Rocket HUB external antenna

[BeerHunter125]

I'm wondering if Rogers will ever introduce a Rocket HUB with external antenna capabilities again. My trusty old NetComm is getting aged and limited to 3G.

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[dmart]

In the promo literature it states that an external antenna may be connected to the Rocket Hub (Netcomm). Has anyone seen benefit in adding one? Where are these available? Preferably close to K-W region. What is the connection called that the antenna cable needs to connect to?

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[skinorth]

@dmart:

if you have low cellular network signal strength in your location, it will definitely help to get an external antenna.  An external antenna can be mounted outside your dwelling, at a greater physical height, and will provide you with greater signal strength.

If you refer to the Netcomm documentation, you will find that the antenna connector on the Netcomm is an SMA connection.  Just unscrew the existing antenna attached to the device to connect the cable going to your external antenna.

I suggest checking for antennas on the Internet.  I use the following:

http://www.alternativewireless.com/wilson-wide-band-log-per-dir-antenna-50ohm-n-f.html

I use an Ericsson W35 RocketHub and in my current location an external antenna is essential.

skinorth

[eddy]

http://www.rfconnectionshop.com/products/outside-building  located in Quebec.   

[Bert]

I purchased a Wilson 50 Ohm dual/wide band Yagi directional antenna (part # 304411) on Ebay for $60, along with a length of LMR-240 antenna cable. The antenna must be installed outside and pointed directly to the cell tower. The end result was a boost in signal strength from -101 dBm to -73dBm. If the antenna is installed on a metallic mast, I would highly recommend a lightning arrester.

[K-C]

Be careful that you can send the antenna back if it doesn't work for you.

I installed the yagi sold by City Wireless ( http://www.citywireless.ca/yagi_install_instruction.html) and ended up with the same signal as I get with the tiny antenna that comes with the NetComm. Disappointing, for sure. Fortunately, they'll give me a refund.

Not sure why the antenna didn't work. I installed it 10 feet above the roof and pointing at the cell tower. The built-in antenna sits on my desk and, as I said, got the same medium signal.

[ryanjudy]

Do any Rogers or other stores have external antennas for the Rocket Hub in stock ? 

I'm trying to avoid ordering online , but cant seem to find any stores that have them in stock (bestbuy, futureshop and the source all show online only)

I'm in the Kenora area but have also looked in Winnipeg . 

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[Gdkitty]

I dont think the rogers stores ever sold them at all, that i recall ever seeing.

[DE_]

I bought an external yagi 11db antenna off Ebay (china) for $30US + $10 for 15ft cable (both with the correct connectors!). Both arrived in 2 weeks. Have yet to try them though. There was an Toronto location selling off Ebay come to think of it specifically for the Rocket Hub for something like $80

[ShakTiburon]

Hey @BeerHunter125

Which model do you currently have?
I know which external antenna you are talking about, but I wasn't aware that new Rocket Hub doesn't have the capability of it. hmm. I am going to look into that, mind if you provide me your current model number of your NetComm?

[kco]

I bought a Huawei B890-66 on Amazon.ca. (There are several models, you need the -66).
I first contacted Rogers via "Share a Concern" asking if I could use a non-Rogers router because I need an external antenna. I'm 31 km from the tower.

Rogers allowed me to connect with the router and go on the Heavy Use Flex plan (I was previously on 3G HSPA+ with another provider).

The Huawei works well. I tested it without the external antenna for 1 month. It consistently was double the speed(10 Mbps vs 5 Mbps) of my other HSPA+ router which was using the external (Wilson 304411) antenna.

I had a few intermittent disconnects with the Huawei during rain, but nothing very long.  I did the testing in parallel with 1/2 our devices on Rogers and the other half on the other router.

Switching to the Huawei doubled to tripled the speed.  I now get an average download of about 20 Mbps and over 40 Mbps during quiet times. As of the end of September we are exclusively using the Huawei with the external antenna. I expect we will not get anymore dropouts during rain.

It is a bit of a chore to get a non-Rogers router on a Hub Flex Plan. Rogers does not recognise the IMEI. Rogers got around that by using an IMEI from one of their "in-house" turbo hubs. If you already have a Turbo Hub you likely will not have a problem. It's SIM should work in the Huawei.

[ShakTiburon]

Great work around @kco
I am glad going the extra mile yourself got it working.
Sometimes Hardware can be limited, and very nice of you to share the exact model in case other members of community live distance from tower.
Since this is a dedicated hub for internet usage in your household I am glad you are using the Heavy Usage Flex Plan instead of the regular one.
(I was just discussing that on another post)

Nice!

[BeerHunter125]

Am I correct in assuming that I could buy a Huawei B890-66 and take the SIM card out of my NetComm plug it into the Huawei B890-66 and be able to connect , or is there more to it?

Curious.

Txs

[kco]

Yes, it should work as long as you have a valid Rogers Hub IMEI.  That was the main hurdle...Rogers billing system will not accept certain manufacturers' IMEI's. They want the IMEI to register the SIM but the actual cellular system does not care about the IMEI, it just needs the SIM ID which is in the billing system(which requires an IMEI...).

It's not different than our phones.  If I have a (unlocked) phone on the Bell network and you have a SIM on the Rogers network, you can put your SIM in my phone and it will work as your Rogers phone.

You will need to configure the router with the correct Access Point Name (APN), which for Rogers Flex Hub Plan is LTEINTERNET.APN.  If you put it on a "bring your own tablet" plan the APN is LTEMOBILE.APN.  For testing, they actually put me on a "bring your own tablet" plan(which doesn't seem to be picky about IMEI's) for the first month...but that's another story. You may also need to configure the dial-up number as *99#. To use the external antenna you set it as "outer" (as opposed to "inner").

Without the external antenna my router somtimes connected as 3G and roaming on Telus.  I checked with Roges and found that is not a problem because it does not incur additional charges due to the "extended service" arrangement.  However, when I read that item on Rogers' site it appeared it may become a problem if you are roaming all the time.  Thanks to the router vendor's help we made it a non-issue by setting the router to use only LTE, and only the Rogers LTE bands 2, 4, 5, and 7.

I didn't figure this out...I had excellent support from Rogers (in response to the "share a concern" enquiry) and the router vendor. The vendor has sold the Huawei to several existing Rogers Hub owners.

If I had not been able to get the hub flex plan with the Huawei IMEI, I likely would have signed up with a Rogers hub, moved the SIM to the Huawei, and kept the Rogers hub as a spare. That's essentially the workaround Rogers used when they entered their hub's IMEI for my SIM.

[joeBob1]

MF275R External Antenna

I am about to purchase the MF275R but I can't figure out if it has an external antenna port or not.

Amazon seems to sell an antenna for it (http://www.amazon.com/YagiRef26-2-26-Element-Antenna-Efficiency-Shielded/dp/B011Q7CGF2 but from the pictures of the hub there doesn't seem to be a port.

Can someone with ths device please let me know?

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[RogersMoin]

Hello, @joeBob1

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums!

I was reading through the specs for the antenna you've posted, to my understanding it gets directly connected to MF275R in the place of existing antenna ports. The antennas which come with the MF275R can be unscrewed.

@Community - Please chime in with your expertise, thank you all.

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[Geezer]

MF275R and an external antenna

I was just speaking to the guy who runs the Antenna Shop in Woodvillle, Ontario and he says that even though the MF275R has two attached batwing antennas it only has one port. I find this strange but I don't know now whether to get the antenna with the dual pigtail adaptor or with only one. Does anyone here have any technical knowledge about how to go about this?

[Geezer]

Just to try to clarify:

I was told that the two built-in antennas have separate functions - one is for external a stronger 4G/LTE signal and the other is for internal WiFi distribution. Is this right? If so, which is which?

I am looking at this particular antenna and wondering of this is the one that would work best with the MF275R:

http://antennashop.ca/product/3g-4g-lte-low-pim-multiband-high-gain-directional-antenna-2/

Thanks.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Geezer

Please see Message 15 where @joeBob1 was trying to install a Yagi antenna and looking for help in identifying the port. If you are looking at the back of the MF275R, it seems the right side antenna is where the external antenna can be plugged in. I'm hoping @joeBob1 can chime in with more details if he was successful in installing his external antenna.

Thank you for your patience,

RogersMoin

[joeBob1]

Im still waiting for my hub - was informed that there was an issue with the inventory and they would call me when fixed. I called yesterday - note said i was to call back.... - anyway, was on hold and ran out of time so still dont have the hub... But once I get it I will update.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @joeBob1

Thank you for updating the Community, I greatly appreciate it. 

All the best.

RogersMoin