Chateau LTE12 - signal / antenna query

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

I have a Chateau router bought in Latvia; it works well. I moved to an area in London that has patchy coverage for 3(IDnetwork) and LTE speed is on the low side.

My question is: is there a Mikrotik LTE antenna(s) that could help me get a better signal instead of MANT-50 that I am using at the moment? Or is there something else that I should try?

Signal parameters in good circumstances are about:

              rssi: -65dBm
              rsrp: -100dBm
              rsrq: -14dB
              sinr: -2dB

Speed as measured by speedtest-cli reports about 6 Mbit/s download and 3.5 Mbit/s upload. Speeds and signal can get a bit better or worse, but netflix and amazon video both work quite OK.

I installed MikrotiK mANT-50 antenna with Mikrotik Pro Mount on my window outside on glass using suction cups. That allowed me to orient the antenna the best way (judging by RSRQ and SNR changes) - as you can see on the picture. The SMA cable is a bit long - 5 m, but I will get it shorter in a week’s time by using a window pass-through 50 cm cables connected to the MT 1 m cable. Paradoxically the tower seems to be behind the antenna (more on that later)

The connected tower data from CellMapper is:

eNB ID 7639 - LTE
MCC/MNC/Region:  234/20/1088
Cell Identifier: 1955585
System Subtype:  LTE
PCI: 403 (134/1)
Bandwidth: 15 MHz
EARFCN:  1392
Maximum Signal (RSRP): -99 dBm
Direction: S (166°)
First Seen:  Wed, 3 Feb 2021
Last Seen: Mon, 31 May 2021
Bandwidth*:  15 MHz
Uplink Frequency:  1729.2 MHz
Downlink Frequency:  1824.2 MHz
Frequency Band  DCS: (B3 FDD)

Judging from cellmapper data the tower is actually somewhere behind the antenna (and the building). It should be about 850 m away in straight line. The other mast should be about 700 m away in front of the antenna (should be eNB ID 5277 - LTE as from CellMapper), but Chateau seems not to be connecting to it at all; the only cell id I have seen in the router is 1955585. I do have windows on the other side of the building as well; however average speedtest values were worse on that side.

The modem is updated:

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface/lte/firmware-upgrade lte1
  installed: EG12EAPAR01A10M4G
     latest: EG12EAPAR01A10M4G

The system is updated as well:

[admin@MikroTik] > /system/resource/print 
                   uptime: 58m41s
                  version: 7.1rc2 (testing)
               build-time: Aug/31/2021 08:07:46

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

Roberts

2

mANT-50 is omnidirectional from nature. this is not a Directional antenna :frowning:
Try for a few minutes take Chateau12 outsite window and check then what he connect with internal antennas.

Your RSRP ~100 is not good. SINR is not >5 and current result is like is.

In my opinion other directional antenna can improve situation.

3

Thanks, this is what I also thought.

But how to choose an antenna? Or is there a recommended model for a situation like that.

Best wishes,

Roberts

4

#5 and #6 of http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/wap-lte-kit-rbwapr-2nd-r11e-lte-reliability-issues/145160/1

5

Thanks SiB,
Your replies were very helpful. I researched cell tower proximity, did a little wardriving and changed the network provider. M-ANT50 omnidirectional was giving quite good reception as well with

              rssi: -65dBm
              rsrp: -96dBm
              rsrq: -11dB
              sinr: 2dB

But then I attached Poynting directional antenna and it feels rather better:

     
              rssi: -56dBm
              rsrp: -86dBm
              rsrq: -12dB
              sinr: 8dB

Curiously speedtest results were quite similar. But I decided to keep the directional antenna installed; I think it is going to give more stable connection. I know the tower is 300 m away, maybe just a few trees in the direct line of sight. An interesting thing is that the near tower is used for CA band, the primary band comes from a more distant tower which is also obscured by my building.

And last note - with vodafone mobile provider if Use Network APN was checked, the internet would not work. Only when APN provided manually and the Use Network APN was off.