NR5101 - how to exclude internal antenna

Daniele_Filippi

Good morning to everybody.
After several tests with my new NR5101 (firmware version V1.00(ABVC.3)C0, module software version RG502QEAAAR11A03M4G) I noticed that internal/external antenna switch seems not working correctly. If I switch to "EXT" position, the router cannot register to the BTS where the external antenna is pointing to. If I switch back to "INT" position, the router registers to another BTS reachable only by internal antenna. Is there a way (maybe via command line) to completely exclude internal antenna and use ONLY the external one?

Kind regards

pacomano

Hi Daniele and everybody.

It seems that you and I (and probably other silent ones) have a problem with INT/EXT switch of this router. Maybe it's not exactly the same issue, but I would like to explore a software solution before trying to send back the router to the dealer and to get a refund if it's not too late.

Did you find anything that can be done with the router's CLI? Did you have any lead or solution from Zyxel support?

In my case, Zyxel support has been quite reactive last Monday when I contacted them, but so far they didn't provide me the "INT/EXT switch" solution, and they ask me questions I've already given the answers in my very first post on this forum.

Best regards

Daniele_Filippi

Hi, unfortunately there's no documentation regarding the CLI.
I haven't yet contacted Zyxel support because I'm thinking to send back the router and buying NR7101; in my scenario it seems to be the best solution.

Good luck ;-)

pacomano

Zyxel support explained me today that the external antennas are only used for high frequency ranges (starting from 3500 MHz and up). Internal antennas are used automatically for lower frequency ranges when external antennas are connected and the switch is on EXT position. When the switch is on INT position internal antennas are used for all frequency ranges.

I asked them if the NR7101 antennas are the same ones they put in the NR5101 (waiting for their answer). In my case I tried to put the NR5101 on the wall outside (not behind the glass) and there is no improvement, so if the antennas are the same, I won't ask to exchange the NR5101 for the NR7101.

pacomano

I got the answer this morning about the NR7101 antennas vs NR5101 internal ones. They are definitively different. 
"The NR7101 and the NR5101's antenna sets are different because they have different housing so the room to accommodate the antenna is different; furthermore, their product position is different - with the NR7101 as a higher gain products.
Even though they have different antenna sets, their antenna sets have at least 1 similar characteristics: not a single antenna can cover the full frequency this model supports. Therefore, there are multiple antennas for different frequencies.
In short, the NR7101 and the NR5101 have different sets of internal antennas but both of their antenna sets define each antenna's job by the frequency range."

Lars_M

Have anybody managed to figure out if the "6 internal antennas" covers all 5G frequency bands supported by the router? I did the mistake of getting the NR5101 and a 5G external antenna, only to find that the problem described above was in place- external antenna connectors in the router did only work for high (> 3000 Mhz).  My operator currently use the 700 Mhz band. This was something I missed in buying the indoor router. The question is now if by swapping to NR7101i can get support for picking up the 700 Mhz (N28) in a remote location in a good way using the directional capability in the NR7101

SELBERG

I use N28 NSA and i have pretty good speed...