Wireless Joint

Folks,

I've been reading the forum for quite some time and have my first question. First some background: I live in a rural area in Virginia and am about five miles away from the only cellphone tower in the area. It is hilly with lots of trees and I do not have line of sight to the tower. Sprint and ATT are on the tower. I have an unlimited ATT data plan that is no longer offered.

A couple months ago I purchased a WG3526 router, flashed it to GoldenOrb and installed a Sierra Wireless MC7455 modem. The MC7455 is flashed to the latest Generic firmware. I have the modem set so it only connects on LTE (AT!BAND=09). I have one Cisco 4G-LTE-ANTM-D antenna connected to the MAIN antenna port on the MC7455 modem. The router/modem work great and I get anywhere from 5Mbps - 20Mbps down. There is only one ATT LTE band on the tower: B12. I usually have a signal strength of 38% - 51%.

My question is: Do I need to run another antenna connected to the AUX antenna port on the MC7455? If so, what benefit will a second antenna provide?

Thanks.

Eric

Hello,
Think you are saying that you only have one antenna hooked to this thing?

You can read and watch videos online about mimo which is what that second antenna will do.

I personally have seen mimo double download speeds compared to one antennas.
That was using outside directional antennas when went from one to two antennas.
Not only faster speeds but better general connection as well.

gscheb,

Correct, I have only one antenna connected to the Sierra Wireless MC7455 card. It is connected to the MAIN antenna port. I will try connecting another antenna to the AUX antenna port and see if it makes any changes in signal strength or download speed.

Eric

If you use two antennas, you will want them to be a matched pair. Just an fyi.

Folks,

Just to follow up, I connected a second Cisco 4G-LTE-ANTM-D antenna to the AUX port on the MC7455. It is spaced about 30" from the main antenna. I see no difference in signal speed and download speed. I'll stick with one antenna for simplicity. Thanks!

Eric