5G Tethered off Phone Vs 5G Modem

GoogleFroogle on 27/04/2020 - 11:49

Has anyone had any experience with the amount of reception one could receive with 5g reception from a phone Vs a 5g modem?

NBN is appalling here in my suburb and reception is only so-so on my Optus 4g tethered through my phone (though better than NBN).

I think I'd still keep NBN for my family's non-essential work but for my twitch streaming, I need a reliable network to constantly get me 5Mb upload and being on the edge of a Telstra 5g zone, I want the best reception I can have (especially if forking over the huge sums for a new plan and device)

I'd love to hear your opinions, thanks

Internet

Comments

  • Mechz on 27/04/2020 - 11:52

    What NBN tech do you have (FTTN etc) and what speed plan are you on? Also who is your service provider?

    The main issue with tethering is battery drain on your phone.

    • GoogleFroogle on 27/04/2020 - 11:55

      FTTN on a VERY long run. iinet. 25/5, because we can only achieve 18/1.5 at best on a good day.

      I'd gladly be on a 100 plan if we could get it, but it took work to even get 18

      • User2049 on 27/04/2020 - 12:04
        +1

        How long have you had your NBN connection, is it out of co-existance?

        • GoogleFroogle on 27/04/2020 - 12:10

          I believe yes

          • User2049 on 27/04/2020 - 12:22

            @GoogleFroogle: NBN guarantees a speed of atleast 25/5 if you are out of coexistance, log a fault with your provider and make sure they escalate to NBN.

      • Mechz on 27/04/2020 - 12:07
        +1

        It's a tough spot you're in and hard to know without spending $$$ what way to go. There's a good thre3on OCAU about a guy who setup 4G to replace his NBN. Will grab you a link.

        • GoogleFroogle on 27/04/2020 - 12:09

          Thanks Mechz, I'd like to give it a read

            • ESEMCE on 27/04/2020 - 12:29
              +1

              @Mechz: Similar story to me…
              I love that outdoor enclosure for the modem! Hate to think of the speed losses I take on my 3m long antenna runs!

              I'm seriously tempted by the B818 modem.
              Still got 8 months to go on my existing contract… really hoping 5G might be possible by then for that sweet, Unlimited data peace of mind.
              But to be honest, we rarely get close to our 200Gb/month allowance on the current plan, so I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the B818 on the 500Gb plan if 5G wasn't an option.

      • pjetson on 27/04/2020 - 12:09

        it took work to even get 18

        What kind of work? And what did you increase it from?

        • GoogleFroogle on 27/04/2020 - 12:12

          maybe from 8-12, through some mysterious attempts at iinets end, plus killing other connections in the house, things like that. I am not sure ultimately what did it, but it's bearable right now for downloads, it's just upload is nowhere near what I need to upload 1080p content (in fact I can't upload 720p without using my optus)

          • pjetson on 27/04/2020 - 12:14
            +1

            @GoogleFroogle: User Uskompuf asked how long you'd had your NBN, because during co-existance (ie the first 18 months after connection), NBN says that it will not guarantee more than 12/1 speed on FTTN. It's not clear what happens after that, because the government now seems to have gone back on their statement that everyone on the NBN will be able to get at least 25/5

            • ESEMCE on 27/04/2020 - 12:20
              +1

              @pjetson: Vectoring isn't going to make that much of a difference.
              My 30/8 connection pre-vectoring is now 34/9 with vectoring turned on. A ~15% improvement..
              OP might get 2.5 up if he's really lucky.

  • ESEMCE on 27/04/2020 - 12:15
    +3

    Dedicated modem means you can look into a roof mounted antenna for a significant improvement in signal strength and quality.
    Could do the same with Optus 4G to improve speeds dramatically.
    My main internet is Optus 4G. Rooftop antenna takes my speed from 10/2 (Internal Antennas) to 70/8 (external antenna), phone connection (Cat11 phone versus cat6 modem) was in the 50/50 range back when I was on Optus.

    • GoogleFroogle on 27/04/2020 - 12:27

      oh, that's great info thanks. I'll look into that for 4g even. If I could just bump up my Optus 2x or 3x that'd probably do the job!

      • ESEMCE on 27/04/2020 - 12:42
        +1

        YMMV of course… You're going to need to test… Get your phone up on the roof and run some speedtests, especially at 7pm!

        If that works to your satisfaction, you could potentially forego the roof mount antennas and just build an enclosure for the modem per the OCAU link above.
        The B818 is a beast in terms of specs, so what you see with your phone up there should be easily replicated.

        I came to the roof mount antenna solution… I got great signal/speeds with the modem teetering on the gutter, but couldn't imagine a way to both weather protect it and control the temperature on hot sunny days. That link solves both problems with easily accessible parts.

        Probably my one warning is that Peak times download takes a hit… I can drop back to 30/8 at the worst. Upload never seems to budge though. Ping (if you care) is also fairly decent, 18-20ms… It's not Fibre, but it's also not nearly as bad as people expect it to be.

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