I'm responsible for a property in rural North Wales in the UK and I'm trying to get broadband there. There is an O2 mast about 5km away and an EE mast about 4Km away (although I think they are only 6m repeater masts). Neither are true line of sight as there is a small rise in the land between the mast and the property and also some tall pine trees next door to the property in line with the mast (I could cut the tops off these though). Cellmapper shows this for 4G LTE at the property.

https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=234& ... pe=roadmap

Using the phone app, 'Network Cell Info' up on the roof, my phone can pick up the EE signal, usually HSPA+, band 1. However, for a few seconds at a time I got LTE. When it picked up LTE it showed 4G, Band 3, at Signal strength -125 dB, RSRP -116 dB, RSPQ -9 dB, RSSNR -30 dB. (but I don't really know what these figures represent)

An existing MIMO antenna at the property (Huawei Aerial booster SMA) with the EE sim in it shows 1 bar of 4G but only gives an Internet download speed of a few Kb/s (not Mb !).

I have been looking at the LGH products (LGH LTE Kit, LGH 4G Kit, LGH LTE6 Kit, LHGG LTE6 Kit etc. but apart from the gain and the enthusiastic description I don't know how to decide.

Can anyone here please advise me on the best antenna to use in this situation?

It doesn't have to be one of the ones above but I'd need it to have a built in modem that takes a sim card.

By and large you need line of sight to the mast if you're going to use a directional antenna.

The internet is full of recommendations for different types however your mileage may vary.

For my Chateau I'm using a dual polarity LOG antenna in the attic. with reasonable results. Often get over 120Mbps but it depends on time of day. Should be a lot better if I mounted it outdoors but it's only a backup link for my Starlink connection.

Not sure if external links are allowed here but this guide I found very helpful:

https://editorsean.com/articles/3g4g-antenna-advice/

RSRP is signal strength and anything lower than -100 dBm is bad. RSRQ is signal quality, realistically achievable maximum is around -2 dB with normal values around -5 dB. Anything lower than -8 or -10 dB is bad.

With quoted RSRP of -116 dBm I wouldn't be too optimistic. Even with directional antenna (gain around 5 to 10 dBi) mounted on an elevated place (let's say signal level would increase by some 3 to 5 dB), this would still mean received signal strength of less than -100 dBm ... and then weather will likely worsen the radio conditions (wet tree leaves and branches degrade signal quite considerably).
Given the rise vetween property and cell mast ... if you could build a mast on the property to get LOS (although Fresnel zone would still be partially obstructed), this would give you much better chance of securing some stable (but not great) link performance.

BTW, LOS helps a lot not only with directional antennae, it helps with omnidirectionals as well.

Caveat --> I have zero experience in this field.

It sounds like one would be better off putting up three masts
one, in close proximity LOS of a main TX mast either wifi or Cellular (to capture strong signal)
one, in between the two giving LOS to both locations (dual antenna, dual TX/RCV)
one, on a mast at the house.

In other words, one has to start of with a decent signal wifi or cellular and carry that onwards with
directional beams and good LOS.

Perhaps it is possible to only put up Two mASTS, a Dual tx. rcve antenna type between the house mast
and an existing Wifi or cellular tower with good signal.

I would look for any existing WISPs in the area.........

I would look for any existing WISPs in the area.........

I guess I have even less experience... what is a WISP ?

I guess I have even less experience... what is a WISP ?

WISP = Wireless Internet Service Provider
The people that horribly pollute the Part 15 bands (a USA reference).

Thanks for the information - and for the education on what the acronyms mean!
Rather annoyingly, about 40m away from the edge of our property on a small rock about 4m high I can get a reasonable signal. But that would be on UK National Trust land where you could get fined for putting up a tent, let alone a mast. Also, the building is only single storey so I can only get about 8m off the ground level as we are not allowed to have antenna higher than any existing chimney.

I suppose I'm encouraged as with the Huawei Aerial booster I can get a good enough signal to work a payphone and I'm not expecting great broadband speeds. If I could get 1 or 2 Mb/s download that would be OK as its mainly for getting email and mountain weather forecasts.

Is it worth a try? If so should I go for the 4G LTE as that has 21dB gain or one with less gain but other features? I guess since I can really only pick up one mast there's not much point in aggregating signals across bands.

WISP = Wireless Internet Service Provider

Ah, thanks. I doubt there is any of those. The property is in a mountain valley with almost no neighbours, nearest village is a long way away. To be honest I'm surprised EE even bothered putting a small mast in the valley as they normally only do so if enough people will use it.

If so should I go for the 4G LTE as that has 21dB gain or one with less gain but other features?

All antennae have different gains depending on frequency. The problem with all Mikrotik's LTE sollutions (and most others) is that declared antenna gain is the maximum gain which is almost always at some high frequency band. Some antennae have gain at other frequencies only slightly lower (e.g. 15dBi for high frequency versus 10dBi for low frequency), but for the most "nicely looking" antennae (such as dish-like ones) the difference is much larger. It can happen that antenna has negative gain for certain frequency band.

So when antenna performance is vital, one has to know which frequency bands will be used and then select antena with best performance (gain) in that particular frequency band. Quite often that means large, ugly looking, yagi or log-periodic antennae ... possibly two of them to make use of 2x2 MIMO (norm for LTE networks). Some antenna producers publish detailed antenna gain data (diagram showing gain according to frequency, polar diagram of gain for select frequencies, both horizontal and vertical, etc.), some don't. It is hard to find detailed data for MT gadgets ... go figure.