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In the 4G(LTE) network the Signal quality has a huge impact on Data speed. In this article, we have covered

1. What is signal quality and how it is measured?
2. Common scenarios where Signal quality is normally measured poor.
3. Possible ways to improve the Received signal quality.

First thing first, let us talk about the performance metric which measures the quality of the 4G signal and that is SINR (Signal to Interference & Noise Ratio).

SINR is the ratio between the usable signal to an unusable signal (other tower signals + external noise). So the idea is if the usable main tower signal is strong over unusable signal then SINR should be higher and we will have a very good quality signal.

On the other hand, if there is too many tower signal coming in and the main tower signal is not Dominant, the SINR will measure low which means devices will have to resend the same message few times to make sure it reaches out. which eventually results in poor data speed.

Below is a Performance table in relation to SINR

Next, sharing some scenarios where the SINR could measure poor.

• When you have more than three-tower signal reaching your location and you are using an OMNI antenna., which can receive signal from all directions.

• When you are using a directional antenna but there are some towers behind the main tower overshooting.

• When there is a hill or any object in front of your directional antenna which is reflecting other towers signal from other direction.

Ways to improve SINR.

• If you are using an OMNI antenna then need to swap it with a directional antenna. Directional antenna only receives a signal from where it is pointing at. So other tower signals or noise coming from other directions will not be received and SINR will improve.

• Using a directional antenna, measure the SINR for all the towers available around and find the best one. If you do not know where the towers are, then check the article How to locate nearest towers around you.

We are driven to provide connectivity solution using Cellular products, we often receive one question on a daily basis “Which way I should point my antenna?”

We have put together a step by step guide which will help you to find out the Phone tower direction on your own. You will need a computer with internet access and the address or Coordinate where you will be installing the antenna.

Let’s get started.

• Open a web browser and go to RFSNA Homepage. It will look like this:

• Type in your suburb/ postcode/ GPS coordinates into the search bar, or to search with an address select Near address box below the search bar and type in the address then hit enter. It will show you a list of towers around.

• Select Map section to have a better view of Tower locations  around your location 

• Roughly measure the Tower bearing from true north. Measure the bearing for other towers as well. Then point your directional antenna towards each direction and compare performance. See below the Tower-2 is measured roughly 110° off true north (0°)

To measure an accurate Tower direction you can use Google Earth. Below are the steps.

• Download Google Earth and install it.
• Open the Google earth and type in the address in Search Bar

• Right-click on the search result and save it in My Places.

• Now get the GPS coordinate of the tower from RFSNA page. Click the tower and it will pop up a window with tower details. Copy the Longitude and Latitude.

• Go to Google earth, search the tower location using the coordinates and save it to my places.
• Select the Ruler from the Tools bar. Alternately Tools-> Ruler. Draw a line from your location to the tower. You will see the Distance and Heading reading in the Ruler window. In this example, the Tower direction from the test location is measuring 104.74°

If you have more than one tower around then follow the same process to add a placemark in Google Earth and get direction for each.

When your system does not power up, one of the following things could be happening. You could have a power adapter failure, a hardware failure, or the system could need a simple restart.

Make sure that your power source is a functional outlet. Test something else, that you know works in the same outlet, or try moving the GO to another outlet that you have confirmed has working power.

Still Not Working?

It is possible that you have a bad power supply, or malfunction of your GO hardware. Please reach out to your point of sale for further instructions.

Important note: Please ensure the unit is using the original power adapter that came with it and is connected to the correct voltage power source. The Powertec Cel-Fi Warranty does NOT cover damage or faults caused by using the incorrect power adapter, using the incorrect power source, voltage spikes or lightening damage.

The Cel-Fi GO system requires, either the 240v AC power adapter 12v DC–1.5A PSU, or the 12v DC–1.5A PSU cigarette lighter adapter supplied with your unit