Telecom XT Blues: Resolved with Directional, High Gain Antenna

December 20th, 2009

Update: Tennatron Directional Antenna Works Great

As anticipated, the antenna did the trick.

I bought and installed Tennatron’s antenna for mobile networks in New Zealand. With the antenna installed, my XT connection hit 2.6 megabits/sec down and 1.5 megabits up. (That’s *bleeping* fantastic; considering our deep wopwops location.) More importantly, the connection is stable. I haven’t tested it extensively, but constant ping returns successful 99% of the time. I haven’t had any timeouts so far.

If you’re struggling with Telecom XT mobile broadband in a difficult coverage area, I’d highly recommend this antenna from Tennatron. It’s working out very well for me.

Some notes for anyone who is using this antenna:

The reception bars on the modem’s connection manager software aren’t very helpful. To make sure that your antenna is pointed in the best direction, sweep it around in a full circle and check your latency and speed as you go. Since the antenna is so directional, orientation is critical. Depending on where I pointed it, the download speed ranged from 500 kilobits per second to 2.6 megabits per second.

—End Update—

Update: Screen Door

Check this out:

ScreenDoorFi

ScreenDoorFi

This is in a dead zone area outside the house, or so I thought. Right near a metal screen door-type thing, it picked up one bar. I’ve been using the connection for a few hours and it has been pretty stable.

Move the modem more than a few inches from the screen door and the link goes dead again.

—End Update—

I don’t know what has happened, but over about the last two days, my Telecom XT mobile broadband connection has become pretty much unusable. The connection manager program shows that I have three out of five bars reception, like it usually does, but the link is extremely unstable and is going dead 30%-40% of the time.

Telecom assures me that nothing has changed on their side, and that this has nothing to do with the issue that took out the entire network south of Taupo a few days ago. I went all the way through their tech support hoops. They’re baffled. I’m baffled. It’s a fascinating coincidence, though.

This was never a great area for reception to begin with. So, I’m hoping that this is somehow a reception/reflection issue. But now, no amount of wokfi is enough to make this thing work right. An anti static bag with clothes pegs has yielded the best result so far. Without that clipped behind the modem, no dice, nothing, zilch. Totally dead.

BagFi

BagFi

I convinced Telecom to send me out a new mobile broadband modem (MF668+) at the discounted contract price; this one has an external antenna connection. When I signed up, there were no options for modems with external antenna connections. I’m going to buy a high gain antenna that’s designed for these situations. It should work fine once I install the antenna.

All of this is a roundabout way of telling you that I’m having a really hard time using the Internet right now. I run Link Monitor to let me know when the connection is working. Green is normal. Yellow means latency is above normal. Red is a dead connection, like right now.

Telecom XT Blues

Telecom XT Blues

So, I’ll wait a few minutes and try to post this… *sigh*

With any luck, the new gear should be here this week… But the annual Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice Pagan Ritual (Christmas), could delay my infrastructure upgrades until the following week.

6 Responses to “Telecom XT Blues: Resolved with Directional, High Gain Antenna”

  1. scarletfire says:

    If there is anything more frustrating than trying to get something to work, that once did work, and by all indications should work, I’m not sure what it is. So my heart goes out to you. Having been trying to set up a wi fi network at my business..spread over 5 buildings and about an acre of property..have 4 routers going and still can’t get complete coverage..next step to run underground ethernet cables to each building..fun stuff that is…oh and as if to taunt me i can get about 5 neighbors wi fi signals that come in stronger than mine at further distances depending on the time of day and which way the wind blows.(I know I could hire a pro to do it but I’m a stubborn tinkerer type and try to do everything myself) .lol…good luck Kevin

  2. Mr. Marks says:

    “Screendoor” Hahahaha, that is freakin great. Lemme know if you need a few $ for a screendoor mesh upgrade. ROFL. Glad you got it worked out Kevin!

  3. bloodnok says:

    A while ago I made some parabolic dishes to take USB wifi adapters. If you’re using the adapter in the bag-fi pic, it looks like it’d fit. Currently most of them are taking up space in my wardrobe. Do you want one? (Email me geofftnz/gmail if you do. I’ve changed jobs recently, so the other email address you have for me wont work anymore).

  4. AHuxley says:

    Expensive but might be an idea to look into
    http://www.tennatron.co.nz/cellphone/
    Two Australian isp’s rolled out wimax. The key was to get a good antenna mounted. Ask your local tv antenna installer.

  5. Kevin says:

    @bloodnok

    It sounds like a great idea, but I’ve already shelled out for the antenna. Thanks anyway.

    @AHuxley

    Yep, that’s the exact one I ordered. Hundreds of people around NZ use that.

    Re: Expensive. I don’t have a lot of options right now, so I was happy to pay the man. I explained my situation to him after I bought it and he kindly sent it out the next day. It should be here this week.

    I just wanted a through-f*%$#@^g-around solution. No guesses. No more pots and pans, etc. This is it.

    Although… The screen door is running at 95% uptime right now… 😉

  6. Eileen says:

    Kevin,
    As a constant reader of Cryptogon and missing almost a months worth of reads, I’ve spent one hour on your website and learned more than I have from other news sources in that month away.
    Thank you.
    And Merry Christmas!

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