Help Desperately Needed - Hotspot + Band Locking

[Snuffles]

Hi folks,
I am completely new to the forum, which I stumbled across while trying to find a solution to my endless issues searching for any useable internet in a rural area (TX).

The Story So Far (Feel free to skip backstory and jump to question):
I needed to switch carriers and went with Visible, as I liked the price and the 'unlimited' hotspot. Visible runs on the Verizon network and initially I was using a Pixel 5. Upon using this phone, with a few Network Cell Info tests, I realised that the horrific internet speeds I was experiencing (around 0.1mbs) were all down to this one, god awful tower that uses band 13. I threw close to $300 on all kinds of 'cell signal boosting' equipment,a long range antenna, a band 13 yagi + booster, a band 66 yagi + booster. After some reading and testing, my goal was to try to boost the much faster band 66 signal, so my phone would use that by default. Unfortunately, I could not get any of this to work.

After that failure, I read about samsung phones having a band selection app. So I threw more money on an S21 Ultra, downloaded the app and when I was at home I could lock into bands 66 & 2. Despite a weak signal, my speeds were way up, between 5-10mbs. All was well for nearly 2 months, then there was an OS update, which took away the hidden menu and thus broke the app. The response from Samsung showed that this 'feature' is never coming back.

Thinking about the "one spot" in the house that likes to connect to Band 66 around 75% of time, I have now purchased a Mifi 8800L and have just finished testing this sucessfully with a Visible sim. Unfortunately, the hotspot just looooves that band 13, even in my 'special' spot. I have managed to connect to band 66 or 2 once, briefly (I could tell because the signal dropped to 1 bar and i had 9mbs speeds), but the rest of the time this thing has not moved from the terrible band 13 tower...

Question:
Okay, so after spending an amount of money I do not want to think about so far, I am looking for any suggestions for me to be able to use the Verizon network, with a Visible sim, AND have the ability to use band selection. I do not need 5G (we do not even have it here). I do not really need an antenna (Possibly user error, but I have had no luck with that stuff). Ideally, I would like any solution to be cheap and cheerful.

I have read through a bunch of stuff on this forum and honestly, I'm a fairly smart guy, but all of stuff is so new to me it is flying way over my head!

Hopefully some of you guys can point me in the right direction of some cheap equipment, and maybe a guide to locking bands on said equipment.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

[Didneywhorl]

Simplest setup at the lowest price for a new setup, based on your question: https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/route ... -and-play/

[Snuffles]

You're a star! I'll look into it, thanks so much for your help

[RockyinNM]

what is your budget? cheapest is not always best! LOVE Richard at the wirelesshaven--also ck out this site-they are connected with this one-- (https://www.facebook.com/groups/LTE.HACKS/)''

I like this router, (https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/route ... go-bundle/) have Richard build it for U=-with a Quectel CAT16 EM160R-GL--make sure it is fully MIMO

just saying

[Snuffles]

Thanks for the suggestions, this site has really helped me research and get a handle on what is required. I have learned a bunch of things about why my attempts to use antennas / signal boost etc have failed so miserably in the past.

Before I dive in and spend more money, I will be looking over the youtube channel more (wasn't even aware of this until now!), make sure I more accurately pinpoint the tower I want to connect to, use better quality cables, as I have been trying to boost the high frequency bands with 50ft of RG6 and a splitter... Then, finally choose a router that will allow for 4G / cell band selection / locking.

Up until this point I just expected the things I have purchased to work, with not much thought other than pointing an antenna in the general direction of the tower I wanted to connect to. Because my aim has never been to gain 'supersonic' speeds, just something that is actually functional (this 0.1 - 0.4mbs deal quickly burns away the soul), I didn't believe heavy research was needed to improve my situation. But, I was very wrong about that!