 units are both outside.

[Didneywhorl]

The cellular antennas can effect your TV and the TV Might effect certain bands. You may want to space them 2 wavelengths apart to be safe. Look up the lowest frequency (Which is the physically widest wave) of your TV antenna, then search the webz for the actual wavelength of that frequency.

Like 700MHz is 42.83cm (Approx 1.4 feet .. but make sure to double that so say 3' apart for 700MHz): https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wavelength+of ... &ia=answer