Question Is it possible to increase the strength of the LTE signal by manually setting the Earfcn Number in the modem?

Sep 30, 2023
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I have a green packet gp-2101 modem, and its LTE signal strength has been weak for a few days, I want to know if it is possible to increase the signal strength by manually setting the Earfcn Number in the modem?
If possible, how can I find and set the best Earfcn Number?
 
In many cases you are very lucky if you can even display things like EARFCN or other detailed data about how data is being transmitted to you. It all depends on the device and partially if the provider allows you to access things.

It is highly unlikely you can set anything. The ISP is in full control of your modem even if you own it. Even a cell phone radio is totally controlled by the provider. They using whatever methods they have developed try to pick the best combination of radio frequencies and channels. Unfortunately they look at their network as a whole and will give some people less than optimum performance so they can provide service to other customers. It is not uncommon for them to push users to less used cell towers even if they are somewhat slower to avoid congestion on other towers.

Best thing is to try to place the modem in a window on the side of the house nearest the tower. If this is a way to see technical information in your router you likely can see the signal strength. It should help you to pick the optimum location for your router.

Depending on the router you might also be able to use external antenna. Some tiny number of routers have external antenna connectors and others you can disassemble the box and connect other antenna in place of the internal antenna. Note this is very much in the grey area of being legal. In the USA the law says if the provider allows it but even if they say you can do it they will never give you any paper work so you are always going to be in violation of the laws even if you don't cause problems for other users. Other countries it depend but you can generally get what is called a log-periodic antenna. Many times for LTE you need pairs so you can run mimo.
 
Sep 30, 2023
3
0
10
In many cases you are very lucky if you can even display things like EARFCN or other detailed data about how data is being transmitted to you. It all depends on the device and partially if the provider allows you to access things.

It is highly unlikely you can set anything. The ISP is in full control of your modem even if you own it. Even a cell phone radio is totally controlled by the provider. They using whatever methods they have developed try to pick the best combination of radio frequencies and channels. Unfortunately they look at their network as a whole and will give some people less than optimum performance so they can provide service to other customers. It is not uncommon for them to push users to less used cell towers even if they are somewhat slower to avoid congestion on other towers.

Best thing is to try to place the modem in a window on the side of the house nearest the tower. If this is a way to see technical information in your router you likely can see the signal strength. It should help you to pick the optimum location for your router.

Depending on the router you might also be able to use external antenna. Some tiny number of routers have external antenna connectors and others you can disassemble the box and connect other antenna in place of the internal antenna. Note this is very much in the grey area of being legal. In the USA the law says if the provider allows it but even if they say you can do it they will never give you any paper work so you are always going to be in violation of the laws even if you don't cause problems for other users. Other countries it depend but you can generally get what is called a log-periodic antenna. Many times for LTE you need pairs so you can run mimo.
In the settings of my modem, there is a section called "scan mode" where you can select the desired band from among the bands that are supported, and there is also a section called "EARFCN" which has several options that are numbers between 41590-43589. You can choose as you like and add to a list

My question is, can choosing the exact option in this section, "EARFCN" help me solve the problem of weak signal?
If so, which option should I choose?
 
It is all going to be trial and error no ISP documents anything. I am surprised it works at all then again maybe it only looks like it works. Different ISP run on different bands based on what licenses they have gotten from the government. So you might be able to set it to values but your ISP may not run on that band.

My guess is it will make no difference but it likely does not hurt to try.

The ISP equipment tends to be smart enough to try all the different ones allowed and pick the best. Your radio tells the tower the signal levels it is getting.
 
Sep 30, 2023
3
0
10
It is all going to be trial and error no ISP documents anything. I am surprised it works at all then again maybe it only looks like it works. Different ISP run on different bands based on what licenses they have gotten from the government. So you might be able to set it to values but your ISP may not run on that band.

My guess is it will make no difference but it likely does not hurt to try.

The ISP equipment tends to be smart enough to try all the different ones allowed and pick the best. Your radio tells the tower the signal levels it is getting.
Thank you for your time my friend