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4g Router recommendation please

Reegarding the issues with your wireless clients i.e laptop and TV.
For the laptop can you try bonding the 2.4 and 5GHZ bands first on your router, then if on a Windows OS manage wireless networks-> Forget this network and refresh the list. If it connects to the Wifi on the router but shows connected no Internet - perform a failed google search and check what's indicated in the router logs ?

Apologies -Edited post as i forgot to mention earlier .
The choice between AES and TKIP is not available as TKIP has been deprecated.
 
A new upgraded non Huawei (Licenced) B535-333 (4G) out now folks if anyone is interested.

It's £129 from eFones.

B535 Overview (Video)

Amazon Listing

Hope it's of interest to someone. :giggle:
 
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Seems like not much of an upgrade, it's still cat7 like the 535-323 (didn't watch the video).
Yeah, not much of a difference Lucian, but might be useful for someone looking for a rather rare now, original B535. :)
 
@dustynet can you check the IP in the laptop? Does it get ipv6? If yes, can you disable it and see how it goes?
Hi Lucian,

I generally disable IPv6 across the board on all devices including routers and clients just to KISS. This is the case - IPv6 disabled with my problem laptop, however I have just tried an ipconfig /release /renew when connected over IPv4 and the command runs but never returns to the command line. Doing the same when connected to other routers completes without issue and returns to the prompt after a few seconds.


I have spotted the following article on Huawei support forum which relates to my wifi card in the problem laptop.


Having already split the wifis into different names, but previously I'd left the passwords the same and left the option to auto connect to the 2 networks enabled, I will give this another go as its a slightly different test-case.
The optus branding on the router shows that it as a UK import. Question is why is it being sold with an operator branded firmware not intended for use in the UK - this doesn't necessarily mean things won't work or there is lack of band support. Your router could have been imported in to the UK from AliExpress and sold at a profit.

Now if the Optus branding bothers you return it dustynet.
Regarding the firmware You won't most likely be able to de-brand it with Stock firmware as the firmware consists of 2 parts Huawei issued firmware and regional variant part. The regional variant part is dictated by IMEI of the router and what it was locked to. Although your router is unlocked the regional variant part still applies.

So for instance if you purchased a router that was initially locked to T -mobile Netherlands and unlocked later the firmware should have the T-mobile variant part. You should be on the 10.0.5.2 firmware version(Huawei) but the firmware has the regional variant part so any updates you are likely to receive via HOTA (Huawei over the AIr) is one intended for Optus even though you are in the UK.
Can you check for an update? The latest one is 10.0.5.2 if i recall correctly.

If you do decide to return this router and get a replacement ask the seller for the IMEI number this is on a label on the outside packaging and check the status on IMEI checker
Hi all,
I would just like to say thanks to you all for your support and suggestions while investigating this new B818 router.

I spent about half an hour onto Huawei UK support earlier this evening only for them to tell me that the router is not UK stock but was sold in Australia for the Aussie marketplace, so is therefore not going to be. Supported in the UK at all. They were also able to confirm that this router is not new, is already out of support in the Aussie region and advised I get a refund asap!

So long story short, if u see these on Amazon for £184 listed as new and unlocked, maybe it's best to give the seller a swerve...

Fyi the seller is IKEM should you want to avoid the inconvenience of paying for return shipping and waiting 7-10 days for a refund.

For me, it's back to looking for another unit 🙄
 
i've always started with researching and wondering if i really want/need to have, an outdoor or an indoor item.

which one you're after? :)


also, you've posted you want a router. can it be a mobile phone too by any chance?

the reasons i'm asking this, i'm not technically savvy but from a marketing/commercially point of view , i've done a lot of research in the last 2 months and i've kinda seen a lot of 5G devices being sold very cheap then the limited 4G ones.
 
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The void label disturbance suggests it been opened and a new firmware has been loaded, using the special boot procedure that needs access to a couple of wires, to make it more compatible with the UK. Trouble is you will have no idea which firmware has now been loaded, what functionality it has or if it's corrupted.
 
If the Oz mains PSU power plug was replaced by a UK 3 pin plug type that would be another reason the box was opened and resealed.
 
So long story short, if u see these on Amazon for £184 listed as new and unlocked, maybe it's best to give the seller a swerve...
Unfortunately there is a lot of this going on, with all kinds of equipment and the problem seems to be getting worse! I hope you get a return at the very least.
 
Hi to to both,

Lucian, thanks for the question about the loft.
I took this a step further and had some wooden poles in the garden so tested outside at a couple of different heights as well as inside.

Results were:
2.5m 37 down 10 up 33ms
4.0m 39 down 15 up 36ms
8.0m 50 down 33 up 32ms

Loft 43 down 15 up 33ms
Front bedroom window 30 down 1.7 up 23ms

Now I'm quite impressed with these figures from the tiny white plastic puc (4GEE WiFi Mini) but then again it box it came in does claim to support upt 300Mbps. The down side of this is to connect to it, its wifi only or plug in the USB port on a laptop for a direct connect.

Duct taping this to the top of the loft space and having a 5-10 meter usb cable for power wouldn't be great, nor would the wi-fi signal with my neighbor having a huge mesh that bleeds all over the entire 2.4ghz spectrum. But that said, these things were known issues before I picked this up. It was simply a POC before I jump in with both feet on the mobile broadbandwagon. It's served its purpose in validating that I can get a decent signal so thank you.

In response to Gavin, this is a run of the mill 1950 council house with regular cavity walls, so im taking a huge guess and hoping that this shouldnt impede 4g much, that is factoring in band 3/20 of course as Im not anticipating much penetration from 1 or 7. Does EE use any other bands in the UK? I havent been able to find anything else.

I do like the look of the b818 but the price, ouch. I would love to believe I can get 1gb down on 4g but in reality that's never going to happen any time soon, if it was a realistic expectation then the B818 would already be installed and I wouldnt be here :)
Price wise It's doable at a push but would like to know if there's anything else that can do 4x4 4g Mimo for less. Getting a stable 100mb down would be Nirvana for me tho ☺️

Re the mr600, I did look at that, but when I started digging, it appeared that it's absolute max theoretical throughout at layer 1 is 300mb including x4 Mimo. So taking a sensible normalisation against vendor claims (-50%) would drop this down to 150mb as an optimistic goal assuming assuming masts support it, but then again factoring in that would be at 4x Mimo so 150/4 for real band throughout would be 37.5mb. please feel free to educate me if I'm off target here.

I've used cablefree.net tables for basic calculations.
My current eemimi has just tested at ~42mb outside and 30MB indoors so throwing down cash on the MR600 for not a lot of gain isnt my bag, this seems less of an option having read elsewhere on here that its not great at pushing out a decent wifi signal. Again, Im always VERY happy to be educated if Im off topic, so please do put me right.

Off on a tangent for a moment, Ive just found https://cacombos.com/ when reading some other posts on here, which seems like a great site for saving on the google search for specs / throughputs etc.

One thing this site did help with is identifying that my phone is Cat 18 dl / 13 ul with LTE 4x4 Max down 1200 and up 150 Mbps.

Short of trying to download an ISO with it for the sake of finding a sustained throughput, its almost impossible to see any meaningful download speedtest from the regular sites as these dont offer sustained tests for 5-10 minutes. I guess Im stuck with ISO downloads then, and hope that the bottleneck is all on my side rather than the source sites. Thats me doing a 2nd wandering around the house / gardens to identify the sweet spots. I do love it when a question about a router opens up into something bigger. I never get bored learning about new tech and the wider ranging implications.

Anyway, I can see this is turning into another one of my rambles, so Ill keep digging and keep asking questions as they become obvious to me.
Would a one month £30 Three unlimited Data contract and £29 modem outright cost help?

Works out £59 all in.

The Three (ZTE) 4G hub supports 2600MHz which Three doesn’t have but BT/EE do plentiful, if you have that broadcasting nearby from
EE, also supports EE Band 3 1800MHz, B1 2100MHz & Carrier Aggregation which if you have B20 access which from your speedies would indicate you do and also higher bands as I stated.

Cat 12/13, 600 download and a bargain futureproof.

LTE band support: 1,3,7,8,20,32.

4x Ethernet ports


Maximum wifi devices: 64

5Ghz and 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi

4x4 MIMO & 256QAM


Choose a postcode where order is allowed (get a mate to order their postcode if you can’t), select device only (TV & modem is 12/24m)


Choose
Unlimited Dat
£29.00 upfront cost
£30.00 a month
1 month plan

PAC/STAC out on day 30 ;)
 
Would a one month £30 Three unlimited Data contract and £29 modem outright cost help?

Works out £59 all in.

The Three (ZTE) 4G hub supports 2600MHz which Three doesn’t have but BT/EE do plentiful, if you have that broadcasting nearby from
EE, also supports EE Band 3 1800MHz, B1 2100MHz & Carrier Aggregation which if you have B20 access which from your speedies would indicate you do and also higher bands as I stated.

Cat 12/13, 600 download and a bargain futureproof.

LTE band support: 1,3,7,8,20,32.

4x Ethernet ports


Maximum wifi devices: 64

5Ghz and 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi

4x4 MIMO & 256QAM


Choose a postcode where order is allowed (get a mate to order their postcode if you can’t), select device only (TV & modem is 12/24m)


Choose
Unlimited Dat
£29.00 upfront cost
£30.00 a month
1 month plan

PAC/STAC out on day 30 ;)
Hi Seani,
Thanks for the pointer,
The specs on the router look decent, has any one else picked one of these up who can vouch for it?

Im ready to pull the trigger on this even as a just for now option since the pricing of everythign else is rediculous! :)
 
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Hey, FYI, I was just checking the small print on that SIM details section of the 3 deal above, its capped at 1TB per month with 1p/MB charges over and above. Just sharing


Ive just spotted something similar on the Vodafone site:
Scroll to the bottom and theres a 30 day contract with £100 up front - now that looks like the 5g gigacube which is the newest version - bargain to be had there if its really whats on offer:


giga Screenshot 2021-07-26 124550.png
 
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Hey, FYI, I was just checking the small print on that SIM details section of the 3 deal above, its capped at 1TB per month with 1p/MB charges over and above. Just sharing


Ive just spotted something similar on the Vodafone site:
Scroll to the bottom and theres a 30 day contract with £100 up front - now that looks like the 5g gigacube which is the newest version - bargain to be had there if its really whats on offer:


View attachment 1331

Looks like they soon fixed that:
DD50A1E5-EF1C-45C7-9313-1634DC9C2FBE.jpg
 
Hi Seani,
Thanks for the pointer,
The specs on the router look decent, has any one else picked one of these up who can vouch for it?

Im ready to pull the trigger on this even as a just for now option since the pricing of everythign else is rediculous! :)
No worries, you have your statutory online 14 days returns if after testing if its no good ;)

I expect it will be good unless your EE is as pants as mine lol. Certainty it cant be as bad as most of EE’s Alcatel rebranded “4GEE home/mobile broadband” devices.
 
So I took a punt on the 3 router yesterday afternoon, and had it delivered this morning. Ive been using it most of this afternoon...
Fyi, this doesn't come with external antenna.

So far it's been disappointing. Most of the time getting 2 of 5 bars.
My 4gee WiFi mini outperforms it in most locations around the house.

I've even put my ee sim in it which it allows, and my ee signals are no better than they are from the 4gee mini, which I'm astounded me. It does show a better signal strength 3-4 of 5 on ee than the mini does which reports a hard 1 permanently.

So I have yet to poke around properly and work out how to sort carrier aggregation, but if i don't see a massive improvement in the next couple of days, it will be going the way of the b818 and be getting returned...
 
Number of bars don't necessarily mean much.
If you're able to see and compare the RSRP/SINR/RSRQ values that's a much better indication as each device and manufacturer of devices implement different algorithms that take those raw values and calculate the number of bars in different ways.

Edit: I should have also added, unless you know you're connected to the same band and cell on the same mast, then even the raw metrics can't really be compared. For example, if a higher the frequency band was connected to, the lower you'd expect RSRP to be, versus a lower frequency band (in the same location) due to the higher frequencies not penetrating materials as well, resulting in more path loss.
 
Hi Gavin,
Agreed.
Unfortunately my baseline device I the 4gee WiFi mini which gives nothing away when performing testing, so no way that I'm aware of to measure Sig strengths from that. I take your point on other devices tho.

Thanks
 
Hi Gavin,
Agreed.
Unfortunately my baseline device I the 4gee WiFi mini which gives nothing away when performing testing, so no way that I'm aware of to measure Sig strengths from that. I take your point on other devices tho.

Thanks
Out of interest, you say it wasn’t performing as you wanted, what’s speed/latency were you getting vs your new speed/latency?
 
Thats a good question.

When I started out on this journey a week and a half ago, I had been running a 4gee wifi mini for around 6-7 weeks and was not too impressed with it so came here looking for a steer in improvements or upgrades. I was getting between 2 and 8Mb down with latency 50-80 ms. which was hit and miss some days resulting in loosly regular drop outs.

After a few pointers and a couple of chats on here, I did some basic testing. The results were:
Stood in the garden with the 4gee duct taped to a very long stick pointing upwards:

2.5m 37 down 10 up 33ms
4.0m 39 down 15 up 36ms
8.0m 50 down 33 up 32ms

Loft 43 down 15 up 33ms
Front bedroom window 30 down 1.7 up 23ms

So since then the mini has been on the front bed window sill and has been performing generally above 20Mb throughout most days. Evening tests sees this drop to 12-15 Mb but thats mostly tolerable for netflix etc. unless we end up with 2x TVs trying to pull 4k down which doesnt go well.

Something I have been looking at is the results from my mobile which has shown 50-80Mb on a regular basis since Ive been paying more attention to it and testing more regularly.

Additionally I was visiting a mate about 100 Yds away last night adn discovered my mob was pulling over 100Mb, peaking at 115Mb. I had remembered to take the mini for a test there too, which was pulling 80Mb.

So knowing that this little mini can deliver 50Mb comfortably, Im looking for a higher spec device which can 4g 4x4 mimo to get me around 100Mb on a greedy day, but a consistent 50Mb day and night would be a very happy compromise.

So the intention is to relegate the mini to the car for days out or holidays etc, after replacing it with something better suited to 50-100Mb throughput which I have been able to confirm on several occasions outside of simple speedtests.
 
While 4x4 is the holy grail in terms of hardware specs, whether your connection will actually use the higher ranks within that capability will always depend on your metrics. Unless your metrics are great then you'll likely find that only rank 1 (1 stream of 4) or rank 2 (2 streams) are used. Rank 3 is sometimes possible In good/great conditions but rank 4 is very hard to achieve unless in ideal conditions.
And that's assuming it's actually enabled on the mast.in the first place.

Carrier aggregation is a much easier way to achieve higher throughput, again assuming that there are multiple bands available as well as ample capacity/low load on the mast.
 
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