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hotrok

71 posts

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#177404 1-Aug-2015 13:56
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I live in rural Timaru and 4G 700mhz is going fully live in September.   I am in the signal area just but want to put an antennae to boost the signal.  I live on top of a hill if this makes any difference.  I currently have a 3g phone with Spark who are updating to 4g 700 in the region but only get one bar.

Speed test on the 3g just off the phone gives ping 82 ; download 2.6kbps and 373kbps upload .

A couple of questions I understand 4g 700 has better penetration (13percent?)  than 3g so that will increase signal a little but putting an antenna on the roof should give it another increase.   What antenna would give the best increase (upto $1000 approx) and what is the latency like for gaming.  

I have a wireless connection at the moment but the whole area is swapped with wireless providers that are causing interference which causes changes in latency and possibly the backhaul is not that good either so its frustrating!


thank you for your time.


 

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sbiddle
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  #1356719 1-Aug-2015 17:39
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What hardware are you planning on using? Antennas aren't expensive, but cable runs and more importantly your hardware if a key factor.





hotrok

71 posts

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  #1356811 1-Aug-2015 20:47
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What do you mean by hardware?

I am running a gigabit switch for the house network coupled with a 2 ac wifi units if thats what you mean?  Modems just normal stuff for adsl etc

So what do I need to get the best result? 

  #1356813 1-Aug-2015 20:52
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to connect to sparks 700mhz broadband



grant_k
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  #1356877 1-Aug-2015 23:05
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Ultimate Broadband have their own network very close to you and are excellent to deal with:

Ultimate Ruralnet

If you are in the coverage area, it will be your cheapest option, or failing that, go for RBI.  Check out the coverage map for RBI here:

Vodafone Network Coverage

Ultimate can also offer RBI plans:

Ultimate RBI plans

Below is a typical speedtest for a 4G 700MHz coverage area with good signal.  Note the ping of about 50ms (there is another speedtest server in North Canterbury which shows 39ms, but the download speed is quite a bit slower for some reason).   30ms is about as good as you'll get on RBI or Spark rural broadband.







hotrok

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  #1357115 2-Aug-2015 13:30
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I havent bought any hardware yet as it is not live in the area until sept.  Was hoping to get some advice getting the right gear for the 4g etc

vodafone poor coverage; ultimate no coverage

grant_k
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  #1357117 2-Aug-2015 13:36
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hotrok: I havent bought any hardware yet as it is not live in the area until sept.  Was hoping to get some advice getting the right gear for the 4g etc

vodafone poor coverage; ultimate no coverage

If you get at least one bar of Vodafone signal on a handset, it will be enough with an external antenna.  If you connect via Ultimate, they will supply a 3G / 4G router so you can use 3G in the meantime, and automatically switch over to 4G when it arrives.  The latest model B315 router performs really well on either 3G or 4G, but of course you get faster speeds on 4G, especially upload.

Have a look at the page I linked to above for the hardware costs and ongoing monthly charges.





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