Imp C001 antenna and network

General
1

After a couple month of using C001 I have 2 questions:

  1. I use antenna coming with C001 breakout board but time after time connection is lost due to weak signal. How I can replace this antenna to some outdoor antenna?
  2. Network always is 3G. Is it defined as a only one or it is possible to switch to existing 4G or LTE?
    Thanks in advance!
2

You can use another antenna with a u.FL to SMA cable. You need to stay within certain parameters though, I’ll dig those out for you.

It’s possible you have got stuck on a particular network that only has 3G available; if you PM me your device ID I can check this (and tell me where you are in the world!). It will prefer LTE if available.

3

It’s actually quite possible that in your area, LMT is only available on band 7; they support LTE on bands 3 & 7, but the impC001-EUR only supports 1,3,8,20 and 28 (there are so many different LTE bands).

Tele2 are on 3, 7 and 20 though, and the imp should use them if available there.

The peak antenna gain used in the module’s CE testing was 2.15dBi - however, as noted above, it may not be an antenna issue here, more an available bands issue.

4

Thanks!
Does it mean that by changing location also are possible change from 3G to LTE?

5

Yes, though that’s largely invisible to your application; LTE cat 1 isn’t necessarily any faster than 3G HSPA (it can be slower) - but it is lower latency.