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I have the previous generation Clear modem (WIXB-175) with two external antennas hooked up. Ever since the new Hub Express modem became available I've been wondering how it would compare to mine. Recently, I got a chance to find out. A friend let me borrow his new Clear Hub Express modem with external antenna port (WIXFBR-131). I got an adapter to hook it up to my LMR-400 cables and ran some tests. In all cases the modems were located inside the house where there's no reception and hooked up to outside antennas.
The bottomline for me was that performance of the Hub Express with an external antenna hooked up to its port is similar to my old one with a single antenna hooked up.
However, adding a second antenna to my WIXB-175 makes a noticeable difference: With clear LOS it adds a nice speed boost (from 8 to 12Mbps), with foliage in the way the signal gets a bit stronger and a lot more consistent.
So for my application at least, there is no reason to switch to the new modem even though it has nice features like the built-in wifi router. If it had external ports for both antennas however, I'd be seriously tempted.
Max
The bottomline for me was that performance of the Hub Express with an external antenna hooked up to its port is similar to my old one with a single antenna hooked up.
However, adding a second antenna to my WIXB-175 makes a noticeable difference: With clear LOS it adds a nice speed boost (from 8 to 12Mbps), with foliage in the way the signal gets a bit stronger and a lot more consistent.
So for my application at least, there is no reason to switch to the new modem even though it has nice features like the built-in wifi router. If it had external ports for both antennas however, I'd be seriously tempted.
Max
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