CowboyRon
Platinum Member
That's what I'm hoping. I was told that once 5g is everywhere, almost everyone will get internet via airwaves.
Ubifi Rural Internet
- Thread starter TheMan419
- Start date
- Views: 72769
Can you give me a link to their service? I'd like to look at them. Not that I am unhappy with UbiFi, but cheaper is better
As for your issue you need to boost potentially both.
The 4g signal is the link between the cell tower and the MoFi/Nighthawk. The strength and quality of that signal will determine how fast and reliable your connection to the outside world is. If this signal is poor get a directional antenna to help. Using a WiFi booster will not help this problem.
The MoFi then converts that signal into the WiFi. So if you have a computer far away from the MoFi you need something to boost the WiFi signal. There are TONS of products on Amazon to do that fairly easily and cheaply. Increasing the 4g signal between the MoFi and the tower will not help this issue.
4g is NOT going away. It will run side by side with 5g for years..... as 3g has with 4g. Everyone who has a 4g phone would be forced to upgrade to a 5g phone if that were not the case. None of the carriers are going to piss off their customer base by doing that.
Of course once 5g comes out I will want to upgrade to that for better speed.
Not everyone will get their internet over 5g. If you have fiber to the house or a good cable connection those prices are going to drop as well due to the competition. So you will have choices at a good price.
Does it come with the hardware to mount to the pole? I am going to add an antenna to increase signal. Was it hard to get locked in on the tower? Do you have one or two of them?
I was looking at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBSLNJ6/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A3VP7QY3689O35&psc=1
CowboyRon
Platinum Member
Yes mine did, except for the pole. I just used a fence top rail.
I used only one antenna but I have seen people use two. They have apps that will show you the direction of your tower, I just pointed it and had instant sucess. Once I added the antenna I went from 12mb to between 25 and 75mb.
I am currently using unlimetedville for my service provider going through a sprint tower. For some reason I get a better signal with sprint than anyone else
I used only one antenna but I have seen people use two. They have apps that will show you the direction of your tower, I just pointed it and had instant sucess. Once I added the antenna I went from 12mb to between 25 and 75mb.
I am currently using unlimetedville for my service provider going through a sprint tower. For some reason I get a better signal with sprint than anyone else
BigBlue1
Veteran Member
Plus, it will take YEARS to roll out 5G to all infrastructure. As with any cell tech improvement they will first start in highly populated areas and then slowly flow it out to more rural places. Likely people who need Mobleys and Mofis right now because of few land-line Internet provider options will be some of the last to get 5G too. Even if 5G does actually reach production-readiness by 2020 and they start implementing it in big cities I think it will be 4-5 years before us folks in the sticks have access.
So Ubifi is still a good investment option for folks who need it.
Rob
Welshman
Gold Member
Thanks. So what I should do is first test the incoming 4g signal. If that's low, I need an antenna, or something to improve it. Do these devices typically have a gauge to show signal strength, like a phone has? If I then have an issue with Wi-Fi, then I need something to improve that, right?
Welshman
Gold Member
Can you give me a link to their service? I'd like to look at them. Not that I am unhappy with UbiFi, but cheaper is better
As for your issue you need to boost potentially both.
The 4g signal is the link between the cell tower and the MoFi/Nighthawk. The strength and quality of that signal will determine how fast and reliable your connection to the outside world is. If this signal is poor get a directional antenna to help. Using a WiFi booster will not help this problem.
The MoFi then converts that signal into the WiFi. So if you have a computer far away from the MoFi you need something to boost the WiFi signal. There are TONS of products on Amazon to do that fairly easily and cheaply. Increasing the 4g signal between the MoFi and the tower will not help this issue.
Thanks for that. OTR Mobile | Unlimited Mobile HotSpot Plans | Unthrottled Access, 4G LTE (I hope that works). Let me know what you think.
Last edited:
Komrade
Silver Member
First, you need to figure out if you have any signal by the carrier. For example, in our parts of WV US Celluar is it (Verizon rides on US Celluar towers).
If your signal is flaky, you need to figure out where your nearest tower is and point to it, or get as clear line of sight as you can.
Second, you need to determine how good your signal is. Sometimes devices have bars, sometimes their modems have bars when you log into it. Ours had near 0 about 100 feet down the hill where our cabin is, and very good reception on top of the hill. I had experience with signal boosters, but the one i had was a 2G (phone) booster, so I got an antenna for the modem. I almost returned it as the signal barely improved.. but my bandwidth (download speed) did improve even though it was still showing nearly 0 bars, plus I almost never disconnect, so I kept the antenna. I test my bandwidth with speedtest.com
Basically, the higher in the air and the less obstruction it has (trees, mountains) the better your signal (and bandwidth) will be.
While I considered building a solar-powered hub on top of my hill, adding an antenna on top of my house was good enough. I use 4G as my backup link (for DSL), as I am capped to 20 or 40G monthly on my $40 plan, but it really works rather well.
For those of you in the boonies, there are also long distance WiFi providers that might be able to service you depending on elevation. I used one of those services for a few years, but my DSL got sufficiently reliable. Try Search All Internet Providers by Zip Code | HighSpeedInternet.com. These are usually very regional/local providers, they won't be affiliated with AT&T or the like. Mine was/is called wave2net, I am sure you never heard the name.
Correct. The UbiFi's unit is called an MoFi. You have to connect to it with an ethernet cable. But then you can log into that unit, test signal strength and the like.
So you need to test both. If you have poor 4g signal coming into the MoFi you need to find where in the house you get the best signal. My phone happens to be att. So I used an app called Open Signal and it tells me what direction the tower is. So I figured out the best place to put the unit. However if I stand right outside the house at that point I get a MUCH better signal. That tells me I need an exterior antenna. I just have not had the time to deal with that.
My lap top and phone both also show me the WiFi signal I am getting. So if that was low I know I would need to install a repeater/booster. There are a ton of different solutions for that problem on the Amazon. For the most part the MoFi is on one end of the house, but the signal on the other end of the house for the WiFi is sufficient that we do not need a repeater.
