WAVEFORM QuadPro Directional 4×4 MIMO Antenna User Guide

WAVEFORM QuadPro Directional 4×4 MIMO Antenna

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST:

We know, reading manuals isn’t always fun. But we promise it’s worth it. We’ve helped thousands of customers improve the signal to their cellular routers. We’ve compiled everything we’ve learned in this manual. Give it a read before you start: it’ll save you time and help you get the best performance out of your QuadPro.

What’s in the Box

QuadPro Antenna & FlexMount 

Cables, Adapters, UltraPole (Only Included with Complete Kit)
If you purchased the complete QuadPro Kit, you will also receive the following.

Install Manuals, Who Needs ‘Em?
Heads up:
Using MIMO antennas to improve your signal can take a bit of patience.

Be prepared to spend an hour or two to find the best location & direction to aim your antenna.
This manual is based on feedback from hundreds of customers like you. We’ve revised it dozens of times to make it as helpful as possible. We promise you’ll be glad if you read it from start to finish before you get started. It’ll help you save time, avoid common pitfalls, and ensure your system works as well as possible.

Who We Are
Hi! We’re Waveform. We’ve been around since 2007, and while we’ve grown a bunch since then, we’re still a small team. There’s just a handful of us answering texts, and picking up calls. The four of us pictured below lead support and product development. Feel free to reach out to us at any time; our emails are all just our first names @waveform.com

Stuck? Have Questions? Please: Contact Us!
We’re a small team, but we really care about helping you get the best results. If you’re having issues, please reach out. Sometimes a small tweak can make all the difference. Even if everything goes smoothly, let us know how your system is performing! And we love getting feedback: if you think of a way we could make our antenna, accessories, the install process, or this manual better – let us know! Call (800) 761-3041, email help@waveform.com, or book a meeting at waveform.com/meet to chat with a Waveform Signal Specialist. We’re available from 6 am-5 pm PT, Mon to Fri.

Before You Start
Whether it be inside, outside, or on the roof, there must be at least some 4G LTE or 5G signal where you’re installing your QuadPro. Ideally, the cell signal should be “usable.”

What Do We Mean by “Usable”?
When using your cellular router or hotspot, you should be able to complete a data speed test before connecting your QuadPro. Connect to the Wi-Fi of your cellular device and visit speedtest.net to run a quick data speed test. MIMO antennas, like the QuadPro, will help condition your outdoor signal and get you better data rates. But if the signal outside your building isn’t usable to begin with, an antenna might not help. You can certainly still give the QuadPro a shot, you may not get the results you’re expecting.

Compatibility
Your QuadPro supports almost every 4G LTE and low/mid-band 5G service in use in the US, Canada, and across the world. Here are the bands that it covers*:

How Much Improvement Should You Expect?
In short: It’s hard to say. Many people see an increase in data rates of between 50% and 200%, but some people may only see 10%. Despite all the science, wireless signals often work in strange and magical ways. One thing is for sure, the more locations and directions you try the more likely you are to see a big increase in data rates. If you’ve gone through this manual and aimed the QuadPro as we suggest, but you’re still not seeing much improvement, please reach out to us for help.

What Tools Do You Need?
Your QuadPro includes all of the tools necessary for its assembly, but you may need additional tools to mount it against your building. Please refer to your mount(s) included manual(s) or find them online at  waveform.com/flexmount-manual and waveform.com/ultrapole-manual, respectively.

Install Process Overview

1. Read this manual, ideally from start to finish, so that you understand the whole installation process before you begin.
2. Find the best antenna location and direction (Pages 6-7). This step is the most time-consuming, but it’s worth the effort and has a huge impact on your system performance. Make notes of your readings in the table on page 15.
3. Verify performance and connect everything (Pages 8-9). Before making any holes in your roof or walls you’ll fully connect your system and run speed tests. If everything looks good, you’ll finalize the cable runs and hard-wire everything.
4. Mount your QuadPro (Pages 10-11). You’ll assemble your QuadPro with its FlexMount and mount it to your building.
5. Tell us how your system is doing. Nothing makes our day like hearing from customers. And if for any reason you’re not seeing the results you were hoping for, we can help.

Positioning and Aiming the QuadPro
Finding the best position for your QuadPro is the most important part of the installation process. In this section, we explain the best and simplest method for positioning and aiming your QuadPro. Section 06 covers some more advanced tips for additional optimization.

The Goal
Your goal is to find the best location and direction for the QuadPro. Its position should maximize the data rates from your cellular router. It can take a little patience, but spending some extra time here can have a huge impact on performance – it’s worth the extra effort.

Getting the Complete Kit Set Up
Refer to the diagram to the right as needed.

1. Place your QuadPro near the best position you found in section 2.
2. Connect your QuadPro to your UltraFlex-Quad cable and run the cable into your building. If you don’t want to drill holes into your walls or roof to route your cables, install your Coax Window Entry cable in a window, and connect it to your QuadPro and/or UltraFlex-Quad cables.
3. Connect your cables to your router’s cellular antenna ports and hand-tighten the connections.
   If your cellular router only has internal U.FL ports, install the included U.FL pigtail adapters, and connect them to your UltraFlex-Quad cable.
4. Restart your cellular router, wait for it to reconnect, then perform 1-2 speed tests to verify that you are happy with your system’s performance.

Install Tips 

• Before attempting to route the cables through your building, lay the UltraFlex-Quad cable out flat to straighten it. This will make it easier to work with.
• A finger-tight connection is sufficient to secure the connectors. Tools are not required to tighten them and may cause damage.
• Unsure how your cables connect to your router? Refer to your router’s manual, or our device-specific guides at waveform.com/hotspot-guides, or reach out to us for assistance.

Weatherproofing Your Outdoor Connections
The QuadPro and UltraFlex-Quad cables come with weatherproofing boots to help waterproof each outdoor cable connection. Once your connectors are tightened, slide the weatherproofing boots over all of the outdoor cable connections. Sliding these boots takes a bit of strength so don’t be scared to put some elbow grease into it!

Grounding Your System
It’s important to ground your FlexMount and UltraPole (optional in the complete kit) to a suitable electrical ground to help protect your equipment. Equipment mounted outdoors can be prime targets for lightning strikes. Grounding a mounting pole with 10 AWG or lower gauge (thicker) grounding cable is required by the National Electric Code (NEC). Follow the instructions within the manuals included with your FlexMount and UltraPole to properly ground them for your system. The general steps are described below:

Advanced Optimization
By this point, you should have a really solid understanding of how to position and aim your QuadPro and get great performance. We’re convinced that for 95% of people, the instructions provided in this manual so far are more than enough. If, however, you’d like to go a little deeper and get technical to optimize your system even further, here are some general guidelines.

1. Look up your nearby towers on cellmapper.net by performing a “Tower search” with the “eNB-ID” that your cellular router is connecting to. An eNB-ID is a unique cell tower identifier that can often be found in your cellular router’s admin interface.
2. Aim your QuadPro at each nearby tower. Run speed tests for each tower to find the fastest bands, and compare speed tests. If your cellular router also supports bandlocking, band lock it to every band that the tower transmits, and run speed tests for each tower on each band to find your fastest band(s) and tower.
3. Try enabling multiple bands and using carrier aggregation to find the fastest band combination. Carrier aggregation is supported by most cellular routers and allows them to connect to two or more bands simultaneously. However, it doesn’t always result in faster data speeds so stick to a single band if that gets you the best results.

Need Help with Adapters?

• Have difficulties connecting your U.FL pigtails to internal antenna connectors? U.FL connectors are small and can be difficult to install on the first try. We suggest that you use a tweezer to hold the cable in place and a pencil eraser to push the U.FL connector down.
• Does your cellular router need different adapters for its cellular antenna ports? If so, please reach out to our team so we can help you obtain the parts you need.

Some Final Tips

• Don’t judge your signal by signal strength or quality alone. You may find that your RSRP signal strength and SINR/RSRQ haven’t improved much, but that your data rates are meaningfully better.
• There’s much more to an antenna than just gain: our antennas are optimized for MIMO isolation to get you the best 5G data rates possible.
• If data rates decrease over time, consider re-optimizing your system. Occasionally carriers will update their towers to broadcast different bands, light up new towers, or simply turn off existing towers altogether. If your data rates get worse, try repositioning and reclaiming your QuadPro to get the best results.

Need help? We’re ready and waiting.

MIMO Antennas, like the QuadPro, aren’t always easy to install. But the result is worth it. One of the benefits of buying from Waveform is our lifetime technical support on every system we sell. We’ve installed hundreds of these devices ourselves and can walk you through troubleshooting and fine-tuning your installation for the best results. Simply give us a call at +1 (800) 761-3041, email us at help@waveform.com, or book a meeting with our fanatical support team at waveform.com/meet. We’re available from 6 am-5 pm PT, Monday to Friday. We love helping solve tricky install problems.

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