Wireless Telstra modem with external aerial

Submitted: Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 11:14

ThreadID: 86268 Views:5559 Replies:6 FollowUps:11

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Member-George (WA)

I have a Bigpond Elite Wireless modem. It works fine with an excellent signal in major city and country areas. I also have a 9db omni aerial connected for fringe area reception when we are travelling. I also have a 11db yagi aerial. It seems to me that the aerial connection makes no difference in boosting the signal in fringe areas where I only receive a low signal. I would like to get my cabloes and connections tested by an expert in that field. If anmyone knows of a person or place to get this done in Perth, N of the river, it would be much appreciated. Cheers

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Reply By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 15:39

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 15:39

George

I have passed this on to one of my contractors who does a lot of work in this field and is a bit more on top of this than me - he may have some additional comments.

I would not waste your money getting things "tested" - if the cables are as short as possible, in tact and not damaged in any way (crushed, kinked, etc) and the connectors are solid and clean an shiny (nothing loose or corroded) you are just suffering from the location you are in. You have the bench mark that you get good signal in metro and (I assume) most country centres and it is only when you are more remote that you are getting poor signal - you are probably lucky you are getting signal at all.

The Yagi will get better results than the Omni in the more remote areas because it is directional, but bear in mind (at risk of stating something you are aware of) you must point it at the mobile tower to get best reception (like a TV antenna). And does it need to be vertical and not horizontal?? You may be able to buy a fairly "cheap" meter for measuring the signal level while you rotate the YAGI to get optimum location - I know you can for TV but not sure if they cover the mobile frequency - would have to check and I can provide details if you require.

Height above ground and geography will also be a factor - we live in the Northern Perth Hills and have very intermittent reception apparently because the rock geography bounces the signal all over the place. I push to get 3 bars and drop in and out.

We spend a bit of time in the country and use a car mounted omni (9db I think) - it certainly extends the coverage but there are still a lot of dead spots (talking W. Aus).

We have to get Internet into some remote locations and often have to put an antenna on the roof (omni or sometimes Yagi) to get decent signal. Some places are satellite only because we just cannot get a signal.

Lastly, depending on the modem, Telstra are turning off some country services they shared with another provider. This means a phone I used to use for country travel no longer works in some towns because that phone is lacking a particular "mode" - cannot remember all the details but I can get them if you need them).

You are only going to get the reception you get regardless of what you use in some areas. The mobile coverage is far from complete around WA.

Ken

AnswerID: 454247

Follow Up By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 16:05

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 16:05

Ken

I have had a frustrating couple of weeks in a fringe area reception. (See my follow up for the post # to this original post as it is not showing on the screen as I type this and I cant remember its # )

The RFI C2195 worked well whilst the RFI2197 struggled. The trerrain was slightly undulating and I was surprised that the 2197 (7.5dbi) was poor when compared to the 2195 (6dBi) as it was more a distant issue than terrain issue

I tried my Yagi (9dBi) with no joy at all. However because as you correctly pointed out it is directional. I only had the mobile phone to act as a signal strength detector / indicator and its response time to reacting to an aerial direction change was far too slow and inconclusive

If you do find or are aware of a signal strenth meter that could be placed in line for direction tuning these Yagi I would love to know about it

Cheers

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FollowupID: 727086

Follow Up By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 16:43

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 16:43

Bottom line I guess is whether these can measure at the mobile frequencies.

These are what I was thinking of - satellite is just above the 3G mobile freq range 850MHz so may work but I would ask the question or go into a sat shop and see if you can test one with your Yagi. Looks like you will need an F Type adaptor to your cable.

http://www.satplus.com.au/products/Analog-Satellite-Finder.html

Not sure a TV one would work (depends on what frequency range it test for). The one I was thinking of was a Labgear DVB-T finder - they are on eBay for around $40.

Had a look around for Cell Phone signal strength meter but only found one around $120 in America - but it measured 100MHz through 6GHz.

FYI - the following from Whirlpool forum - I think this is the problem I started having with the 2100MHz services being turned off progressively eg. Chittering, Kulin are a couple. Except it says "not before Jan 2012" - well I reckon they are turning some off early according to my old phone.

"NextG is Telstra's 3G offering. It operates on the 850 Mhz frequency in all areas. For full NextG support throughout Australia, you should get a phone that supports UMTS 850.

If you do not use a phone with 850 Mhz 3G support, the Telstra/Three joint network known as 3GIS will be used on 2100 Mhz 3G within Metro areas. THis is NOT known as the marketing term "NextG". Telstra customer access to the 2100 Mhz network will cease in future, at some point no earlier than January 1st 2012."

FollowupID: 727088

Follow Up By: Member-George (WA) - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:25

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:25

Thanks Ken, I appreciate you advise and follow up. My aerials are on a extension mast which takes them 4 meters above ground level. All my connections look ok. I some country areas I only get 2 bars without the aerial and still 2 bars with the aerial which makes me think there is something wrong somewhere. Cheers

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Follow Up By: Member-George (WA) - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:27

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:27

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Follow Up By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:47

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:47

What I would do is a more simplified practical test - mask the device somehow or drive somewhere that you are starting to get a weaker signal (like 3-4 bars without the aerial) and then connect the aerial - if there is no change with either antenna then yes you could logically suspect a problem with the antenna connection on the modem or modem itself. It would be hard to believe both antennae are a problem and not the modem or cables.

If you only have one cable try another cable as the easy option.

IF you eliminate both cables and antenna the next thing would be to see if you can test with someone else's modem (of any description) that you could do the same test with to prove the antennae are OK, or test someone else's antenna on your modem.

I know it sounds easier to "go and get it tested" but you will find they have to go through the same process of elimination pretty much.

If you have a multimeter you can also just do a simple continuity test on the cable centre pin to pin and outside shield to shield just to make sure the cable is not open circuit.

If this is all proving too hard or frustrating I will give you an email address to contact me on (no cost involved - just trying to help out).

Ken

FollowupID: 727093

Follow Up By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:51

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:51

Hold fire on all that - I just had a flash that there was an issue with this particular modem and something to do specifically with external antennae - exactly the problem you are having.

I need to talk to my contractor - there may have been a "mod" required to the modem to make it work, or a firmware update. or ???

The bells are ringing - and I think it was a physical modification

FollowupID: 727094

Follow Up By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:13

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:13

I am assuming we are talking about the Elite Network Gateway - if so I am pretty sure this is the post I was thinking about. I am still waiting to confirm with my contractor - he has gone AWOL at the moment.

If this is the problem you are having the end result is that it disconnects the internal antenna but fixes the external antenna problem.

Let me know .....

**************************************************************
There is a screw in the base of the modem, screw in the top of the modem under the slide on cover.

Remove the internal aerial connector from the Sierra wireless card, remove the external aerial connector from the internal aerial, connect the external aerial connector to the Sierra wireless card. Now the external aerial only will work, but work properly.

Does all this involve cutting wires & soldering (or anything that will void the warranty)? I'm not happy with the reduced signal, but to be honest, I'm not noticing any reduction in speeds as a result, so it seems silly to try to fix it when it ain't broke.

There is no soldering, just small push clip connectors. It will void your warranty however! If your speeds are good don't bother try to fix!
*************************************************************

FollowupID: 727097

Follow Up By: Member-George (WA) - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:48

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:48

Hi Ken, I am a novice at all this, Like I can drive a car but when it stops I can only look for the obvious. The other thing I am not sure about is the orientation of the Yagi, Vertical or Horizontal. How do I find out. The other possibility may be the connections, 1 at the aerial, about 1.5 M down, 1 at the patch lead and finally the patch lead to the Modem. The modem is the Bigpond Elite Wreless Gateway. It is used to, 1 connect to the internet and 2 connect to a Samsung SMT 13100 internet telephone. Like I said earlier, I have been in a fringe areas, 14 km from a Telstra tower in Denison near Dongara on a farm, without the aerial connected 1 bar low reception. With the aerial connected, tried both omni and yagi, no change in recption i.e still 1 bar. en I can be contacted on nsbc@bigpond.com Cheers

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Reply By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 15:57

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 15:57

George

Check out my recent post and experiences post # 86126 also 86210 from another memebr.....a lot of what you are finding / experiencing you may find there

Cheers

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AnswerID: 454248

Follow Up By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:08

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 17:08

Looks like you have been through "the mill" with some of this.

I like your comment about the Telstra shop in Kalgoorlie - so typical - " What would you know - you are "just a user" .... how dare you challenge the worldly knowledge of a 17 year old who knows everything but has probably never been outside the town limits .... " - good to see you ignored him.

I note a lot of comment about brands and the like.

We found that (where we have to get Internet into a site) we had to use the Telstra branded modem (I am talking about the desktop variety with 3 antennae) as they have a higher gain and was the only reliable option we found for a business situation.

And having said that, this is what we use in the car as well - just hook it up to the 12V in the car and the external antenna.

It is a bit of an expensive option (the modem) but has proven the most reliable for us. Like always, different brands / models will give varying results under various conditions and some just don't work well at all.

Happy travels.

Ken

FollowupID: 727089

Follow Up By: snoopyone - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:13

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:13

As far as the GSM 1800/2100 frequencies are concerned I got a new Iphone when I was in Geraldton.

To save battery life I turned 3g off and didnt get any calls and it showed no bars on the indicator.

Enabled 3G or Next G as Telstra calls it and no more trouble.

Conclusion is that ONLY Next G works in some places.

Correct ?????????

FollowupID: 727098

Follow Up By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:22

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 18:22

Yep that is about it. In the follow ups to George you will see the reference in the Whirlpool forum to the shared 3GIS service which Telstra I have been told Telstra have pulled out of.

I had a Sony Walkman mobile phone (bring back CDMA I say) which is a 3G but not NextG phone - it used to work fine. Then one day in Chittering I had no service and assumed Telstra were down for some reason while I was there. Then another time I drive York / Quairading/ Corrigin/ Kulin - lost service outside York, got it back in Corrigin, lost again after Corrigin. I know I used to have service previously in these towns.

I think it is only country and not Metro this affects at the moment - maybe the Jan 2010 refers to Metro.

Did anyone in the Telstra shop know why it was happening - not on your nelly .....

Ken

FollowupID: 727099

Reply By: KenInPerth - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 19:41

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 19:41

This sounds like it is the problem that is documented on Whirlpool - you get no difference in signal levels by connecting an external antenna to the modem.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1382983

Apparently it is a manufacturing problem - but of course no one is going to admit that.

We may be trying this mod on George's modem and if we do we will post the results.

Ken

AnswerID: 454271

Reply By: Faulic_McVitte - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 22:06

Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 22:06

This is a post from another forum and will go some way to fixing your problems. The Bigpond Elite is a dog of a troublesome product. As the one guy says has the added free bonus supplied by Bigpond of pain and suffering included.

BigPond Elite Network Gateway firmware upgrade (URL at end)
If you have one of these Bigpond Elite/Netcomm Sierra Wireless 3G21WB modems, this update will go a long way to fixing the multitude of issues of this POS. This is still not going to overcome the overheating problems due to the poor design of the hardware and the case. Netcomm ‘solved’ in their minds the issue of the overheating by removing the temperature indication from the firmware. However, another caravanner has come up with a workaround “you can access the internal temperature via telnet. Telnet to 10.0.0.138, log in with username and password, then issue the command "sierra show --gstatus". Not as convenient as before but better than nothing.”

The upgrade won’t improve the poor reception performance of Sierra Wireless equipment, but it will certainly help improve the disgusting performance of the 3G21WB allowing the external aerial to function as it should. Unless you are prepared to remove the case and modify the air flow it is not going to overcome what is a major issue of the Bigpond Elite in that they eventually cook themselves to death. How anybody could engineer such a poorly designed POS and then Telstra Bigpond dump such poor quality rubbish into the market place without testing the unit is amazing.

BigPond Elite Network Gateway firmware upgrade

AnswerID: 454293

Reply By: Livin On The Road - Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 15:14

Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 15:14

We've got the same system. I find that when I plug in the external aerial in fringe areas I can go from 1 bar to 4, or 2 bars to 5. My main problem is that it keeps going on to "no internet access" even when connected with full reception. I keep having to turn it restart it.

AnswerID: 454360

Reply By: KenInPerth - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:06

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:06

Outcome so far.

George has the latest firmware and testing that did not make any difference to the outcome - selecting External antenna in the setup screen on the modem did not make any difference with external antenna connected.

As he brought the modem into our office we could change the antenna wiring internally in the modem as per the link I put up but only had a small NextG antenna to use for testing - and we got no signal that way either.

We have not (as yet) been able to test the modified wiring set up on George's external antenna in the van.

As the modem is not very old he is pursuing it back through Telstra to see if they will change the modem for something that actually works with both internal and external antennae.

Ken

AnswerID: 455415