Teltonika RUTX50, Three, Optimisation

[Kannon Fodda]

Agreed that most of functions of the RUTX50 are overkill. Main reason for choosing was external aerial connectivity as my pvc is like a Faraday cage. The MU50001 doesn't use its external connections for 4G signals, and as most campsite areas are more likely to have that.

Still I survived the week, once I found switching to 3G only gave the most stable signal on Three, and was able to do my basic streaming of Netflix

 

[zac]

I can get a better signal on my ZTE MU5001 than i can on my RUTX50 with the 4 antennas connected, It's significant as well, not just a few MB. For me, if i had to buy again, i would NOT go for the RUTX50 as it's simply not proven to be as good as some of the much cheaper options out there. This has been tested with the exact same sim in the exact same location.
I do like the GPS location on the Rut's as i can get notified if my van moves outside its Geo location, but again not worth the extra money you will be paying that's for sure.
Now it could be that my antenna is not as good as my previous one as i always used to fit the panorama antenna's but this time went for the Poynting Mimo 3-17-2. I guess i should have always stuck to what I know as now i will never know as simply cannot afford to replace it only to find its the same on the new antenna. Also these antennas are supposed to be very good.

 

[starquake]

Agreed that most of functions of the RUTX50 are overkill. Main reason for choosing was external aerial connectivity as my pvc is like a Faraday cage. The MU50001 doesn't use its external connections for 4G signals, and as most campsite areas are more likely to have that.

Still I survived the week, once I found switching to 3G only gave the most stable signal on Three, and was able to do my basic streaming of Netflix

I totally agree with this, the MU5001 internal antenna is excellent but useless in a panel van. The external connections however make a massive difference on 5g (where it exists) (10Mbit versus 200 when I tested in in a 1-2bar location for 5g on N1).

You may want to try using three.co.uk as APN instead of 3Internet, in rural parts, I've found this improves things slightly.

 

[Markman]

Now it could be that my antenna is not as good as my previous one as i always used to fit the panorama antenna's but this time went for the Poynting Mimo 3-17-2. I guess i should have always stuck to what I know as now i will never know as simply cannot afford to replace it only to find its the same on the new antenna. Also these antennas are supposed to be very good.

A bit surprised to hear negative things about Poynting antennas since I'm currently considering either the sharkfin you have or the Puck version. Should I think again? Does anyone have contrasting positive experiences with Poynting?

 

[zac]

A bit surprised to hear negative things about Poynting antennas since I'm currently considering either the sharkfin you have or the Puck version. Should I think again? Does anyone have contrasting positive experiences with Poynting?

To be honest i don't know which one is causing me the issues, so It's not specifically aimed at the poynting just what I am seeing in terms of purchasing a different antenna and router to what i would normally go for. Don't be put off, as some people have had really good results with the same setup.
There are so many things that can mess with the results from one persons setup to another, also just to be clear its not that I am not getting a signal as i am but It's just not as quick as the ZTE MU5001 in the same spot.

One more thing, the sharkfin is better in rural area's than the puck due to its band range

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[starquake]

A bit surprised to hear negative things about Poynting antennas since I'm currently considering either the sharkfin you have or the Puck version. Should I think again? Does anyone have contrasting positive experiences with Poynting?

Avoid the puck version, worse than no-antenna on the longer ranger frequencies you need in a vna.
Sharkfin ones in general work well on the lower frequencys (longer range).

 

[pandas]

Any feedback regarding this set up through Motorhome Wifi

5G Now Compact Pro​

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Avoid the puck version, worse than no-antenna on the longer ranger frequencies you need in a vna.
Sharkfin ones in general work well on the lower frequencys (longer range).

Oh bumholes the puck is what I got as I understood it to be better with the added frequencies the providers are likely to be rolling out as they release 3G.

 

[starquake]

Any feedback regarding this set up through Motorhome Wifi

5G Now Compact Pro​

It's a MU5001 (or possibly) a more recent ZTE model) at several times the price to do it yourself. (you can tell it's ZTE from the gui on the screen).

If you don't feel confident drilling the roof for it, get someone else to install a Panorama or Poynting antenna and connect your own router. It'll be miles cheaper, as in likely £400 cheaper before any installer costs.

You won't have support, but if you capable of using an app on phone or a laptop you'll save a lot of money.
I am using an older generation Motohomewifi antenna today with a more modern 5001 that I installed myself.

Doing it yourself will cost £250 ish total assuming you buy a new quality one from ebay, but worth noting it may not have the antenna performance of the most recent ZTE models (but in 2 years you'll be able to get these for £130-150 range as you can the 5g ZTE today - via ebay, via reputable dealers).

Personal view is do it yourself and save a fortune regardless (or get a accessory dealer to install the antenna, then do rest yourself). Remember all these routers need is typically a USB C lead, which is trivial to wire these days.

If you have a PVC and not a motorhome, you may need to look at Teltonica routers, as the ZTE's don't really do non-5g bands typcially on the roof antenna (ie, even if connected they use the internal antenna). (ie, good for future, less good for now). The 4g ZTE's do use roof antennas for 4g. This is why I keep a older 4g router and a the 5g one in the van as for most of time I use 5g, but for really bad signal, I plugin the 4g one to roof antenna.

Oh bumholes the puck is what I got as I understood it to be better with the added frequencies the providers are likely to be rolling out as they release 3G.

They are miles better on the 5g frequencies, and they are about now, Heysham/Morecambe bay on Three was full coverage on 5g from our Christmas week and a bit away. It is likely better for future, but less good for the B28 4g that Three is using for rural coverage now. This is because they have 10Mhz of B28 and only 5mhz of B20 to my understanding, so it's basically double the capacity and further reaching when compared with the B20 (800mhz) they've been using previously.

I'm not sure I'd bother swapping though if I had an antenna not focussed on it personally though, it's a minor decrease versus the huge 5.5Db gain you get on the other frequencies. (OOI the best antenna I have which is about double the size of an old Sky dish only gives 8-9Dbi on those same frequencies!).

 

[starquake]

Oh bumholes the puck is what I got as I understood it to be better with the added frequencies the providers are likely to be rolling out as they release 3G.

In your case it'll be better than no-antenna given the faraday cage of the PVC!). But for a normal motorhome they'd be better without it.

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[RowleyBirkinQC]

Oh bumholes the puck is what I got as I understood it to be better with the added frequencies the providers are likely to be rolling out as they release 3G.

Sorry it’s a bit late, but seeing this video steered me to the shark fin mimo 3 antenna…



In summary, I think he states something like shark fin for more remote/rural use, puck for more urban use due to low frequency level gains (or similar).

We have the RUTX50 & Poynting MIMO 3 shark fin antenna. Not chasing high download speed, just more reliable and consistent connectivity. So far so good even when at large participation events (MotoGP, BSB, shows etc)…

 

[seanandjules]

I can't help with the technical details but I have a GLX-3000 and am happy with it. I screwed up and purchased the wrong Poynting antenna for it. I emailed Poynting Support in SA and got help from their technical people, ultimately suggesting your Puck MIMO 4x4 (still on the to-do list because old Motorhome WiFi 2x2 MIMO works just enough, and I'm scared of getting a leak when I replace it, as I had from the "professional" installation).

So my suggestion is to copy-paste your original comment in to an email to their technical support. Support only seem to work Mon-Fri but, in my case, came from technically competent people (2 of them) who wanted to help and to also improve their product (rather than people off the street reading from a script). But I think they're still a relatively small company so not super fast.

FYI I bought the GLX-3000 (about £350) bad largely on this review

I've got the same in our van and agree that it's fantastic. Think at one point I got 600mbit/s on a Speedtest en route to Kendal.

 

[starquake]

We have the RUTX50 & Poynting MIMO 3 shark fin antenna. Not chasing high download speed, just more reliable and consistent connectivity. So far so good even when at large participation events (MotoGP, BSB, shows etc)…

Those type of events are why we have the panorama equvalent installed on our roof. Been at many events where the iphone is completely useless but the van system works a treat. Literally of the events we visited last year (7 weekends today) we would have not had any workable connectivity the entire weekend on 3 of them.

When you run the signal diagnostics and lookup the cellid in use from phone versus the hotspot, and the hotspot is often using a 4g cell site miles off the site, avoiding the local congestion entirely.

 

[Raul]

I just looked at tge ZTE 5001, and appears that has no ethernet ports. At the moment I have the RUT x11 and does not support 5G. The antenna does 5G, I have the mimo3. My sim's do have 5G on EE.
Any ZTE models that have the 3-4 and 5G, and atleast one ethernet port?
Just trying to experiment with a diferent router; the rutx 11 is brilliant in the sticks, but not so good in the build up areas, despite having a wide band aerial.

 

[starquake]

I just looked at tge ZTE 5001, and appears that has no ethernet ports. At the moment I have the RUT x11 and does not support 5G. The antenna does 5G, I have the mimo3. My sim's do have 5G on EE.
Any ZTE models that have the 3-4 and 5G, and atleast one ethernet port?
Just trying to experiment with a diferent router; the rutx 11 is brilliant in the sticks, but not so good in the build up areas, despite having a wide band aerial.

There is a MU5001 varient with an ethernet port (it;s same base model but does have an ethernet). They are harder to get hold of and not much (as much) stock from the supplier I used on ebay. (They didn't sell many of the varient with the ethernet port)
The 5001 however does not use the external antenna ports for 4g, they are for 5g only, however the internal 4g antenna is as good as the external antenna in throughput in a standard coachbuilt style van), the MU5001 does work on 3g, but can't (easily) be configured to 3g only mode (where the older ZTE's allow 3g only mode). You can get a mod to allow the external ports for 4g use too, but i've not done that as not needed to. The 3g side is a moot point given by end of this year most UK 3g networks will be removed.

At moment, I'm keeping the 5001 and an older 4g only model in the van as 99% of the time the 5001 is better, but for those 1% times, you do want the older model (or zsomehting like your x11)

I'll likely swap the 5001 for a newer ZTE in a couple of years for one with all the above. Ebay has 5001 without ethernet typically for about £125-155 quid almost every day.

The 5001 has provided 5g in places I would not expect there to even be 5g, it's surpsiringly better than I thought it would be prior to my upgrade. And for 5g you do need an external antenna as with one the throughput on 5g is often 5 to 10 times what the device provides on the internal one. (easily testable by removing the antenna connections!)

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[Guigsy]

Those type of events are why we have the panorama equvalent installed on our roof. Been at many events where the iphone is completely useless but the van system works a treat. Literally of the events we visited last year (7 weekends today) we would have not had any workable connectivity the entire weekend on 3 of them.

When you run the signal diagnostics and lookup the cellid in use from phone versus the hotspot, and the hotspot is often using a 4g cell site miles off the site, avoiding the local congestion entirely.

That's what mine appeared to have done at a festival. Everyone's phone had a signal, but it was so congested phone data was useless. But my Poynting MIMO 3 and RUTX50 was pulling a slow but usable and consistent 5mbps. From the cell ID, I think tower was about 4 miles away and not the one less than a mile in the other direction.

 

[Raul]

Im looking at ZTE MC801, something that will pick the band automatically, acording to signal strength. Many places in EU, the 3G is better than 4G. The rut x11 spends most of the time on 3G, and switching to 4G on motorways with good coverage, or towns.

 

[starquake]

Im looking at ZTE MC801, something that will pick the band automatically, acording to signal strength. Many places in EU, the 3G is better than 4G. The rut x11 spends most of the time on 3G, and switching to 4G on motorways with good coverage, or towns.

Don't bother with anything 3G. 3G is literally being turned off at all cell sites and the frequencies reused for 5g or 4g.

Our plans to switch off 3G | Support | Three

We’re phasing out our 3G network and aim to switch it off by the end of 2024. We’re not alone in doing this – other networks in the UK and abroad are in the process of phasing out their 3G service, too.

www.three.co.uk

This isn't just a UK initiative, with 5g on the same frequencies able to move about 20 TIMES the data per second, it makes sense to turn off 3g in favour of 5g on the same frequency.

And all devices will tend to pick bands and frequencys and 3, 4 or 5g automatically, ZTE's are a doddle to turn off invidual band support if needed (depending on firmware to level of tricks needed). 3g is very dead, where 4 and 5g can actually share the frequency used for 3g (2100mhz) at same time. 5g calls it N1, and 4g calls it B1.

Edit, I'll add the UK links from ofcom:

Switching off the UK’s 2G and 3G mobile networks: what you need to know

The 2G and 3G mobile networks are gradually being switched off over the next few years. Here’s what this means for you as a customer.

www.ofcom.org.uk

^ shows only one network in the UK is yet to finish it's 3g turn off (O2), but it will comlplete in 2025.

 

[Gellyneck]

Raul starquake
Have a look at CEX they sometimes have the MU5001 with an Ethernet port in stock.

With? https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail...D=D71B86D3F4D10418EBEC6E612D7DC392&position=2

Without? https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail...D=D71B86D3F4D10418EBEC6E612D7DC392&position=4

 

[zac]

I was going to sell my ZTE MU5001 when i purchased the RUTx50, but i am glad i didn't as it looks like i am going to need it, always good to have a spare.

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