Improved my speeds by switching LTE channel

[Sock Puppet]

I have my 3 broadband 4G modem in the attic, and live in a remote but high up location, so was getting a strong signal and 5 bars, but a SINR of only 2db and speeds of only 2-3 Mbps at peak hours. And that speed was after figuring out to hide the modem on one side of a water tank, otherwise the speed was much lower.

Anyway I was browsing this forum and the comments Sean made about band 20 being congested started to make me think. I found this Github project which enables you to switch LTE bands from within a browser like Chrome:
https://github.com/ECOFRI/HuaweiLTEBandSelector

I had to modify it to get it to work with Three's custom firmware which they installed on my B525 via an OTA update. 

Results are impressive to me. Both band 3 and band 1 are far faster than band 20, with band 1 giving the best performance, despite also having the worst signal - 4 bars and 0db SINR. Speeds are between 15 and 30Mbps at peak times, which are luxurious speeds for me. I have found that using the external antennas that came with the B525 also help improve speeds slightly on band 1 only. 

Hopefully this will mean no more pulling my hair out while trying to work from home in Citrix. Thanks Sean. 

Code is below. Select it and drag it onto the bookmark bar, then log in to your router and run it.

Code for three firmware:

Code:

javascript:ltebandselection();function currentBand(){$.ajax({type:"GET",async:true,url:"/api/device/signal",error:function(request,status,error){alert("Signal Error:"+request.status+"\n"+"message:"+request.responseText+"\n"+"error:"+error)},success:function(data){var report="";report=report+"RSRQ/RSRP/SINR :"+extractXML("rsrq",data)+"/"+extractXML("rsrp",data)+"/"+extractXML("sinr",data);report=report+"\nBand : "+extractXML("band",data)+" - "+extractXML("dlbandwidth",data);report=report+"\nEARFCN : "+extractXML("earfcn",data);alert(report)}})}function extractXML(tag,data){try{return data.split("</"+tag+">")[0].split("<"+tag+">")[1]}catch(err){return err.message}}function ltebandselection(){if(arguments.length==0){var band=prompt("Please input desirable LTE band number. If you want to use multiple LTE bands, write down multiple band number joined with '+'. If you want to use every supported bands, write down 'ALL'. (Ex. SKT 1+3+5+7 / KT 1+3+8 / LG U+ 1+5+7)","ALL");if(band==null||band===""){return}}else var band=arguments[0];if(!window.location.href.includes("/html/content.html")){alert("You can use this function only in main page.");return}else{var bs=band.split("+");var ltesum=0;if(band.toUpperCase()==="ALL"){ltesum="7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF"}else{for(var i=0;i<bs.length;i++){ltesum=ltesum+Math.pow(2,parseInt(bs[i])-1)}ltesum=ltesum.toString(16);console.log("LTEBand:"+ltesum)}$.ajax({type:"GET",async:true,url:"/html/home.html",error:function(request,status,error){alert("Token Error:"+request.status+"\n"+"message:"+request.responseText+"\n"+"error:"+error)},success:function(data){var datas=data.split('name="csrf_token" content="');var token=datas[datas.length-1].split('"')[0];setTimeout(function(){$.ajax({type:"POST",async:true,url:"/api/net/net-mode",headers:{__RequestVerificationToken:token},contentType:"application/xml",data:"<request><NetworkMode>03</NetworkMode><NetworkBand>3FFFFFFF</NetworkBand><LTEBand>"+ltesum+"</LTEBand></request>",success:function(nd){alert(nd)},error:function(request,status,error){alert("Net Mode Error:"+request.status+"\n"+"message:"+request.responseText+"\n"+"error:"+error)}})},2e3)}})}}

[Sock Puppet]

Remarkable differences in speed.

Band 1 at 00:13 on the 30/04/2020:

Band 3 at 00:15 on the 30/04/2020:

Band 20 at 00:17 on the 30/04/2020:



My 4G modem always defaulted to band 20, as the signal was best...

[Seán]

That's a great speed difference there between the three bands. Great find on the JavaScript as the only ways I've come across to switch band either involve the third party Windows utility LTEInspecteur or flashing third party debranding firmware (which I heard no longer works after Three changed the GUI)

Just a pity that LTE Band 1 will only last for 3 to 6 months to cover the Covid pandemic, i.e. will revert back to 3G band 1 either mid July or October.