Question

Arcadyan KVD21 5G which connectors for 5G external antenna

copz1998
Userlevel 5
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Recently, I moved from Comcast Xfinity Internet to T-Mobile. Like many of you I have seen videos and read articles on how to attach an external antenna. I have a 2X2 Proxicast MIMO antenna, however, there is some question as to which connection to use on the Arcadyan Gateway. Currently, I am using M and M1 connections. I mounted the antenna in the rafters (2-story house) aiming toward the T-Mobile cell tower. 

My cell metrics did not change much. 

5G -RSRP -92 with antenna, -93 without; RSRQ -6, -7 without; SINR 16, 8 without  

What are you using and do you have a different experience? 

Thanks!

I am not a T-Mobile employee, but like helping others.

27 replies

iTinkeralot
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

I have no experience with the smaller antennas like that so I have no idea how much that will improve the reception. In the office we used an indoor 4G LTE booster. It helped but still was quite limited in capability as the only real way for the signals to get into the location was via a hallway to a door. The upper floor and all around our desk space was pretty much lab equipment or other electronic gear and upstairs more of the same. In a home without the heavy interference it would be a different equation. 

If you receive the midband then go for the 4x4 MIMO if it still fits the budget. If you only get the n71 then the 2x2 MIMO should be ok. I would probably shoot for 4x4 MIMO as you never know when T-Mobile might just upgrade the cell from n71 to n41. I did not expect it here as we are in a rural area with lots of pastures and fields but they did. That was just a little over a year from the initial n71 stand up. If they see growth and are planning for more users they will bump the cells up to n41 as the frequency can carry more data being a shorter wavelength. 

copz1998
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

4-month follow-up.

After a few months of trying to chase the elusive SINR rating, a few changes to the antenna system solved the issue. 

In my experience, when I can get a good SINR > 13, my web pages and YouTube content loads faster.

Taking advice from many users, I swapped out my 2x2 MIMO for a 4x4 MIMO antenna and placed it in my attic. While my RSRP and RSRQ improved, my SINR would float between 6-9, and a ping of > 40. 

I remember hearing about deflecting signals with tinfoil (and my personal experience with another gateway). I looked at my cellmapper.com layout and noticed that I have 5G and LTE signals coming from the north and east. To deflect them, I tried putting up tinfoil shields to deflect them. See the photo. My SINR now floats between 15-19. Internet responsiveness is much better. Also, my ping is usually 20-40 ms. 

RSRQ -11

RSRP - 84

SINR 15

Ping 20-40

My message here is simply that unless you are you have a strong signal with consistently higher speeds ( > 70 Mbs), you should be prepared to do a little tinkering to find the sweet spot. Overall, now I am a happy T-Mobile Home Internet customer.  

 

I am not a T-Mobile employee, but like helping others.

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