Router success stories in rural areas

[archercj]

I am trying to setup a reliable, and reasonably fast, internet connection in a rural area. Landline is not an option.

I did have a very successful setup with 4G - Archer MR600 router connected to a Bluespot 2x2 Mimo external aerial. Was getting around 40mbps for over a year but in the last couple of months (coincidentally the same time as 5G started to appear in the area) I am now getting 2-4mbps if I am lucky.

Anyway last week I invested in a Deco X50-5G router. Switched it on. 5 mins to configure and it picked up the 'average' 5G signal in the area but was giving me 100-140mbps. That is without connecting to the aerial. Very pleased with that until suddenly it dropped. Back to speeds of around 2mbps. After monitoring it I found that for 95% of the time the device was fine with 5G showing connections to B3 (4G) plus N1 (5G) but the remaining time N1 was lost.

As such it isnt 100% reliable.

Also a member on here who has much more knowledge than I have in the subject has said that the Deco X50-5G although listing a wide range of 4G and 5G band support for the internal aerial setup has limited 5G band support for external aerials which inclides no support for N1 which is what EE transmits at in the area.

So my question is, has anyone had success setting up a router in a fairly rural area (router + external aerial) and if so what is your configuration please.

There arent a lot of devices on the market place in general for 4G+ Sim router and considerably less for 5G given it is still in its infancy. One option is to return the Deco and get the EE NR5103. I have been told that it supports a wider range of 5G bands externally which will help and maybe I replace the aerial with a 4x4 mimo one as well.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @archercj 

Thanks for coming back to the community. 

Hopefully another user can come along with some recommendations for you and share their experience in a rural area to help you.

If you would like to discuss your options with EE, please give us a call on 07953 966 150.

Leanne.

[JohnnySegway]

Hi, did you not get a Router when you started with EE? I have some Huawei thing, though seems to need resetting a bit too often now (2years old)

[archercj]

No, I have a SIM only deal which I had been using in a tp-link Archer mr600 4g router.

[JohnnySegway]

Ah okay, the Huawei is not too bad, I can only dream of 5G! I think I will be on 4G for quite a while (rural area so won't be much demand for 5G)

[archercj]

I was very suprised when a 5G signal popped up. Local town about a mile away has a population of around 8,000 and almost non existant signal from all the suppliers except EE so its poor in general in the area.

The arrival of 5G has definately coincided with the degredation of EE's 4G signal in the area. And that has meant an 'investment' of £300 in new equipment. I am hoping 5G has more bandwidth as during one of my many technical conversations with EE over the 4G signal someone let slip (sort of) that the infrastructure in the area couldnt support the demand plus the recent outage, which was due to a device failure at the mast, hadnt been properly resolved. 

[JohnnySegway]

5G operates at a higher frequency, but that isn't that great for range, 4G is estimated reliable for 10 miles and 5G looking like 0.25 mile or 2% of range of 4G.

[archercj]

That why the EE signal is better where I am situated (which is away from the town). The main masts (which are shared with other providers) are a distance away but EE has its own dedicated mast in line of site of me (around 1/3 mile away). Until things changed 4G from EE was brilliant. Now it seems they have put some 5G transmission in on the mast and I am picking that up and getting decent speeds most of the time.

It's a weird one though as I have walked around the sit eof the supposed mast and have never been able to find any antennas. it's on the site of an old incininerator plant and the chimney has has a lot of recent work done to it yet no external antennas. Weird.

But I'm not complaining if 5G is here to stay as when it is on its a big improvement. I think they are still in the process of upgrading the area though as occasionally the 5G signal is totally lost and in good weather) an it reverts back to 4G only for a few minutes.