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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 18:30:14 GMT
Someone else more knowledgeable on this like @nemesis or lollygagger will know but I am wondering if you can somehow test just how good the signal actually is on the upper deck of the house. If it's a bit iffy then maybe something with proper aerials might be worth looking into. The aerial can be unscrewed and connected to an extension so could be placed on a windowsill, for example, if that helped. You can't do that with a smartphone. Look at the signal strength/3g/4g icon that's always at the top of your phone? If the phone connects, so does everything connected to it, there is no grey area other than speed which depends on a lot of things and Laptops/PC's use different more data intensive versions of the sites hence the operators being iffy about tethering in the past. When I built a Website for my business 10 years ago I had to make different versions of the whole site for smartphones, tablets and desktops. I didn't realise it was as simple as looking at the bars at the top of the phone.. Clinton Cool seems to be using a notebook computer downstairs so the signal, speed or whatever "the ability of the device with the SIM in it to transfer the required data" seems relevant and I wonder if the option of fitting a remote aerial may be useful. @froggy has already suggested this. I usually associate external aerials with a better signal. Maybe they just provide more speed. Either or both seem useful.
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Post by lollygagger on Dec 26, 2020 7:56:39 GMT
I looked into it when I was mobile radio designing, I did a lot of indoor boosting installation design but that's not quite the same and anything available is very low power to be legal.
But yes in theory an antenna should help.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2020 9:39:05 GMT
Here are the four operators for your postcode Ricco. Three looks ok, need to get an external antenna up on your aerial mast, as high as possible, get an omni directional one and you should be ok. Bear in mind that due to tourists in the warmer months it may get slower as more people connect to the tower.
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Post by twbm2 on Dec 26, 2020 14:18:35 GMT
Are phone and dongle on the same network? Does the phone do internet stuff upstairs and downstairs if it's not tethering? How does it all work outside, back and front? Phone is on Giffgaff. For £6 a month I get more than I need. Reception is excellent everywhere. Dongle uses Smarty £10 a month for 30gb. No, or very sketchy reception downstairs but ok upstairs. I should mention that my house is a semi cave, with rock reaching up to within a couple of feet of the roof at the rear. I suppose the ideal thing would be to ditch Giigaff, get a new phone on which the hotspot works. I could then connect downstairs and save £6 A month. I wouldn't be able to use the phone downstairs though, far from ideal. On balance I'd be happy to keep paying the £16 total each month providing that I can connect downstairs. I can get another cheap smartphone that would do the job for £50 or so. Is there anything else available that would do the same job, router or. If or something? I don't understand. I should add that my dongle is 3g, that works upstairs, so 3g will do. OK, one thing to note is that 3G is on it's way out in the UK, it may not be imminent where you are, but you need to look for a 4G solution to add a bit of future-proofing. You've then got two challenges, one to get a usable 4G data signal to the phone, then making sure the WiFi hotspot will get to where you want to use it in the house. That might have to be driven by which network's got a site in the right place to do that (simplistically, pointing at the front of the house), rather than cost. The main 'real' network providers all have coverage maps, which should be treated with a degree of caution, and the others use one of them. Smarty is Three, Giff Gaff is O2.
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Post by Clinton Cool on Dec 26, 2020 17:20:45 GMT
Here are the four operators for your postcode Ricco. Three looks ok, need to get an external antenna up on your aerial mast, as high as possible, get an omni directional one and you should be ok. Bear in mind that due to tourists in the warmer months it may get slower as more people connect to the tower. The Smarty sim I use for internet is on the Three network. It's odd, if I go 15 yards in either direction there's a good signal. Upstairs is 2 or 3 bars, not bad. Nothing or almost nothing in the downstairs of my cave. Odd, because Giffgaff has a full signal throughout.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2020 18:23:06 GMT
Cell tower location.
You did mention that your cave was a real one in the sense of being built into the side of rocks.
If the 3 cell tower is behind the rocks and the Giffgaff (Vodafone?) cell tower is not behind the rocks then the latter will get a better signal.
Terrestrial based network.
I used to think cell phones were called that because they run on batteries but it's not that sort of cell.
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Post by twbm2 on Dec 28, 2020 10:09:21 GMT
Here are the four operators for your postcode Ricco. Three looks ok, need to get an external antenna up on your aerial mast, as high as possible, get an omni directional one and you should be ok. Bear in mind that due to tourists in the warmer months it may get slower as more people connect to the tower. The Smarty sim I use for internet is on the Three network. It's odd, if I go 15 yards in either direction there's a good signal. Upstairs is 2 or 3 bars, not bad. Nothing or almost nothing in the downstairs of my cave. Odd, because Giffgaff has a full signal throughout. The coverage maps aren't really granular enough to be used for every household. EE tell me I'll get 'varying' levels of indoor coverage - it's actually none. Radio waves are like light (same stuff, different frequency bands) ... if you turn the lounge light on, overall it will provide good illumination, but it will be dark behind the couch. Given that you're apparently tucked up against a cliff, there could be a mast 50 yds away at the top of the cliff, but the signal will fly straight across the top of you - you're behind the 'couch'. When I said a mast pointing at the front of the house, that's what I was referring to.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2020 10:15:52 GMT
That seems a very probable situation with a house which is also overlooking the sea. as far as I know they don't put cell towers offshore.
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Post by lollygagger on Dec 28, 2020 10:35:56 GMT
On the other hand I get a great signal anywhere inside my steel boat, even in the portholes only part. Phone sits on a steel microwave nowhere near a window and there is another steel boat 1 ft away from the nearest window. The landscape is flat.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2020 13:06:03 GMT
I can get a signal even in the sleeping quarters which is an area with no windows or portholes with a steel hull and a steep whaleback deck over the top. No idea what it's doing to my brain but never mind that's on the way out anyway. I get the impression that the signal might bounce around and find a way out (door) probably more of a problem if the bulkhead is a massive rock formation as maybe it is less reflective. It would be quite interesting to seal a mobile phone inside a steel box with no openings then have a look at it and see if there is any signal.
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Post by Jim on Dec 28, 2020 17:17:35 GMT
I can get a signal even in the sleeping quarters which is an area with no windows or portholes with a steel hull and a steep whaleback deck over the top. No idea what it's doing to my brain but never mind that's on the way out anyway. I get the impression that the signal might bounce around and find a way out (door) probably more of a problem if the bulkhead is a massive rock formation as maybe it is less reflective. It would be quite interesting to seal a mobile phone inside a steel box with no openings then have a look at it and see if there is any signal. It might just be dead.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2020 17:37:07 GMT
I can get a signal even in the sleeping quarters which is an area with no windows or portholes with a steel hull and a steep whaleback deck over the top. No idea what it's doing to my brain but never mind that's on the way out anyway. I get the impression that the signal might bounce around and find a way out (door) probably more of a problem if the bulkhead is a massive rock formation as maybe it is less reflective. It would be quite interesting to seal a mobile phone inside a steel box with no openings then have a look at it and see if there is any signal. It might just be dead. The phone or the brain?
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Post by Jim on Dec 28, 2020 22:30:39 GMT
Just get on and open the effin box!..... Or maybe?.... Take the money?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2020 23:45:35 GMT
I think sims for data devices and sims for phones are not exactly the same thing. I know I can’t take the sim out of my iPhone and put it in my iPad. Well I can physically, but it doesn’t work. Also I believe some sim contracts still don’t allow tethering to other devices. Presuming you don’t want landline broadband, it would seem sensible to get a 4G wifi device with reasonable range, so that it can be upstairs and you can be downstairs. Or add a Wi-fi booster/repeater thingy to your existing device’s Wi-fi to strengthen it so it reaches downstairs. Odd that the sim from your phone won’t work in your iPad. I use an old phone sim on my pad, and it’s been fine. I thought they had stopped all that shenanigans.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2020 23:51:45 GMT
I'm useless. The issue I have: I can only get reception with my Internet sim card upstairs. So, I connect with a dongle upstairs. I'd prefer to be downstairs, particularly now I've finished making my industrial style table behind the window seat. The obvious thing to do is to put the Internet sim in my phone and connect via hotspot. Unfortunately when I try to do this it connects but I get a message on my computer 'no internet'. Connected but no internet, strange but not a surprise, problems with technology regularly blight my life. I have 2 laptops (both barely work, for different reasons) I get the same message with both of them, suggests to me that the problem isn't with the laptop. So, I'm wondering if it might be my phone? I used to be able to connect with it via hotspot, but can't now. It's an el cheapo Chinese smartphone that, remarkably, is still working after 5 or 6 years. I haven't changed any settings, wouldn't know how to. The obvious solution is to buy a new phone which I'm happy to do if this will solve the problem but knowing my luck with the technology it probably won't. Any ideas? I use a HUAWEI B535 on the boat, (google it) which works fine inside, and has a good signal throughout. You can run multi items off it as well. I think three are doing them with an unlimited internet for around 20 quid a month. It can be sited upstairs and should give you a signal downstairs as well, especially if you could put it just above the stairs on the landing. Mine runs two phones, two iPads, a laptop, a tv and an echo show. All work fine even when connected all at once. It’s with three, unlimited and 17 quid a month.
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