Understanding & Optimizing Cellular Data Performance – Getting Better Speeds & Reliability

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Optimizing Cellular Data Performance

RVers and cruisers who need to keep connected wish for just a bit more range, better speeds, and increased reliability with their cellular data. Learning some tricks for optimizing cellular data performance can go a long way to improving your online experience while being mobile. 

While it seems it should be as simple as getting as many bars as possible, it's usually not that easy.

One bar is bad, five bars are good - right?

Not when it comes to cellular data performance - it is not at all unusual for a one-bar signal in one location to outperform five in another.

Many variables can impact the cellular data performance you receive, and understanding them can help you better understand optimizing tweaks you can make to your setup for the best data speeds and consistency. 

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Optimizing Cellular Data Performance Video Overview

Our quick video goes over the things that can impact cellular data speeds, reliability, and performance and how you can go about optimizing your cellular data performance:

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Things That Impact Cellular Data Performance

Whether you are using smartphones, tablets, mobile hotspot devices, or cellular-embedded routers - your cellular data performance is influenced by many factors. At each location you arrive at, you will have different challenges in optimizing your performance. 

Some things may be out of your control, but it helps to understand everything that may impact your signal in any given situation.

Signal Quality

Cellular data is carried over long-range wireless signals, which can be impacted by many things between you and the tower. 

While the number of bars your device displays is not a direct indicator of the speeds you'll receive (we'll get into that a bit below), they are a decent indicator of the overall strength of your signal. 

If you have a strong signal, you stand better odds of not only having a faster connection but a more stable & reliable connection with fewer dropouts and variations.

Thankfully, there are things you can do with antennas or boosters for optimizing cellular data by getting a better signal. 

These factors most directly impact the quality of your signal:

Distance

Radio waves can only travel so far, and they get weaker the further they go. Cellular signals tend to travel from 1 to 20 miles in range, depending on the transmitter's frequency and power on both the tower and your cellular device.

Each cellular carrier utilizes different frequency bands to make up its network, from low-band all the way up to super-high millimeter wave frequencies.

Lower-frequency bands generally have greater range but slower speeds, while higher-frequency bands have shorter range but higher speeds. 

And in general - the further a wireless signal travels, the slower it gets in terms of real-world performance. Keep in mind that a cellular connection works both ways - your device has to be able to hear the tower, and the tower has to be able to hear your device.

The further you are from the tower, the weaker your signal gets - and thus, your performance declines. Optimizing your cellular data performance can be accomplished by bridging the distance with stronger antennas and boosters.

Longer-range frequency bands might also serve more customers over a wider area, leading to more network congestion. Thus slower speeds and reliability for everyone. 

Every cell tower also has a software-defined maximum range, and if you are beyond it, you will not be able to connect, no matter how much boosting capability or a clear line of sight you have.

Line of Sight 

Nothing improves a wireless signal more than having nothing but air between the tower and the antenna you are using for your cellular device.

If you can visually see the cell tower, there is a good chance your cellular device can too.

An RVer or boater might put an antenna at the top of a tall mast with only clear air around it, which helps get over buildings and local area terrain. But go too high, and you start to contend with signal loss over the cabling.

It's a balance when optimizing for cellular data.

Obstructions

The fewer obstructions between you and the tower, the better to get that clear line of sight. 

Buildings, hills, trees, heavy rain, other RVs/boats, boulders, roof clutter, canyons, and local terrain can impact the signal you receive.

Metal blocks signal too, so your own RV or boat's construction can work against you. RVs made of metal like Airstreams, buses and vans, or steel trawlers, all have an extra challenge. Some window tinting, blinds, or insulation contains metal that can block signals. Antennas placed close by AC units or solar panel frames with lots of metal are also disadvantaged. 

This is what makes it important to put antennas where they won't have these hindrances. At the very least, placing your devices or antennas near a window (without metal content) can help a bunch, or better - above the clutter of local area obstructions. 

For more on optimizing cellular data when metal structures are an issue, check out our guide:

Metal RV, Van, and Boat Considerations

Interference

Wireless signals can also cause congestion and interference in the airwaves - impacting other signals.

If you've ever tuned to an FM radio station and heard two stations simultaneously, that is an analogous example. With cellular signals, the noisier it is, the harder it is for your device's voice to be heard. 

Wireless signal noise can originate from other cellular devices, or it could be background noise from other sources.

The Modem Inside

Cellular technology advances rapidly as carriers push to compete against each other and meet customer demand.

This means they constantly deploy more advanced technology with more capable cellular towers, using different frequency bands that they've purchased spectrum on, and adding support for more advanced cellular features that allow them to deliver more capacity.

The modem inside your cellular device is critical in optimizing your cellular data performance that your carrier offers. Think of this like the engine of your RV or boat - the number of cylinders and size of the injectors directly impact the horsepower. 

Having a more modern modem can equate to faster speeds and more coverage. Having an older modem puts you in the slow lane and may actually have you missing out on parts of a carrier's coverage map. 

It's worthwhile to evaluate your cellular gear every year or two to see if it's time to update your equipment. It can make a huge improvement. 

Understanding Cellular Modem Specifications

Data Plans

Data plans come in various varieties, and even an 'unlimited' plan usually has limits.

You'll find limitations on mobile hotspot use at high speed, video resolution throttling, and network management terms all built into your data plans. Be sure to read the terms and understand how these might impact your usage. 

Optimizing a better cellular signal will not do anything if these carrier policies are why your data connection is slow.

Once you hit a high-speed cap, you are hard throttled down for the rest of your billing cycle - although some plans allow you to purchase extra data. And if you've reached your deprioritization threshold, if you're in a congested area, you may experience slower speeds. 

Select your data plans carefully to make sure they will meet your needs.

Selecting Cellular Data Plans

Network Congestion

If more people are using cellular devices in a particular area than the local tower can handle - then things slow down for everyone. 

This is called network congestion - and it's like rush hour traffic on roadways.

Wireless signals can only carry so much data, and cell towers can only serve so many devices simultaneously. In any given area, the carriers may only have so much internet capacity due to the available throughput and the wireless spectrum holdings they own in that area. 

This is why all the carriers have network management policies, so the carriers can juggle the demands of their customers and prioritize data use on their network. If your plan is subject to network management deprioritization, then during these times, you are placed at a lower or even the lowest priority. 

But even without deprioritization, congestion slows down everything for everyone, just like rush hour traffic on the roads does.

Your options for optimizing during cellular data network congestion are limited. Plan your high-traffic needs during non-peak times, and consider the potential of network congestion when you travel to popular areas of the country that experience temporary, seasonal spikes in population. 

Local Area Network

Sometimes, it's not the cellular performance itself that is slowing you down, but things on your own local area network. Wi-Fi, in particular, can be finicky and impacted by wireless interference. Congestion due to other Wi-Fi signals in an area, such as a crowded RV park - or even microwave ovens, can impact the performance between your router/hotspot and your devices. 

Optimizing your local area network for less congested Wi-Fi channels or even switching to a hardwired Ethernet connection can help you realize the full potential of your cellular data connection. 

Wi-Fi Fundamentals

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Cellular Booster vs Antennas?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of optimizing your signal, we're often asked one basic question - are boosters or antennas better for enhancing your cellular data performance?

In our extensive field testing over the years, external antennas - especially MIMO antennas - outperform cellular boosters about 90% of the time

But it really comes down to the gear you're using for your cellular data access, as not all devices have antenna ports to utilize external antennas. Mobile hotspots and cellular-embedded routers tend to have the option to use external antennas, whereas smartphones and tablets don't.

Boosters can also have a greater impact by helping with distance and upload speeds (important for video broadcasting and uploading large files).

We have separate guides going over the advantages of each approach, but here is a quick decision tree that might help you narrow in on what is the right choice for you:

 

Also, here's a quick video overview of MIMO Antennas vs. Boosters:

Learn More about Boosters & Antennas:

Mobile Cellular Boosters Cellular Antennas

Regardless of what signal-enhancing tools you're using (assuming you're using any), there is still a lot to understand about optimizing your signal to get the best cellular data performance you can.

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Evaluating Cellular Data Performance

While it might be tempting to rely on the bars your device displays for signal strength to know how your cellular data optimizing efforts are progressing, bars are relatively meaningless. 

What really matters is that you have enough speed and reliability to accomplish what you need to do online.

Bars vs Speed

Bars on your device don't show your actual cellular data performance. They're a nice visual indicator of relative signal strength, but each device manufacturer uses their own formulas to determine what kind of signal equates to 1 bar versus 4 bars.

Signal strength, however, is just one factor in determining cellular performance, which means that bars on your device usually have little correlation to how fast your connection will be.

Data speed, reliability, and consistency are what really matter when considering a mobile internet connection.

So, if bars aren't a reliable indicator of data performance, what is?

The best indicator of data performance is to measure your actual data performance.

And the best quantitative measurement of this is your actual download and upload speeds.

Then, you can do additional measurements with antennas or boosters to see if your cellular data optimizing efforts are having an impact. 

To learn more about testing your data speeds and also understand other aspects like raw signal strength, signal-noise ratio, speed benchmarks for online activities and latency - head on over to our companion guide:

Testing Your Mobile Internet Speeds Guide

Reliability Over Speed

While there's a lot of focus on super-fast speeds when discussing data performance, reliability and consistency are just as important. At some point, more speed really doesn't buy you anything. 

But an inconsistent connection that drops out frequently or is fast but then slows to a crawl periodically can wreck your online experience. It can disrupt video calls and interrupt file transfers. It causes a video on Netflix to buffer or your timeline on Facebook to stutter. 

So a big part of optimizing cellular data performance shouldn't be focused on speeds alone but rather focusing on more reliable uptime to avoid those disruptions. And there are multiple approaches to this, from optimizing your signal strength to building in redundancy of multiple connections that can be ready to take over when another goes down. 

Testing for reliability is much more difficult than speeds, as it's generally something you'd only notice over time. Such as when your connection drops out right in the middle of a critical video call or just before the cliffhanger moment in a movie. 

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Member Exclusive Content Below

Frequency Bands Explained

Each carrier's cellular network uses various and often carrier-specific wireless frequency bands. If you want access to a carrier’s entire network, it helps to understand what frequency bands the carrier supports to select the right signal-enhancing gear.

Hidden Multipliers: MIMO & Carrier Aggregation

Understanding these core cellular technologies will help you select gear to optimize cellular data performance.

Strategies For Signal & Performance Enhancing

Building on the previous sections, this section covers specific strategies for improving cellular data performance - ranging from the extremely simple to the most complex. It also covers some specific advice for optimizing upload speeds - which is important for those dealing with large file uploads and live video broadcasting or conferencing.

Booster & Antenna Considerations

This section continues the theme but goes deeper into how cellular boosters and antennas can help or hurt cellular data performance. For example, the costs and benefits of using 2x2 MIMO in a 4x4 MIMO world, tips for utilizing directional antennas, and finding cell towers.

Bonding, Load Balancing & Auto Failover

Some routers on the market give you even further tools to help you optimize your data performance. This section covers concepts like band locking, bonding, and load balancing.

Band Locking & Selection

Some devices allow you to turn specific cellular bands on and off. This section covers this feature and provides tips on how to use it to improve your connection and performance.

Network Modes - LTE & 5G

LTE and 5G currently coexist, but they are not equal in terms of capacity and performance at every location. This section has tips and tricks for choosing when it might be the right choice to force your device to use one or the other.

Dealing With Network Congestion

When the cellular towers at your current location are experiencing high traffic, your data performance can suffer. This section covers what you can (and can't) do to get around this.

Troubleshooting Guidelines

Getting poor cellular data performance? This section walks you through things to look at it in diagnosing where the issues might be - and how to counteract them if you can.

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Conclusion: Analyze Before You Optimize

There are a few different options for optimizing cellular data performance, but before you know how to proceed, you need to be aware of things that could affect your current performance.

Line of sight to towers, distance, technology supported by your equipment, network congestion, and data plan restrictions are just a few of the things that could have an effect.

There are easy solutions, like moving your equipment or using an indoor antenna, or more advanced solutions, like a directly wired antenna, cellular booster, bonding, or band locking.

And sometimes.. there's just no solution to getting better speeds at your current location, and you either need to move or find something else to do.