Mikeemo's profile

Contributor

 • 

1 Message

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017 5:33 PM

External Antenna for the Home Phone Internet MF279

Just got the Home Phone/Internet unit - ZTE Model MF279.   Wanting to hook an external antenna to it as my signal strength seems to be fluctuating quite a bit.  It appears to have 2 antennae connectors but can't find any specs on the connectors.  Looks like possibly FME or SMA connectors?   Can anyone tell me what type of connectors this model has?    Does anyone have any recommendations on external antennas to use with this unit.

Tutor

 • 

5 Messages

6 years ago

AT&T Wireless Internet MF279

 

https://www.att.com/device-support/index/ATT/WirelessNetMF279/

 

lists the ports as ts-9 ports

 

(edited)

Community Support

 • 

230.7K Messages

6 years ago

Hello @Mikeemo,

 

I see you are experiencing some issues finding the antenna port for your ZTE Model MF279. We are sorry to hear about this and we would be more than happy to assist you with this today!

 

The ZTE Model MF279 antenna is a ts9 External Antenna. This device has two of these ports on the back you can connect too. We have our Device Support Tool which has a picture of were these ports are located. We do not currently carry these external antennas on our online webpage but you can find many different versions online with 3rd party sellers.

 

I hope you find this helpful. Have a wonderful day!

 

James, AT&T Community Specialist

(edited)

Tutor

 • 

5 Messages

6 years ago

CORRECTION these are not ts-9 ports I have an antenna with ts-9 conectors they will not fit the posts on my wireless device 9B9F5370-92D7-40FE-BECF-DE11553ED7AF.jpeg

 

1 Attachment

Tutor

 • 

5 Messages

6 years ago

Not ts9

Contributor

 • 

1 Message

6 years ago

Looks to me like your external antenna is a CRC9 connector not a ts-9.  I saw this page explaining each. http://hpanswers.blogspot.com/2014/07/differnce-between-crc9-and-ts9-antenna.html

Teacher

 • 

8 Messages

6 years ago

It sure would be nice if someone with AT&T would reply with the definitive answer on this.  I upgraded from the prior generation device (ZTE 700A) to the new MF279 to have the ability to use an external antenna.   

 

I have also posted on this device about how to completely disable the wifi if you use only the Ethernet.  On the ZTE700a this was an option yet on the new MF279  while the help function indicates it is an option on the actual command interface the option is not available.  You only have the ability to hid the SSID.

Tutor

 • 

5 Messages

6 years ago

It is an sma male connector I bought a pair of antennas. TECHTOO 3G 4G Dipole Antenna Wide Band 5dbi 700-2600Mhz Omni Directional GSM WiFi Antenna with SMA MALE Connector to be exact it helps slightly don’t expect anything that is not outdoor directional powered antenna  to improve your signal significantly.

Teacher

 • 

8 Messages

6 years ago

Thank you for both the specific details and the qualitative advice.  Both exactly what I needed to know and understand.

 

Perhaps you saw my other post:  while on the prior generation device (ZTE700A) you could completely disable the wifi, unfortunately on this device (contrary to what the help function shows) it seems you can only hide the SID.   I only use the Ethernet port and would like to disable the wifi completely.  Any ideas?  Thanks again either way

Teacher

 • 

8 Messages

6 years ago

So I purchased via AMZ the recommended “TECHTOO 3G 4G Dipole Antenna Wide Band 5dbi 700-2600Mhz Omni Directional GSM WiFi Antenna with SMA MALE“ and while they fit perfectly they actually dramatically attenuate signal.   Prior to installing them I was 100db and four bars after installing them it went down to 120db with one bar.   I spent at least two hours moving the device around, moving the attennas, but without success.   Then I removed the new external antennas and placed the device in its original “4 bars” location and once again it was back to four bars.   So while I appreciate C11000 making the recommendation and the connectors perfectly fit it did not work at all for me.

 

It sure would be nice if someone from ZTE or AT&T would chime in with some definitive device.

 

  Now to see if I can get my money back for those antennas.

New Member

 • 

7 Messages

@atexd5 Hi. Just wondering if you found any insight into your situation? I am having pretty much the same issue.

Thanks,

Mark O.

Teacher

 • 

14 Messages

6 years ago

I am also curious about this antenna question for my MF279 device. I was hoping that someone had installed a -directional- antenna from one or both of these antenna ports. Is it possible to install a directional from one or two of the two ports?

Secondarily, I am also interested in turning off the wifi and using my own wifi bridge, or even router and bridge to gain more than 11 connections (large family and Christmas has shown that limitaton...) I am using extenders on the 2.4 that seem to add an unknown (can't see the connections in the MF279) number of new connections. Are the 11 total connections a function of the MF279's router?

Finally, I called ATT TS and they said the MF279 cannot be placed in bridge mode itself that you can use your own router, so I'm guessing that if I turn off WIFI and plug in my router I'll experience double NAT'ing. 

 

Not finding what you're looking for?
New to AT&T Community?
New to the AT&T Community? Start by visiting the Community How-To.
New to the AT&T Community?
Visit the Community How-To.