Sprint Signal Improvement Connection

[silverfang22]

I apologize if I am posting in the wrong forum but I am new to the world of LTE modems and routers. We traveled for a year and our basic MiFi worked but I recently found out about Calyx due to the fact that our new home does not have any available cabled internet providers and I really don't want to go to HughesNet. I received my Mifi8000 from Calyx but I guess my wife's iPhone has a better connection because I am bouncing between 1 and two bars and only getting speeds of about 1 MB down and barely any KB up. So my question is would it be possible to get a We826 and put some sort of antenna outside that can connect to it? Would it just be better than the 8000? I am understanding I may not be able to get up to the 100MB a second but I just want to get a bit better signal and tried reading through posts but can't seem to find anything that seems to make sense to me. I am a tech by trade but desktop is my world, signals and mapping cell towers is not my thing. Any advice for this novice would be appreciated.

TLDR: New to the LTE modem world. Will a WE826 help improve signal strength over a Mifi8000 for sprint or is there a better option for signal increase for a novice to understand and install?

[Didneywhorl]

I believe the mifi8000 has 2 ts9 connector antennae ports on its side.

You may be better off getting a set of ts9 to sma adapters, a pair of low loss LMR400 coax cables with sma connectors on one end and type N connectors on the opposite end, then a robust wide band (600ish to 2700ish Mhz) high gain (atleast6 or 8dbi, higher is generally better) omni-directional antenna.

You could get directional antennas if you knew you had relative straight line to your cell tower, but omnis are pretty inexpensive and simpler to set up.

All this is available on the thewirelesshaven.com store. I would also search through the Wireless Joint facebook group. Its a very active group, and a trove of info.

[Didneywhorl]

.....atleast as a starting point.

[silverfang22]

Thanks for the feedback. I don't see any antenna connections in back or side. Main issue now is the unit has died on me. Not sure what happened but going to work with MobileCitizen to figure out if they will fix or provide a new one.

I have been digging a bit deeper down the rabbit hole of information and I am teetering on going all in or keeping it simple. i have a few options in that I finally figured out CellMapper.net and found my towers. There are a couple of band 41 and a couple band within a couple miles of my property. Being in a valley of sorts it is hard to say what direction to point is best if I were to get a directional. I was debating on paying for the cell tower mapping. I also was playing with the idea of mounting the antenna up the hill behind my house and running cables back to the house but I am not sure if I would need to have some sort of booster to power the line back to a router in the house or if I should get one of the AirMaster 4000 setup where the modem is in the antenna then I just need to get the signal back to my router in my house. There are so many options and I am worried I am going to start going down the wrong path. I am trying to read through posts and I get more and more lost on what options are the best and where to start on decision making. I will continue reading through FAQs and Guides to see if I can figure out a good logic path to help me decide best routes to go.

[Didneywhorl]

Finding tower strength is important and usually comes down to your own experimentation.

I personally prefer the method of mounting the modem inside an antennas enclosure, or a separate watertight enclosure, with VERY short antenna cables ran to the antennas. Use PoE to power it over a high quality LAN cable (outdoor rated cat6A or "better"). This limits losses on higher frequencies, like B41, and is very very versatile.
I made a tutorial on my specific setup (search my name under antenna tutorials), and have since upgraded it to include a second mimo panel antenna and cat20 modem.

I highly suggest NOT running long lengths of antenna cabling for these home modem systems. Boosters seem to also boost noise and cause their own issues, as well as their usually high cost.

PoE can be achieved without special PoE routers, though some good options exist, by purchasing an inexpensive poe splitter and injector. Just make sure your routers/modems power needs are met safely.

[silverfang22]

I stand corrected, there are external antenna connections, didn't realize they are behind the plastic plugs. I will look into an omni directional antenna to start and hope it improves my one bar.