Will an external antenna improve my speeds etc?

[autopilot]

Hi all, new here but seems like a good resource :)

Right...

In a nutshell, i want to know if connecting an external antenna will help give me faster speeds.

Bit more info - I use 3G for my main connection, which is about 10 times better than ADSL was and cheaper. I have a Zoom 5401 router with three's new E353 dongle in an upsairs window. I brought it to replace my trusty ZTE MF122, but the E353 is no faster (which i since found out is due to HSPA+ not being fully rolled out yet - thank for the misleading sales pitch there Three).

Anyway, i ping at about 85 and get 4-5mbps down and 1.5 up. But i notice the E353 supports external antenna's. Would there be any benefit to buying one, and if so, which one?

Thanks D

[DaveC]

Hi all, new here but seems like a good resource :)


Anyway, i ping at about 85 and get 4-5mbps down and 1.5 up. But i notice the E353 supports external antenna's. Would there be any benefit to buying one, and if so, which one?

Thanks D

They look like good figures to me - well above average. I don't think an external antenna will add anything. With 3G it is more to do with Cell loading than anything else.

[Ben]

Hi autopilot, welcome to Talk3G!

An external antenna will likely allow your dongle to see more masts, which can only be a good thing when it comes to the reliability of your connection. But if you're already getting good reception from your closest mast then I don't think you'll see any uptick in speed or latency from what you're getting already.

As you're using 3G to replace a fixed line broadband service it might be worth giving it a go, if the antenna isn't too expensive. I'd be tempted to, anyway. But if you're looking for a speed increase as the return on your investment then, as DaveC says, I don't think you'll see one.

[Hands0n]

Hi autopilot, a great question.

Anything that improves your transciever's ability to communicate with the surrounding cells is going to be a good thing. But as others have said, it will not improve speed per se, particularly given that you have an HSPA+ device communicating with what sounds like a regular HSPA transmitter mast. However, when the mast is updated to HSPA+ then you will see the higher speeds and performance. And again, with a more capable arial you will benefit from stability and availability over and above that which the stock device can achieve.