topic Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router in Archived Posts

4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

Drpau — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:34:30 GMT

Hi, just started with EE at the beginning of Jan and have an unlimited data sim in a Huawei B535. What I've noticed I generally get below 60mb {typically 40mb) whereas if I put my BT work sim in I get 100mb. This to me seems like it's been throttled back and 4g+ isn't being allowed by the EE sim. THE BT sim on the same network is unencumbered. Is this plausible?

Don't get me wrong I'm not that bothered as what I had before was a flakey 12mb landline, it's just I've not seen this written in any of the terms. My neighbour who has 4gee router 2 for 55£ a month doesn't get LTE+ speeds either, for him it's more of a struggle as he's using a range extender to his office and so by the time it gets there his 40mb end up being a quarter of that. For my neighbour it could be his location, but for me it definately seems like the EE sim is restricted.

Thanks!

Paul

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 06:42:14 GMT

Check your APN settings in the Router as they are different between EE and BT Business and this may stop the Router on giving you 4G+ over normal 4G.

If the Router is set to Auto APN try setting up a Manual APN for the correct EE settings and set that as default as Huawei Routers can sometime do strange things if there left on Auto.

Other thing to check is what your SIM Plan is, Essential or Smart, as far as I know non Smart Plans on Unlimited Data may be Speed Capped.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

Drpau — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 09:06:58 GMT

Thanks I will give that a try with the APN, it's currently on auto. I should add its actually a 5g mobile plan with unlimited data and minutes and texts(£37/pm). Don't know if that makes any difference. But you would think if it could do 5g (which I can't get where I live anyway) they wouldn't restrict you on 4g.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 09:36:46 GMT

No if your on a 5G Plan then there shouldn't be any Speed Restrictions, I mentioned that because EE do do some Speed Capping on some 4G Plans, I was on an Unlimited 4G Plan over a year ago and was capped at 60mbs on 4G+ despite EE telling me that all Unlimited Plans were not capped, had to upgrade to a 5G plan to get around the problem in the end even though there was no 5G in my area at the time, after that on on good day and the wind blowing in the right direction I could get around +250mb on a good 4G+ Signal.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

Drpau — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 09:25:15 GMT

Ha. It turns out I had already done this when I originally set it up and forgot (getting old!) . I switched it back to auto. Made no difference to the speed out of the EE sim. I should be content really vs what I had before but when you have had a taste of more speed you always want a bit more and become suspicious when another sim seems to get the extra.

It is probably reasonable speed as well because the mast I'm using is 5miles away (the local one is only 700m away but it's down with no date for repair), I'm on a hill but have clear line of sight to it.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 09:44:20 GMT

Ok, what makes you think the local Site is down?, May be down but your Router may still be logged onto to it or some of your extra Carrier Aggregate on 4G+ (LTE A) may be still be coming from the there.

What the Huawei Router reading on the Signal Strengths and EE Site number etc, is that telling you anything ?

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

bristolian — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 09:57:25 GMT

@Drpau wrote:

It is probably reasonable speed as well because the mast I'm using is 5miles away (the local one is only 700m away but it's down with no date for repair), I'm on a hill but have clear line of sight to it.

Out of interest, what makes you so certain that you're using a site further away? There's several scenarios in which this could happen.

This can also often depend which 4G bands are used on each site - it's entirely possible that the distant serving site is equipped with additional 4G spectrum, making it a more preferable option.

I'm not familiar with the router software you're using, but does it give a readout for eNB ID anywhere?

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 10:10:30 GMT

Huawei's normally give Cell ID. Rather than eNBID Followed the SS, RSRQ, SNR etc.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

Drpau — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 11:28:27 GMT

Thanks for the comments. I'm basing it on the cell I'd that my router says I'm connected to ( 17636 one of the cells being 4514835} {that and huactrl app)which is in a place called longridge. Regarding the down mast, it's based on my neighbour being informed by EE it was down and they had no date to fix (13297 one of cells being 3404033 (he had phoned to ask about his speeds) and I've also been on the coverage checker which tells me there's a problem with a mast but no date for a fix. The cell ids for this mast (from cellmapper) never pop up in the Huawei app so I had just assumed that's because its down (suppose it could be that because I have line of site with the other and decent signal?)

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

Drpau — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 11:33:20 GMT

And the current stats for 4514835 are rsrq=-4, rssi=-71 , rsrp=-94 and sinr=-22.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

bristolian — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:07:13 GMT

Those seem like perfectly reasonable radio figures for a slightly more distant (but entirely usable) cell.

Returning to your original query about data speeds, one good test would be to use your devices when your serving cell is likely to be lightly loaded and have minimal data traffic.

In the current climate, that's likely to be late at night or overnight.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

Drpau — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 15:19:18 GMT

Hi, what I actually did was some direct comparisons in 2 routers (one a more snazzy Cat 19 router) one evening (sad I know)

EE Sim in B535= 57mb immediately after BT Sim in B818= 113mb

BT Sim in B535 = 75mb immediately after EE sim in B818= 71mb

5 repeats in each all connected to the same cell.

So it seemed that all the time the BT sim would be quicker.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

kestrel4 — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 14:49:59 GMT

I note that EE's £20 per month for 160 GB (which I was considering) is promoted with the phrase, "Keep things simple with our most essential plan".

Elsewhere EE says that EE Essential Plans have "4G speeds of up to 60 Mpbs"

If the 160 GB for £20 offer is capped, there is little point in me buying a high performing and expensive router.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 15:08:29 GMT

You may need to double check but I'm pretty sure the above deal of 160gb is 5G and no Speed Caps

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

kestrel4 — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 15:31:56 GMT

You are right. It is a 5G plan

The £20 for 160 GB offer is advertised as Superfast (for 5G only) and my suspicion is that it is capped at 60 Mbps for 4G.

Could it be that all EE plans are capped when used for 4G, in order to conserve bandwidth.

If this is the case, wouldn't it influence the type of router that would be best? I will only have 4G for the foreseeable future so a router that gives reliable and consistent performance at modest speed would seem to make sense.

None of the networks really want to talk about speed. Could a 4G capping policy be the reason?

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 18:40:22 GMT

Any EE 5G SIM Monthly Plan will not be Speed capped at 4G Speeds.

Best Ive done on 4G (pre 5G days) SIM on EE is around 435 DL and 150 UL using a Netgear Nighthawk M1 LTE Router.

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

kestrel4 — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:58:17 GMT

Thanks @EssexBoyEE

Wow, I can only dream of those speeds

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

mikeliuk — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 22:26:02 GMT

Hi @EssexBoyEE ,

Was any tweaking required to hit that on the Netgear MR1100? (e.g. telnet via USB port) From a double check, I don't know why I thought the MR1100 is Cat4, 2x2 MIMO, as it seems to be Cat16, 4x4 MIMO, 256QAM, carrier aggregation capable.

The highest numbers I've seen are way below that at about 35 Mbps down, and 58 Mbps up (just completing my first month with EE).

https://cacombos.com/device/MR1100-100EUS

Does "Current radio band" show multiple bands when carrier aggregation is in play? I do see a "4G+" indicator which I might guess is LTE-A in play but it's been awhile since I looked into that.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Mobile-Routers-Hotspots-Modems/LTE-CA-Combo-List-For-MR1100-EUS/m-p/1900890

https://mt-tech.fi/en/enable-manual-band-selection-on-netgear-mr1100/

Making a note of this for future usage: https://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2017/06/theoretical-calculation-for-ees.html

Re: 4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

EssexBoyEE — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 22:06:13 GMT

@mikeliuk

This was a standard EEUS M1, the double EE stands for EE Firmwae over the normal EUS, this was unlocked from EE and was sitting on Pub Table about half a mile from the EE Site, it seemed very consistent speeds as well over a few days of testing.

No Band locking, nothing, just out of the box stuff, you are correct, the M1 is Cat16 and 4x4 Mimo, in stand alone mode in my my opinion, for 4G and 4G+ (without the 5G haggle) probably one of the best LTE+ Routers out there.

I did try an M2 as well which from memory is Cat20, but could only get around half the the speeds so that got sent back.

At home I use Huawei CPE stuff and from my local EE Masts, around 35 to 45 DL on 4G+ and arround 65 if it Carrier Aggregates with 5G, if I Band Select and Knock out 800 and 1800 Bands I can lock on to some better equipped Masts that are further away but provide 2100 and 2600 + 3500 5G, my Signal and SN drops considerably, but I'm into around 150 to 200 DL but as expected really poor upload.

And yes 4G+ or LTE A is Carrier Aggregation that together with 2 or 4x4 Mimo can make or break the Speed. Get your best 4G+ Signal sorted out first then use the 5G Part as a bonus.