Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

[Mark42]

So I have this Pantech xp500 Wireless PCS Broadband card stuck in a Linksys WRT54G3G router and supplying Sprint internet service all over the house.

But I want a better signal to the local cell tower to get higher download/upload speeds. I'm thinking of using a flat panel antenna, about 13 dbi, and 20 feet of low loss cable to connect it to the Pantech XP500 card.

The Sprint software indicates my signal is between -86 and -100 db, depending on weather and time of day. My best download speeds are around 1.2mhz, but generally between 700 to 900khz. This is just using the little 2" antenna on the card.

Will a flat panel antenna mounted in my attic, properly alligned, make much difference in my signal quality? Will an amplifier be needed too, or will the panel antenna give improvement all by itself.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

What antenna were you planning on using? The problem is the cable...20 feet is a bit much, depending on the cards output and the cable losses. Your data rate will be affected by the card version too. A directional antenna will increase your signal and shouldn't be a problem as long as it's aimed properly and is stationary.
Another option is to go POE with the router in the attic. If you have Cat5 cables on the router, say in the first floor, run a single Cat5e cable to the attic, plug it into the attic mounted router. The other end of the Cat5 would have a 5 port switch. Plug your existing computers into the switch. All this assumes you do a site survey to find the best placement for the router/card based on the cards signal strength.

 

[JCF350]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

The Sprint software indicates my signal is between -86 and -100 db, depending on weather and time of day. My best download speeds are around 1.2mhz, but generally between 700 to 900khz. This is just using the little 2" antenna on the card.

This maybe all your gonna get out of that card.
"http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2087464,00.asp"

 

[Mark42]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

That article is very misleading. The editor did no fine turning to the cards, and neglected to mention that the difference in price is not because of performance, but because of features. I don't need GPS on a card mounted on the wall of my house. But I do need VPN, and those other cards don't offer that. I get better ping times from north New Jersey against NY servers than he did in NYC. My ping times are 90 - 109, his were 195. So he obviously had a card that was not set optimally. If I can get his average speeds with a poor grade signal, I should be running 1.2m on a regular basis with antenna and amp.

Aslo, in one of the other reviews, he admits that the xp-500 was not running rev a, so that limits its speeds, again the connection manager software was not configured right. The card also beat the others with upload speeds. I find it funny that he discarded his two highest download speed tests from the average of the Pantech card, because they were way fast. Duh, its supposed to be way fast.

I generally enjoy reading those reviews, but this comparison test was so poorly concieved as to be useless information.

But seriously, thanks for taking the time to post the link.

 

[JCF350]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

I didn't really study the article and just glanced the figures and figured he was running into Network speed limitations since the card was advertised at 1.4Mbps max.

I take it that you don't have reliable cable or DSL service?

Thanks for additional info

 

[Mark42]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

No cable, no dsl. Only choices are satalite or ISDN (128K digital) or plain old dial up. I went with ISDN because it supports the VPN I need for connecting to the office from home, and satalite can't or some just drop to dial up speeds for VPN. So satalite is a waste of my money.

Now that Sprint showed coverage for mobile broadband in my area, and after playing with my sisters Spirnt mobile service, I decided to give it a try.

Tonight I am getting 1.2meg downloads and .450 meg uploads. So it varies from day to day.

The panel antenna is from CellAntenna.com, about 13dbi boost, and a Cyfre dual band amplifier. Also finally got a tower/antenna website to show all the towers and antennas in my area, so now I will have an idea where to point the antenna when I start tuning the system. There are about 6 different antennas/towers within 3 miles of my house. So it will be a while to get the best one sorted out.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

What antenna were you planning on using? The problem is the cable...20 feet is a bit much, depending on the cards output and the cable losses. Your data rate will be affected by the card version too. A directional antenna will increase your signal and shouldn't be a problem as long as it's aimed properly and is stationary.
Another option is to go POE with the router in the attic. If you have Cat5 cables on the router, say in the first floor, run a single Cat5e cable to the attic, plug it into the attic mounted router. The other end of the Cat5 would have a 5 port switch. Plug your existing computers into the switch. All this assumes you do a site survey to find the best placement for the router/card based on the cards signal strength.

Here is the winner. Definetly get a directional antenna. Put the router as close as you can from the antenna. If the attic is a clean place go for it. I cant remember if that router has fan or not. I think not. Dust will eventually short the board, but it might be a few years. If you can mount the antenna in a window and have the router by it then much better.
Use WPA encryption, the highest rate you have and don't use real words for the passwords, make something up like "wp949qtha-0e2-39uqe"...

 

[Mark42]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

I got an email that the antenna has been shipped, along with some mounting brackets and 15 of rf cable.

This is the directional panel antenna by CellAntenna:

Found it used on Craigslist for $20! Thing costs $60 new!

Then I found a used dual band amplifier by Cyfer for $70, that typically sells for $200. Now I just need some connecters and I should be set up well.

I plan to mount the router and amplifier about a foot or so off the floor, then run the rf cable through the wall (I have an existing network box with RJ45 jack in it and space for the RF cable to terminate there) up into the attic, where the antenna will be mounted about 6 ft off the attic floor. So a 15 to 20 foot cable should do the trick.

Another issue I ran into is that the router is connected to three network cable connected PC's. A single network cable runs from the router upstairs down to the basement where the other PC's network cables are run to also. So three PC's plug in to a 5 port hub, with the uplink port going up to the router. It does work, but the hub is blasting the same packets to every machine whether they need them or not, and that makes for traffic jam in the hub. So I picked up a used Linksys 5 port switch (ebay used for $9.95), which routs the packets only to the proper port and doesn't waste the other devices time deciding if the data packet is for them or not. Linksys tech support told me that the Linksys Switch will outperform the old Linksys hub 10 to 1. That might only be micro seconds, but I couldn't resist the price of the switch.

I tell you, if you take your time and shop around you can find this hardware very cheap used.

By next weekend I should have all the parts and installed. Will let you know how it all works out.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

Sounds great! Yes, if you have a busy network a hub dont do it. If you only have one machine talking at the time, like I had in my network years ago, then there is no problem. Anyway, switches now are sometimes as cheap or cheaper than a hub. Let us know!

 

[Mark42]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

I'm still learning as I go with the wireless broadband stuff.

The Cyfre CA-819 amp I bought has a label on the bottom that says "This product is designed to be used with an external antenna with a maximum gain of 7 DBi or less. The use of an antenna of higher gain is strictly prohibited."

The panel antenna I'm using has a 13dbi gain.

Is the 13dbi antenna going to cause damage to the amp?

I did find that this amp is commonly sold with a magnet mount antenna or the common "trucker" antenna with 9 or 10 db gain.

So whats the point of the warning if retailers sell the unit packaged with antennas that have gain higer than the 7 dbi listed on the amp?

Also notice the wording on the amp - "The use of an antenna of higher gain is strictly prohibited". It does not say it will damage the amp, just that it is "strictly prohibited". I'm thinking that higher gain antennas may produce a signal strength that exceeds the FCC rules for PCS amplifiers. Anyone know why it says that?

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

Also notice the wording on the amp - "The use of an antenna of higher gain is strictly prohibited". It does not say it will damage the amp, just that it is "strictly prohibited". I'm thinking that higher gain antennas may produce a signal strength that exceeds the FCC rules for PCS amplifiers. Anyone know why it says that?

Yup, the FCC has strict limits on the RF output of amps and antennas. As a general rule, for every 3db of gain, the signal doubles. Had a guy awhile back setup a 2.4gig- 2 Watt amp with a 25db gain antenna for a wireless long link. You certainly don't want to be standing in front of that directional antenna when it's running considering that your home microwave operates in the same frequency range....

 

[Nandy]

Re: Need help with Wireless Broadband and Antennas

In the other hand, as long as you dont interfere with your neighbors electronic systems you should be ok. The FCC dont go around monitoring signals.