Tutor
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5 Messages
Very strange, almost opposite results with MF279 dBm and signal strength than one would expect.
I have the MF279 Homebase with AT&T and have been getting around 1.2 download and 2.5 upload speeds. Hard to do anything online without major lag and God forbid anyone in the house is watching Netflix.
I was on my way to take it to the AT&T store to get the SIM chip replaced like the technician instructed and decided to do some testing on my own.
At home, I get 2 green bars and usually sit at -109 to -111 dBm and get junk speeds. Feels like old dial-up. I rode up the highway about a mile and got 2 green bars and could hit up to 10 or 11 Mbps--HUGE difference. I was logged in on my cellphone to the WiFi and noticed the dBm was -118. Knowing that the issue was probably not with the SIM chip, I rushed back home and walked around outside continually testing on a speedtest site and watching the dBms on the router page. At a couple of places right outside my home close to the wall, I was able to get up to 8 Mbps download speed but could not ever find anywhere in the house that was over 2. I even held it against the wall where I was getting high speeds outside to no avail.
Per my tests and against what I have read to be correct, I have found things to be quite the opposite. It seems the further away from zero dBm, the higher the speeds (-100 dBm being worse speeds than -118 dBm), and the amount of cellular bars do not seem to matter at all. Is this really how it works or is my device defective? Any suggestions on how to get the speeds up inside my house without an antenna? I have also tried in the attic with no improvement. The bars were higher, but the speed was the same.
Incidentally, I think I have spoken with every employee that works at AT&T and if I hear "I understand that you are having a problem with this and I would be incredibly excited to assist you and help you and ultimately solve your problem! Oh, resetting the device did not help? Okay, call this number for more technical support" one more time, I will delete the entire internet.
nmidude77
Mentor
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30 Messages
5 years ago
Since no one has replied, I figured I would throw in my $.02. I have been having a similar experience with my MF279. It appears it is "band" hopping between 2, maybe 3 different towers while stationary at home, when signal strength drops to basically one bar or -115dBm, it gives me 15+Mbps (when I can get it to connect to that tower, anytime of the day). The other at full signal or -75dBm, speed is 20+Mbps but only anytime before 7am, after which speeds degrade as the day goes on, sometimes as slow as <1Mbps in the evening (go figure). If I go away from my home with the device and closer to the city, my speeds stay consistent at around 20Mbps. I believe that particular tower closets to my home has an old back haul and cannot handle the highway traffic that hits the tower. The other, further away tower I'm assuming is more remote and does not see much traffic. My next idea is to get a LTE modem that allows me to "lock" in that more distant tower to pull in the faster speeds. I shall update as I test this theory...
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