Forum Discussion

JiminDenver's avatar
JiminDenver
Explorer II
Apr 26, 2016

Wilson Sleek came in today.

I was able to test the refurbished, discontinued Wilson sleek #460107 ($109 on ebay) during the time that presents me with the most challenges, rush hour. The towers near us service a neighborhood of 30,000 or so, three major expressways and a few shopping centers. The congestion can be so bad that my T-mobile device will show a signal but there will be no connection. We are also sheltered from the towers by other houses, warehouses and high power lines.

With T-Mobile the Sleek brought the signal strength up to full and dropped the dBm by 10, not a big realistic improvement speed wise but it did keep it on line and fast enough for forums and such.

The Sleek also gave my 3G Verizon hotspot a full signal and dropped its dBm a good 20. Here the speed test doubled but double of not much is still not much. .3 Mbps to .6 Mbps.

Sprint uses band 41 which isn't amplified by the Sleek nor can it use the tri band tech. It would have been great if I could have locked it into band 26 that is amplified with a full signal but as soon as I connected that tower booted me and I was back on 41 with a weak signal. In fact the Sprint devices seemed to be hampered by the sleek when on band 41. I'll try getting on 26 later when it wont boot me.

I did test my Cricket phone in the Sleek and it did double the signal and drop the dBm on band 4 too. No speed test because of all our devices, Cricket suffers the least from congestion and almost always hits its throttled speed of 8 Mbps.

The one downside to the Sleek is it gets HOT.
  • JiminDenver wrote:
    The one downside to the Sleek is it gets HOT.
    yes it does.

    I place the little antenna on the roof and that helps a great deal.
  • You have to maintain a signal
    But putzing around the forums doesn't need as much bandwidth thru put
    As streaming video
  • wc

    I agree that the congestion is the biggest culprit but weak signals were not helping either. Just keeping the TMO on line was a improvement, what it did when rush hour was over was wonderful. That's what I am hoping to see up in the mountains.

    I know I have been talking streaming a lot but only because it seems a bench mark that is easy to understand. Generally I don't stream much as we get excellent OTA signals here and have a portable satellite for up there. Normally I putz around the forums and email which doesn't take a lot of signal.
  • Roy

    I believe the 3G version was the 460106, there were versions older than that.
  • The Sleek really shines when used in a low signal environment. It sounds like your current problem is local network congestion. When used in a low signal environment expect better speed improvement.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Jim - I sure hope my WILSON 3G SLEEk has survived being left on in my OFF-ROAD POPUP for about two years just setting there haha... I have it mounted up high behind the VALANCE curtains that go all the way around the ceiling of my OFF-ROAD POPUP... I have a 120VAC outlet up there along with a 12VDC plug as well that is connected to my battery bank... This is where I dock my VERIZON MIFI when using it in the OFF-RoAD POPUP tyrailer...

    Its been sitting in my driveway folded down for a couple of years since I am in sort of of a temporary lock down mode since retirement waiting to pay off some bills haha... Trailer is plugged into the house 24/7 but I forgot to unplug the Wilson Sleek... All I remember is it is a standard and 3G model... I'd have to look my part number up as it may be the same as you have picked up from Ebay... My came with a long whip antenna...

    Roy Ken

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