telstra wifi broadband

There are cradles available to suit the smart phones that use a passive induction process for boosting the signal.

I have an iPhone in a Smoothtalker Cradle connected to the RFI2195 antenna mounted on the bullbar.

I live in a fringe area for mobile reception and when standing in my driveway the signal strength on my phone will vary from 0-1 bars.
As soon as I put my phone into the cradle which is connected to the RFI2195 on the bullbar my signal goes to full strength.

My farm is worse and the only way I have been able to make any calls at all is because I am using the cradle and external antenna.

I have been using this set-up for over 3 years now and it works great.

Brett

Kevin

There are people far better qualified than me to answer your question but here it is roughly explained

If you can visualise a balloon rounded in shape and imagine that is the "area" of available signal surrounding an antennae of lower gain (say 4.5dbi) that can be picked up.......then you can visualise that the antennae can pick up a signal of a reasonable vertical height and some horizontal distance ...good type of low gain antennae in undulating / hilly country..as said for example a 4.5db

now squash the top of the ballon so it is more eggshaped (the top flattened and the sides pushed out)...........the antennae will lose some of the potential to pick up the vertical height...but gain some potential to pick up a signal over a greater horizontal distance.......say the 2195 with a 3dbi to 6.5 dbi gain....
maybe not so good in hilly terrain compared to a lower gain antennae.....where the hills may block some signal...

Flatten the top of your egg even further and the sides extend over a greater horizontal distance but lose even more vertical height...........hilly and underulating country may block the signal but its potential to pick up a signal over flat terrain is significantly extended..example the 2197 at 7.5dbi

I have been in a situation of undulating country where the 2195 got a workable signal and the 2197 did not..the terrain was more suited to the 2195......conversly when out in flat county a long way from the tower...the 2197 got a workable signal and the 2195 could not....

there is even a higher dbi available but you get the drift......That is it roughly...google will find you more detail

cheers

Thanks for the explanation bungarra. I sort of understand about different antennas and the job that they do. My question was really that you were talking about RFI2195 and RFI2197. I had a look at the antenna that Telstra had sold me some time ago for use with both my Next G mobile and Gateway Internet modem and found that it was a CD2197. I was wondering what the difference was between the RFI and CD prefix but I have looked at the tube that it came in and that says FRI CD2197 so I guess FRI is the maker and CD2197 is the type. So that seems to answer my question.
Thanks for your interest and have a great Christmas.
Kevin

The RFI CD2195 is not a great aerial for NextG 850Mhz. Compared to a dedicated 850Mhz NextG aerial the RFI CD2195 drops off in the area of 50/55% of a dedicated 850Mhz aerial. Buy an aerial that is specifically made for 850Mhz NOT a multiband show pony and not good for 850Mhz. Reason they don't have a download on the website to show the lack of performance on 850Mhz. All multi band aerials are a big compromise and do 1/2 a job of a dedicated aerial.

P2D2
my comments are based on real life experiences using the aerials as both cell phone and internet access..........

all I can say is that not only what I stated is correct but many others out there have the same experience as mine

Yes it is multi band but for good reasons

bungarra ignorance is bliss.
If you get a multiband aerial and a dedicated NextG 850Mhz only aerial side-by-side direct comparison you will see first hand how multiband aerials are poor performers. Any multi band aerial in any frequency for any type of radio is a poor compromise against a dedicated frequency aerial. Because you are happy with mediocrity so be it why should everybody else be.

I may have this wrong but dont you need 850 and 2100 to maximise the use of the Next G for internet access?......

Hi PSD2

guess what I am posting now has answered my own question.......and thanks for steering me towards the answer...

In summary is it best to say that if you will always only be on Telstra Next G (3G) then a dedicated 850 antenae is the best...if however you may change carriers one day then the multi frequenct antennae is a good all rounder to save a further expense in the future if one changes networks for any reason?

From "Whirlpool"
3G
There are several 3G networks operating in Australia. 3G frequencies are usually specified as UMTS/HSDPA or WCDMA frequencies on the mobile phone specifications.

Australian 3G bands:

•850MHz (Telstra, Vodafone) – Exclusive 3G band
•900MHz (Optus, Vodafone) – Re-uses the 2G 900 band for 3G in rural areas
•2100MHz (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile) – Exclusive 3G band

and

Telstra NextG

NextG is Telstra's 3G offering. It operates on the 850 Mhz frequency in all areas (with some busy areas more recently using 2100Mhz for extra capacity). 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.

I am more than happy with the RFI multi band anternnae for my purposes and they have performed well quite some distance out...and I accept that a dedicated antennae would perform even better

Thanks & cheers


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Where you want the aerial to work will be 850Mhz. 2100Mhz yes, only capital cities and perhaps a few regional areas.
Cannot consider changing away from Telstra if you want maximum coverage. Telstra also has around 73 200km range towers. With a dedicated NextG 850Mhz 6dB with terrain in your favour you can get around 100km's. Used my Yagi at 177km to NextG tower.