Add-on MIMO Antenna for improved LTE reception (TS-9 connectors)

***Long write up about this antenna and it's testing*** I have had this antenna for about a week now and here is what I have experienced. First off lets talk about antennas, to get those big dBi numbers you have to do a couple of things, (1) Stack multiple antennas into an array for big gain, that's why cell site antennas are so big (2 to 8 feet in length). (2) Increase the depth of the antenna by adding signal directors in front of the active antenna element and a reflector element behind the active element (Yagi antenna) to get high dBi gain numbers. The problem with those antennas they are really big and hard to manage when people want something portable. They are great for a fixed/bolt it to the outside of your home antenna with thick low loss antenna coax going to your hotspot and they do work very well. The Netgear MIMO antenna here is a portable somewhat easy to use antenna with an average of about 2 to 3 dbi of gain for its size. Considering the antennas inside most LTE hotspots have no dBi gain, but they also have no cable losses to deal with either. This is a very sturdy antenna just not sure how well the heavy plastic will hold up in extreme heat and direct sun. The suction cups work well for the antenna and I like the fact that I can use suction cups from the hobby/office stores when these no long hold. The antenna cable for the antenna is of good quality with excellent TS-9 push on connectors, most aftermarket TS-9 connectors can be little stiff to connect to the hotspots. The cable lenght is a little shorter then I like (1meter) but what I have found the cable is long enough to reach a table near most of the windows I have tried. I'm not a fan of leaving my hotspot in the windows sill as I have had times during the summer months it will overheat and turn off. This antenna will help with that by getting the hotspot out of the sun. How well does the antenna improvement my internet experience, first there are LOTS of things that can impact your LTE data service and here is a small list that can impact your data speeds. (Data speeds will vary greatly per area based on signal level RSRP, quality RSRQ, multiple tower pollution, distance from the cell tower, how many users using the tower, how many bands are available, how much bandwidth each R.F. carrier has, carrier aggregation, MIMO capability, QAM capability, back haul from the cell tower, what your hotspot can support and other various items) Now for the performance of the antenna itself, as I explained about antennas with their high gains and as others have stated in their reviews here this antenna is NOT going to make your signal bars jump from 0 to 5 bars when the hotspot is in the same location as the antenna and you have to have some detectable signal to make some improvement. What I have seen on average is about 4 to 10 dbm improvement in RSRP depending on the frequency band the hotspot is attached too, for example on T-mobile my area has band 2, 4 & 12. On band 2 there is a 6 to 8dbm improvement. Band 4 about 4 to 6dbm and Band 12 about 8 to 10dbm improvement, but the big improvement was on data speeds. Most of the T-mobile towers I tested had a 20mhz wide carrier on band 4, those towers with an RSRP of -90dbm with the antenna I saw about speeds around 60 to 85 mbps, without the antenna and the hotspot placed in the same location as the antenna RSRP of -96dbm with data speeds around 20 to 40 mbps. Testing was done in the early morning hours to have the least amount of users on the tower. Now the towers with bands 2 & 12 were hard to tests as I had to move closer or further away to force thee hotspot pick the other band as the primary server, for example band 12 in my area for T-mobile is only a 5mhz wide carrier so it won't pass data as fast as the 20mhz carrier will, but some data is better then no data for me. Now the other T-mobile tower tested has band 2, 4 & 12 in it with the Netgear antenna attached with an RSRP of -70dbm I saw data speed tests well over 100 mbps and without the antenna I didn't see as much of a speed drop as I expected. This could be that I was very close to the tower and the internal antennas of the hotspot was providing more than enough for the tower to provide the maximum data resources it had available. I also performed similar tests on AT&T's network detecting bands 2,4,5,12 & 30. Data speed testing varied widely, for example the one test tower has bands 2,12&30. The hotspot would lock onto band 2 without the antenna at -100dbm and fluctuate up and down a few dbm. When I attached the antenna the RSRP was -92dbm, plus it greatly reduced the fluctuating signal, I also noticed that at times with the antenna attached the hotspot would switch over to band 30, which I was never able to get the hotspot to attach too without the antenna. When the hotspot was attached to band 30 RSRP was around -108dbm I would see average speed tests around 75 mbps, but the speeds would fluctuate up and down during the tests so the averages were all over the place, but 75 mbps was the average. I think the fluctuating speed was carrier aggregation adding and removing the weaker bands during the tests. As for Sprint I was only able to test one of their sites as my area doesn't have a lot the band 41 towers, so I had to travel to an area that had them. The tower I tested had band 25, 26 & 41. The test phone showed there are 3 carriers of band 41, but my old Netgear Fuse does not support carrier aggregation, so I can only test one band at a time and I only tested band 41 with the antenna. I found that I could only get about a 3dbm improvement in RSRP on band 41 with the antenna, it's not much but it did improve the data rates. With the antenna RSRP was -108dbm I saw an average of 45 mbps without the antenna it dropped to about 12 mbps. One last test for those that are do not completely understand MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out antennas) The Netgear antenna is 2X MIMO antenna that's why it has 2 cable connections. The Hotspots also have 2 internal antennas and when you connect to the external antenna those internal antenna turn off (according to Netgear) so I wanted to see what would happen if I only used one of the antenna cables and not the other. I then wrapped my hotspot in aluminum foil to unscientifically disable the internal antenna and only use one antenna. The signal results did not change much, but I did see the RSRP fluctuate around more with just the single antenna. The data speed tests is where things changed, with the Netgear antenna attached in MIMO (both cables attached) on T-mobile band 4 I would get an average of about 60 to 85 mbps. Now in SISO (one antenna used at the hotspot) I would average about 28 to 32 mbps. From my testing I could clearly see the benefits of MIMO. Once I get the Netgear MR1000 that has built-in 4X MIMO and 256 QAM then I can see what the data speeds would be for that hotspot using just the 4 internal antennas in the hotspot. Also for those that use boosters like Weboost and SureCall they make fine products, but just remember boosters don't support Sprint's band 26 & 41. Along with AT&T's band 29 & 30. They also don't support MIMO. This antenna supports all of these bands so if your tower has these bands and your hotspot supports the bands as well you could see some improvement in data speeds with this antenna over the booster on these bands along with the benefits of MIMO. I would like to find a report from someone that has done tests with a mobile booster external like Weboost and then did the same test without the booster and just used a MIMO antenna to see which one proved the better data speeds while the vehicle was in motion. I only use my hotspots in buildings and not much in a vehicle while in motion. I know this was a long review and not as detailed others have done, but it does show what I experienced in my area with my conditions, your experience maybe different. Overall the antenna does work and does improve my data speeds. Will I use it everywhere I go "NO, but if I'm in place with questionable WiFi or no WiFi and I can get at least a single bar of LTE signal this antenna is going to find the window with the best detectable LTE signal so I can connect it to my hotspot with TS-9 external antenna ports to give me an increase in my data speeds.

So here’s the thing... there are already 200+ reviews of this product... what can emphasize and differentiate my feedback? Well, I camp a lot in the rural mountains of Southwest Colorado. The cell reception is spotty at best. I bought this device as an accessory external antenna to my NETGEAR AT&T Unite Explore 815S - LTE Hotspot. After having tried a few competitors, I was skeptical. All three other options either dropped the ball altogether or performed quite inconsistently. I have a pretty good understanding of where the two towers are located geographically-relative to the campsite at which this was tested. I have attached a screenshot of the speed results of just a few tests. I can say, however, that this little antenna has solidly and consistently performed since the moment I attached it. The AT&T LTE cell tower is located approximately 6.5 miles away, through trees and over rough terrain. My iPhone 8 and iPad Pro both connect to LTE with one or two bars of service, but connection speed and availability fluctuate dramatically... making them virtually useless on their own. My solution was to buy a NETGEAR Hotspot, place it in a stationary spot with decent coverage and kind of hope for the best. Haha Well the WiFi broadcast strength was weak so I also bought a NETGEAR repeater to widen the WiFi signal to cover the entire campsite (both RVs and a pop-up.) I nay mention this because it was in the equation during testing. The latency is extended a little, but otherwise there is negligible impact on speed. Anyhow, this device is a *directional* antenna, meaning that it receives and transmits signal in only one direction. So once you know the general direction of the closest tower, you can point the flat side of the antenna toward it. It might take a little finagling to position it in the exact direction, but once you do... WOW!!!! The results were fantastic! The attached photos show the speed throughput of the Hotspot, both independently and with the NETGEAR MIMO Antenna attached. The results are pretty exceptional! Once positioned, this antenna exceeds expectation. The signal strength went from -101 dBm to -78 dBm. Mobile service is measured in a way that the less negative the reception is (ie. smaller negative number) means that you have better reception. So, semantics aside, -78 dBm is stronger reception that -101 dBm. However, the scale in not directly linear. For every 3 dBm increase (the smaller the negative number/closer to zero), the signal strength doubles. What all of this means is that my signal increase was roughly 7.5 times stronger, nearly tripling data speeds once aligned properly. At this point, I was able to have RELIABLE broadband internet, with solid WiFi reception, in the mountains at an elevation of 9,300 ft. Long story short... if you have at least some cell reception... but need a reliable internet connection, to make WiFi calls (understanding the limits of 911 over VOIP), or just want to be able to shop Amazon.com while in the sticks... this antenna will likely do the trick!!! Thanks for your time and apologies for not making this more succinct. Haha

I bought this unit to improve the range of a Verizon Wireless Jetpack 7730L 4G LTE. The unit did increase performance. I bought his unit and the Agital 4G LTE Antenna. This unit did better. Although not very a controlled test and I'm sure there are some flaws with my testing, I did see that this Netgear unit was giving me better signal strength. Of course the signal strength does not tell the whole story and can't be trusted. But, more importanly I was seeing better usage performance. So, quick speed tests showed this from one sample: 1. Verizon Jetpack with no antenna - 8.75 Mbps upload, 11.8 download 2. Verizon Jetpack with Agital Antenna - 10.4 Mbps upload, 11.8 download 3. Verizon Jetpack with Netgear 6000450 MIMO Antenna - 19.7Mbps upload, 29.2 download As you can see, the Netgear Antenna did a better. Also, with these 2 antennas, I noticed having these standing straight up is important, You can't lay these flat. Which is somewhat obvious. But, needs to be mentioned. This unit has the little suction cups and allows you to place this vertical on surfaces. I used my in the car side window and drove for hours. Never fell down or got loose. My only little grip is that suction cups when storing the unit come out their slots easy. Not a big deal as when mounted, they stay due to gravity. Just have to be careful to loose them when storing the unit. Almost lost them a few times. i would give this unit a 5 if it were not for that. But, maybe I'm being too picky and it deserves a 5. OverallI'm happy with the unit.

I own the Netgear Nighthawk M1 and the area where I live doesn't have yet fiber optic so I need to rely for the moment on internet on LTE. I noticed sometimes my signal gets dropped, is not stable and needed to do something to improve the situation so after long reviews I decided to purchase this antenna. So, I just tested the antenna inside my room and works flawlessly however when I move the antenna outside the window it doubles the signal strength. So, inside I have stable internet connection and it basically doubled my internet speed and now I am working to dig a hole in the wall to get the router outside, I hope rain and snow won't destroy this antenna :) Well done Netgear!

spedizione ed arrivo perfetti . Le dimensioni ? cm 16 x 13. lunghezza del cavo ? circa un metro. Funziona ? NI , nel senso che si deve specificare : 1) l'antenna del Netgear 810 funziona bene dunque se mettiamo questa antenna nella stessa a circa un metro di distanza dal router (quanto consente il cavo, otteniamo poco anzi direi che quel poco è una suggestione. 2) spessore del muro 60 cm il debole segnale non riesce ad entrare in casa, con una punta lunga di 8 mm ho forato il muro ed ho fatto passare il cavetto lasciando l'antenna fuori e collegato il router wifi Netgear 810 all'interno della stanza , allora ecco che il segnale arriva in modo, nel mio caso, soddisfacente e viene irradiato praticamente in tutta la casa. Ho trovato apprezzabile miglioramento posizionando l'antenna in verticale . Se avete la possibilità di mettere l'antenna fuori allora è un buon acquisto. Non avendone necessità non mi sono posto il problema di cosa accade usando un cavo di prolunga

Mejora considerablemente la recepción y calidad de la señal. En mi caso particular, ahora me llegan aprox. 100 Mbps en descarga y 35 Mbps en carga. Muy recomendada junto con el módem de la misma marca.

Away from cities in places of poor 4G coverage, this antenna gives my Netgear AirCard 810S another bar and sometimes two.

Really pleased to say that this seem to work. Using it with a Huawei E5786 4G/LTE hotspot on my daily train commute (UK), with a Three sim. Previously, there were plenty of blackspots where the connection was either super slow or lost altogether. The Netgear antenna has made a noticeable improvement (both to speed and reception). I can't really quantify the improvement, but it's there - and since I'm stuck with my commute, I'll take any improvement I can get. I'll update this review if anything changes. Also, just to say that the antenna arrived in Netgear retail packaging, sowns no sign of having been previously used, is well made, and has useful accessories (the clips for hanging off a laptop). So far, so good