Iskra antenna set and Huawei router

[markata]

Hello,

First of all I would like to thank you for the nice and techy forum!

Thanks to it last summer I decided to buy Iskra Antenna set P-60 5G 7003800 . I used it together with Huawei B315s-22 . It produced great approvement of coverage 4 out of 5 bars network. I got 30Mbits download speed vs around 3-3.5Mbps upload speed when both antennas are connected. If only first antenna is chosen over the web UI the download speed is devided by 2 - around 13-14mbits

All was fine until I decided to request new service, for which they provide telecom's equipment - Huawei B311-221. I didnt't notice that the back of it has only 1SMA connector for external antenna.

I checked over internet and specially found over AliExpress for SMA Male to Dual SMA Female Connector Splitter 50ohm RG316 Coax Cable Y Type Extension Cord.

My question is if I use such splitter to connect to it both antennas, will it combine both antenna speeds as when connected separately?

Thank you!

[Seán]

Unfortunately, the Huawei B311-221 is a lower end router compared to the B315a-22 that you were using. I'm surprised they still offer it as Huawei has since discontinued the router. Compared to your B315s-22, it indeed has just one SMA port and one Ethernet port and I cannot see any useful feature it offers over the B315 as its 4G band capabilities are the same.

If your B315s-22 still works, I suggest using it with the new service. If it s network locked and your new service is a different provider, it is worth trying to get an unlock code from your old provider. Otherwise if you are still with your current network operator, you might be able to cancel the new service if you are in a cooling off period.

The Y-shape coaxial splitter is intended to split a signal antenna between two SMA ports. However, it does not offer any speed improvement compared to two separate antennas. Similarly, attaching the two antennas into one SMA port will not perform as well as two separate antenna inputs. When you attach an antenna to the B311, it uses an internal antenna for MIMO, just like attaching a single antenna to the B315.

As an upgrade router, I suggest trying to get either the Huawei B535 or the B818. This B535 features 4G+, band 28 support, better 802.11ac Wi-Fi and gigabit Ethernet ports. The B818 has even better 4G+ carrier aggregation capabilities. Both the B535 and B818 have two antenna ports, although the B818 would need SMA to TS9 adapters to attach the antenna leads.

[markata]

What to say Seán , it is the largest Bulgarian telecom . The service is called Mobix and is Internet for remote areas. It locks you to one cell and if you want to change it and use it in another location, you need to submit for relocation and you are taxed for it. 

http://mobix.vivacom.bg/faq/?lang=en-US
https://www.vivacom.bg/bg/residential/ce...navsjakyde

They have started to offer B311-221 since September last year. Nothing surprises me.

They used before 4G HUAWEI ROUTER B535-232 but don't have it anymore in the stores. I talked to the manager and he will try to provide me with one returned from customer.


Mine B315s-22 is unlocked. The problem is that the Mobix SIM card is somehow locked to the provider equipment B311-221 with the custom firmware (sn/imei?).
As far as I know you can't use it in other device. I have access to the WEB UI. There is some profile inside the B311-221 inside the settings but there is password and can't see it.

I guess I can't save ? or transfer all profile/settings? from B311-221 to B315s-22 ?

[Seán]

That sure is a step backwards on their router change, like they managed to get a good deal of some old stock of B311's from somewhere.

It is well worth trying to get the Huawei B535, even if it's a returned router. At least that will let you attach both antenna leads as well as possibly get faster speed if they use 4G+ (multiple bands) in your area.

In the meantime, it's worth trying the SIM in your Huawei B315 to see if it can make a connection. Copy the APN settings as shown in the B311. For the password, try what's in the username field, e.g. if the username is VIVACOM, enter VIVACOM for the password. If it fails to connect, then it's possibly IMEI locked.

[markata]

Hello,

Before my latest updates I Really would like to Thank you Seán for the awesome forum here and always up-to-date info!


I managed to get back in Jan '22 B315 as you proposed and it worked until a week ago. It get faulty.

So I requested exchange, in the first office they offered me again the 1 antenna old b311 and I refused it.

Went to 2nd office - and 'O, miracle' - there was another class router B535-232a as you said.


It is with personalized telecom firmware - it asks only for password for the web interface. Is there an app I could use other than huaCtrl to check the signal quality faster as I search for best signal for the antennas. It is a bit difficult to refresh the web page constantly and move the antennas. Tried huaCtrl with admin user and root user but no luck connecting to it.

And my 2nd questions is for the values

CELL_ID 1034811
RSRQ -8.0dB
RSRP -96dBm
RSSI -68dBm
SINR 10dB

The RSRP is the most import one I should look after, right? (don't look the values, these ones are from the city coverege  ) 

And one last one - Did I miss some important update for the last one year and a half? 

[Seán]

The SINR is the next most important as this is the signal quality. This ranges all the way up to 30dB, so the higher you can get this value, the better. Even if you cannot get it above 10dB, that is still reasonably good signal quality.

You can try LTE H-Monitor which runs on Windows which also displays a live read out:
https://www.ltehmonitor.com/en/

[markata]

Thank you again, I remember now this windows program and also huaCtrl started to work with admin user and the password from 30th attempt.
As far as I can remember we can choose cell only if we have mikrotik equipment - I didn't find for huawei the lock option from both programs.

And last topic - in the city I found it strange to have better speeds with internal antennas compared to the two antennas from the huawei box.

I will report in few hours the village comparison between internal vs 2 huawei equipment box antennas vs Iskra antenna set

[markata]

My frustrated update from today : After 3hours configuring and checking all the options I get 5-6Mbit DL and 0.3 UL speeds.
The good times with 10-15Mbit DL and 2-3Mbit UL are gone.

So I have other question - do you thing I can accomplish better speeds with ubiquiti nanostations like M5 or from other providers. There is a denivelation and the distance is 600metra - may be with trees and house and no direct sight.

Is this mission accomplishable? Or only the test will tell ? The speeds of other operator is like 50-60mbit Dl to 5-10Mbit Up to the other sight.

[Seán]

I am surprised the speeds are not much better with the above signal readings as I would expect 15Mbps or higher with a SINR of 10dB even on a narrow 5MHz band. When you tested in the city, it is very likely you connected to a different mast with a higher capacity backhaul such as fibre to the mast.

It looks like your current mobile operator has a very congested backhaul, so I suggest trying other network operators such as whatever one you tested that give 50-60Mbps. Usually the signal needs to drop below -115dBm RSRP or SINR going negative to see the download speed drop that low when there is low network congestion.

[markata]

In the village on this half with denivelation all the operators are like these or even worse - I got around -108 to -112dBm RSRP and SINR around -2 to 2dB.
The signal shows 3 bars from 5 I think, but the speeds are bad as may be no fibre to the mast.

So I now explore the option where it has more speed a place 'A' to send to my place 'B' the signal through antennas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6WyWltSTXI

Do you think the signal can brake through trees and houses (may be around 6-7) with denivelation - no direct line of sight may be.

[Seán]

For Wi-Fi point to point you need clear line of sight between the two antennas. It may work with a few trees in-between the antennas, but not with buildings, walls or other tall obstructions unless you can mount both antennas high enough to "see" each other. You will most likely need to use the 5GHz Wi-Fi band as the 2.4GHz band will likely suffer from interference from all the Wi-Fi networks operating between the two antennas. Even with the 5GHz band, there is also a risk of it occasionally offline due to radar signals, particularly if there is an airport nearby.