Waveform 4×4 MIMO Antennas for 5G Home Internet users (T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon) [Review]

5G Home Internet has been getting a lot of attention thanks to the price that providers have been charging customers who bundle it with their phone plans. Some prices, as low as $25/month, it’s kind of hard not to replace cable/dsl connections with them. At least, depending on where you live. Not everyone gets the kind of signal required for this to be worth it. Something Waveform looks to assist with using its 5G 4×4 MIMO Antennas.

A few years ago we had ran a story covering our experience with T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet service. It wound up being a decent replacement for more expensive connections when it comes to general users. Not so much for enthusiasts that rely on fast continuous connectivity or have dozens of devices throughout their home.

In some cases, it provided next to no connection at all, despite being located between two incredibly close cell towers (around a half-mile away or less). At that house, T-Mobile has been contacted a number of times through the years, hoping for them to send techs out to investigate what could be interfering with the signal as it has been like this for years. A bubble of interference that covers 2 to 3 cul-de-sacs but signal is typically great no matter which direction you take outside of it. Meanwhile, T-Mobile seems to think the area is saturated with solid 5G signal if you look at its colorful maps.

So what do you do if your provider doesn’t want to fix or investigate anything? Well, sometimes you have to take the matter into your own hands. Something we got to take a swing at thanks to Waveform and two of its antennas we have been testing out. Including the Waveform QuadMini 4×4 MIMO Antenna (omnidirectional) and the Waveform QuadPro High-Gain 4×4 MIMO Panel Outdoor Antenna (directional).

The purpose of these antennas is to amplify your 5G home internet gateway’s connection to and from the nearest cell tower. Giving you better speeds and more reliable connectivity all-around. These work with all of the major cell providers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) and are surprisingly easy to install (or have installed) on or in your home.

Note: This is for 5G Home Internet gateway/routers that then broadcast Wi-Fi throughout your home. These do not re-broadcast 5G into your home. That would require a different kind of product (5G Amplifier).

Waveform has a number of antenna models both old and new just waiting to be added to your home if you find that your 5G connectivity to your router just isn’t that great. Some require your to simply have it installed near a window while others want to be installed outside somewhere (ie, near the roof). We have been testing one of each of these types.

Waveform QuadMini 4×4 MIMO Antenna (omnidirectional)

This is one of the most user-friendly installations you could possibly pick from. It can be installed outside for the best signal, or kept inside to make things even easier. It is also one of the most cost-effective options as well, priced at just $119.99 (or more, if you need extensions, window adapter, pole mount, etc).

By itself, it comes with just about anything you need to keep things simple. Mounting inside via a stand where it can sit near any window. It also has a plate with zip ties so it can be attached to a pole if you already have something like that available, as well as suction cups.

So it can be inside near a window, outside attached to pole, or even attached to the outside of your window somewhere.

If you do install it outside, you’ll have the option to buy into the company’s window entry cable/adapter. This can be bought by itself or as part of a kit/bundle. This allows you to run through a window thanks to its thin ribbon cable that is protected by a layer of silicone. The window then closes on it safely so you can still shut your window.

As an alternative to this, you can also just drill a hole to pass your cables through and seal the hole with some silicone to weather-proof the point of entry.

Some of those other accessories include that extension cable I mentioned. This is so that you can run much further to wherever your 5G router is located. They come in a few lengths. There is also small adapters that adapt from these wires to small snap-in antenna connections (u.FL IPEX) that you typically find on small M.2 Wi-Fi cards in laptops.

If you have one of the older gateways that do not have antenna connections on the outside, this would likely be what you’d find inside if you opened the gateway up (not that we are recommending to do this as this may void warranties).

In our case, we made use of T-Mobile’s latest 5G Home Internet Gateway/Router. This one contains connections on the back so that antennas like these can be directly attached without having to open the gateway up to get to the board inside.

Side Note: Originally, the house we tested all of this at (aka, my house) had one of the older black models that had the connections on the inside that would have required those small wire adapters. However, T-Mobile confirmed it would void a warranty if we attempted to open it up, resulting in a charge. So we didn’t do this.

Surprisingly, right now, most of T-Mobile’s in-store employees either don’t know of this newer white gateway’s existence (model G4AR) or are not trained on whether or not you are allowed to swap out for it if you need it. One of our concerns was losing the promotion I was in (rate-wise) as there were rumors that they may have to cancel the plan and re-add it, in order to swap out the gateway. However, this was not the case, thankfully.

After speaking with a number of people over the phone, I found someone who know about the gateway and hunted down a store location that physically had one. Once there, I allowed one of the employees (Sherri) to use me as a guinea pig to determine if it could be swapped out or not. She was an absolute pleasure to deal with and was able to swap it out without touching the plan. So to everyone else out there, now you know the answer on if this is possible or not. Thank you Sherri for providing an awesome experience.

In this situation, we connected the antenna to the gateway and enabled “external antenna” in the gateway’s settings (vs using its internal one). It didn’t take long for it to connect and show that using the external antenna was successful.

We didn’t install this one outside since it was designed to be installed in or out. So we wanted to know what the average person who would buy into something like this, would get. Someone looking to keep things as simple as possible.

Keeping in mind, that before using this antenna, we were getting around 0 to 3Mbps (down) and around 0 to 4 Mbps (up). At some points, we couldn’t even run a speedtest, the connection was so poor. Even when we could get a speed, browsers would hardly ever connect to a webpage.

This was via the third (top) floor of the home and on the side closest to the nearest of the two cell towers nearby. Making sure that we were testing everything in best-case scenarios to be fair and efficient with our comparisons.

After switching over to this and placing it just a few inches from the window (which ended up being the best possible location) that looks directly out into the direction of that cell tower, we instantly started getting speed tests that blew the gateway out of the water. At least, for downloads.

We ranged around 35 to 45 Mbps on average depending on wire orientation. The instructions say to try switching 2 and 3 (of the 1-4). While 1 and 4 are to be installed in order (ie, Wire 1 to Ant 1 connection, etc). Results were variable so this might be based on long-term averages in their tests.

This was somewhat of an acceptable speed, given what we were getting before. The upstream is the only unfortunate value as it would have been nice to see more there. Could this be worth the money? It really would depend on each user’s scenario as this home’s connectivity results won’t be the same as yours.

Either way, we were able to browse on this connection and even watch YouTube content. It was the equivalent of having an entry-level cable/dsl connection. For some, this would be “good enough”. However, this house already gets gigabit via cable and will soon be switching over to fiber (whenever Quantum finally hurries things up). So, not good enough to switch to T-Mobile if I wanted to. At least, there is something there though in case I needed it as a backup. But still, let’s get more!

Waveform QuadPro High-Gain Directional 4×4 MIMO Panel Antenna

Now it was time to breakout the flagship option. A high-gain directional antenna that promises to do much better. This option is for the slightly more advanced user (or someone looking to hire someone if they aren’t themselves), as well as a little more expensive, but not by much. The antenna, by itself, runs $249.99 (antenna, white flex mount, and instructions), which the price going up if you bundle it with other stuff.

You have to install this one somewhere where it can face the exact direction of the cell tower closest to you. This is where you want to look up a cell tower map site to determine where that is exactly, to your address. Find your address and filter the results to your ISP (ie, T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon).

If you buy the antenna by itself, it comes with just three feet of cable coming out of it. So you have to install it relatively slow to where the gateway is going to be and make sure this will be the spot now and in the future. You can then run it through the wall or buy into and use the window entry cable/adapter mentioned before. So you have to be careful installing this outside to not make any mistakes where you might find yourself changing your mind later on.

First, we installed this inside to see what kind of results we were getting. We took a speaker tripod and attached it to it and pointed it out the window and into the direction of the cell tower. The results, weren’t too bad. Better than the QuadMini, for sure. But then to do better, we did what we had to.

We took the antenna outside and combined the tripod we used before, with a long run of wide PVC pipe. With some strong zip ties and a few other articles of magic, we had a quickly made all pole for it to attach to that went as high as the third floor. From this advantage, we were able to clearly aim a little more accurately in the right direction. We then took some speed tests from there.

Now these were results we could get behind. We went from 0 to 3 Mbps to 80-100 Mbps between all of the speed tests that we ran (all downstream).  Our upstream was still poor in comparison at only a fraction of this, but it was at least closer to a better entry-level cable/dsl connection or maybe even the next step from that (I guess it depends on the averages in your area). It just would have been nice to see better. We have seen scenarios at other properties and cities where T-Mobile 5GB scored as much as 1Gbit down and plenty of upstream to go with it (and that’s without an antenna).

All of these tests were done using as minimal effort as possible when it comes installation. Clearly, we wanted to make sure things worked well enough before doing any permanent modifications to the home. A hole will need to be created so it can be mounted properly outside since the windows don’t have access for the adapter (screens blocking the path, plus solar screens on top of that. We were going to go within a crawl space and install the directional one inside of the roof for a cleaner invisible installation. However, it wouldn’t have banked enough of a signal from within the crawlspace vs outside and the smurf tubing that would have routed the cable where it needed to go wasn’t big enough to handle the job.

I think we got the results we were looking for! Now we know that if you live in an area that has poor signal but a cell tower close by (or somewhat close by), these antennas really do work. In some cases, you may even get better results than us. If you have 3-4 bars and are looking for a solid connection, just imagine the results you could achieve from adding one of these to the mix?

The flex mount is what comes naturally with the QuadPro. But if you need a pole mount for the side/top of your home instead, the company does offer this separately or within a bundle/kit. As does it have all the same accessories as the previous antenna (extensions, window adapter, etc).

As mentioned, the company does show a strong desire to communicate with the customer. So if you have questions or are in need of advise, they seem to be eager to reach out. Something that should absolutely be admired and taken advantage of so your installation goes smoothly.

They also provide a lot of instruction for each model. This includes both on and offline. The company has detailed guides for each gateway/router to make sure you know exactly how to connect your selected antenna. It even gives tips on what configurations work best for some of these combinations. Such as where they noted that it can sometimes help to swap wired 2 and 3 with each other as it improves signal in some situations.

Our Conclusion

So the final verdict is pretty strong for these. Even within an area with strong (unknown) interference(s), we were able to get up to 32x the signal we originally had without one of these antennas. Clearly, the directional antenna is the way to go if you are hoping for the best results. As long as you have the means and space to install it correctly. For everyone looking to simply get a little extra boost to their 5G gateway/router, the more affordable omnidirectional model is still mighty on its own. It didn’t fair as well with us, but it was a tough scenario for it to compete with.

So do we recommend these? Absolutely. As long as you are able to get a fast enough stable connection for your specific needs. You just want to shoot for 100 Mbps or higher, preferably. Unless you don’t have any other means of services within your area (ie, cable, dsl, fiber, etc) and just want something (anything) to get you by.

We believe that the price point seems fair for what these accomplish. Especially, since there isn’t a lot of competition out there (at least, from what we’ve seen) that can accomplish these results. I just wonder what an active (powered) solution might get you. It would likely cost a little more, but I’m sure if anyone can design something that works, Waveform may just be the company to keep an eye on.

It is also (always) nice to find a company that is jumping at the opportunity to work with customers to make sure their experience is a success. They are even involved with online communities like Reddit, helping users with questions or general discussions.

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Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.