YAY! The rain stopped!
BOO! The rain stopped because heavy winds chased away the clouds!
What a strange weather week…
At least there’s sun now and I’m actually getting some amps in!
And in other happy news, my internet connection has been GREAT all morning. I only have one bar, but I haven’t had any drops at all and I was even able to stream Netflix without it occasionally pausing for ages to load the next bit. Maybe the high gain antenna isn’t a total dud. Then again, I got good service like this occasionally with the stubby antenna, so it’ll take weeks of good service like this for me to believe it’s the norm rather than the exception.
Speaking of antennas, just before bed last night I heard the pot on which the antenna is resting slide across the roof. I ignored it until morning. I woke up around 7:00 to torrential downpour and decided to go see if the antenna was okay then go back to bed to warm myself up.
I went outside, and found the antenna on the ground. The magnet on that thing is really strong, so I that was rather surprising. I climbed up to the roof, holding on tightly since the ladder was slick, and found the pot right at the edge of the roof and turned over. I got the antenna resituated and wedged the pot into the space at the top of the ladder where it can only slide in one direction.
I was sopping wet by this point, even though I’d only been out for a few minutes, so I was glad to get back into my flannel jammies and under the covers! Some mornings just aren’t meant for getting out of bed…
Drier air and higher internet speed are not surprising. At cellular frequencies even higher humidity, let alone rain, can really knock down signal levels. As well, with all that moisture being sucked into the leaves of your gorgeous tree canopy, its likely three of your local four cell towers were useless – one in the direction of the back of your lot (least treed) was likely doing the job.
I second Crofts comments. In fact, at these frequencies, even a trial move of inches (sampled over a few minutes), may make a BIG difference.
If you can find a manual for it online, most cell phones have a “hidden” screen accessible by key combinations, that give numerical signal values in real time. Couple your phone to the booster and get a really responsive signal strength meter, not at all like “bars”.
Glad things seem to be improving!
My phone doesn’t work out here. đ It barely works up the hill. I can get enough of a signal to check messages, but that’s it.
As for the Mifi 2, I went through all the screens and found RSSI under diagnostics. I’m pretty sure that’s the number I need; right? It says -106. I will need to compare that to what I get up the hill. I did some quick research and this number seems pretty bad and, yet, my connection is fine this morning.
Thank you for telling me to look for that hidden screen. Well, it wasn’t so much hidden as I didn’t know what I was looking for.