I got my freedata.io r850 this weekend. I don't really live in a rural area but I'm just outside of sprints 4g range (despite being in the coverage map for their best 4g. Probably just a money making scheme) So it didn't work without some tweaks. Here are some things I've found out so far about how to make this thing work or improve your signal with it.
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Use an app like Open Signal to find out which direction the towers are located and how far you are. If you're only a few miles away and your box doesn't work, don't worry yet.
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Access the r850 secret menu using http://myhotspot/hidden. Do not click anything except the section that says DATA. Observe the bands. OBSERVE DAMMIT. If you're a good distance from your tower you'll probably have the most luck with band 26. It is the 850Mhz band which is much lower than the 25 and 41 bands. Lower frequencies as a rule travel father. So select the band that works for you and disable the others (have not tested yet but I believe this brings your bandwidth down which will give you better gain and isolation). Then see the little boxes below? Put your band in the top one and put blanks in all the others UNLESS you get roaming data then just don't mess with the bottom part.
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If your signal is still weak (probably) construct an antenna following these guidelines. It can be made of cardboard and tinfoil, part of an old screen door, or tin pie plate. As long as the material is metal and will reflect RF (while you're at it make a sweet hat to ward off the alien gamma waves mannnnn) The thing that matters is the curve and height of the antenna. Bigger is usually better.
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Now point your antenna with box in the middle (I set the box on a cardboard box to about the height of my antennas halfway point) to the Sprint tower (open signal app remember). This takes trial and error. Open the About tab on the normal http://myhotspot page and go to Debug in the bottom and click it. It should say your band in the bottom left and something like 5Mhz as the bandwidth. Now look for the thing that says RSSI. Observe that as you gently move your antenna. Just get that number as high as you can get it. Towards -50 is good. Towards -100 is bad.
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Profit.
If you have questions hit me up. Yes there are 'diagnostic' ports under the battery cover that eventually I will start testing to see if we can get a legit external antenna hooked up. Until then this worked well for me.
June 11, 2017 at 10:41AM
