topic Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE in Mobile Network discussions

LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 16:03:23 GMT

Hello. I'm seeking advice from those who know more ( 'I know nothing, Meester Fawlty. I from Barcelona!' )
I'm not yet subscribed to EE 4G LTE WiFi broadband but have received a service from Three this past 3 years. It has deteriorated and is now unusable. I have 'line of sight' at 960m. and 3~4bars of signal. Connection drops repeatedly even during sending/receiving simple text e.g. the 2FA Passcode for here.

EE uses the same mast, no. 34112 at BA2 7FE. I'm elevated at BA2 7HZ
'Cellmapper' suggests I may receive Cell 2/8732674/PCI410 and Cell14/8732686/PCI212

Can any bright spark advise whether I'm likely to receive a RELIABLE service and faster than <5Mbps down/0.15Mbps up?
Can any similar bright spark suggest a mobo app I could use, in the same place as an LTE router ( highest window, central on bracket, directly facing mast across valley )...?

The 'cellmapper' map shows blck/red/beige' dots which I presume are locations of reports. Decode the coloured dots....?

Thanks

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

bristolian — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 20:44:55 GMT

Data speeds are dictated by the amount of capacity available, divided by the amount of users.

3UK have a single 15Mhz B3 carrier on Conkwell Wood, EE have 40Mhz of B3 capacity, a B1 carrier I can't currently identify, and a 5Mhz B20 layer.

Speed tests on an EE phone will give a good indication of data service in that location. Not sure what you mean by "connection drops"

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 23:19:25 GMT

Thank you, 'bristolian'.

Re the 'amount of capacity available' may I understand that EE can provide 40/15 the capacity of 3UK in the B3 band, at that mast/my location? Subject to other factors such as SINR, Fourier lensing, relative traffic congestion.... and precipitation? I'm trying to avoid 'jumping out of the frying pan into the fire'....

As for 'connection drops', my Firefox browser frequently flags up messages such as 'Not connected. Connecting in 3s....Try now' and 'Message could not be sent. Check your network and try again.' This occurs even during sending of simple text emails and less-simple emails with ordinary .jpg/.png graphics. The internet connection disconnects.

Speedtest has been showing speeds of 1.5-4.2Mbps down and 0.12-0.18Mbps up. On occasion, NO 'up' figure could be established by speedtest, even with changes of nearby server.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

bristolian — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 09:07:32 GMT

Data speeds are never guaranteed, but EE have more spectrum on that specific site than 3UK and thus better performance can be expected.

The dots you see on CM are spot-measurements of RF quality which are broadly played out in onscreen bars. Coverage & capacity are two separate measurements.

I'd recommend testing EE service using a PAYG SIM, that provides a real-world test of coverage & speed where you need it.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:57:24 GMT

Thank you again, Bristolian. You've clarified what I suspected.
Now I need to find an App that will indicate signal quality/usability at this location....

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

bristolian — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:24:32 GMT

@oldbilbo wrote:

Now I need to find an App that will indicate signal quality/usability at this location....

Depending what outcome you're seeking, either Cellmapper itself or "using a phone in the location" aka a real-world test.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

Matt_124 — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:52:01 GMT

If you are considering using a Pay As You Go EE SIM for testing, bear in mind that PAYG SIMs from EE are speed capped at 25 Mbps. Essentially if you're hitting that cap consistently in testing, it should go beyond it if/when you decide to go for a Pay Monthly plan.

Also PAYG does not support 5G, but as you've mentioned 4G this may not be a concern for you anyways, just something worth pointing out.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:30:21 GMT

Thanks, Matt_124

Truth be told, if I were getting ~25Mbps from Three, my current provider, I wouldn't have the urgent need to find better. It takes upwards of half-an-hour to establish an internet connection, about as long to load a page like Gmail or BBC, then the damn thing 'drops out/disconnects when I'm trying to drill down to an account-page or open a news story.

I spent an hour today trying things with a Lloyds Internet Banking tech support guy, and his/our conclusion was the 'internet signal'. I do know a little about RF propagation and antennae theory, so I'm looking for a service that is A: simply reliable and B: usable for ordinary 'common or garden' purposes.

That's why I'm looking at EE 4G.

It's NBG.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:46:42 GMT

I urgently need to acquire a reliable 4G wifi broadband signal at BA2 7HZ. The sole mast which gives 'line of sight' over 960m, due to hills/valleys, is at BA2FE ( EE coded: eNB ID 34112 and Three coded: eNB ID 5672 )

Cellmapper.net chartlets of the area show coloured dots along the nearby roads signifying measured LTE signal quality.

Can anyone please advise what smartphone app or other device could give me such measurements of signal quality...?

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

bristolian — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 22:05:38 GMT

What are you seeking to achieve by remote tests, that will not be better served by a real-world test using a PAYG SIM?

I've previously answered some of your other points.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 13:41:57 GMT

Thanks, 'bristolian'. I'm trying that approach. Just.... been diverted by a flurry of domestic/medical issues that got in the way of things.

It certainly seems that an EE service would better satisfy. I could scarcely be worse off than with Three's next-to-nil service.

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 14:16:52 GMT

As a refugee from Three, I'm trying to plan an EE LTE wifi broadband installation.

My query is about using an external antenna mounted higher on my property near Bath than the present first-floor window with Line Of Sight over 960m across a deep valley. Delving deep into RF propagation theory ( !! ) I'm a tad concerned that treetops in front of the mast, and roadside powerlines, might be causing 'Fresnel Zone' signal interference - 'subtractive' not 'additive'. Phew!!

The most probable cause, however, of my current near-unusable LTE service is 'congestion'.

I could mount an external high-gain antenna A: about 2m. higher on eaves, or B: about 5m. higher on ridge/chimney, which seems likely to 'lift us up where we belong'. Both would likely incur some cable losses in running the feed-signal down to the router-modem device, preferably on the ground floor. I'm having to guess about the balance of 'gains vs losses'.

Could anyone suggest, from experience, a good high-gain external antenna to purchase and a good low-loss cable? Then, importantly, a supplier of such with good CS reputation to sell me the bits?

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

bristolian — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 15:00:44 GMT

I've combined your posts into your existing thread - better long-term.

I think you might be overthinking this. If you're already using 3UK service in this location, the antenna panels will almost certainly be shared. Thus whatever RX you get with 3UK, you'll get similar with EE.

The difference will be in the radio config, and which band you connect to. Nice to see my login as one of the contributors to the CM data on that site, along with a couple of the more notable YouTube contributors too!

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 02:23:41 GMT

Many thank, 'bristolian' and 'Matt124'.

I've divorced myself from Three, purchased a refurb'd EE 4G HH10E router/modem and a £10 PAYG SIM card from Amazon, and mounted the 'new' ensemble in the same upper window as before. I needed (quite) a bit of help from EE's lovely Courtney in the Falkirk Tech Support barn, who had all the boxes ticked and wires connected - so now I'm up and running.
Phew!

I'm running one Cat5e cable direct to my desktop PC down on the ground floor, and another short Cat5E link into a Homeplug/powerline adapter adjacent to the HH10E, which enables my wife to use her laptop elsewhere in the house using another Homeplug. I'll explore in-house wifi/WAN later.

I am now getting a usable, stable service at ~35/8Mbps - which is quite sufficient for our needs and a whole lot better than elsewhere. Happy bunny!

I note this HH10E unit has facility for connection of an external antenna, while the latest iteration in the local EE store has no such facility. I'll explore respective merits in the coming days.

😊

Re: LTE quality/reliability with EE

oldbilbo — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:07:30 GMT

I've followed advice from 'bristolian' and 'matt124' here as well as good guidance from 2 EE CS maidens ( guides ) in Falkirk and Newcastle. I bought a cheap refurb'd HH10E router/modem and £10 PAYG SIM card via Amazon, to test whether I can get a reliable and usable EE 4G LTE service at my home, which is 960m LOS from the sole usable mast. And yes, I do.

Today I sought to explore the merits of using the 'external antennae ports' on that device - and also whether IN FACT there is or is likely to be a 5G service from that rural mast. The mickey-mouse 'coverage checker' shows it exists, even deep down in the valley; both Cellmapper and the EE staff in nearby Bath deny it. What little I know of UHF RF propagation suggests that it certainly does NOT behave like MF ground wave and follow up, over and down the hills and valleys - and there's even less chance if that mast is not actually transmitting 5G signals...

I asked a CS lady today to patch me through to the Tech Team so I could ascertain answers to both these questions. She refused. Apparently EE will sell me a third-party external antennae service without telling me what that/those antenna(e) are and without without determining in advance of payment whether or not this sub-contractor is able/willing to mount this antenna up on my rooftop/chimney stack - or merely on a wall rather lower than the existing modem position, which would not solve my Fresnel Zone interference issue.

All the CS lady 'from the Valleys' could tell me was that the antenna involved was about the size/shape of a A4 sheet of paper - and that I wasn't allowed to query via the Tech Team unless I was already on a contract, not PAYG.

The first two CS ladies - or 'Guides' - were refreshingly helpful. Not so, the third one. Still, I s'pose two out of three is quite good!

I'll need to look elsewhere for answers to my questions. This is my first port of call.... Any knowhow?