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5g router suggestion for use with poynting antenna

cmal1001

Regular Member
so thanks to all that helped me on my last post with the archer mr600 - routers been great but since getting my directional it wont seem to stick to the bands i lock it to. So i was thinking an upgrade to a 5g router (for futureproofing) and at the very least having a higher CAT 4G router in tandem.

I'm looking at 5g routers and have narrowed it down to 3 - the huawei 5g cpe pro, the zte mc801a and the zyxel nr5103. Which of these routers would have the best application for the poynting antenna? I read the zte doesnt support 4g on its external antenna. Also i see the zyxel nr5103 has 4 xternal inputs, but my antenna has dual sma, would that still work? i would also like to be able to lock bands and have them stay there.

Thanks
 
I would get the zyxel nr5103e as its newer and supports more bands then the other two, zte mc801a would be useless if you got a three version as they disabled hidden page to use antennas, huawei 5g cpe pro not sure on never used it but the zyxel nr5103e has a switch at the back to use the antennas you can get it on ebay for £169, as for antennas i think you need a 4 x 4 mimo one to use it full potential.
 
hi there i was looking at the NR5103 but yes i am confused about the antenna situation because i see it has 4 inputs but my antenna has only 2 SMS (i know you can get connectors to ts9) but would it be possible to use 2 ports ?
 
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I would get the zyxel nr5103e as its newer and supports more bands then the other two, zte mc801a would be useless if you got a three version as they disabled hidden page to use antennas, huawei 5g cpe pro not sure on never used it but the zyxel nr5103e has a switch at the back to use the antennas you can get it on ebay for £169, as for antennas i think you need a 4 x 4 mimo one to use it full potential.
can't go wrong with this really. Had an NR5103E and it didn't really work for me but I know many others here have had great success.

Just remember, if using external antennas, the top port is the main port (for 4G at least that I'm aware of which is needed for 5G NSA) - the third down is the second main port, the others are for diversity/MIMO
 
can't go wrong with this really. Had an NR5103E and it didn't really work for me but I know many others here have had great success.

Just remember, if using external antennas, the top port is the main port (for 4G at least that I'm aware of which is needed for 5G NSA) - the third down is the second main port, the others are for diversity/MIMO
so would it work fine with just using the two antenna ports instead of the 4?
 
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i have another poynting 4g antenna, its the xpol 1 a0001 could i use that in conjuction with the xpol 2 5g ?

Yes.

It will work with just 2 used. However, in theory you shouldn't really leave ports open as the energy has to go somewhere and ends up getting reflected back to the modem and could cause damaged if used long term.

Best to close up any unused ports with generic antenna just to radiate any excess power.
 
Yes.

It will work with just 2 used. However, in theory you shouldn't really leave ports open as the energy has to go somewhere and ends up getting reflected back to the modem and could cause damaged if used long term.

Best to close up any unused ports with generic antenna just to radiate any excess power.
If you want to be able to get 5G you need to connect external antennae to all four ports on the NR5103E if you switch INT==>EXT.
 
it's more for 4g at the moment 5g will be coming soon but i would benefit from a higher CAT on the 4g network but also with it being a 5g router, but i hear on 5g routers the external atenna ports are only for 5g and not 4g is this right?
 
it's more for 4g at the moment 5g will be coming soon but i would benefit from a higher CAT on the 4g network but also with it being a 5g router, but i hear on 5g routers the external atenna ports are only for 5g and not 4g is this right?
On the NR5103E the external ports are for both 4G and 5G.
 
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oh really? so there are 4 ports in total 2 for 4g and 2 for 5g? i have been trying to find a spec sheet on this device to clarify this.
It's not that simple -- one guess (but not confirmed!) is that two ports are for low band (800M-2.5G) which covers 4G but also some 5G bands, and two ports are for the high 5G bands (n78 around 3.5GHz) which give the big bandwidth/fast downloads. To get any 5G you also need 4G because this is used to set up the link.

Another guess is that all four ports are used for 4x4 MIMO for 4G and/or 5G. But nobody is 100% sure... :-(

So the safe recommendation is to use a 4x4 MIMO antenna (or 2 2x2 MIMO ones) which covers all the required bands (800MHz-3.5GHz) -- anything else risks not having 5G.
 
It's not that simple -- one guess (but not confirmed!) is that two ports are for low band (800M-2.5G) which covers 4G but also some 5G bands, and two ports are for the high 5G bands (n78 around 3.5GHz) which give the big bandwidth/fast downloads. To get any 5G you also need 4G because this is used to set up the link.

Another guess is that all four ports are used for 4x4 MIMO for 4G and/or 5G. But nobody is 100% sure... :-(

So the safe recommendation is to use a 4x4 MIMO antenna (or 2 2x2 MIMO ones) which covers all the required bands (800MHz-3.5GHz) -- anything else risks not having 5G.
yeah i have had a look for what the ports do no one seems to know haha. But i should mention my aim is not to have 5g here YET (as it's not in my area) but to rather use this router as a High CAT 4g router for the time being. And then why 5g comes i can switch to that. So i could use my 2 antenna but have the router in 4g mode? For now?
 
It's not that simple -- one guess (but not confirmed!) is that two ports are for low band (800M-2.5G) which covers 4G but also some 5G bands, and two ports are for the high 5G bands (n78 around 3.5GHz) which give the big bandwidth/fast downloads. To get any 5G you also need 4G because this is used to set up the link.

So I'm going to chime in here and state this is not true simply because the unit supports 4x4 MIMO on 5G N78 so how could 2 ports be just for low bands?

Another guess is that all four ports are used for 4x4 MIMO for 4G and/or 5G. But nobody is 100% sure... :-(

This is more likely.

My testing showed that the top port is the main port - regardless of all others. Others will connect and authenticate with the base station, but will not have any upload throughput. (At least for 4G which is needed for 5G NSA)

So the safe recommendation is to use a 4x4 MIMO antenna (or 2 2x2 MIMO ones) which covers all the required bands (800MHz-3.5GHz) -- anything else risks not having 5G.


This is the best bet.
 
Went for the Zyxel NR5103e unlocked. Still can't latch onto a 5g signal here just yet but the results on 4g are incredible given EEs coverage checker shows weak out doors and no signal indoors on 4g

Hooked up the 5g poynting to the top two ports and the 4g poynting to the bottom two (although the 4g didn't make much of a difference, i tried moving about but the values never changed)

Regardless, the results on 4g are amazing!

speed test.webp
 
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So I'm going to chime in here and state this is not true simply because the unit supports 4x4 MIMO on 5G N78 so how could 2 ports be just for low bands?

This is more likely.

My testing showed that the top port is the main port - regardless of all others. Others will connect and authenticate with the base station, but will not have any upload throughput. (At least for 4G which is needed for 5G NSA)

This is the best bet.
The NR5103E definitely supports 4x4 MIMO on 5G n78 when using the internal antennae, IIRC there are more than 4 of these split between different bands, but it's not clear how the external antennae switch in to the signal path, or whether all 4 external ports are used for 4x4 MIMO for 5G.

I hope they are because that was one reason for getting my NR5103E but I've go no way of telling -- even though it now works on 5G n78 data rates here are pretty lousy, only about 30M/5M... :-(
 
The NR5103E definitely supports 4x4 MIMO on 5G n78 when using the internal antennae, IIRC there are more than 4 of these split between different bands, but it's not clear how the external antennae switch in to the signal path, or whether all 4 external ports are used for 4x4 MIMO for 5G.

I hope they are because that was one reason for getting my NR5103E but I've go no way of telling -- even though it now works on 5G n78 data rates here are pretty lousy, only about 30M/5M... :-(

I've examined the circuit closely.

There are 4 internal antennas connected by I think MHF4 connectors on the board.
Between the connectors/antennas and the modem there is the digital equivalent of a SPDT switch.

When the switch on the back of the hub is changed, it flicks between the MHF4/internal antennas and the rear TS9 ports.

So, when the switch is turned to external antennas, all 4 internal antennas are disconnected and external ports connected.

Therefore all 4 external antennas replace the internal antennae and will also be 4x4 MIMO as a result.
 
I've done some testing with two 5g antenna and i can confirm the following

Ports 1 and 3 are for 4g
Ports 2 and 4 are for 5g
 
I've done some testing with two 5g antenna and i can confirm the following

Ports 1 and 3 are for 4g
Ports 2 and 4 are for 5g
But that doesn't stack up with the router being 4x4 MIMO, does it?

It's possible that ports 1 and 3 are the main ports (2x2 MIMO) for 4G and ports 2 and 4 are the main ports (2x2 MIMO) for 5G, and that ports 1 and 3 are the secondary ports (for 4x4 MIMO) for 5G and ports 2 and 4 are the secondary ports (for 4x4 MIMO) for 4G.

Or something else... ;-)
 
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