Help with wi fi dongle and sim card

[Gaston aires]

Hi fellow funsters. I am in the thought process of putting a WiFi dongle/ SIM card into my Father’s house to run a ring doorbell, alarm, and 2/3 cameras.
I feel this is a better option for him than a dedicated broadband.
Do you think this a viable option.
Your opinions in simple terms please.
Phil

 

[starquake]

Hi fellow funsters. I am in the thought process of putting a WiFi dongle/ SIM card into my Father’s house to run a ring doorbell, alarm, and 2/3 cameras.
I feel this is a better option for him than a dedicated broadband.
Do you think this a viable option.
Your opinions in simple terms please.
Phil

Yes we run a static caravan on one.

First of all find out your signal to find out if you need extenral antenna or if the dongle can sit on the Window. Use a phone in tethered mode, find out the signal; and see if it's viable. Some properties you can't do this as signal is poor.

As a semi-permanent option (wired to mains) the cat12 ZTE286 model I think is very cheap on ebay (like 40-50quid) which for a cat12 device is cheap.

Add a cheap sim from amazon and you good.

It won't be perfect but it will be cheap (if you have good signal).

If you have poor signal, you can still do it, but you are talking adding an external antenna on a pole, and a wire between than and a router inside, and it's harder to do (well). The problem is running a long length of cable to the antenna can lower signal to point it's not worthwhile. I use a device called a Mikrotik LHG (which are about £200 for a good one) to get signal down without that loss, and you have to run an external grade cable from that to a router on the inside. It's a lot harder to setup, so I'd encourage use of a cheap ZTE device if you have the signal as they are generally idiot proof to setup. We pull in 80-120Mbit on a genuine no-signal on any device outside on a phone area using a Mikrotik LHG, they are basically sky dish sized and pull in signal even in a 0 bar situation. They are far more complex to setup though as they need smoeone who can aim them at the cell tower perfectly as even half a degree of movement can half the speed (ie, you need to mount them very securely to aim at the cell tower (which you can't see as it's too far away)).

Given you are relatively local to me in BSE, I actually have the kit around to do a survey and test and we live just down the road in Stowmarket. BSE had 5g last time I visited, so it may change the choice of kit slightly as you may want a 5g capable device, but to be honest if you get decent speed/performance on a phone in the lcoation you want to put the router, a good router will do job fine.

Remember though (we learnt this from inlaws) if your father wants 4k netflix he'll burn through a TON of data, so an unlimited sim card may well also be needed. You may not know but one of the main distributors of the Mikrotik range of LTE antennas is actually based in Needham Market, so it's rather easy to get kit quickly around here for even more professional installs.

 

[starquake]

If it helps I can dig you our some ebay listings of cheap devices as buying (new) from amazon for £50-100 will just result in a slower device as most on amazon under £100 are only cat4 or cat6 devices (so slower).

 

[starquake]

I should say teh static caravan we run is in a 0 signal area, and the in-laws have retired there and live there 6 of 7 days except in February when they are required to leave.

If it works there, it can work literally anywhere (you can't get fibre installed there as it's a genuine not-spot where BT cannot provide over 8Mbit on a wire).

 

[Gaston aires]

Yes we run a static caravan on one.

First of all find out your signal to find out if you need extenral antenna or if the dongle can sit on the Window. Use a phone in tethered mode, find out the signal; and see if it's viable. Some properties you can't do this as signal is poor.

As a semi-permanent option (wired to mains) the cat12 ZTE286 model I think is very cheap on ebay (like 40-50quid) which for a cat12 device is cheap.

Add a cheap sim from amazon and you good.

It won't be perfect but it will be cheap (if you have good signal).

If you have poor signal, you can still do it, but you are talking adding an external antenna on a pole, and a wire between than and a router inside, and it's harder to do (well). The problem is running a long length of cable to the antenna can lower signal to point it's not worthwhile. I use a device called a Mikrotik LHG (which are about £200 for a good one) to get signal down without that loss, and you have to run an external grade cable from that to a router on the inside. It's a lot harder to setup, so I'd encourage use of a cheap ZTE device if you have the signal as they are generally idiot proof to setup. We pull in 80-120Mbit on a genuine no-signal on any device outside on a phone area using a Mikrotik LHG, they are basically sky dish sized and pull in signal even in a 0 bar situation. They are far more complex to setup though as they need smoeone who can aim them at the cell tower perfectly as even half a degree of movement can half the speed (ie, you need to mount them very securely to aim at the cell tower (which you can't see as it's too far away)).

Given you are relatively local to me in BSE, I actually have the kit around to do a survey and test and we live just down the road in Stowmarket. BSE had 5g last time I visited, so it may change the choice of kit slightly as you may want a 5g capable device, but to be honest if you get decent speed/performance on a phone in the lcoation you want to put the router, a good router will do job fine.

Remember though (we learnt this from inlaws) if your father wants 4k netflix he'll burn through a TON of data, so an unlimited sim card may well also be needed. You may not know but one of the main distributors of the Mikrotik range of LTE antennas is actually based in Needham Market, so it's rather easy to get kit quickly around here for even more professional installs.

Many thanks for your prompt reply. I was looking at a ZTE dongle coupled up to a Smarty or suitable SIM. As for streaming he probably won’t, he doesn’t have Netflix etc.
He lives in Maldon Essex so I guess a good phone signal is important.
Thanks Phil

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[starquake]

Many thanks for your prompt reply. I was looking at a ZTE dongle coupled up to a Smarty or suitable SIM. As for streaming he probably won’t, he doesn’t have Netflix etc.
He lives in Maldon Essex so I guess a good phone signal is important.
Thanks Phil

In Essex yes, the networks are a lot busier, use the app speedtest on an Android or Iphone to test signal on a window. If you don't get above 3 bars on the signal meter try upstairs (as you can place the router upstairs by a window and use wifi from anywhere).

Smarty is expensive, you can get near a year of more data on Three from amazon for about the price of 3 months on smarty (80Gb every month for a year is typically about £40). Three is very variable on signal around these parts (it doens't work really at all in my area of Stowmarket without an external antenna).

EE will probably be best performance but also usually most expensive. I'd personally try with a one-month smarty sim and if signal is good buy a Three deal off amazon (scancom store). Smart is easy to get a sim for but at £20 a month for unlimited is around 3 times more expensvie than a (likely better performing) native Three sim.

 

[starquake]

The ZTE286 router doesn't have a battery and is pretty much designed for home router duties, its cat12, and is better than a small dongle as it has better antennas.

Doesn't do 5g if you get that, but is probably the best one to get if you dont get 5g.

Pardon our interruption...

(It's what was provided by a few networks for their "home router" option a few years ago).

For £50 plus a simcard it's worth a try I'd say given thats less than the install fee on home broadband these days.

 

[starquake]

Should say I havn't ordered from that link before but I think myself Gellyneck and a few others have purchased our (5g) routers from the same ebay vendor for well under half what it costs new (and the devices arrive like new, unlocked, and are cheaper than amazon).

 

[Gaston aires]

The ZTE286 router doesn't have a battery and is pretty much designed for home router duties, its cat12, and is better than a small dongle as it has better antennas.

Doesn't do 5g if you get that, but is probably the best one to get if you dont get 5g.

Pardon our interruption...

(It's what was provided by a few networks for their "home router" option a few years ago).

For £50 plus a simcard it's worth a try I'd say given thats less than the install fee on home broadband these days.

I just ordered one of these ZTE 286 routers. Now researching suitable data SIMS. I need to test the signal quality at his house.
Phil

 

[Wildbill]

We run our static on a sun card stream movies run fire stick on it
cameras phones it works very well for us believe or not we have better service with that than our last place and we were on a land line no buffering when streaming movies or videos

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[fishplug]

Good advice from starquake - as always on these things!

As already stated, if you get a decent signal on your phone there, then whatever SIM you've got should work just fine.

There are only 4 networks in the UK (EE, O2, Vodaphone and Three) - all the other providers just sell services over these networks. There's a list of who's on which network here if that's helpful.

Three and Vodaphone have proposed a merger which has been agreed on the condition that they invest heavily in upgrading their network. Will be interesting to see how that pans out.

Because I'm a fairly heavy data user, I'm on Three's unlimited plan which costs me £17/month.

Moneysavingexpert has a great tool for helping compare SIM deals

 

[Howard B]

I am using an unlimted Scancom 3 sim in a Vodafone Gigacube to run my house broadband. Think i paid @ £180 and it lasts 3 years. Seeing speeds of up to 200 mbs.

 

[starquake]

I just ordered one of these ZTE 286 routers. Now researching suitable data SIMS. I need to test the signal quality at his house.
Phil

You can also check cellmapper.net

Below is the EE masts in area. Voda, Three and O2 all have masts mostly nearby these locations but slightly offset.

Looking at the cell mapp if the location is eastern Maldon, you'd probably be best on EE (only EE has one by 34101 above). If on West side out by South Maldon garden suburb area it won't matter as EE, Three, O2, and Voda all have a tower by the 30798 one on abov emap.

I would wager based on the map that there are areas of the town needing a external antenna as the towers are all in one area. But if you place the antenna on the side of the house pointing at the antennas from the map now you know where they are it'll help.

 

[Gaston aires]

Once again, many thanks for your help. Dad lives very near mast 33516.
Phil

 

[starquake]

Once again, many thanks for your help. Dad lives very near mast 33516.
Phil

Then you should be good on Three and EE in theory as both have coverage good in that area. It's probably the same cell tower (Three and EE share many 4g towers) , so it's just a question of how busy the towers are. EE is usually less busy, but if Three is quiet, it's usually cheaper (a lot).