Some of our readers may be interested to learn that Poynting has recently begun to make their latest external antenna – the XPOL-24 – available to retail, which is specifically designed to get the most out of 4G and 5G based mobile broadband routers that can support a 4×4 MIMO configuration.
We don’t often talk about external antennas for mobile broadband networks, but we are conscious that a growing section of our readership are now using mobile broadband routers and have written about that quite extensively in the past – ‘How to Choose an External 4G or 5G Mobile Broadband Antenna‘. Yet at the time we wrote that article there weren’t many good antenna options for 5G routers, but times have changed.
The new XPOL-24 (XPOL is just short for ‘Cross Polarised‘) is worth noting as it’s quite a big expansion on Poynting’s existing XPOL-2-5G antenna range, which will form part of the company’s new Lion Series of antennas. The Uni-directional antenna can harness 5G in lower bands from 617 to 960MHz (Band 71) and the upper 3400 to 4200MHz bands.
“The antenna can achieve a peak gain of 11dBi across the wide band of operation, due to the implementation of advanced metamaterial technology, keeping a strong focus on the performance of the low and mid bands, especially important on rural and remote areas. The antenna elements are cross polarised with vertical, horizontal and ±45° polarisations with spatial diversity for improved diversity,” said Poynting.
We should point out that the reference to an 11dBi peak signal gain is specific to the 3400-4200MHz bands, while the rest can expect up to 8.5dBi. But that’s still better than a lot of other antennas in this sort of class.
However, just as 5G routers that support 4×4 MIMO can be very expensive, then so too is the same true for the new antenna. We’ve seen prices hovering between around £365 to £392, thus you really have to be very sure of your convictions (i.e. that it will help) before splashing out that much cash. As we explained in our earlier guide, figuring out the answer to that is rarely ever an easy task.
You could of course sacrifice a few of the improvements and still get a fairly capable 5G antenna for about half the price, much like the XPOL-2-5G mentioned earlier.
Potentially a stupid question so please excuse me! Is 4×4 usable in the UK today? Does it depend on 5G SA?
Yes it is usable. But not all masts will support 4×4 MIMO. But yes it can be used if your mast/carrier supports it too. And yeah there’s not really a list of who does and does not. You can check with a rooted android phone and network signal guru if you want to be certain
Can anybody with antenna knowledge explain why these devices cost what they do?
Largest cost is probably R&D recovery, then profit, then the remainder. Any ‘new’ device tends to be overpriced, volumes will bring reduction (if it ever gets there).
I have one of those antenna’s,it’s the 4×4 model however as it’s the previous model it doesn’t come with the gain of 11 dB.
I opened my Huawei pro 2 router and hooked it up to it and glued the antenna on the outside of my kitchen window with those window suckers they come with and so far the experience has been great.
I am however only 100m away from the three UK mast so I do get excellent 5g and 4g signal anyways and without the need for the 11db gain.
I can imagine that this antenna under professional installation will be perhaps a lifesaver and great for some people in certain conditions.
I had to have it cause I am stuck living behind some mega large trees that are obstructing my signal quality.
Poyntin antennas performance wise are good,but the quality needs to be improved.I found that the white coaxial cable perished,and let water in.When looked inside the antenna enclosure at the soldering of the cable inside X Pol 2 it was dreadful.The cable to the PCB was melted.Poynting need to use some decent coaxial cable.Not a LMR195 clone.
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