RBI Huawei PCI designation

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Rikkitic

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#192121 28-Feb-2016 09:30

I am having ongoing speed issues with my Vodafone 4G RBI connection and I am trying to get some insight into what is causing these problems. Normally we get our signal from the Flaxmere mast. I have been told that this is indicated in the Huawei B315 data by the PCI entry, which is usually 209. This morning our signal strength and speed are way down again, and I noticed for the first time that the PCI is 267! Can someone from Vodafone confirm that these numbers do relate to the mast location, and if so, what mast would 267 indicate? Is this in Napier? Thanks for any help.

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#1500586 28-Feb-2016 09:30

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

you have reset your modem and router
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Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

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johnr

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#1500606 28-Feb-2016 09:47

What is the speed issue can we have some examples and where you are testing to?

Rikkitic

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#1500646 28-Feb-2016 11:33

The speed issue is very complicated and confusing (at least to me). I complained about it in an earlier thread and was told it might just be congestion due to school holidays. However, that turned out not to be the issue.

The problem is not with a particular site or region, but with my RBI connection to the Vodafone mast. It was upgraded to 4G last year and I received a Huawei B315 gateway device and a ANT0627Y11 wideband antenna. For several months we had consistent download speeds on Speedtest of between 25 – 30 Mbps. I became curious to see if this could be improved with a second antenna so I bought and installed an identical ANT0627Y11. After some trial and error, I got our average download speeds up to 50 Mbps. I was happy with that so stopped there.

For about three months, we had a consistent download speed of around 50 Mbps on every speed test I did, regardless of time of day. It almost never dipped below at least 45 Mbps. Our streaming was faultless.

Suddenly, at the beginning of January, possibly even on January 1st, our speeds plummeted. We couldn’t get better than about 18 Mbps at best, and it often dropped to 3 Mbps or less, sometimes even under 0.5 Mbps. There seemed to be a lot of variability but it never went over 18 Mbps. Streaming became impossible, with up and down pixilation and endless buffering.

I waited through January and well into February but nothing improved. We get our signal from Vodafone but our ISP is a small reseller called Netspeed. I have been in touch with them several times about this issue. They are trying to help but they don’t know what is causing this. So far it remains a mystery.

Last week I fiddled with the antennas just to see if that might make any difference. I tried them together and individually in different configurations and moved them around but nothing seemed to make any difference so I put them back in their original positions.

After that, our speeds did seem to improve, but only during part of the day. They jumped around a lot between 18 and 50 Mbps, sometimes back down to 3 Mbps or so. We still couldn’t stream anything in the evenings. This suggests a simple congestion issue as at least part of the problem, but it is worse than that. Our Internet is completely unusable after 4 pm and often before. Our speeds are all over the place. This never happened before January. So what is going on?

This morning at 9.15 our speed was really bad and I noticed there was only one bar of signal on the Huawei (it is usually two or three). I did a check and our RSRP is -112, RSSI -85. When our speed is good, normal values are RSRP -97, RSSI -69. Then I noticed that the PCI value had changed from 209 to 267. I have never seen that before and that is why I posted my question.

That is my story. It is very discouraging. Any help or insight with this would be much appreciated. Back to my question: what is the significance of the PCI reading on the Huawei? Does this indicate a different mast? If so that could certainly have something to do with my issue.

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#1500800 28-Feb-2016 15:47

Please post all stats. And approx. address.

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Rikkitic

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#1500805 28-Feb-2016 16:04

Address is Anaroa Road, Raukawa, Hastings. Not sure what you mean by 'all stats'. These are the ones I have access to that I am aware of. What else would you need?

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coffeebaron

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#1500819 28-Feb-2016 16:22

Need the bottom of that page too please

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Rikkitic

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#1500860 28-Feb-2016 17:34

Sorry, I posted without checking it. I'll try again. I notice the PCI value has changed again. I have never seen that before.

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#1501011 28-Feb-2016 22:33

Wow thats a lot of tabs

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Rikkitic

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#1501016 28-Feb-2016 22:48

I am busy with some things. What does that have to do with it? I have the same problem with a single tab open.

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coffeebaron

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#1501264 29-Feb-2016 10:08

Your antenna is likely pointing North-East. This lines it up with most of the Napier towers. It looks like it is hopping between Napier, Flaxmere and Taradale. Try pointing your antenna North to slightly North-West. Power off router first, realign antenna, power back on. The PCI code your are looking for is one of; 104,105,106. This is the Maraekakaho North tower. This will all depend on the topography of your area as to whether or not you can pick up this tower.

Once this tower is picked up, you can fine tune with router on. You are aiming for Rsrp better than -100 (i.e. -90 is better signal than -100). Also Rsrq -3 to -7 is good; though this figure will constantly fluctuate and can peak to around -9 (or -greater).

Then fine tune further with running some speedtests. You need to do three speed test per alignment to make sure you have some consistency.

If you cannot pick up the Maraekakaho tower, then you may be stuck with the cell hopping issue. This is something that we have been suggesting / requesting many times since the start of RBI is a setting in router to lock to a certain tower.

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Rikkitic

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#1501275 29-Feb-2016 10:20

Thanks heaps for that coffeebaron. I really appreciate the information. My knowledge of this is very limited and trying to figure things out that I don't understand is extremely frustrating. I will try experimenting with the antenna directions some more, though it didn't seem to make much difference when I tried it before. We are surrounded by hills and trees and I assume whatever signal we are getting is a reflection. Until the beginning of January our PCI was always 209, which I understand from my ISP to be the Flaxmere mast. After I installed the second antenna our download tests were always solid at 50 mbps. Whatever is happening now only started at the beginning of January.

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Rikkitic

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#1501336 29-Feb-2016 11:12

I just talked to my ISP but they say Maraekakaho is not even worth trying due to all the high hills in the way. Flaxmere should still be our best bet. One minute ago, while I happened to be looking at the router stats, the signal suddenly jumped up to three bars. I ran a quick check and our values were back to where they used to be: RSRQ -7, RSRP -97, RSSI -71, PCI 209, Speedtest download 45 Mbps. If only it would stay that way.

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coffeebaron

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#1501412 29-Feb-2016 12:35

If you're stuck in a valley, then that will reduce your options. If you have issue again, then try gradule rotate more Eastward. This may help with keeping the signal more favourable form the Flaxmere tower over the Napier towers.

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raytaylor

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#1501823 29-Feb-2016 21:08

Rikkitic:

I am busy with some things. What does that have to do with it? I have the same problem with a single tab open.

Nothing at all. Just saying its a lot of tabs.

PM Me your address and I'll see if I can work something out.

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#1501827 29-Feb-2016 21:14

Oh Just reread your post. Anaroa road.

That valley is a nightmare from a radio perspective. Trees and heaps of crevasses for a radio signal to bounce around and cause problems upon itself.

I am thinking about running fiber down the end to a few houses but not sure if there will be enough interest. Am waiting for a landowner (Mr Wedd) to approve a site lease for a radio repeater at the top of his land, and then I am trying to decide if I will put up another radio transmitter above anaroa closer to the houses or run fiber from the top of Mr Wedd's land down to the street.

I dont help a community that doesnt want to help itself, and because I am very very busy so dont have time to do all the lead work, someone from the community is going to need to organise a meeting between myself and those that are interested in connecting so I can work out what the best course is with a tour of the area and to find out where all the houses are. Driving down the road I see mostly trees which I suspect are hiding houses.

We put up a transmitter above Raukawa and Valley a couple of years ago after a couple of community meetings and it has worked very well.

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