Extremely minor insignificant issue

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Extremely minor insignificant issue - no signal bars

Rikkitic

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#232197 4-Apr-2018 12:16

I have just noticed that my Huawei 4G RBI gateway device, which I had to replace the other day, no longer gives me signal strength indications in bars. I don't know if this has to do with the router, or with Vodafone. Everything works peachy keen so no problem and no complaint, but I kind of miss the bars as a quick rough indicator of relative signal strength.

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#1988163 4-Apr-2018 12:54

Any chance you have turned off this feature in the web interface? I've never seen it, but there might be a 'dim display' option or something like that that you've enabled to reduce the number or brightness of flashing LEDs in your lounge, and its gotten a bit carried away.....

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Rikkitic

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#1988165 4-Apr-2018 12:59

Something else going on. I have the bars back but it has fallen back to 3G.

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coffeebaron

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#1988166 4-Apr-2018 13:01

Perhaps not picking up external antenna, so very weak 4G?

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Rikkitic

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#1988183 4-Apr-2018 13:16

Don't think so. I have two external antennas, both appear normal. I tried rebooting the device and now it is back to 4G, but again with the blank signal bars. I have never seen that before. rssi -91, rsrq -8, rsrp -118.

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Rikkitic

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#1988200 4-Apr-2018 13:24

Speed tests are pretty poor. 2-8 mbps down on Ookla and DSL, less than 0.4 up.

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#1988215 4-Apr-2018 14:12

Rikkitic:

Speed tests are pretty poor. 2-8 mbps down on Ookla and DSL, less than 0.4 up.

Which sounds like an issue with your antennae or connection to them. Hence the no bars.

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#1988307 4-Apr-2018 17:04

I feel like I am deaf, dumb and blind with these kinds of issues and I am fed up with it. Is there a decent signal meter on the market that doesn't cost the earth? I really need to be able to see what is going on.

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coffeebaron

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#1988406 4-Apr-2018 21:11

That is very low signal.

Log in to the router, go to "settings", "system", "antenna settings". What does is say? Is it set to auto and if so is it saying external antenna?

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#1988413 4-Apr-2018 21:22

There are no antenna settings I can find, in any case nothing under system. There are preferences under network settings, which also include some antenna settings. It is set at the moment to LTE preferred, which I believe is correct, and network search to auto. I notice I am finally seeing one bar of 4G signal, but only one. More normal is two or three. RSSI is now -83 .

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#1988433 4-Apr-2018 21:55

So you don't have a page like this? Still a B315?

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#1988557 5-Apr-2018 09:16

Yes it is a B315 but I don't have that on it. It is the same up to date and time but the last two settings are missing. No antenna or update.

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#1989568 6-Apr-2018 15:39

All right. In the spirit of always sharing the answer when I find one, here it is: The Huawei I had died, and it was replaced. I checked the settings and they appeared correct but I did not do a close inspection. Mainly I just checked that the antenna menu was set to LTE preferred. I only noticed some time later that I didn't have any 4G signal bars, though it was still on 4G. Then I went down the rabbit hole.

Today I was puzzling over it again and wondering whether my antennas were actually working at all, so I disconnected them. I was reluctant to do this before because it is awkward on the Huawei and one of the cables is coming loose from a connector. Anyway, I removed both antennas and no difference! So I plugged one back in and checked the menu. It still said LTE preferred but I tried some other settings just for the hell of it. Then I went back to LTE preferred. When I clicked on it everything suddenly came to life. The signal indicator jumped back to 4G and went up to two bars, which has been normal for me the last time. So the answer is the antennas were turned off internally. We live and learn, I suppose. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on this.

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Rikkitic

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#1989608 6-Apr-2018 16:24

Bloody hell. I spoke too soon. The problem came back after a minute or so. I briefly had 4G at the signal levels that I used to get but then it suddenly fell back to 3G and when I rebooted the modem, came back to 4G with no signal bars, meaning a very weak signal barely sufficient for 4G. This is not what I was getting before.

I disconnected one antenna and it didn't seem to make any difference. But when I disconnected the second one the signal level dropped slightly, so the antennas do appear to be connected. But something is definitely wrong. I don't know how to tell if the problem is with the Vodafone mast or with my new modem.

@coffeebaron or anyone else who is reading along: Can I source another Huawei or other compatible device from anyone to do a comparison check? I am happy to buy or rent any suitable working device. I just need to find out if the problem is with the new unit my ISP gave me or not. This is slowly driving me around the bend.

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#1989614 6-Apr-2018 16:35

based on your description more than likely your modem is on internal + antenna. It's switching to internal and dropping down to 3g as 4g signal is too low.

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#1989632 6-Apr-2018 17:24

Rikkitic: and one of the cables is coming loose from a connector.

This sounds suspicions

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