Giving up on wired internet for the house

[fizzy]

If you want a standalone device, they can be roughly categorised.

Cheapest is your pretty bog standard self-contained hotspot device which most carriers will sell you configured for their own network. They work, but don't expect many configuration options (some can be configured if you know about terminal access, and are willing to play with the barebones linux installation, but they're not high power devices so are still pretty limited).

Next are your more dedicated hotspots, things like the Netgear AirCard, which allow you to add their own external aerial. I personally use an older 2/3/4G AirCard when I need access in the middle of fields (The newer version only drops to a minimum of 3G).

Then you're into routers designed for more permanent installation.
I use a Teltonkia RUT-xxx at home, which again drops to 2G, whereas as the newer RUTX-xxx only drop to 3G.
The RUT(X) devices are aimed for industrial use, and they are highly configurable, but some configuration options require using terminal access, so not really for the non-nerdy types.
My biggest issue with the RUT I use (and it applies to all the range), is if you configure a VPN, you either have to go in manually reconnect it after connection loss, or write a script to do it automatically, as the manufacturer doesn't see why it should automatically recover, which means on connection loss, you lose all internet access.

The next step above that, is more configurable routers like some of the Draytek 4/5G routers, but they're another price level up.

Something not mentioned, is if you're a reasonable distance away from the nearest mast, bad weather will affect the signal.
At home, during quiet periods, I can get 20+Mbps on speed tests.
During busy times, that'll drop to around 5Mbps.
During heavy rain/snow, it can drop to less than that, but it'll also generally drop from 4G to 3G.


For anybody considering moving, I would suggest buying pre-pay sims for all the networks, load them with some data, run each one for a couple of days, and run a few speedtests at different times.
I found at home, although O2 gave the best signal, it had pretty poor ping test results and not that great bandwidth.
Vodafone didn't have as good a signal, but was consistently better on ping tests and gave more reliable bandwidth.
I didn't even try EE, as I know we were borderline for 3G signal, let alone 4G.
Once you know what network gives you suitable performance, then start looking at what deals you can get either direct, or via the various MVNOs - UK MVNOs: a guide to virtual networks (uswitch.com)
Although it's worth mentioning, an MVNO may not give you as good performance as the actual network operator. I know I use GiffGaff a lot when out and about, and for normal use it's fine, but if you load it up with a few computers/devices, I have found an O2 sim will often give better performance.

Do you use an external aerial?
It makes a huge difference.
We have virtually no signal here with EE but an external aerial under the eaves makes all the difference.
We see no drop off with weather. And it rains continuously.
There are virtually no people where I live so the mast gets very little usage which helps.
In work we used to use Airband. Basically a microwave dish on the roof pointing to a transmitter the other side of Swansea bay a few miles distance. Every time we had heavy rain the signal would drop completely. Which is Wales would happen rather a lot.
I find 4g much less effected by the weather.

This is the type we have - or similar.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[MattF]

Do you use an external aerial?
It makes a huge difference.
We have virtually no signal here with EE but an external aerial under the eaves makes all the difference.
We see no drop off with weather. And it rains continuously.
There are virtually no people where I live so the mast gets very little usage which helps.
In work we used to use Airband. Basically a microwave dish on the roof pointing to a transmitter the other side of Swansea bay a few miles distance. Every time we had heavy rain the signal would drop completely. Which is Wales would happen rather a lot.
I find 4g much less effected by the weather.

This is the type we have - or similar.

Pardon our interruption...

View attachment 305341

That's the type I've shoved up in the loft, connected to a RUTX router.

 

[Red'n'Black]

Do you use an external aerial?
It makes a huge difference.
We have virtually no signal here with EE but an external aerial under the eaves makes all the difference.
We see no drop off with weather. And it rains continuously.
There are virtually no people where I live so the mast gets very little usage which helps.
In work we used to use Airband. Basically a microwave dish on the roof pointing to a transmitter the other side of Swansea bay a few miles distance. Every time we had heavy rain the signal would drop completely. Which is Wales would happen rather a lot.
I find 4g much less effected by the weather.

This is the type we have - or similar.

Pardon our interruption...

View attachment 305341

Airband - now there's a name I hadn't heard for a while!

About ten years ago they came and did a spiel at our village hall, if enough people signed up they would put another antenna on their mast on top of the Malverns to cover the village. It sounded quite impressive at the time, 50 Mbps up and down, until they admitted it could get a bit flakey when it rained. I asked for a quote for installation anyway but never heard back from them, I think fibre-to-the-house arriving in our area might have had something to do with it

 

[fizzy]

Airband - now there's a name I hadn't heard for a while!

About ten years ago they came and did a spiel at our village hall, if enough people signed up they would put another antenna on their mast on top of the Malverns to cover the village. It sounded quite impressive at the time, 50 Mbps up and down, until they admitted it could get a bit flakey when it rained. I asked for a quote for installation anyway but never heard back from them, I think fibre-to-the-house arriving in our area might have had something to do with it

Well our warehouse about 1 mile from the main exchange next to a brand new University complex. They have a main fibre backbone running past us. And yet BT will not upgrade the cabinet. Some political wrangling with the Welsh Assembly. Complained to our local MP - local council - you name it. Nothing done. We were getting 5mb and when th kids came home from school it was unusable!
We had airband put in. It WAS pretty good 90% of the time but a busy business needs better than that. When 4g arrived we switched to that and it was brilliant. Ultra reliable - we never lost connection once in over year.
Now we have a leased line - 200mb up and the same down with a 9ms ping. Lovely but it costs us £200 a month for 5 years to cover the installation fee.

 

[m_c]

Do you use an external aerial?
It makes a huge difference.
We have virtually no signal here with EE but an external aerial under the eaves makes all the difference.
We see no drop off with weather. And it rains continuously.
There are virtually no people where I live so the mast gets very little usage which helps.
In work we used to use Airband. Basically a microwave dish on the roof pointing to a transmitter the other side of Swansea bay a few miles distance. Every time we had heavy rain the signal would drop completely. Which is Wales would happen rather a lot.
I find 4g much less effected by the weather.

This is the type we have - or similar.

Pardon our interruption...

View attachment 305341

Never got as far as installing an external aerial.
The two basic ones supplied with the router stuck in the attic give good enough signal/bandwidth so haven't bothered so far.
The problem with EE, is there is a hill between us and the mast. Walk 150m up the field, and you get a near perfect signal.
O2 and Vodafone are further away, but have a near enough direct line of sight.

 

[fizzy]

Never got as far as installing an external aerial.
The two basic ones supplied with the router stuck in the attic give good enough signal/bandwidth so haven't bothered so far.
The problem with EE, is there is a hill between us and the mast. Walk 150m up the field, and you get a near perfect signal.
O2 and Vodafone are further away, but have a near enough direct line of sight.

I live down in a valley so the transmitter is around several hills. Suprised the difference the proper aerial makes. No signal on the phone in the house at all.

 

[fizzy]

Never got as far as installing an external aerial.
The two basic ones supplied with the router stuck in the attic give good enough signal/bandwidth so haven't bothered so far.
The problem with EE, is there is a hill between us and the mast. Walk 150m up the field, and you get a near perfect signal.
O2 and Vodafone are further away, but have a near enough direct line of sight.

I live down in a valley so the transmitter is around several hills. Suprised the difference the proper aerial makes. No signal on the phone in the house at all.

 

[fizzy]

Never got as far as installing an external aerial.
The two basic ones supplied with the router stuck in the attic give good enough signal/bandwidth so haven't bothered so far.
The problem with EE, is there is a hill between us and the mast. Walk 150m up the field, and you get a near perfect signal.
O2 and Vodafone are further away, but have a near enough direct line of sight.

I live down in a valley so the transmitter is around several hills. Suprised the difference the proper aerial makes. No signal on the phone in the house at all.

 

[addjunkie]

Never got as far as installing an external aerial.
The two basic ones supplied with the router stuck in the attic give good enough signal/bandwidth so haven't bothered so far.
The problem with EE, is there is a hill between us and the mast. Walk 150m up the field, and you get a near perfect signal.
O2 and Vodafone are further away, but have a near enough direct line of sight.

We use a dish arieal ontop of our barn roof, with built in router, data then bounced down to the house with a point to point set up about 125 yards. Ariel amplifies signal about 23 gain, where the external Ariel pictured above is about 5 gain.

 

[ukracer]

I live down in a valley so the transmitter is around several hills. Suprised the difference the proper aerial makes. No signal on the phone in the house at all.

Ok ok we get it. Lol.

Seriously I actually purchased an EE aim to put in a spare phone as we could not get data on any other network at our campsite. Most times you could not even get a signal to use phone on Vodafone.
We have now moved sites and need a more permenant solution as it's a Static site open 11 months.

Thankfully EE is fine for Streaming F1 and running my internet and as they messed up when I took contract out they doubled my data to 160gig a month and so far it's been enough for our needs.
Daughter in law was back in work so our visits will be mainly weekends or long weekends or weeks in school holidays. What concerning me is I am having to use fire stick to stream Freeview as Freeview in that area is 21 channels only and garbage as it keeps not only breaking up but cutting out for minutes at a time.

So trying to decide whether to splash out on a 4G modem for EE and see what unlimited costs or just get another
160gig SIM for 20 quid and leave it in an old phone so I can have CCTV if I feel the need to check anything.

 

[J1nx]

I’m sure I read 3G is going in the next year or two, is that not going to be a problem for these hotspot devices that fall back to 3G when signal is a bit poor?

 

[ukracer]

I’m sure I read 3G is going in the next year or two, is that not going to be a problem for these hotspot devices that fall back to 3G when signal is a bit poor?

Some one said 2G was but another said too many items run on it..so gawd knows..lol

 

[fizzy]

Some one said 2G was but another said too many items run on it..so gawd knows..lol

Including so called smart meters

 

[J1nx]

Yes I think 2g is a bit of a problem but I can’t imagine even browsing with 2g nowadays, times I’ve had to use 3g, which is more often than I’d like on O2, it has been abysmal. Has 3G already been throttled or is that just perception since using newer standards? Certainly seems slower than I remember when it was the top tier.

 

[optima21]

I've been using mobile broadband for 10 to 15 years now without a landline. Im with 3 in a 4G area I'm currently on a 20GB a month contract for just over £8 a month, Im thinking of changing that to a 40GB contract for £12 a month which will do me fine as I don't stream tv, I use freeview tv. they also do an £18 a month contract for unlimited data and thats a 24 month contract (if you are already and existing user of thiers).

a bit of an update on this, as well as the 20GB a month contract, in April I took on a 10GB a month 1month rolling contract for £13 which came with a new mifi router, to get me by until it was time to update the 20GB contract. So until last week I was all set to change to the 40GB mobile broadband contract for £12 a month for 24 months, but they last week their pricing structure and offers changed and they are nowhere near as cheap.

for unlimited data with or without the router it is £22 month for a 24month contract. but three also do a Sim only deal for mobile phones for existing customers of £16 a month with unlimited data on a 12 month contract. What they don't tell you though is that the mobile phone sims work in the mifi routers without any data capping etc. I've had that confirmed by calling them and also by a salesman in a three shop. years ago you couldnt use the phone sims in routers, but a few years ago data usage on phones was minimal. and this post was done my new mobile phone sim in my old (current model but 4 months old mifi router). Just really updating this as other mobile phone networks may also allow phone sims to be used in routers. somehow they gave me a discount too in the local shop so Ive got unlimited data 12 month contract for £15 a month. think that will do for all the general browsing I want on my laptop.

 

[addjunkie]

On of our neighbours has gone with starlink, satelitte thing from Elon musk. Speeds are superb downloads of 200 meg, up about 30ish. But spendy 500 quid up front. And 89 quid a month!

 

[fizzy]

On of our neighbours has gone with starlink, satelitte thing from Elon musk. Speeds are superb downloads of 200 meg, up about 30ish. But spendy 500 quid up front. And 89 quid a month!

If I was still living in the Brecon Beacons I would have jumped at it.
Apparently you don't get connection 100% of the time until more satellites are launched.

 

[Dev]

I’d take a subsidy for a starlink connection over wasting money on openreach who have no intention of providing rural infrastructure. And they’ll shameless lie about how much it will cost so they don’t have to do it.