I’m currently using the Max Br1 Mini LTE-A on AT&T’s LTE network. It works pretty well for what I need, but I am a little disappointed with the speeds I’ve been getting. I have both the Pepwave and a Netgear Nighthawk with the same data plan, in the same spot, on the same tower (band 12 primary). All other things appearing to be equal, the Pepwave will post an average speed of 15mb/s down, 10mb/s up. Meanwhile, the Netgear is averaging 45mb/s down, 8mb/s up. Aside from opening a few things up on the firewall, all the router settings are factory. I’d love to hear if there is anything I can do to maximize my speed on the BR1. Thanks for reading!
UPDATE I believe at least part of my issue has to do with the Pepwave’s carrier aggregation. When I log into the router, I usually see band 12 Primary. Occasionally band 2 will show up as secondary, but it quickly goes away. In any event, my speeds are pretty much the same regardless of the Pepwave showing LTE or LTE-A. For comparison, my iPhone averages 24mb/s down when aggregating bands 2 and 12, with occasional bursts of 30+.
The Pepwave shows RSRP of -96 to -100 and SINR of -1 to 3 on band 12, and on the rare occasion it picks up band 2 it shows RSRP of around -102 and SINR of 0. Is it possible that the Pepwave just needs a stronger signal to properly aggregate the two bands? I have found an external 2x2 mimo antenna from 3gstore that seems affordable and has good reviews.
Edited to add: I am running firmware 7.1.0
An external antenna should definitely help here and I recommend to try it. Thanks
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Panorama makes excellent antennas and I recommend to install it outside for best results.