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Forum Discussion
LB2120 with external antenna
Has anybody ever attempted to use an external antenna with this device? I live in Sydney Australia and am ~800m from my closest tower. I bought this external MiMo antenna to try and boost my signal -...
LlamaLarry apologies, I had not seen your message until Sheaj544 responded. I bought the Huawei B525s-65a and went through a process and installed what's called the 'factory' firmware. This gives you access to features that most telcos block from use - i.e. bridge mode, band steering etc. Sheaj544 if you are on Optus, I'm guessing you likely have the locked down version of this exact device!
You can get them on eBay or GumTree second hand for anywhere from $50 (I wouldn't spend more than $150 or so). I saw many people stating in their ads they 'no longer needed it because they upgrdaded to NBN'. Unfortunately, vendors, telcos and NBN are misleading the public with marketing BS. With LTE (unless directly under a tower) will never get the advertised speeds without a high gain external antenna.
To be fair, I did end up testing the Nighthawk M2 and got similar speeds to the Huawei, but the LB2120 never came close. It does not support carrier aggregation whatsoever. Also, while the M2 marketing suggest speeds of 1gbps, it is highly unlikely you would ever reach that either.
Also, Sheaj544 , by the sounds of it you are also in Australia. Therefore I would highly recommend checking out:
1) rfnsa.com.au. This allows you to get details on the local towers nearby, as well as it's capabilities - freq, throughput etc. My nearest tower is 800m away. Keep a lookout for the 'cellID'
2) Aus Phone app - allows you to get a good idea of what bands are reaching your location the strongest, and focusing on them
BTW, I am also using a directional antenna - which as the name suggests focuses its energy directly at the tower. I am interested to hear how others have got on with omni-directional, as this would be easier to setup.
Appreciate the reply mackov83. Wise choise with the 5G antenna, It seams this is the way forward with NBN alternatives. My setup includes am omnidirectional antenna, which seams to do the job well. (4G bands only :Z) Guess ill be on the hunt for another modem as the lb2120 cant seam to do the job. Ill post the specks/ model if it interests you.
As a way of overkill the new project after 1 year of stable operation with one LB2120, is to have 2 LTE modems fed from the one antenna, my means of antenna splitter/cominers this seams to be achievable, however I have yet to begin testing. What current speeds are you getting with the new setup ? are the uploads better than the single digits you where getting earlier. As stated above the LB2120 isnt all that bad if by chance the stars align. 100/40 is sean most days with Vodafone. RSRP -88 which I guess is a good signal strength.
Also thanks for the RFNSA suggestion, when i was designing this system this time last year I found a real usefull site like this however cant seam to find it now. Will be usefull to keep an eye on 5G rollout. While not an early adoper at this location in Melboune with no ADLS and unstable NBN im ready to test even better speeds. :o To give Optus props seams they have a reasobale deal with unlimited 5G, fingers crossed its still around when there is coverage in my area.
Let me know how you get on using the same antenna for two connections, but I have a feeling that won't work. Likely you will end up with some level of contention? More than happy to be proven wrong though :)
Originally I was testing with the Optus SIM from my phone and it seemed to give better upload speeds. My NBN provider has a month to month SIM for $35 for 30GB that can pool data up to 100GB which was enough as backup internet - has saved me a few times. But it only does 6-7mbps uploads. I did muck around with telstra.extranet APN (which is supposed to be for businesses) and that seems to give a more symmetrical service, but the download speeds take a hit.
BTW, for anybody reading this it is best to test max throughput after 11pm/12am to get the max values, and comparing those to times of high use - i.e. 7 or 8pm.