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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk LTE hotspot + poor band decisions
I am in the United States. I purchased the Nighthawk LTE hotspot directly from AT&T. I am in rural location. Without an external antenna, the Nighthawk LTE hotspot always connected to the same cell...
Hi nhantenna,
Is your 700MHz antenna directional? Aka is it a Yagi or parabolic style? Did you dry rotating the (directional) antenna away from the tower with the offending Band 4 signal?
Unfortunately this is not a perfect / foolproof process. Especially if the Band 4 signal is very strong. We had a similar issue with our WIlson Amplifier where the 700Mhz signal from Verizon was screaming hot, but the 700Mhz signal from AT&T not so much. The amp didn't discriminate and would shut down. We had to use a Yagi and point it 180 degrees away from the Verizon tower to attenuate their signal.
You might need:
1) a more directional antenna
2) inline filters to attenuate the other bands
3) amplification (surecall) of the desired band
But I totally agree, if the firmware enabled band selection or band blocking this would be very helpful. Unfortunately, since the carrier (AT&T) controls the firmware, it's unlikely they would ever give up this type of control.
"Is your 700MHz antenna directional? Aka is it a Yagi or parabolic style? Did you dry rotating the (directional) antenna away from the tower with the offending Band 4 signal?"
It is a yagi and is very directional. Band 4 is received regardless of antenna direction. I can point the antenna straight down toward the ground and it still picks up Band 4 "Poor" 1 bar signal. I live in a rural area where Band 4 (and similar high frequencies) will never work. I will investigate if there is a filter that could help my situation. The bottomline is the Nighthawk should never routinely and constantly release an "Excellent" 5 bar signal for a "Poor" 1 bar signal.