Hoping anyone can help. I have just got an LtAP LTE6 kit, all seems fine but i am having a little problem with speeds, with my Nokia 5 phone getting LTE speeds of 36-49 mbps, with the same sim in the same location ( Outdoors ) i don't get any more than 10mbps, with the Ltap LTE6 unit.

My config is just a default LTE AP setup with the APN name changed,
I have updated the firmware of the modem to v25 and updated the Router OS to latest stable version.

Hoping anyone can help?

Adam

Hoping anyone can help. I have just got an LtAP LTE6 kit, all seems fine but i am having a little problem with speeds, with my Nokia 5 phone getting LTE speeds of 36-49 mbps, with the same sim in the same location ( Outdoors ) i don't get any more than 10mbps, with the Ltap LTE6 unit

You must log changes in Tower / Cell to be sure you not hop between two sectors of the same tower, or maybe between two towers.....
Logs: /system logging add topics=lte
Watch LTE parameters: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=155945&p=821262#p821047

Your phone - check what Band it's connected, what eNB, CellID, pci... and you can compare or FORCE in LTE6 to connect to the same.

The most important is a
* monitor properly LTE
* use a CellLock to lock a primary-band who lock the Tower and his sector antenna and you not hop to other what give you a stability.
* use a Cell Monitor feature to detect what else towers you can connect and do Cell Lock and SpeedTest to them to grab information what Tower are fast/slow.
Read documentation: https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Interface/LTE

This is my general answer.

Thanks SiB

I will have a look, would the mANT LTE 5o antenna help? also is the antenna in the LtAP LTE6 kit a simo or a mimo...
I have a lot to learn about LTE and mikrotik,
Adam

@SIb, do you have any idea why the LTE modules have such difficulties at choosing the initial optimal settings compared to modern smartphones? Is it the module firmware or the controlling device (ie routerboard) that makes poor decisions?

It certainly looks like a general flaw when browsing through similar problems in the forums...

@SIb, do you have any idea why the LTE modules have such difficulties at choosing the initial optimal settings compared to modern smartphones? Is it the module firmware or the controlling device (ie routerboard) that makes poor decisions?

It certainly looks like a general flaw when browsing through similar problems in the forums...

It's a firmware How-it's work.

If this is a firmware problem issues what can done, I don't what to spend time and money just to find out I'm not going to get faster speeds.

If this is a firmware problem issues what can done, I don't what to spend time and money just to find out I'm not going to get faster speeds.

Use Cell Monitor and then Cell Lock and you not be flap/hop/swap to other Tower/cells.
https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Interface/LTE
If you have that many bts that your lte module swap to often then LOCK it to specific one.

Hi All

I have set bands and locked on to one tower, also tried resetting the unit to defaults, I'm not reservice anything like the mobile phone speed on two different networks, I cant get better that LTE 2 status, even when I'm getting clear line of site and the unit says i have excellent single.

if this is the case and there is nothing more to test, do you know how to get a refund from Mikrotik because the unit it not fit for purpose.

Adam

Lock bands and tick LTE mode only may help if you didn't try already ?

Adamzsite

I have set bands and locked on to one tower,

LtAP LTE6 kit without external LTE antenna will be always "omnidirectional" - means low speed device.
Maybe you have <500m to BTS then this antenna should be ok.

also tried resetting the unit to defaults,

by command in documentation https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Interface/LTE ?

• if modem has issues connecting to cells after update, or there are any other unrelated issues - wipe old configuration with:
  /interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT+RSTSET"

I'm not reservice anything like the mobile phone speed on two different networks, I cant get better that LTE 2 status, even when I'm getting clear line of site and the unit says i have excellent single.

LtAP have omni directional antennas, R11e-LTE6 is cat.6 lte module, your phone probably have SoC with bigger lte category (mimo.. modulation..) and that's why he receive more speed then MikroTik device. I think you should start with LHGR at start but differ MikroTiks have differ purpose and I not know your selection way.

if this is the case and there is nothing more to test, do you know how to get a refund from MikroTik because the unit it not fit for purpose.

Answer is related to laws/legislation in your country and probably you must ask seller about it, who should be a official distributor and give you first line of support.

Hi SiB

First sorry if I came across as a 💩. That's not my intention.

My phone is LTE 4 and I know that my local tower is over 4 miles away. And there is a second tower 2 miles away. I have line of sight to the first tower. Anyway I got this model because of its gigabit Ethernet and it's upgradability. do you think a more directional antenna would be better?

It's very strange all this, the unit gets the same single strength around -81 as my Nokia 5.

I will try resetting the unit using the command and try again.

Again your help is greatly appreciated.
Adam

Yes I can confirm that using internal antenna the device gets a very similar reception that a smartphone. Using a external antenna is the only way to improve the signal levels on the case of this MikroTik device.

mANT LTE 5o is a little bit better that internal antenna, but exists other antennas better of other brands actually, hard to get in my case.

Regards.

mANT LTE 50 is just omni-directional means any dirrection and somebody can say it's non/not directional means no antenna at all.
Depence what far/long you have to bts.
Dependence from Band/Frequency you try use bcs every antena have other Gain per differ frequency.
Exabple of LHG(G)R who for freq other then ~800Mhz have bad Gain.
All >1700Mhz have good Gain and you tract that in documentation.
We not have a 360° Gain per every Band and that we cannot say what dirrection at specific band should have what dirrection, in general we must always do CellLock and try manual check possition of antennas.
I end here because this could be long story with many screenshot...

EXTERNAL ANTENA in LTE is a KEY. Always.

HI All
I have decided to keep the unit and take ot the next level ( How Dears Wins ), im looking into the new Poynting XPOL-2-5G V3 antenna and some Yagi ones,

what would be your best bet, the cell tower is 4 Miles ways im going to put a new telephone mast up 30-40 feet, 2 yagi atenna or the Poynting?

Adam

We use some custom made Poynting XPOL-2 (but with exactly the same antenna used in the regular ones) which supplies about 9-10 dbi for the lower bands (700-900 Mhz). If you want more I recommend yagis but with a mast and LoS I think the XPOL-2 will do alright.

Watch of for using long antenna cables ie instead place the unit as close to the antenna as possible, preferably a maximum of three feet away.

https://poynting.tech/wp-content/upload ... 002-V3.pdf

EDIT:

• Under the hood demonstration of the new Poynting XPOL-2-5G V3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPp_iT98FYM
• Regarding cable losses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSHRy4RHExE

SXT LTE(6) kit gives good reception at 4 km remote towers. Smartphones cannot reach those and use the 2 km remote tower, which is overloaded.

Remember that in contrast to wifi it is not the client but the radio management of the towers that decides which tower will service you.
One can steer this a little bid by studying the frequencies used by the towers and enable/disable some channels. (Did not try celllock yet)
The tower will lead you to one that supports the enabled bands.

Some providers check your IMEI or other IP characteristics (like TTL) to differentiate 4G routers from smartphones. Smartphones get priority and larger bandwidth in that case!

I have decided to keep the unit and take ot the next level ( How Dears Wins ), im looking into the new Poynting XPOL-2-5G V3 antenna and some Yagi ones,

Btw, are we still talking about LtAP LTE6 in this case? The reason I'm asking is that I can't locate any connectors for external antennas when looking at the product specification för LtAP LTE6.

LtAP LTE6 product page: https://mikrotik.com/product/ltap_lte6_kit

Hi All

I have a update on my issues, i purchased a Pointing XPOL-2-5G V3 antenna, i am now getting the same speeds as my phone. But not all is good, i was hoping for better speeds if im
am honest, i have cell lock on bands locked in, and made sure all firmwares are updateed. i have spent time pointing my antenna, i have line of site to the cell tower.

Information
UK Networks
02 (band 20 max 75mbps): Phone : 30+, Unit with antenna 31 max.
EE (band 20, 3 max 150mbps): Phone: 60+, Unit with antenna 29 max.

Can i try anything more with the EE network?

In genreral:
- Band 20 (800Mhz) is usually overcrowded in rural areas since most devices gets the highest signal level and auto connect to this band.
- Band 3 (1800Mhz) is probably better if you manage to get LoS (Line of Sight) to the mast.

What's the distance to the mast do you reckon (approx) and what signal levels do you get for each band at the moment? (RSSI, ans so on). Btw, did you check with the operator they support CAT-6 (300 Mbit) or just CAT-4 (150 Mbit) carrier aggregation?

EDIT:
Forgot to ask which Mikrotik model you are using this time?

Good Question
I am using a LtAP LTE6 kit with a Pointing XPOL-2-5G V3 antenna,

I'm also testing two UK networks O2 and EE the tower feeds both networks is 4.4km away.
More Information
EE use's B3@20mhz, and B20@5Mhz RSSI:-49dbm RSRP:-77dbm RSRQ:-6.5 to -8.5db SINR:19 to 21bd
02 use's B20@10mhz RSSI,RSRP,RSRQ,SINR are about the same.

I can only get LTE Cat 2 on the unit, or 3G LTE, I very interested in what you said about limiting the unit because its not a phone etc.
I hope to install the unit in a IP67 box with the antenna up a 40 foot pole, I could d with help picking a network to go with EE or O2, EE seems slow but that could be my setup. 02 has had the better speeds,

again I'm thankful for all your help,
Adam

Now you have proper sinr :). I not see any question then consider this case as solved.
Type question if you have any.
Remeber to log & track parameters of LTE: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=155945&p=821262#p821047
You can do some own watchdog for safe you to not stuck in offline:
Simple watchdog: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=153622&hilit=watchdog#p767767
Advance watchdog: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=151492&hilit=watchdog#p768392
and maybe consider to enable incomming SMS with execure few scripts who can rescue you :)

The question is how do I get better speeds, i feel the unit is not working as fast as it can, is there anything i can do to help it?

Adam

Why you think that ?
Remember that BTS can have own QoS policy... FAP (Fair access policy) / FUP (Fair Usage Policy) etc. and this can be differ per every Tower and time like Night/Day: You have good antenna and signal, check what bands give you what speed from what towers.
If this is the same eNB then that Bands should connect each other as CA base of what your R11e-LTE6 can CA and what your BTS can CA.

Other way is do a cell-monitor, and cell lock to found all your possible Towers to connect. Sometimes we connect to "best signal" who is weaker then other one what we must lock by Cell Lock.

I can only get LTE Cat 2 on the unit, or 3G LTE, I very interested in what you said about limiting the unit because its not a phone etc.

Did you check with the operator they support CAT-6? Sometime you might need to swap to a new SIM (as depends of what internal mgmt-system they use).

Try focus on B3 initially as B20 usually is crowded in rural areas since most devices auto connecto to this band. If you speed test B20 during the day you will probly notice a considerable slowdown at evening time. Btw, do you have an unobstructed line of sight ie is able to see the mast from your place?

Examples of dl/ul speeds for the different categories. These are pure theoretic numbers. In practice you only get maximum of 70% of these even during optimal conditions.

EDIT:
Are you sure you've located all the available masts? The reason I'm asking is that it may be possible that you are trying to point the antenna at a different mast than the mobile initially was connected to when you conducted the tests.

If you have access to an Android there are plenty of good apps that are able to display cell id's and signal strength for the different masts. You may also try field test mode (ie "*3001#12345#*") on some older iPhone models. Avoid the new ones as they have removed much of the detailed info nowadays.

To locate some useful masts, first create a directional antenna by taping the phone inside a colander/strainer, an aluminum pie pan or aluminum foil with a shape that resembles of a satellite dish. For ease of use, start the app and run screen mirroring to a PC connected with an USB-cable. Then try find any masts with good enough signal strength and write down relevant info such as compass direction, cell ID, frequency band, signal strength etc. Use the respective frequency band and cell ID and test the unit to find out which mast that may offer the best speed.

This also give you the opportunity to check what level of carrier aggregation it's possible to achieve as smartphones are rather good to configure and utilize that functionality (IMHO much smarter than the RoS controller and device driver for the LTE modules which is the main reason you have to conduct all these settings manually)

I'm in contact with my the two networks, I'm thinking for going with EE because it has CA from the cell tower, I can see the cell tower from my location. its about 4KM from me on top of a hill. i have a 30 foot pole been installed then the antenna is going on the top.

i will check in later, when i found out if the cell network restricted the speed.

thanks again, i which LTE was easier.

I would like to start the reply with a good note, i have managed to get my setup to download speed thst match my phone dwonload speed.

Im only getting LTE cat 2 speeds from my network ( this is a network thing not a unit limatation thing ), i went with EE/BT not O2 because they are the only netwrok with CA, a B3 and a B20 signal,

the only question i would like to ask is, should i lock my unit to the cell tower?, i have done acell monitoring and only get the cell tower im pointing to, could this help speeds?

I was a happy bunny when i got 75mbps download speeds, it settles around 69mbps.
again thanks for your time,

Adam,

the only question i would like to ask is, should i lock my unit to the cell tower?, i have done acell monitoring and only get the cell tower im pointing to, could this help speeds?

If your eNB is the same, means the same Tower.
if your Current Cell ID is not change with the same eNB this meas you not hop/flap between differ sector-antennas at your tower.
Then, CL to stg what is stable not give you any benefit.
CL is ok when you can connect to other tower or antenna and give more speed or force that tower with worse signal but not many customers on it and thats why have more speed.