Thanks everyone. Order placed - will let you know the results

coffeebaron:

 

Or if you want to go full extreme + 5G ready:

 

2x https://powertec.co.nz/buy/blackhawk-4g-5g-ultraband-pro-grid-antenna-600-to-6500-mhz/ 

 

@coffeebaron If I went extreme, for my connection that is 1km away, what type of ping would be likely? would it still not get better than 30-50ms?

Eitsop:

 

coffeebaron:

 

Or if you want to go full extreme + 5G ready:

 

2x https://powertec.co.nz/buy/blackhawk-4g-5g-ultraband-pro-grid-antenna-600-to-6500-mhz/ 

 

 

@coffeebaron If I went extreme, for my connection that is 1km away, what type of ping would be likely? would it still not get better than 30-50ms?

 

I'm sure your ping will then be in the negatives; your pages will load before you click them hehe :).

But more seriously; an antenna can help with ping. There are several benefits to an external antenna vs an indoor 4G modem working on its internal antennas.

Cleaner signal - because there are no walls to go through, or indoor objects to bounce around, you get a more stable and consistent service.

Higher frequencies access - with external antenna, the 4G modem will more likely be able to camp on the higher frequencies. These are usually less congested due to their shorter range and less ability to protrude through walls and around objects etc.

Increased signal - more gain and directional means stronger signal and better speed.

So all of the above will help with both speed and latency.

As for really high gain antenna vs "standard" gain antenna affecting ping. In a good coverage area, there will be little difference between the antennas for ping. In poor coverage, higher gain can help a little. The main factor for helping with ping is in having a "clean" signal with external antenna, vs "dirty" signal with indoor internal antenna. This reduces variability of connection which can be a contributor to increased latency.

So update on this, I have cancelled my order for now as a friend of mine has kindly donated me this unit - https://mikrotik.com/product/lhg_lte6_kit

And although it doesnt support band 28, the local tower does support band 3 for 4g LTE so it should be fine?

as it has 850 and 700mhz frequensies? 

@wratterus

@coffeebaron 

You would have to talk to Spark if they would let you use that - I would think not out of the box & maybe not at all. Unsure if they allow other devices on normal 'consumer' fixed wireless plans.

Missing band 28 is definitely not ideal, but as you mention might be OK in your situation - carrier aggregation won't work either.

wratterus:

 

You would have to talk to Spark if they would let you use that - I would think not out of the box & maybe not at all. Unsure if they allow other devices on normal 'consumer' fixed wireless plans.

Missing band 28 is definitely not ideal, but as you mention might be OK in your situation - carrier aggregation won't work either.

 

So finally getting through to a senior tech? at spark (which took 3 days) it has now finally been confirmed that yes, I cant use my own modem - I must use theirs. At least I got a fixed IP through all of this to sort out my locally hosted server and IP cameras.

Spark recons I am also in an excellent location for wireless and antennas wont help me get over 30mbs - yet I get a constant 40 now without antennas. This begs the question, what is their cap on speeds? 

Buddy of mine have now shipped me some internal antennas for testing purposes - 2 of these https://www.gowifi.co.nz/antennas/ant-262.html

Makes no sense using omni antennas when cell tower is 5 km away.

Spyware:

 

Makes no sense using omni antennas when cell tower is 5 km away.

 

Its for testing while I wait for my directional kit to arrive.

Is there an antenna setting in the modem GUI? Sometimes you need to set to external antenna mode.

coffeebaron:

Is there an antenna setting in the modem GUI? Sometimes you need to set to external antenna mode.

 

There's nothing in the GUI for the external antennas. What speeds are you getting at the moment? Theoretically there's a chance that your coverage doesn't need to be improved. In your initial post you say you can see 90Mbps at times?

If that's the case then I wouldn't expect external antennas to make much if any difference.

Cheers - N

Talkiet:

 

There's nothing in the GUI for the external antennas. What speeds are you getting at the moment? Theoretically there's a chance that your coverage doesn't need to be improved. In your initial post you say you can see 90Mbps at times?

 

If that's the case then I wouldn't expect external antennas to make much if any difference.

 

 

 

Cheers - N

 

Thank you N! I sometimes get a connection at 90mbs but it settles down to about 40/50 - see below. time of day dependant

ping history

Silvrav:
@coffeebaron so got around to testing this weekend but before mounting the antenna I tested on ground level to make sure it works. However it doesn't seem like the spark smart modem 2 is using the external antenna. I turned it all different ways and the signal strength and download speeds remained the same even gave the modem n restart in between.

Any ideas?

That's interesting.  I had a Huawei B315 with an external Blackhawk 4G-5G LPDA antenna configured and gained about 40dBm on RSRP, 7db on RSRQ and 10dB on SINR.

I've just upgraded to Spark Smart Modem 2 and am seeing no improvement when the external antenna is connected.  I was starting think there had to be an internal setting that maybe only Spark knew about, as there is nothing to configure an external antenna in the user interface.  The cable from the antenna is a PT-41 N-Type Male to SMA-Male 15M CFD300 Coax Pigtail.  Any suggestions other than filing down the SMA?