Who can supply and install 4G internet?

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
We currently have satellite (i may have mentioned this before)
I got a guy out to look at 4G and that was not great (relatively OK signal at best)
What other solutions are there. I believe there are various grants, but I dont understand what you can get with them.
thank you
We use a dish that points at a local mast that isn't to do with mobile signal. I'm never sure what the term is, line-of-sight wireless? Great for our needs, stable connection, no download limits, no contention issues at weekends/evenings. We get 20 mbps down and 2.5 up. 4G signal round here isn't great and we lost the will to live with BT many years ago. When we were looking for an alternative to BT we looked at satellite initially but quickly got pointed at this solution as being far better. I'm not suggesting it's a better option than the 4G solution being discussed here but it is another option if you're struggling with the others, works for us.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
How are you getting on @Brisel
If you're still struggling try https://www.hogarth.tech/
Although his site says he does security he also does telecoms.

Thanks. There's a good section on their website about telecoms so I have messaged them.

The copper connection I still have another 18 months of contract on is just about ok but unreliable sometimes. I was going to go down the DIY 4G route as we have near line of sight to a tower 1 mile away but have put a boot up the backside of our current provider to see if they can improve their service.
 

dragonfly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Just done the same .... different result :(
I managed to get 1 bar of signal! Managed to plug in the laptop with the Ethernet cable, that enabled me to activate the ee SIM card. Very slow connection. Looks like I’m going to have to get an external ariel or pay someone to do the job properly :scratchhead:
I am sorry to hear that.
@upnortheast has some helpful tips, that I can only reiterate.
I have had our set-up for a few days now and I am still blown away!
I keep running a speed test, just to give me a warm, happy feeling, after struggling with 0.5 to 3.5 mbs for so long! Yesterday, I reached the highest yet, 80.55 mbs download.
As previously said, our phones are on EE and we nearly always get a good signal - 5 bars. This is because the mast is 450 metres away on the top of the village water tower (60ft up). Plus, we have a clear line of sight view (no trees, no buildings). I even have the router/modem at the back of my house, away from the tower.
I would persevere, its worth it. It looks like, you need to experiment with your phone, to try and find the best area for a signal. Then, consider an external antennae from this area.
 

Half Pipe

Member
Just done the same .... different result :(
I managed to get 1 bar of signal! Managed to plug in the laptop with the Ethernet cable, that enabled me to activate the ee SIM card. Very slow connection. Looks like I’m going to have to get an external ariel or pay someone to do the job properly :scratchhead:
Have you tried rotating the router at the 1 bar location.
We have 1 that currently works better with the aerials power connector etc facing away from the window, goes from 1 to 2 bar signal and it's fairly fast.
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
From my own investigations;

  • FTTC then the last bit via the BT copper wire. Very slow and can be unstable unless you're close to the exchange. There's usually a big dead zone close to towns where there are longer runs of copper wire from the urban exchange.
  • FTTP is expensive but more of an option when there is a group of you or you life in an urban area. The quickest BB speeds from this. Plenty of private providers of this now as well as BT Openreach.
  • Microwave - works on line of sight only but if the lie of the end works for you then this can be very effective. Lots of this in rural areas, especially with landowners with power to hilltops for the repeaters. The range is around 22km before needing to be picked up and sent on again. A tree branch in front of the beam is enough to foul it up.
  • 4G or 5G. See above! May require an external antenna in thick walled buildings. Needs proximity to a phone mast.
  • Satellite - you're better placed to comment. Long latency times & bandwidth can be limited if demand is high but all you need is sky above you...
In a previous life, I had microwave - the parent company of my employer had spare bandwidth on a fibre connection and the estate owned all the land around 2 villages, so we set up a network of repeaters to give good coverage. Very fast connection throttled down to what we paid for & gradually replaced by fibre when we sold the business to a much bigger regional provider who used Gigabit scheme subsidies to fund miles of fibre across our land to connect up the microwave nodes & provide FTTP where possible.

Big advantage of 4G (assuming you have a decent signal ) you can be up & running in 24 hours for less than £100.
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
Use your phone as a modem/router and it’s cheap as chips to get started
Only issue, it can be a bit limiting if you have lots of devices using the connection
Just looked at our FTTP router, There are 34 devices on the list, some wifi, some wired. Though that is 2 houses, 2 offices, 5 kids 3 voip phone lines. ip camera etc etc
 

sandy2210

Member
I am now looking at of getting a tp link router and ee sim card on ee site 5g sim deals are much better than 4 g are they backwards compatible as only 4g here
 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
I am now looking at of getting a tp link router and ee sim card on ee site 5g sim deals are much better than 4 g are they backwards compatible as only 4g here
From tinternet:

The shorter wavelength means 5G can carry a lot of data much faster than 4G, but it also means a much shorter range. 4G wavelengths have a range of about 10 miles. 5G wavelengths have a range of about 1,000 feet, not even 2% of 4G's range.16 Oct 2020
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
This one looks to be compatable with
Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 Cross Polarised 4G Omni LTE Antenna


TP-Link Archer MR200 AC750 733Mbps Dual Band 4G LTE Mobile Wi-Fi Router, SIM Slot Unlocked, No Configuration Required, Removable Wi-Fi Antennas, UK Plug
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Visit the TP-LINK Store

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RRP:£114.99
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ConnectionsWi-Fi, Ethernet
Frequency band classDual-Band
Data Transfer Rate150 Megabits Per Second
BrandTP-LINK
Wireless Type802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11g
Number of Ports2
Security ProtocolWPS
About this item
  • 4G SIM Router - share your 4G LTE network-share your 4G LTE network with multiple Wi-Fi devices and enjoy download speeds of up to 150 Mbps
  • Enhanced coverage-powerful mobile Wi-Fi router, Integrated antennas provide stable wireless connections and suitable coverage


Thanks again for this. I have just ordered one of these from Amazon and a PAYG EE sim to test it. If it works well I'll convert this into a contract. Starting a contract now gives me a 14 day cooling off period which if I need to get someone in to set up an external antenna on the chimney will be no good. At least with a PAYG all I've lost is the £20 top up on the SIM. EE and 3 show good coverage on Cellmapper.net from a mast 1 mile away with line of sight from Mrs B's office window.

No word from your contact @Renaultman but thanks for the effort.
 

sandy2210

Member
Thanks again for this. I have just ordered one of these from Amazon and a PAYG EE sim to test it. If it works well I'll convert this into a contract. Starting a contract now gives me a 14 day cooling off period which if I need to get someone in to set up an external antenna on the chimney will be no good. At least with a PAYG all I've lost is the £20 top up on the SIM. EE and 3 show good coverage on Cellmapper.net from a mast 1 mile away with line of sight from Mrs B's office window.

I could have written this word for word!!! just ordered same post back on here how you got on so we can compare todays speed test .9up .1down over landline
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Will do! Still wondering if I'll need an extra antenna but the proximity to the mast means we should be ok. The router will just have to sit in the window for now.
 

Renaultman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
Thanks again for this. I have just ordered one of these from Amazon and a PAYG EE sim to test it. If it works well I'll convert this into a contract. Starting a contract now gives me a 14 day cooling off period which if I need to get someone in to set up an external antenna on the chimney will be no good. At least with a PAYG all I've lost is the £20 top up on the SIM. EE and 3 show good coverage on Cellmapper.net from a mast 1 mile away with line of sight from Mrs B's office window.

No word from your contact @Renaultman but thanks for the effort.
Sorry about that. His loss :(
 

puntabrava

Member
Location
Wiltshire
Aye, in the real world it`s going to be a while before 5G is of any of use to those of us not in the middle of a big city.
For the reasons in @PSQ post above
I was at Scania Swindon the other day and was looking at this and that on the phone then noticed the 5g in the signal, phone did not seem any different for website loading speed but maybe that’s not what it’s about😐
 

Rookie

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincs / Notts
If you are in an O2 signal area, I am using Giff Gaff for 4g through my Tp link mr200 router connected to a poynting external aerial.
One advantage is you can take out their cheapest sim to experiment and upgrade to if you find it works or cancel if no good, as is a month by month contract.
They have upgraded them to a 5g sim now if you are in an area to get it.
 

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