Rural broadband 4g 700mhz

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Rural broadband 4g 700mhz

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510 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1356995 2-Aug-2015 10:24

I've been using the internal aerial too for my tests today around the bay. However, at home here I have two wideband outdoor aerials connected, and have a choice of 700MHz 4G (weaker) or 900MHz 3G (stronger). With the speeds you are getting, it looks like you must be very close to the cellsite, so I don't expect an external aerial to make much difference, if any. If you make a note of the signal levels on the home page, with and without the external aerial, it will show you whether there is any benefit.

Given you are using 900Mhz I assume you are using 2Deg or Voda?

Its difficult to see true changes with the ext aerial as the modem does not provide any signal dB/numerical data (which I find ridiculous!), only the graphical signal strength indicator.

Was going to look for a different firmware to flash but there does not seem to be much out there for the B315

sbiddle

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#1357005 2-Aug-2015 10:39

Right now 700MHz (and LTE in general) coverage HAS to be fractionally worse, or at best mirror existing 3G or GSM coverage. All sorts of problems would start to occur if LTE was better than 3G since legacy services such as voice calling requires 3G fallback.

grant_k

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#1357016 2-Aug-2015 10:54

firefuze:
I've been using the internal aerial too for my tests today around the bay. However, at home here I have two wideband outdoor aerials connected, and have a choice of 700MHz 4G (weaker) or 900MHz 3G (stronger). With the speeds you are getting, it looks like you must be very close to the cellsite, so I don't expect an external aerial to make much difference, if any. If you make a note of the signal levels on the home page, with and without the external aerial, it will show you whether there is any benefit.

Given you are using 900Mhz I assume you are using 2Deg or Voda? Its difficult to see true changes with the ext aerial as the modem does not provide any signal dB/numerical data (which I find ridiculous!), only the graphical signal strength indicator. Was going to look for a different firmware to flash but there does not seem to be much out there for the B315

No, I'm using: Ultimate Broadband

Vodafone provide the network, but there are several other ISPs who resell the service together with their own offerings. In my experience with wireless internet going back as far as 2004, you get much better service from a smaller company than with one of the big guys.

Firmware for these routers is only released to telcos. It was the same for the 3 previous generations of router I've had since connecting to RBI in early 2012. Ultimate have been good at sending me updated versions as they became available. However, the early routers had a lot of issues whereas I'm not seeing any faults with the B315s. The only thing missing is the firmware for the built-in VoIP ATA. Having looked at the functions of the previous router's ATA though, it was very limited and wouldn't work on Ultimate's SIP phone service. So I don't expect there's anything to be gained by trying to use the built-in ATA, and will stick to my trusty Cisco, plugged in via a LAN port.

When you say you're not seeing any 'Signal dB / numerical data', I take it you're unable to login?

Once you've done that, you should see the following:

kaihoka

164 posts

Master Geek
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#1357091 2-Aug-2015 12:47

hi
i have a B683 with voda RBI
is that an earlier model than the B 315s
cheers

grant_k

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#1357097 2-Aug-2015 13:02

kaihoka: hi
i have a B683 with voda RBI
is that an earlier model than the B 315s
cheers

That model is now 2 generations out of date. The sequence has been as follows:

B970b (Silver colour, 3G with one external antenna port, no ATA)
B683 (Black colour, 3G with one external antenna port, no ATA)
B593 (White colour, 3G/4G with two external antenna ports, built-in ATA & USB)
B315s (White colour, 3G/4G with two external antenna ports, built-in ATA & USB)

Performance of the B683 was much better than B970b, but still not great. B593 is the first router I would consider keeping long term. I've sent you a PM.

ablears

13 posts

Geek

#1357629 3-Aug-2015 10:48

firefuze:

I have found I can no longer access my Philips Hue bulbs anymore outside the LAN, nor can I access Plex on my home server outside the LAN so need to look at that, plus torrents either don’t download or have very sporadic speed fluctuations, modem doesn’t offer DHCP reservations either which is rather annoying!

Ouch, any idea what's behind the torrent issues? Netflix is all well and good, but at 1GB per hour for SD content it uses way more data than an equivalent torrent download.

chevrolux

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#1357650 3-Aug-2015 11:25

ablears:
firefuze:

I have found I can no longer access my Philips Hue bulbs anymore outside the LAN, nor can I access Plex on my home server outside the LAN so need to look at that, plus torrents either don’t download or have very sporadic speed fluctuations, modem doesn’t offer DHCP reservations either which is rather annoying!

Ouch, any idea what's behind the torrent issues? Netflix is all well and good, but at 1GB per hour for SD content it uses way more data than an equivalent torrent download.

I'm guessing CG-NAT is to blame for all those issues.

....except the DHCP reservation feature obviously.

Lenovo

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grant_k

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#1357662 3-Aug-2015 11:41

chevrolux:
ablears:
firefuze:

I have found I can no longer access my Philips Hue bulbs anymore outside the LAN, nor can I access Plex on my home server outside the LAN so need to look at that, plus torrents either don’t download or have very sporadic speed fluctuations, modem doesn’t offer DHCP reservations either which is rather annoying!

Ouch, any idea what's behind the torrent issues? Netflix is all well and good, but at 1GB per hour for SD content it uses way more data than an equivalent torrent download.

I'm guessing CG-NAT is to blame for all those issues.

....except the DHCP reservation feature obviously.

Yeah I was thinking CG-NAT might have something to do with it. Spark state in the T&Cs that they won't offer Static IPs on Rural Broadband and Vodafone say the same thing with RBI. This is yet another reason for choosing a smaller ISP with RBI plans as most of them offer Static IPs at no extra charge. Not having a static IP is also a major inconvenience with UnoTelly and the like.

ablears

13 posts

Geek

#1357750 3-Aug-2015 13:20

grant_k:
Yeah I was thinking CG-NAT might have something to do with it. Spark state in the T&Cs that they won't offer Static IPs on Rural Broadband and Vodafone say the same thing with RBI. This is yet another reason for choosing a smaller ISP with RBI plans as most of them offer Static IPs at no extra charge. Not having a static IP is also a major inconvenience with UnoTelly and the like.

Yeah, I need a static IP for my freelance work as does my wife. Any idea of resellers in the Far North? Spark's service seemed better (I'm guessing less congested due to their eligibility criteria) than Vodafone's, and the only reseller I'm aware of (Ultimate) resells Vodafone.

firefuze

510 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 85

#1357788 3-Aug-2015 14:10

I don't get the same modem stats you get on yours, Clearly due to Spark modifying the firmware seeing as yours shows it. Very annoying that this information is disabled in the firmware, Would make troubleshooting very difficult!

I can login fine, as below:

Was thinking NAT issues also but you can't disable NAT on the modem completely, only select between two options (Cone or Symmetric). As I have several Airport's taking care of the WiFi side of the LAN I wanted to use the Airport to handle all of that along with DHCP but can't seem to get it to work as keep getting double NAT errors etc.

grant_k

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#1357840 3-Aug-2015 14:54

ablears:
grant_k:
Yeah I was thinking CG-NAT might have something to do with it. Spark state in the T&Cs that they won't offer Static IPs on Rural Broadband and Vodafone say the same thing with RBI. This is yet another reason for choosing a smaller ISP with RBI plans as most of them offer Static IPs at no extra charge. Not having a static IP is also a major inconvenience with UnoTelly and the like.

Yeah, I need a static IP for my freelance work as does my wife. Any idea of resellers in the Far North? Spark's service seemed better (I'm guessing less congested due to their eligibility criteria) than Vodafone's, and the only reseller I'm aware of (Ultimate) resells Vodafone.

That's the problem with Spark's service; there aren't any resellers, and no plans that I've heard of to include any. I spent part of Saturday driving around the Bay of Islands and testing Vodafone's 4G service at various locations on 700, 1800 and 2600MHz. The speed is absolutely brilliant so long as you have a reasonable signal.

As you mentioned, Ultimate resells Vodafone and also offers Static IPs @ no charge.

grant_k

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#1357843 3-Aug-2015 14:56

firefuze: I don't get the same modem stats you get on yours, Clearly due to Spark modifying the firmware seeing as yours shows it. Very annoying that this information is disabled in the firmware, Would make troubleshooting very difficult!

I can login fine, as below:

Was thinking NAT issues also but you can't disable NAT on the modem completely, only select between two options (Cone or Symmetric). As I have several Airport's taking care of the WiFi side of the LAN I wanted to use the Airport to handle all of that along with DHCP but can't seem to get it to work as keep getting double NAT errors etc.

The connection stats show up on the HOME page once you're logged in. Did you take the first screen shot of the home page once logged in, or before?

Regarding NAT issues, you will have two lots of NAT because of CG-NAT at Spark's end, and then again in the B315 router. Pretty much all wireless gateways of this type include NAT, so you're stuck with having at least one lot, but not the second if you choose an ISP who doesn't use CG-NAT.

P.S. I just noticed some subtle but important differences in your screenshot of the Device Information. My 'Device Name' ends with 607 whereas yours says 608. Also, my 'Hardware Version' ends with M04, whereas yours says M02. Clearly there is a hardware difference between Spark's version, and Vodafone's version. Software version is also different, but the Web UI version is the same.

firefuze

510 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 85

#1357881 3-Aug-2015 15:29

The stats showed in the first screen shot are the same either logged in or logged out.

Thanks for the NAT info, makes a bit more sense now

firefuze

510 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 85

#1357923 3-Aug-2015 16:03

Well I mentioned earlier the firmware was locked to 4G Only, managed to get hold of the below which would explain why.. hence we have different hardware versions

coffeebaron

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#1357925 3-Aug-2015 16:04

Most likely Spark's B315 will have 3G bands 2100+850. Vodafone has 3G 2100+900

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