Nighthawk LTE hotspot + CA details

[nhantenna]

JSchnee21 writes: "something about the CA or Cellular MIMO is not working right.  Unfortunately the diagnostic pages on the Web Admin (or Mobile AP) don't really give us enough information to troubleshoot (or even tell when CA is being used -- if it ever is)."

I have the same questions about CA performance and concerns about the web console.  The Nighthawk LTE hotspot technical specifications state: "Max 1 Gbps download speeds & 150 Mbps upload speeds".  

For this discussion, let's set the bar at 1/10th of 1Gbit.  Any Nighthawk LTE hotspot owners getting 100Mbit or more download speed?  If yes, what does your Nighthawk LTE hotspot web console show?  Multiple bands in use? For example "LTE B12 + LTE B2".

On my Nighthawk LTE hotspot I have never seen multiple bands in use concurrently nor any "CA" indicator.  I only see "Current radio band = LTE B12" for example.  My peak speed over the last several months is approximately 50Mbit.  It is very possible that CA is not available in my area yet.

[JSchnee21]

There's a tower near my work which gives me ~80-120Mbit on my iPhone 6s using Fast.net and 60-100Mbit on Ookla depending on which server I select.  I'll drive my MR1100 to work this morning and see how fast I can get from this tower.  Note I run my MR1100 with 5.8GHz @ 40Mbit (360 Mbit max PHY) so this will cap me at about ~210Mbit max throughput (~60% efficiency on a 40MHz 2x2 PHY) for a 2x2 link.

For comparison, the fastest I've ever seen on this same phone (direct to tower) was one time in a Boston suburb (Peabody, MA), I got 164Mbit DL and 22.3Mbit upload.  This is on a Cat6 Qualcomm baseband which I don't thinks supports CA at all.

Wish there was someone with a shiny new Galaxy 9 or iPhone X which was getting >200Mbit in their local area who could test out the MR1100.  Someone on Howard Forums might be able to help us identify locations where AT&T has already upgraded to the newer CA enabled equipment.  In general, I tend to get much better speeds in the Philly suburbs than in Central NJ.

-Jonathan

[JSchnee21]

During my 63 mile commute which is all turnpikes and expressways with frequent, very close cell towers all along the way:

In NJ (8A-6, and connector) 

30-50Mbit DL w/30-40ms latencies.  5-10Mbit UL

Peak -- 80-100Mbit DL between 7A and 7

In PA

40-70Mbit DL w/35-50ms latencies. 8-15Mbit UL

Peak 85-95Mbit DL Ambler exit of 309

Good concordance (usually) between Fast.net (aka Netflix), SpeedSmart, and Ookla.  Ookla has been pretty flaky lately so I typically rely on Fast.net with SpeedSmart as a capable backup.

In general, the MR1100 is no faster than my iPhone 6s.  And uploads seem worse than my iPhone 6s.  

Unfortunately, these speeds probably speak more to AT&T's network than the MR1100 itself.  On the plus side, network connectivity was very good.  I probably ran >100 speed tests without a single failure.

Since my device is unlocked, I'll have to see if I can try a similar test tomorrow using my Tmo hotspot SIM for comparison.  But I cannot use Fast.net b/c of the BingeOn throttling.

No random reboots or hangs.  Did burn quite a lot of battery though ~15-20% over the course of 1 hr and 15min.  Seems like more than pre-firmware update.

-J

[nhantenna]

Potential implementation in the Nighthawk web console:

Current radio bands = B2, B12

Radio bands used in last 24 hours = B2, B4, B12

CA active in last 24 hours = Yes

Nighthawk web console information can change several times a minute.  User's do not have time to stare at the web console all day.  That said a simple 24 hour summary would be very helpful.

[nhantenna]

Part of the discussion here is to demystify what CA and MIMO actually does on Nighthawk LTE hotspot.  The specifications state: "4-band CA and 4x4 MIMO".  My Nighthawk currently uses one B12 connection via the one external antenna.

1) What are the other three Nighthawk radios doing?  Are they all idle?  They are independent radios.  Why can't each independent radio make a B12 connection?

2) What happens if I add a second external antenna?  Will my Nighthawk use two B12 connections?  Will my download speed increase from 50Mbit to 100Mbit?

I live in a rural location.  I am not expecting 1Gbit performance.  The more information Netgear exposes in the web console, the more information Netgear provides in this forum on how the Nighthawk works, the more people will invest the time/money into this Netgear solution.