ZTE MC801A Review

[christ0]

Aha! Cheers!

I believe that's done the trick, gain is about +10 improvement...

Happy with that signal strength, to be honest the signal is decent even without the poynting xpol attached but it's not the best location for the longer term.

Planning on getting the xpol mounted on the rear wall where there's line of sight to the mast

So just a quick recap on the Three issued hub:

Bridge mode ✔
Custom DNS ✔
4G / 5G SA / 5G NSA Selection ✔
APN Add/Edit ✔
External antenna ✔

View attachment 2205

Hi All. Following this topic as I'm trying to fine tune my new Three 5G ZTE box. Network info showing no 5G frequency info yet the main page says I'm on 5G. Anyway I'm curious where I can find the page you're showing in the pic with the green bar - with the RSRP, SINR details...?
Thanks...

 

[eccles]

This thread topic #182

Hi All. Following this topic as I'm trying to fine tune my new Three 5G ZTE box. Network info showing no 5G frequency info yet the main page says I'm on 5G. Anyway I'm curious where I can find the page you're showing in the pic with the green bar - with the RSRP, SINR details...?
Thanks...

This thread topic #182

ZTE MC801A Review

Do this: Log into the router using Chrome Open the developer Console Copy and paste the java code into the developer console and press enter. Not sure how to open developer console? Right click on mouse button, click inspect element, click on Developer tab and bottom paste code and press...

www.ispreview.co.uk

 

[rob77]

Hi guys

Can anyone provide the part number of the uk power supply? As mine was an import I received a huawei adaptor but the end doesn't quite fit unless it is jammed in and is a bit loose.

Cheers

 

[Roguee]

Hi guys

Can anyone provide the part number of the uk power supply? As mine was an import I received a huawei adaptor but the end doesn't quite fit unless it is jammed in and is a bit loose.

Cheers

put anything that fits with at least 1.5 amps as long as it is 12volts,
I have ditched the original one for a 12volts 3.5 amps

 

[rob77]

put anything that fits with at least 1.5 amps as long as it is 12volts,
I have ditched the original one for a 12volts 3.5 amps

Thanks Roguee. I've tried 2 different ones but they are both a loose fit. One from a huawei router and one from a BT modem

 

[sja0001]

This one works well, you do not need the adaptors as the main lead fits. Search Amazon for:

SHNITPWR 12V 2A Power Supply AC to DC Adapter 100V ~ 240V AC to 12 Volt DC 24W​

 

[rob77]

This one works well, you do not need the adaptors as the main lead fits. Search Amazon for:

SHNITPWR 12V 2A Power Supply AC to DC Adapter 100V ~ 240V AC to 12 Volt DC 24W​

Thanks I've ordered it

 

[h4x0rm1k3]

How do you access the hidden menus on ZTE routers? Couldn’t seem to find this easily online.

Wondering if this would allow me to fix the DNS issue on Three’s 4G Hub where the DNS appears to be manually set to Three’s, meaning it doesn’t work with other suppliers.

If that's the Huawei 4G speaker then there is a way to get to and change the hidden DNS settings. It may even work for your device if it's a Huawei device still! All the info you need is in the short video i'm linking, you can find the command etc he uses by clicking the show more button below the video -

 

[Bubblesthefish6]

AFAIK, Three doesn't support IPV6

three does support IPv6 but only on certain devices, for example my Galaxy S20+ 5G connects to ipv6 when using the three.co.uk apn.

 

[twenty4]

Also, I do have the connection mode set to automatic to allow connection on boot. It simply doesn't work on my device with a Vodafone pay monthly SIM or a Lebara SIM but it does connect automatically when using a Three and Smarty SIM.

I have the same issue with a Lebara (Vodafone) SIM - no matter what setting I set, it won't auto connect after a reboot - requiring logging in to the UI and setting the toggle manually.

On another note, is there ssh/telnet/http api available for programatically scraping stats (signal strength, data usage etc)?

Thanks

 

[BringerOfRainX1]

I am thinking about buying the ZTE mc801a directly from Sotel and getting a prepay 5g SIM off three and putting it in it. I have a poynting xpol-2-5g v3 external antenna at the moment which is placed in the best spot out the back of the house. It gets a very strong 4G+ signal. I know this modem doesn't support 4G with an external antenna which is a bit of turn off but do you guys think it will be good enough to pull in a 5G signal? On three's coverage map I'm just in range of 5G. The nearest mast is however about 8km away so I'm unsure if it will all be worth it.

 

[dabigm]

I am thinking about buying the ZTE mc801a directly from Sotel and getting a prepay 5g SIM off three and putting it in it. I have a poynting xpol-2-5g v3 external antenna at the moment which is placed in the best spot out the back of the house. It gets a very strong 4G+ signal. I know this modem doesn't support 4G with an external antenna which is a bit of turn off but do you guys think it will be good enough to pull in a 5G signal? On three's coverage map I'm just in range of 5G. The nearest mast is however about 8km away so I'm unsure if it will all be worth it.

At 8km i'd say you've got a very slim chance of it working for you. Do you have a 5G capable handset? can you put in a three/smarty PAYG sim and test?

If it were me, and it were 8km I probably wouldn't bother and look at other alternatives (if you can't get FTTP/C then maybe Starlink?)

 

[meritez]

I am thinking about buying the ZTE mc801a directly from Sotel and getting a prepay 5g SIM off three and putting it in it. I have a poynting xpol-2-5g v3 external antenna at the moment which is placed in the best spot out the back of the house. It gets a very strong 4G+ signal. I know this modem doesn't support 4G with an external antenna which is a bit of turn off but do you guys think it will be good enough to pull in a 5G signal? On three's coverage map I'm just in range of 5G. The nearest mast is however about 8km away so I'm unsure if it will all be worth it.

It's a CAT20 4G router, so even if you don't see 5G, you've got a top of the range 4G router.

 

[BringerOfRainX1]

At 8km i'd say you've got a very slim chance of it working for you. Do you have a 5G capable handset? can you put in a three/smarty PAYG sim and test?

If it were me, and it were 8km I probably wouldn't bother and look at other alternatives (if you can't get FTTP/C then maybe Starlink?)

Unfortunately I don't have a 5G phone. But I have a friend who does and is with three so I might get them to call over and do a test to see. I've been thinking of starlink for quite a while but it's the just how expensive it is that puts me off.

 

[Vox]

I’m thinking of picking up one of these routers from CeX as they seem to be quite cheap right now. Does anyone know if would there be any issues with using a three branded router with a stand-alone sim? Or if there may be any issues down the line?

 

[twenty4]

I'm currently using a Lebara SIM and although I'm in the 'outdoor' 5G coverage for Vodafone it's not picking up any 5g signal (I'm in London Zone 2)
I do get good speeds though, without congestion I get even over 100mbps down with 20-30 mbps up.

I tried a Smarty SIM and it picks up good 5g signal and get anywhere between 200-300mbps down but it struggles to go up to 1mbps up which unfortunately makes it unusable for remote work. It's probably due to the fact that I have almost no 4g reception for Three and as far as I understand, 5G NSA is using LTE for upload?

I also tried a Lyca sim and it shows 5g signal in CA aggregation (n78) but it doesn't appear to be using it, it stays on LTE+. (maybe they restrict 5g like they do on iOS? - who knows).

Looks like for now Lebara is the only viable option but it's annoying with the bug where it doesn't auto connect at startup.

 

[Martydibergi]

I thought I would try a 3 branded ZTE MC801A 5G modem because reading about it, it seems that it is one of the best 4G routers out there. Also where I live there are quite a few 3 masts according to cell mapper and 5G is described as weak in my area by EE and it stops on the other side of a road about 100 yards away if 3 is to be believed so I thought there was a small chance I could get it.

Anyhow the router is describing the signal as terrible and I've tried locking it to certain masts but it only seems produce any download speeds on band 3 (I have only tried 1,3,20 and 28) - the d/l speeds seem to be fastest on band 3, as opposed to auto. It doesn't look like it is doing any carrier aggregation on the status page. It says 4G+ on auto but 4G on band 3.
Strangely I seem to be getting the occasional massive upload speed - ie d/l 3.72 mbps and upload of 1692 mbps (best of 1843). If this is true what's going on? I thought that typically u/l was about 10% of d/l.

I think that I just don't have a good signal but is there anything else I can try? (moving the router around the room doesn't make much difference).

It was an itch I wanted to scratch but it will be going back unless by some miracle someone has a suggestion that improves it (and it stops logging out)

 

[eccles]

I get a weak (-100-108 RSRP) but stable 5G signal from my MC801A with German T-Mobile firmware. I am in an area that is just outside Three's claimed area for outside reception. Location and orientation is hypercritical. Moving a foot in either direction from the best spot or turning the router through 180 degrees makes a big difference.

 

[Vox]

put anything that fits with at least 1.5 amps as long as it is 12volts,
I have ditched the original one for a 12volts 3.5 amps

This sounds interesting, are there any benefits to using a 3.5 amp psu over the original?

 

[eccles]

This sounds interesting, are there any benefits to using a 3.5 amp psu over the original?

I've tried a 4 amp psu with mine and didn't see any difference. According to Dabigm's figures it only draws about 5w maximum, less than 0.5a so well within the parameters of a 1.5a psu