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Advice required for new 4G router, totally in the dark about choice

If you get the B818 (which I'd highly recommend) make sure you get straight-through pony-tail adapters rather than just adapter plugs or right-angle pony-tail adapters - space is very tight, and the antenna cable is very rigid and heavy so you need something with compact connectors and the flexibility to avoid putting strain on the TS9 connectors.

If you need to minimise latency and lag, I'd also recommend putting the B818 in bridge mode and using a router that supports QoS (preferably SQM of some description, ideally CAKE). The B818 is great as a modem, but it's pretty minimal as a router (as, to be honest, are most if not all 4G routers).
 
Get a B535 from 3 for £19 with a £30 30-day contract, cancel it and grab a SIM from Vodafone or EE.

B818 is excellent but rather expensive. B535 can achieve good speeds if the network is good around you.
Are you saying, get the B535 and (whispering) cancel it don't return it? LOL
Ps. will it be locked to Three?
 
Three's B535 comes with certain limitations, like no bridge mode etc. In my setup I never reached more than 60 Mbps with it and external antenna, whereas B818 even without antenna reached 100+.

@Allan Collins you would need the ts9 to sma pigtails (get the adaptors that also include the small 15cm cable) for the B818, however before spending money on the antenna, try with the B818 alone, maybe take it out of the caravan's window, high up, just for testing. If this doesn't improve your experience, then the omnidirectional antenna that was recommended above will probably not make a difference. At that point it's worth trying a directional antenna, such as the Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0002.
 
IMHO going for the Three b535 option in this case is not worth it, the price difference is not much and you'd be wasting time and head space with a contract you can't use anyway. Three report no signal for his caravan area.
 
IMHO going for the Three b535 option in this case is not worth it, the price difference is not much and you'd be wasting time and head space with a contract you can't use anyway. Three report no signal for his caravan area.
I ageee Lucian as you will end up spending the same amount of money as if you bought one off Amazon. £50+£29 for a month of service = £79
 
£50+£29 for a month of service = £79
The B535 is 19 quid up front with 30 for a month of service from Three (and unlocked). It's only a 30 day contract so free to cancel.

Is a B818 available for around that price? I'd love one but the price seems to be around 200 for one of those and I've not really seen any better offers.

The only one I know of is Vodafone's 100 quid plus 30 a month but that's fairly pricey.
 
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The discussion seems to have moved from getting the best 4g router to getting the cheapest.
Ihope Allan managed to form an opinion by now.
 
The discussion seems to have moved from getting the best 4g router to getting the cheapest.
Ihope Allan managed to form an opinion by now.
Yeah, what a bunch of cheapskates Lucian.;)
 
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The discussion seems to have moved from getting the best 4g router to getting the cheapest.
Ihope Allan managed to form an opinion by now.
I've gone for the B818, so expect some other questions later!

BTW It seems that Three have cottoned on to getting a B535, cancelling after a month and keeping it.
I had a chat with a store manager yesterday who was working from home and now when you phone to cancel, they'll arrange for DPD to collect it:sneaky:
 
PS.
Anybody know why I get only one email notification about new posts, when there may have been several?
I noticed that. just check on my posts regularly to see any replies. Just tag people in by putting @ and their username.
 
I've gone for the B818, so expect some other questions later!

BTW It seems that Three have cottoned on to getting a B535, cancelling after a month and keeping it.
I had a chat with a store manager yesterday who was working from home and now when you phone to cancel, they'll arrange for DPD to collect it:sneaky:
Didn't think it would take them that long. I got mine in July and they let me keep it. Test with the B818 and see if you need an antenna.
 
I really like our B818-263 (refurbished option from Amazon). It's currently keeping me and my wife fully able to work remotely while we are in stopgap accommodation for a few weeks before we exchange and complete on our next house.

The only trouble I had was that I had to sort of 'hack' it into using IPv4 via the EE APN before I could get many services to work, thanks to help from gents on here; this is documented in the main B818 thread: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/huawei-b818-263.36602/page-11

With the above issue now sorted, we're able to work and do the stuff we'd normally do (including go online with the PlayStation) and often forget we're operating over 4G.
 
Mine arrived today and I took it up to our building plot. Confused by results though.
Activated a Smarty SIM, and despite both Smarty and Three saying there is no 3 or 4g available I was getting upwards of 20Mbps download.
Vodafone was really strange, barely 3 Mbps from the router, whilst my phone's Vodafone (Esim) was achieving plus 40Mpbs with me standing in the exact space outside.

Tomorrow I'm going to the caravan site, to have a play up there.
I think I need to read up quite a bit on antennas, placement and why companies say they have no coverage when they clearly do!😂
 
Mine arrived today and I took it up to our building plot. Confused by results though.
Activated a Smarty SIM, and despite both Smarty and Three saying there is no 3 or 4g available I was getting upwards of 20Mbps download.
Vodafone was really strange, barely 3 Mbps from the router, whilst my phone's Vodafone (Esim) was achieving plus 40Mpbs with me standing in the exact space outside.

Tomorrow I'm going to the caravan site, to have a play up there.
I think I need to read up quite a bit on antennas, placement and why companies say they have no coverage when they clearly do!😂
Three are trying to keep people off their network in certain places at the moment as their network is at capacity, and if they tell people there's no service, people won't join. Difficult problems require easy solutions ;-)
 
Try o2/giffgaff, too.. and maybe go all the way and test EE as well, who knows..
 
Now semi up and running, I've taken the router to both the caravan site and our building plot. Mixed results, some very impressive, some pretty poor.
Have also added a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0002 directional antenna into the mix and have so far been very disappointed with what happened.
Should I start a new thread?
 
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