Question MIFI is super slow compared to Phone Hotspot. Help

[jessevp18]

Need some help here. I have just 1 Data Sim.
And i have been using it from my phone as a hotspot. Its all good but once you get calls or stuff, it disrupts the hotspot.

So i decided to get a MIFI Router. And it became so slow. Like Download speed is horrible. Upload speed seems fine.

Stupid me, i thought the device was faulty. so i got another one (TP Link M7000) and same issue.

Phone Hot Spot (as per speedtest by Ookla)

18ms Ping
31.53Mbps Download
19.71Mbps Upload

But boy do both MIFI have these speeds.
Sometimes cant even load youtube

21ms Ping
2.18Mbps Download
20.38Mbps Upload

Tried all. Resetting. Choosing 4G Only
Using 11n. Went through channels 1,6,11. And still horribly slow.

Are MIFIs supposed to be like this?

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

How strong does your signal show on your cell phone? There are so many things that can go wrong, data plan where company may restrict amount, signal strength, what is between you and the cell tower, distance from hotspot, is phone plugged in, is battery fully charged, are there apps open on the phone, how many devices are accessing the hotspot. It usually comes down to signal strength and you may need a signal booster.

 

[jessevp18]

Well it's just me using this hotspot.
It's just weird. I am in my room. Computer connects to phone hotspot. Completely fine.

If I put the same data sim in the MIFI.
Then it is horrible.
Signal Strength is good in the MIFI.

And I find it weird as well. How come the phone hotspot to computer is faster than the MIFI.

The MIFI is technically dedicated for these signals. Hence I find it weird. It's only slow on the MIFI.

Can't be the service. Because there is no issue with the phone hotspot. Just when the same data sim is in the MIFI. As seen in the first. Download speed is dropped to 3 to 5mbps. Where as the same sim in the phone hotspot to computer shows over 30mbps.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

In the settings check to see if data roaming is enabled. It may may not help. You can try to set search for a network carrier to off and manually pick a network it finds, as long as your carrier has reciprocating use, to see if you can find a faster connection speed. In wifi power setting check to see if the wifi range is set to maximum range. I f your router can pick channels automatically set it to auto.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Sorry forgot to add your mifi wlan is limited to 55 mbps down and up.

 

[jessevp18]

In the settings check to see if data roaming is enabled. It may may not help. You can try to set search for a network carrier to off and manually pick a network it finds, as long as your carrier has reciprocating use, to see if you can find a faster connection speed. In wifi power setting check to see if the wifi range is set to maximum range. I f your router can pick channels automatically set it to auto.

Hello Sir,

Data Roaming is set off.
Network Carrier is now currently off and searched for our local ISP.
Power setting range can only be changed if put to power saving mode. So i switched on power saving mode and put range to long.
The router channel setting is now back to Auto, as i tried online help of manually choose 1,6 or 11 (ddint help)

Sadly it is still the same thing.
I have called our ISP and they have confirmed there is no CAP (as when the same data SIM is used on a phone to hot spot, the speeds are okay)
I am unsure on what to do.

I have seen some blogs online that it could be the WMM but sadly my mifi does not have this setting.

 

[bill001g]

A very complex problem many people don't understand is that the cell radios and frequencies they support is a function of the device and not the sim. The sim card is mostly a security device it does not have radio transmitters on it.

So the messy question is can you tell if your hotspot is using the same radio band to talk to the cell tower as phone. This has gotten better in later years but the need for devices to have actual radio chips that support certain radio frequencies is what prevent many devices from being used on different ISP. It is not so much it is a locked device it just does not have the radio chips to support other ISP. Even within the same ISP they can use different radio bands on different towers.

So if your 2 devices are not using exactly the same radio band they might be getting different data rates.

Most phones if you dig around will show you what radio band they are using and what type of data encoding. On a hotspot device it is hard to say if this information exists and where you find it. Even if you find it I am not sure you can change stuff like this. Most devices try to use what they think is the fastest options if there are multiple bands it can use on the same tower.

 

[jessevp18]

A very complex problem many people don't understand is that the cell radios and frequencies they support is a function of the device and not the sim. The sim card is mostly a security device it does not have radio transmitters on it.

So the messy question is can you tell if your hotspot is using the same radio band to talk to the cell tower as phone. This has gotten better in later years but the need for devices to have actual radio chips that support certain radio frequencies is what prevent many devices from being used on different ISP. It is not so much it is a locked device it just does not have the radio chips to support other ISP. Even within the same ISP they can use different radio bands on different towers.

So if your 2 devices are not using exactly the same radio band they might be getting different data rates.

Most phones if you dig around will show you what radio band they are using and what type of data encoding. On a hotspot device it is hard to say if this information exists and where you find it. Even if you find it I am not sure you can change stuff like this. Most devices try to use what they think is the fastest options if there are multiple bands it can use on the same tower.

Thank you for the details.
Never knew about these certain radio frequencies.

This would mean there may be a particular WIFI / Router that will only be able to take full advance of the service we currently pay for.
It would make sense in this way that there is no setting to change in order to get the same speeds on the phone.

I guess its best to avoid the whole MIFI scene and possible move to those bigger WIFI Routers or even cable instead.

 

[bill001g]

The best way to get mobile broadband on a router is to use a router that support the USB modem. You then buy the modem directly from your ISP so you know it has all the right radio bands. Unfortunately not all modems work on even the routers that support external usb modem. The manufacture does not want to give out the driver and then you have some ISP that want to force you to buy their router so they will not release the configuration option you need to put into the router to make it work with even a supported modem.

Thinks like mifi are mostly used by people that want a travel router where portability is a key feature.

For home use the optimum is to mount a outdoor radio and use a ethernet cable to bring the signal inside. These type of devices are even harder to find. Again even though it might cost a bit more if your ISP offers one of these that is the best place to get it. This is how most the really fast 5g stuff works. Note what they call 5g on a phone is not the same thing in most cases.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

I think you may have misunderstood me, I suggested, albeit in an awkward way, to try turning on data roaming.