topic Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub in Mobile Broadband

External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 17:53:48 GMT

Local EE store advised contacting EE Tech to arrange for an external antennae to be fitted to improve signal. After 1hr of telephone conversation, diagnostic checks etc, following contacting customer services number given I was advised there is no such external antennae for routers only broadband users and also that not having a solid, static aqua blue light when the router is in operation is not a fault. Whilst I can access the internet I cannot get the apps on my smart Samsung T.V to work and the local EE store advised a signal booster was required. Does anyone know how to boost the signal?

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Chris_B — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 18:06:17 GMT

@Marion1967 What device are you using ? A router is a device that puts out a WiFi signal for you to use. This device has either a fixed line connection ie a phone line of fibre cable or it’s a router with a SIM card in it and this is a home 4G/5G router. then there are mobile routers that you can take out and about with you

post a picture of it please

Its also illegal to boost a mobile signal, You can get a device that redirects a signal within your home from the outside, these get referred as boosters but they don’t actually do that

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 18:30:18 GMT

Hi Chris

It’s a router with a SIM card in it so a home 4G router

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 18:34:47 GMT

The aqua light is supposed to be solid but on this router it flickers.

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Chris_B — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 19:04:01 GMT

@Marion1967 Can you try relocating the router?

I’ve just looked at this router online and I see there is no connection for an external antenna. It’s called a Smart 4G Hub 2

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 19:12:59 GMT

Thanks for the info Chris. I have tried relocating the router. I live in a static home in a rural area so I’m guessing I’ll just need to put up with what I have and hope another provider will one day come along with fibre broadband or similar. Thanks for your responses.

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

bristolian — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 19:27:53 GMT

@Chris_B wrote:

Its also illegal to boost a mobile signal, You can get a device that redirects a signal within your home from the outside, these get referred as boosters but they don’t actually do that

Not strictly true, but Ofcom-approved boosters cost several hundred ££ - whilst well-meaning shop staff are probably quite keen to mention the concept, the realities are a little different.

Boosters are a different beast to self-contained pico or micro-cell installations.

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Ali_A — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 09:46:16 GMT

Welcome to the community @Marion1967

It sounds like there may have been some confusion with the terminology. The store was suggesting to "boost" your incoming Mobile Broadband signal using an external antenna- If you don't have great indoor signal, an external antenna can enhance your outdoor 4G signal and bring it indoors directly into the 4GEE "mobile" router, creating a faster and more consistent experience.
(As opposed to a mobile signal booster, which is a very different item as pointed out by @bristolian )

For our customers who had a 4GEE Home Router, we used to offer a 4GEE Home Antenna, which the store may have been referring to. This was an external antenna supplied by EE, fitted by our partner TSG and wired directly into a customer's 4GEE Home Router. We no longer offer external antennas.

Only 4G routers that have a connection for an external antenna can be connected this way.
As @Chris_B mentioned, the 4G Smart hub doesn't come with external antenna connection.

We don't support this, however some rural users have sourced their own 4G routers which can accept external antenna connections. Then manually programmed the EE Internet access settings into the router and popped in the EE SIM card.

Ali

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 10:14:02 GMT

Hi Ali

Many thanks for your reply.

I just wish the store staff had been more knowledgable and up to date with what is available as I wasted an hour in store then a further hour (plus mobile call cost!) speaking with an advisor having followed the store manager’s original advice.

It would have been ideal if EE still supported the external antennae as what you described will be an additional expense i.e buying an additional 4G router and an engineer’s time to fit it and set it up. I’ll look into it nonetheless though. If you could recommend/suggest such a router that would be appreciated.

I can get online, do Zoom calls, shopping, emails and such like and I use an HDMI cable connected to my laptop to my t.v. For streaming Netflix so though a bit clumsy and perhaps not worth the £50 per month fee I pay EE I’ll perhaps just have to make it do until something better comes along or I move home.

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Ali_A — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 11:12:25 GMT

@Marion1967 It would be best to check online reviews for which routers people have had better or easier success with.

An engineer installing a 4G antenna will know exactly which direction to point it for optimal signal, and check if the mast frequency you'll be receiving is higher or lower (High frequency = Faster signal but limited range. Lower frequency = slower speeds but have a much longer range), and if there are any other things in the way that could be the cause of limited signal strength (hills, trees, etc).
If you give Customer care a call, a guide from the technical team may be able to tell you the general direction of your best connecting mast for your location, as well as likely frequency, before you make any decisions.

Ali

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

bristolian — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 11:24:05 GMT

From personal experience, CS' predictions of the best serving site for a given location do not always tally with using the engineering mode on a phone yourself. There is a margin of error that increases with the number of sites in a given area.

The RAN employs load balancing, high-band carriers are usually the same priority and thus dynamically share traffic. The low-band will only be used as a primary carrier, when the recieved RF falls below certain parameters.

I am unsure if they're using the same mapping system as used by network planners & optimisers. All factors combined - I would take a remote prediction from CS as a starting point, but always use a field test as the best barometer.

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 14:03:38 GMT

Thanks again for your helpful response Ali.

I am very reluctant to call EE customer care as I’ve had to call twice so far since becoming a customer and have on both occasions waited long periods of time e.g. 20mins or so to speak with someone and to date the support given has not been useful hence why I posted here in this community page.

To be honest Ali, if I could find a company (other than EE) to provide me with a router, antennae and SIM I would gladly end my contract with EE as my experience of EE to date has been incredibly disappointing and stressful. 🙄

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

ab10661 — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 14:43:34 GMT

We were on a trial for 4g several years ago and were supplied with a Huawei CPE B593 router, this had twin aerial ports and came with two ‘rabbit ears’ that were for indoor use but we ended up using an external aerial to get desired reception. Worked well for us and only changed when fibre became available. Fairly low tech but a solution.

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:18:09 GMT

Thanks for the info 🙂

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 10:38:49 GMT

Hi again Ali

I was looking at the manual for the router I have and noticed that it looks like it does have an external antenna connection. . I’m thinking that perhaps all I need to do is buy a TS9 external antennae and have it fitted. What are your thoughts?

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 10:39:44 GMT

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

ab10661 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 11:58:11 GMT

Well done you! I am not techy, sure there will be others on here that can advise better than me, but personally think it’s worth a go. Only suggestions I got, do your research, ask questions, try and get a reputable brand from a reputable seller where there is backup should you encounter problems. If you go ahead try and keep aerial cable run as short as possible to reduce losses. If you are installing yourself, if reception isn’t improved try swapping the aerial cables over ( once needed to disconnect ours and had managed to swap them over and reception was a lot poorer until I discovered what was wrong).

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 12:38:32 GMT

Many thanks for your reply. I’ll certainly keep what you wrote in mind.👍

Sometimes it’s a maybe case of working through suggestions folk make and just seeing if they work and if not then by trying it just might lead you to a better solution, kind like the process a scientist would use I think . 🤔 Thanks again 😊

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

JimM11 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 17:20:47 GMT

@Marion1967 Not sure were this is all went, you reported that only the Smart Samsung TV was the issue and everything else was fine, and this is wi-fi connected, have you tried connecting the TV via the ethernet connection on your smart 4g router?

Re: External antenna for 4Gee Smart Hub

Marion1967 — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 17:50:25 GMT

Hi. Many thanks for your reply.

Yes, I tried the ethernet cable as you suggested but that didn’t work. Tv just said connected to the network but not the internet and when I do it wirelessly it says the opposite.

Samsung support tech guy suggested testing the tv using my mobile phone i.e. the Mobile Hotspot and connecting the tv that way and the apps all worked find leading to the conclusion that it is the smart 4G router that’s causing the problem as the signal is weak.

Thankfully I can do video calls, emails, shopping and can stream videos/films via an HDMI cable connected to my laptop using the smart 4G router.