Need help buying a 5g External Antenna

[superfast5gpls]

Hey, I've had Three 5g Broadband for almost 2 months now. Don't get me wrong, I love the speeds, however, I know that this is not the full potential for 5g. I am satisfied, but what's stopping me from going further? 

I'm getting around 20ms ping times and around 70-100mbps download and 20mbps upload, I know that this is on the low end of 5g however. So I am considering buying a 5g Antenna. But they will have to fit the following needs:

- Hidden away in the loft (yes I know that this degrades the performance but it has to be in there)

- Support the new Three 5g Home Broadband Router

- Budget Friendly / Price to performance is right

I have 5 (Three) towers all relatively close to my home, but a lot of houses blocking 3 of them and 2 more are in industrial parks (behind the a few fields and trees behind my back garden) could you advise which one to pick with that to point the antenna.

In Addition I would also consider purchasing a mesh network since I have a large house and I get poor signal in some of the rooms. It will have to meet up the following criteria:
- Wi-Fi 6 (or 6E)

- Ethernet ports to connect devices

- Also Budget Friendly

- From a well known brand

- Any other extras that are deemed positive

Help from professionals or experienced people are greatly appreicated, but I am welcome to any suggestions from anyone.

I await for responses.

[crypt0ninja]

Hi @superfast5gpls,

The external TS9 antenna ports on the latest Three 5G Hub (the Zyxel NR5103E) are designed for a 4x4 MIMO antenna.

I personally have the Poynting XPOL-1-V2-5G-41 4x4 MIMO Omni-Directional antenna. It has an omni-directional radiation pattern so picks up signals in various directions without the need for much adjustment. Works very well for me (I have it attached to a window suction mounted J pole).

There are a few directional 4x4 MIMO options out there such as the QuWireless QuPanel 5G/LTE 4x4 MIMO antenna or the Panorama WMM4G-6-60 4x4 MIMO antenna which may be better suited for placement in the loft as they generally have a much higher gain compared to omni-directional antennas.

Unfortunately external 5G antennas are not really budget friendly at this time (when comparing to 4G antennas) as there are a small number of 4x4 MIMO options available.

You will need 4 x 5G compatible TS9 to SMA pigtail adapters in order to use the majority of these available consumer antennas as most have SMA connections.

My experience with an external antenna is great because my indoor 5G signal is poor and drops, so I saw a great increase in speeds and reduced ping using an external, but your experience could differ if you have good indoor 5G coverage as the external then may not offer much benefit if the indoor signal is already excellent or if your local masts are congested and could even possibly make things worse if you take into consideration the signal loss that occurs with external antennas due to their cable length etc.

Basically, be prepared for lots of trial and error! 🙂

Regarding the mesh setup, I'm running the recently released TP-Link Deco PX50 units (I have 3 of them but considering getting another 2). These use G.hn powerline as the backhaul communication between units (you can also setup Ethernet backhaul if needed), unlike the more common mesh kits that use WIFI as the backhaul communication between units, which is perfect for me as WIFI doesn't pass through my walls very well so I get much faster and a solid connection throughout the house. Usually pretty pricey but the 2 unit combo is on offer on Amazon at the moment (37% off).

Many options out there though so maybe others can provide their experience with other brands/mesh setups.

Hope this helps!

[Thomh1]

I noticed the Poynting XPOL-1-V2-5G-41 4x4 MIMO only has two tails. Will the router function with only half it's ts9s populated?

[Gary-on3]

With the Poynting XPOL-1-V2-5G-41 4x4 MIMO Omni-Directional antenna, is there a specific order to connect the cables to the hub, as the hub isn't marked, but the cables are?

[Dazzar]

Be careful of any mesh networks that use powerline as backhaul if you have extensions and the wiring is on separate circuits as they do not talk to each other very well, I use triband equipment and have real walls as in brick and they work fine getting 300Mbps in most rooms for downloads far more than is actually needed