Metal buildings and Cell signals

[bigtiller]

I wonder if the cell tower in the pic has anything to do with that?

Nope, and I admit it's a little deceptive.

We had cell phones long before that tower was built and we never bothered changed carriers.
Our service comes from a 180 ft. tall U. S. Cellular tower that is 4000 ft. away with nothing taller than corn between us.
And my tin shed has 10 windows plus the ones in the door.

 

[ovrszd]

Why would you expect anything done by your ISP to improve your WiFi?
Our government has invested heavily in fiber. The counties in my area (the corners of Ms, Al, Tn) are getting "fibered". My area near Tupelo is getting "fibered" on the poles by the electric coop and in the ground by the telephone company. (~$85 for 1GB for either)
Often the same area was getting both. My speeds are back up to 90 to 108 up and down for $54/month.
My Dish TV goes out in heavy rains. My old ISP w/ DSL would go out after a heavy rain.
When your "small local phone company" gets Fiber to you then YOU hook up WiFi.

Ummm,,,, we got Fiber. Our WiFi is hooked up. Our service is worse. I'll give the provider time to work out any "kinks" that might be the cause. If it doesn't improve in the next month I'll start complaining. My point was/is, laying fiber did nothing to improve our situation.

 

[Torvy]

Ummm,,,, we got Fiber. Our WiFi is hooked up. Our service is worse. I'll give the provider time to work out any "kinks" that might be the cause. If it doesn't improve in the next month I'll start complaining. My point was/is, laying fiber did nothing to improve our situation.

Is your service better when you are plugged in, rather than on wifi?

The fiber should improve bandwidth to the router, but the WiFi may be the weak link.

I always wire the desktop. Faster speeds directly wired and less traffic on the wifi.

 

[ovrszd]

Is your service better when you are plugged in, rather than on wifi?

The fiber should improve bandwidth to the router, but the WiFi may be the weak link.

I always wire the desktop. Faster speeds directly wired and less traffic on the wifi.

No to first sentence.

I truly think we lost ground, sentence two.

Desktop is wired with an ethernet cable.

 

[Torvy]

No to first sentence.

I truly think we lost ground, sentence two.

Desktop is wired with an ethernet cable.

Definitely something wrong then. Bad wire or interference somewhere along the way. Sorry you are dealing with it.

 

[dlctcg]

If it doesn't improve in the next month I'll start complaining. My point was/is, laying fiber did nothing to improve our situation

IMHO... Don't wait the month, if you did not see an improvement at time of install something is wrong. I'll leave the Wi-Fi out of this for now, but if you have hardwire devices connected & there is latency / bandwidth loss then place the call... there is an issue... waiting will not help; get on there radar now.

 

[IndyJay]

Our rural phone coop went fiber 10 years ago, no issues. It rocks. Cell uses wifi since cell service is weak. Have them come out and check out the fiber. Something ain't right.

 

[1Mech]

We have the house pre-wired with Cat-6 Ethernet to avoid dead spots for internet access. I am no expert, but I am much more experienced and trained with computers and networking than other technical skills. I can hardwire my desktop and will have Ethernet jacks throughout, I can also plug in my laptop directly. This will keep the WiFi bandwidth available for phones and other devices without Ethernet ports. There are about 15' between the shop/garage and the house. The mechanicals room is nearest the shop (almost like I planned it that way). I will probably run Cat 6 or 7 between the buildings and the have a separate router distribute WiFi in the shop. I will hardwire the TV in the shop...need to see videos on lots of how-to stuff.

Big issues to solve are finding a good internet provider and boosting the cell signal. Given our location, my choices are Starlink or other Satellite based internet or Verizon or similar cell based. There is no fiber or DSL in this rural area. 7 miles to the nearest town and it is less than 5k people. Only about 6 properties on the entire road and the smallest is 15 acres. They are not likely to run cable, fiber or DSL anytime soon.

The cheapest solution seems to be finding a good cell booster that can effectively be my ISP. Verizon has that service. Once I get a strong signal in the house, it can run through the wires and wireless. Plan B will be Starlink with the same distribution plan.

I don't know if it is available in your area, but line of sight WiFi works pretty good and is cheaper than satellite. My little brother has it as does a co-worker, they are both happy with it.
Fixed wireless internet is the proper name for it.

 

[deserteagle71]

I don't know if it is available in your area, but line of sight WiFi works pretty good and is cheaper than satellite. My little brother has it as does a co-worker, they are both happy with it.
Fixed wireless internet is the proper name for it.

Define "works pretty good". I've had wireless internet for years - small dish on my roof pointing at a relay station on a mountain across the valley. It sucks. With the last upgrades I might get 6 Mbps down when it is working perfectly. Which is rarely. Lots of times it doesn't break 1 Mbps - or is down completely, and still costs me $70 a month. So when I hear of people getting 100 Mbps or better with something like Starlink, I'm jealous.

 

[1Mech]

Define "works pretty good". I've had wireless internet for years - small dish on my roof pointing at a relay station on a mountain across the valley. It sucks. With the last upgrades I might get 6 Mbps down when it is working perfectly. Which is rarely. Lots of times it doesn't break 1 Mbps - or is down completely, and still costs me $70 a month. So when I hear of people getting 100 Mbps or better with something like Starlink, I'm jealous.

From what they tell me, it is not lightning fast, but not dial up either. I have Cox Cable in town, in Oklahoma and many times it seems quite slow, usually between 6 and 12 Mbps. I have a newer, approved modem/router, but many times, when I do a speed test, it falls way below what they are selling me and they just raised the monthly charge to $89.99.

 

[civilian]

Where we live, Verizon cell service does not reach the home site. ATT cell does somewhat. Like -110dB at best. Tried WeBoost multiroom system. Outside antenna on peak of house. Best place, garage is higher by more trees in line of site to cell tower. Our antenna is actually higher than cell tower based on topo maps and Google Earth. But higher hills between here and there. WeBoost did not work for us. We use ATT's home internet box for desktop and wifi. Was hoping to boost signal but no go. So we returned it. As memtioned above, can't boost if the signal is not strong enough. We purposely did not use metal siding or roofing because of signal degradations(sp?). Also fiber is being run by electric coop. But in our area not being brought to homes because coop says others have grants to bring internet. Don't know who/what that means. Just bummed out by coop, we are within 1 mile where they put in fiber, but our power comes from a different direction. Jon

 

[Torvy]

Also fiber is being run by electric coop. But in our area not being brought to homes because coop says others have grants to bring internet. Don't know who/what that means. Just bummed out by coop, we are within 1 mile where they put in fiber, but our power comes from a different direction. Jon

Don't blame your co-op. The 'grant' means that local, state and/or federal officials 'granted' another company exclusive access. In no way did they get any kickbacks or benefits from that. They are just looking out for your best interests.