Add-On MIMO Antenna

***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 to go with my Netgear Nighthawk Pro MR 5100 5G Hotspot to improve cell reception. It is a genuine Netgear accessory listed as an option in the manual for the Nighthawk, so I know it is compatible and meant for this purpose. AT&T has poor signal strength in my area and I needed it to be more reliable if I was going to have a hotspot. This took the 4G LTE signal from 2 bars, 3 bars at best to a constant unwavering 5 bars. But, it does nothing for the 5G signal, which in my area starts out at 1-2 bars and sometimes does not connect at all. Going outside adds little to no difference for 5G. I haven't used it on the go like in a car yet. It has little suction cups included that can be attached and used on a window, and it also includes rubber "clips" that allow it to hang off a laptop screen. The suction cups work great but the clips don't attach very solidly to the antenna unit, so it can slip off them. Which happened to me, resulting in the Hotspot getting dragged to the floor. Also, the barrels that connect to the antenna posts on your device are just barrels, no "plug end" so to speak. So depending on your device this might make for a looser fit. It snaps into place on my Hotspot but is wiggly. If it did even a marginal improvement with 5G it would be 5 stars.

With only 1 to 2 bar signal strength in my location, I thought I'd try this out. Prior to using this antenna, my internet speed ranged around 2-4 mbps download, .7-2 upload. I have not measured this connection in db. I placed it in various locations throughout the house. My connection's bandwidth had indeed improved by a few mbps. I notice the signal strength still shows it is weak. It improved to 2-3 bars at best instead of 1-2. After a dozen speed tests, I concluded the improvement is as good as it's going to get in my particular location. I'd like to point out throughout the testing I noticed when tested later in the same spot, I'd get lower or sometimes higher results. Regardless of where it's placed, the bandwidth speed won't remain consistent. My bandwidth tested as high as 8 mbps and as low as 4 mbps. Which has doubled when at its peak speed. I shaved a few stars off because I was hoping to see a dramatic improvement to at least 15 mbps. It has definitely improved my bandwidth, but I'm not sure it's worth the $27 I paid for. I won't run the product down because I live in a deep valley and suspect location may be more of a factor. All other cellular carriers have had weak signal strength at this location; Verizon, US Cellular, and unfortunately for me, AT&T is no exception. If your signal is so poor it's practically unusable, I think this product will definitely help. Despite the weak signal, my device worked fine, but I don't feel I've gained enough to be noticeable for standard use. If you're internet is functional without this antenna, don't expect miraculous results with this purchase. That's all I'm saying.

Although it's not widely known yet, the new Netgear Nighthawk LTE Hotspot has 2 ports in the rear, that open up to accept this antenna. The dual connection ports of this antenna connect perfectly into the hotspot, greatly enhancing signal strength. I use this hotspot as my home internet source. Like many routers and hotspots, the Nighthawk has an Admin page you can access with any internet browser. On that page, there is a section you can navigate to which shows your signal strength in dB. The dB strength for cellular signal is measured in minus, for example a perfect cell signal is around -50 dB, while a barely usable cellular signal is around -120 dB. The Netgear's Admin page showed I was getting a signal of around -115 dB, BEFORE I connected this antenna. After connecting the Netgear MIMO Antenna, the signal strengthened from -115 to -99 dB! This is significant since every 3 dB of signal gained, equals a double in signal strength! Put into simpler, more useful terms... before this antenna, running an internet speed test showed my download speed was around 6-8 mbps.... after connecting this antenna, I am now getting regular tests above 30 mbps, and tonight I ran a test of over 56 mbps (see attached picture)!! Using this antenna to get better cell signal to the hotspot makes that big of a difference. The antenna comes with very little in the way of instructions or descriptions, so what I'm about to say is important to your success with it. This is a DIRECTIONAL, flat panel antenna. What that means for you is that it is only designed to receive a signal on ONE side of the device... you have to point that side toward the outside of your house. Unfortunately, there is no description whatsoever on the antenna as to which is the correct side to point outwards. If you look at the antenna, the BACK side of the antenna has a "hump" built into it. The FRONT side of the antenna is a completely flat surface. That FLAT side is the one you want pointing out of your window to receive the best signal. The unit does come with plastic "suckers" that will attach to the antenna, and they will only mount on the antenna in one direction..... that is the perfect way for you to know which way to mount the antenna, because when the antenna is mounted to glass with the suckers... that is the correct orientation with the front of the panel facing outside the window. If you don't know the direction of your nearest cell tower... walk around your home or business with your cellphone, and place it in different windows to see where you have the most bars. Whatever window gives you the most signal, is probably the best one to stick the antenna onto. You can just set the Nighthawk on the window sill (as shown in my attached picture). In short, this antenna works great, and the combination of this antenna and the Netgear Nighthawk LTE modem was the answer I desperately needed for high-speed internet at my location. Couple these items with AT&T's unlimited cellular data service and you have a great high speed internet solution. I couldn't get cable internet service at my home because they said it "wasn't offered in my area" even though a home 1/4 mile from here has it.... but with this setup I went from having a service that could barely be described as "broadband", to something here that is running twice as fast as cable internet in my area. Highly recommended. Should be offered as an 'upsell' in the AT&T stores for folks like me who have weak cell signal in their homes.

I was not expecting miracles, but never expected this antenna to make things measurably worse! It attenuates (reduces) signal, which is only helpful when you are near huge metal buildings that cause signal reflection or leaking cable modem wires causing interference. Configuration: Netgear Nighthawk Atlas M1100 AT&T model. 1.3 miles from a 2 carrier aggregation tower (band 12 + 2), and 1.5 miles from a 3 carrier aggregation tower (band 12 + 2 + 4). I've also tested with 4 carrier aggregation near the hospital, (band 12 + 2 + 4 + 30). Yes, it's within the beamwidth and H/V tilt beam spread of the LTE tower antennas. AT&T outsources their quality testing and antenna alignments, which is why there is such a poor signal so close to the tower. With this antenna carrier aggregation attenuation on high bands 2, 4, 30 dropped from -112db to -125db. CA became unusable in all my tests. I won't bore you with the 20 odd tests I ran, but they all came out about the same results. The antenna made reception quality and speeds worse in all tests. At best it was equal to the internal antennas, at worse the signal was completely lost !! Yes, I've tried all sorts of orientations, and reversing connections, battery powered and AC adapter on the router. here is a typical result: without antenna, nighthawk results 1-2 bars of LTE = 19mb down/2 mb up 31ms latency(RSRP = -103dBm, RSRQ = -14dBm, Quality 51dBm) with antenna, results 14mb down/1mb up 42ms latency (RSRP = -112dBm, RSRQ = -18dBm, Quality = 44 dBm) I wanted to add that LTE with Carrier Aggregation about 0.5 miles closer to the tower gets 127mb down/56mb up. I was expecting this antenna to get me at least half way from 19mb to 127mb, not drop it to 14.

Pros: Increase data throughout on LTE bands in fringe areas Tight TS-9 connectors that hold fast to Netgear LB1120 Suction cups and mounting system works well on glass window Easy installation and clear improvement to LTE data speeds MIMO feature seems to work well (i.e. improves throughput of data) Cons: Blocks light coming through window (when it is attached to the window) Short connection cable length at three feet Misc: There is not sufficient room to explain this here, but with LTE technology, "signal strength" is a very misleading measurement of system performance. With every other type of communication system (either analog or digital), "signal strength" is the most relavant factor for "good signal", but this is NOT the case with LTE (and similar code-division spread-spectrum systems). In order to correctly assess whether or not this antenna improves performance, you must measure the actual data throughput from a speed check website, rather than relying on "signal strength" measurements. For example, my LTE modem data throughput before the antenna was 4MB down/0.2MB up, but after was 8MB down/1.5MB up. However, the difference in "signal power" was only 2db, and in both cases the LTE modem showed only one bar (out of 5) for both configurations. This antenna does work well for fringe area signals for LTE connections.

Here's a few facts for those wondering but not finding many useful facts: -Connection Type: Two TS9 -Wire Length: 19.7 Inches -Part Number: 6000450 -Support bands/Frequency's: GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/HSPA+DC/CDMA/EV-DO/WIMAX/LTE/ 700-960, 1710-1990, 2110-2170, 2500-2700 MHZ. (For those non-techys, That's basically all USA frequency's) -Comes with suction cup mounts and laptop clip mounts -Antenna was not branded "NETGEAR" as indicated in stock photo but all instructions on the piece of cardboard that came with it were branded as official "NETGEAR". My Thoughts: This antenna has suited the purpose I was looking for; I was looking for a basic antenna that would work efficiently without degrading my signal so I could effectively move my modem from the window and onto the shelf next to it to keep it out of the sun while still maintaining best signal strength. I have an Netgear 314U (AT&T BEAM) with duo TS9 external antenna inputs/outputs. I was able to move the modem so it would stay much cooler rather then take direct sunlight and still have my Cradlepoint Router report that the signal strength was at -73DBM, 4 BARS LTE. The antenna did however increase the signal strength by about -10DBM (3 BARS to 4 BARS) which wasn't what I expected but did help. It managed to boost my average DL/UL speed to 14MBPS/6MBPS. For those who aren't sure how to use one of these, first mount the antenna where you would like it and turn off the modem or unplug it so it no longer has power. After it no longer is receiving power, plug the TS9 antenna connectors into the modem or device, Power it back on, It should now notice the antenna and take preference to it over its own internal antenna. This antenna has met my expectations and if I ever need anther one again I would recommend this.

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!

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.

Ho acquistato questa antenna perche spesso sono in giro fuori ufficio. Sono stato in vacanza in una località dove nessun cellulare prendeva rete e neanche il mio modem portatile. Però quando collegavo l'antenna al mio modem riuscivo a prendere due tacche di segnale. Credo che sicuramente ci saranno dei posti dove l'antenna non riesca a prendere segnale o che potrebbe non cambiare molto, però nel mio caso ha funzionato molto bene e sicuramente senza l'antenna sarei rimasto senza connessione. Sono soddisfatto dell'acquisto.

Contrairement à beaucoup d'avis négatifs, dans mon cas cette antenne augmente très sensiblement le niveau de réception 4G dès sa connexion (sur un routeur Netgear Aircard 810). Elle est bien sûr inutile si on a déjà une bonne réception (ou pas de réception du tout...). Il ne faut pas hésiter à chercher la bonne position, la propagation des ondes étant parfois capricieuse. La taille de l'antenne et le système de support (écran de portable ou ventouses à vitre) sont très pratiques. Le fil est cependant un peu court. (Et cela reste un peu cher tout de même pour ce que ça coûte à la fabrication).

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