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Are Three's 4G router unlocked?

scottydoguk

Casual Member
Hello

Where I live EE is the best network and I'm currently using a sim only contract in a dated hh70vb router from a few years ago. Recently it has started to reboot a lot and disconnect so I was going to buy a router outright then I noticed that you can get a 1 month contract with Three which I can cancel.

Do they come unlocked as it says on their website 'devices after 1 January 2014' do?

Hopefully Three's latest router will be a significant upgrade on my existing one? 🤞

Thanks
 
Hi @scottydoguk , which router are you referring to exactly?
In theory they are all indeed unlocked.
The Alcatel you have is a CAT7 device, so it's not too bad, but of course, if it's rebooting a lot it sure sounds like it needs replacing.
 
Hi @Lucian It's this one:

1627550506881.png

I can't use VOIP with my current router as it causes it to disconnect so I'm hoping the one from Three is better.
 
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Yeah the 4G ones are Unlocked. The 5G ones aren't. The MiFis are also.
 
With Covid I work remotely and we have a telephone system that runs over the internet but when I try with my currently router it causes it to disconnect. Tried Wi-Fi and Ethernet and makes no difference.

I have to connect my computer to my phones hotspot to get it to work
 
On Three I find that using the "3internet" APN gives me a dynamic public IP and is a lot more stable for VoIP services (via sipgate). Does EE have a similar mechanism for handing out public IP's? There is a trade off with slightly slower overall speed,but it's rock solid otherwise!
 
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Interesting comment regarding overall speed with different APNs. I don't use VoIP but use a BT phone in the phone socket which selects 3g when using it. I use a VPN for port forwarding. Therefore using CGNat addressing doesn't bother me. Would I therefore be better off using three.co.uk APN? It appears a bit faster but test results vary so much that it is difficult to be sure.
 
Interesting comment regarding overall speed with different APNs. I don't use VoIP but use a BT phone in the phone socket which selects 3g when using it. I use a VPN for port forwarding. Therefore using CGNat addressing doesn't bother me. Would I therefore be better off using three.co.uk APN? It appears a bit faster but test results vary so much that it is difficult to be sure.
Yeah, if the CGNAT isn't an issue for you, use three.co.uk as it is part of their new virtual network core thing and works a LOT better.
 
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I'll be buying one at some point then. It's not really a bad deal on Three's 30 day plans with it being fairly cheap up front.
 
Buying anything non-5G at this point feels a bit of a waste..
 
@Bubblesthefish6 yep!

So yes its a ZTE MF286D and is unlocked.

Seems to work pretty well. EDIT: I shopuld add it seems to feature bridging (LTE Bridging) which will be great many.
I have the new mifi, I like it a lot too. Very good speeds of about 110Mbps down on 4G+ and 60Mbps down on standalone 4G.
 
Buying anything non-5G at this point feels a bit of a waste..
Doesn't imo. 5G stuffs can be incredibly expensive and some people just don't have the money or the need for that kind of speed. I recently moved one of my elderly relatives onto a B535, just before three changed to ZTE. They were getting 60Mbps with sky before the change for £28/mth but now she's on three she gets 140Mbps down (mast is viewable through the front room window). That kind of speed for £22/mth is all she needs to run her iPhone, two sky boxes and her ring doorbell.
 
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Will do when I get time but to be honest there's not much to post, it's a very basic interface and lacks much info and options.

Doesn't even give indication of what's bands or cell its connected to, just gives signal strength and LTE/LTE+ logo.

WiFi sucks too, this device serves a purpose but is far from competing with Huawei.
That's a bit of a shame. The Huawei one doesn't have great WiFi range either though.
 
My ZTE arrived today but i seem to be having DNS issues with it. Some webpages will not load and some apps are not connecting to the internet.

Chrome is reporting
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

Any ideas?
 
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