Question Buying a better outdoor access point

Status
Not open for further replies.

Zacny

Commendable
Dec 10, 2020
25
0
1,530
Hi everyone! I am forced to change the equipment I received from my ISP (my new offer does not include equipment rental). I'm currently using an MF258 bundled with an outdoor antenna (I think it's actually an outdoor access point, since it's powered via PoE and has a SIM card in it). Currently, I am moderately satisfied with this AP, I am about 2.5km from the BTS, there are almost no obstacles in the path of the signal, and yet, the signal strength has strong fluctuations from 100% to 30%, regardless of the weather or season, I should add that the antenna is mounted very stably. I would like the new antenna to have better performance than the current one, and to be powered by PoE, currently I do not have the possibility to install additional wiring outside the house, so I would like to use the existing wiring. The home router is not important in this case, an AP with PoE power supply is enough for me. My budget is about 150-200 usd. I am not entirely familiar with the selection of devices of this type, so I would like to ask for your help.

I attach the speedtest results, BTS parameters and screenshot about the used band in the router menu.

Screenshots
 
That is not a AP or I am not sure if you have another device in addition to the MF258.

From what I can tell that is a outdoor mobile broadband routers.

These type of devices tend to be rather proprietary. It is kinda surprising the ISP does not offer to sell or rent you the equipment.

The problem is very similar buying cell phones where they are not compatible with some providers. Note this is not because they are locked it is because they do not contain radios that run on the proper frequencies.

Getting a recommendation is going to be hard especially since it appears you are in poland. Your best source is likely to ask the ISP. Can you directly buy a ZTE router like you have,

.........So after some google translation pages that is a rather interesting device. It is basically a LTE router split into 2 pieces with a outdoor cell radio and somewhat standard indoor router.
If you just wanted to replace the indoor router that "maybe" possible but it sound like the critical part is the outdoor radio unit which has all the mobile broadband radios .

I did not know they actually made devices like this, I have kinda needed one in the past. But I doubt providers in the USA would allow that unit on their networks, I think the government banned ZTE stuff again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zacny

Zacny

Commendable
Dec 10, 2020
25
0
1,530
I have the opportunity to buy a ZTE from an ISP, but I am not satisfied with this device. At Home I would like to build a mesh network, probably using a tplink deco, or ubiquiti. I would like to provide Internet access using just this external device. I need something like TP-LINK CPE710, a lot of people use it in my area, but I know from experience that it is very sensitive to signal interference and terrain obstructions (in addition, the specification says that it works in 5Ghz, so I'm not sure if it will work at all in my case).
 
I am confused I guess. Do you want to build your own point to point wifi network or are you trying to connect to a ISP.

Are you going to change your ISP.

Again the system you are using is mobile broadband it is not using wifi. If you look at the screen shot it clear says you are using LTE not wifi an it is running on 1.832ghz and 1.737. The tplink device is a standard wifi bridge that runs on the standard unlicensed 5ghz band and is use 802.11ac.
These are completely incompatible.
 

Zacny

Commendable
Dec 10, 2020
25
0
1,530
I want to connect to my ISP using an alternative device, other than this ZTE and with better specifications. I need a device that is PoE powered, compatible with the frequencies my ISP operates on and supports SIM card. The device will provide Internet access for my home network, which is why I said I don't care about buying a home router right now. Maybe that sentence about the router may have led you into confusion, if so I apologize 😁.
 
I still think your best source is to get a list of devices from the ISP. They must have a list of devices that other customers have used to connect to their network.

This is a extremely complex thing to try to figure out you have to know all about what things like LTE and HSPA and what radio bands are. Not saying you can't do it but you have a long way to go from your current level of knowledge.

As a example. This device will only work on att and tmobile in the USA. It will not function on verizon or many of the other small cell providers. It does not have the radio bands used by verizon...it has some but not all.
https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-AMPLIMAX-Carriers-EPRL16-Internet/dp/B091BL1Q44

This device also even if they sold it would never function for you since you need a LTE radio that runs on the 1.8ghz radio band and this device does not have it.
 

Zacny

Commendable
Dec 10, 2020
25
0
1,530
I asked the ISP what equipment I could use to connect to the Internet. They said that any equipment operating within the frequency range of the base station should work.
So I need a device capable of receiving LTE signal and acting as a modem (SIM card is required for operation). My attention was caught by MikroTik RBLHGR&R11e-LTE, but I am curious if it will provide a better connection than this ZTE device.
 
Hard to say if it will be better than your current unit. Cellular broadband stuff is complex, the cell tower can actually adjust the transmit power on your end device for example.

Since microtik is a EU based company its product is more likely to work for you than something made in other regions. They have multiple versions of this product so you have to be sure you buy the correct one.

Microtik stuff can be rather confusing to configure. Mostly the problem is the routeros software has so many feature that you likely are not going to use. Mostly it is knowing what you can just ignore.

Since you are going to run another router inside your house there likely is a way to set it to run just as a modem.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.