Nighthawk M1 External Antennas AT&T

[affinitas]

Howdy folks,

I just got a M1 on AT&T and wondering about external antennas for this unit.

I am having issues because the specs indicate there is a 4x4 MINO internal antenna, but there are only two TS-9 antenna connectors.

Questions:

1) If external antennas are used does this mean its operating in 2x2 MIMO?

2) If with external antennas it is in fact  2x2 MIMO operation, does this affect the performance of the device?

3) Please proide recomendations for outdoor/mobile mount MIMO omni antenna.

Cheers,

Mike

[Jimc91]

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@affinitas wrote:

Howdy folks,

I just got a M1 on AT&T and wondering about external antennas for this unit.

I am having issues because the specs indicate there is a 4x4 MINO internal antenna, but there are only two TS-9 antenna connectors.

Questions:

1) If external antennas are used does this mean its operating in 2x2 MIMO?

2) If with external antennas it is in fact  2x2 MIMO operation, does this affect the performance of the device?

3) Please proide recomendations for outdoor/mobile mount MIMO omni antenna.

Cheers,

Mike

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I too need the answers to the above questions.  We really need for the Netgear engineers to weigh in on this and give us some answers.  I am moving in the direction of eliminating my DSL service but my M1 only gets 2 bars of signal in my house.  As soon as I take it outside it goes to three bars of signal.  I need information on external outside antenna configuration.  Please give us some help Netgear.  Thanks in advance.

J

[DarrenM]

Here is a Kb discussing Antennas for Netgear aircard and retailers that sell them.

https://kb.netgear.com/23901/External-Antennas-for-AirCard-products

DarrenM

[UK-based]

I'm using this external omni antenna (mounted on a wall using a bracket), connected via a pair of short SMA to TS-9 pigtail adapter leads: http://poynting.tech/product/xpol-1/. This has increased the signal level on my M1 from 2 or 3 bars to the full 5 bars. Poynting also make a high gain directional antenna: http://poynting.tech/product/xpol-2/. Both of these allow 2x2 MIMO transmissions. I have no connection with the company but they seem to be well built.

My guess is that if/when an LTE 4x4 MIMO antenna becomes available, it won't be possible to use this on the M1 because there are only 2 TS-9 connections, unless there's some way of multiplexing the signals.

I too would like to know if attaching an external antenna to the TS-9 ports deactivates the 4 built-in antennas, thus preventing 4x4 MIMO transmissions from being received if they're present. Could we please get some feedback from Netgear staff on this?

[dlbrum]

Well,   I have purchased the little netgear aircard antenna offering ($27)  and my results were that in various locations,   even my front porch pointing at the closest tower,   attaching the antenna resulted in fewer bars and dramatically slower "speedtest"  results...  🙂

So I sent it back and had a not so helpful conversation with netgear support,   who basically agreed that it should be better to have it plugged in than not ...   sigh....

I'll try the swapout antenna unit in case that was faulty.   I'll report back here.   If no luck,   I'll try the two suggestions in this thread.   

[Richard_J]

Hi Mike, 

As I know, if plug the 2 x 2 MIMO antenna with TS-9 antenna to Nighthawk M1 AT&T, the maximum data rate can be achieved based on 2 x 2 MIMO. So you would not expect too much from the external antenna. However, if you use the Nighthawk M1 at a weak signal area, it's better to have a TS-9 dual connectors LTE antenna than not. 

[Jensmobile]

Yes, the M1 has built-in 4*4 MIMO antenna, but if you are really in the rural village where the mobile signal is very weak, you need an LTE external antenna for Nighthawk M1 to boost the signal strength. And the dual connector one is better than the single connector.

[wesfrink]

Just curious how much did your speed go up when you increased from 2 bars to 5?