I have a MF286D router with an option for external antennas to be used for the LTE / 4G connection. Signal in my house is pretty poor but about 20 feet away from the router there is a spot on the outside of the house where speeds jump from 20mbps to around 100mbps - I tested this by holding the device and running a speed test.
I'd much rather use 2 external antennas and route two cables to the router rather than wire up a power socket outside and rig a box on the wall for the router to sit in.
Did anyone know how how to switch to using the external antenna ports rather than in internal antennas? I can't see any options in LuCI for it.
My nearest mast only uses band 20, but occasionally I can pick up a more distant mast using bands 1, 3, 7, 20, 28 - the router can't pick this up anywhere indoors although my B535 router can if I use a small external antenna. When the router was on stock firmware there was a option in the settings to use external antenna ports and not internal antennas.
If there is no control manually or via software, I might try just plugging one in to see if it's automatically controlled and note if the signal changes. If it does I suspect I'll just rig up an outdoor socket and wooden case, then place the router outside in the case.
I think the antenna sockets are the type that pass through to an internal antenna and disconnect it when a plug is plugged in. Similar to how transistor radios disconnect the internal speaker when a headphone is plugged in.
Telling the modem in software that there are external antennas could somehow optimize its use of the RF ports for different bands, since the modem has five RF ports but only two can have external antennas.
Extending the Ethernet cable is much better than using a long coaxial cable. At microwave frequencies the loss in coaxial cable is severe.
You can use a PoE splitter to deliver power to the router outside through the Ethernet wiring.
That would make life a lot simpler than routing power cables outside too. I hadn't even considered this, power in the house with a PoE supply and just a long run of ethernet cable to where the signal is and a splitter to separate the power again.
Before taking any further steps, I would make sure that all the LTE bands are enabled on the modem and temporary put the router outside.
Then check what exactly the modem can see there by running multiple times
