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Huawei 5G CPE Pro / 2 q's

vadalus

Regular Member
Hi Guys,

Couple of beginner questions. I have just started on 3's 5G wireless service (as a backup to BT Infinity 2 which just went down for 26 hours!) and am getting 200/10 (which i think it pretty decent). However, i had bought the Huawei external aerial assuming i was getting simply the "pro" model not the "pro 2" model (which annoyingly does not have the external antenna). I have managed to get the "pro" model second hand so can now test this with the external aerial and see whether i can get some better upload speeds with the antenna on a pole above the house.

Couple of q's

1. If the speeds are better with the "pro" + antenna are there any other advantages of using "pro 2"? (other than bridging mode)
2. How the heck to you enable bridging mode in the "pro 2"?
3. They both have a mixed "lan/wan" second etherent port, it's not clear how this is used. ideally i just want to use it as another LAN ethernet port. is this the default? i cannot find any obvious settings int the web pages

Thanks for reading!
 
@vadalus I believe the "pro" router have had some firmware and other issues and struggled to maintain 5G connections from what I remember reading on the forum, hope others will advise.

Pro2 should be significantly better and also has that nice WiFi 6.

If your router is from Three then it probably has a custom firmware with bridge mode disabled.

With regards to the external antenna, try to stick the Pro2 out the window, see if you get better results, in theory this is what the external antenna would improve, if anything.

If you are adamant on using an external aerial there's a forum member ( @Istis1st84 ) who mods these devices so they can be used as such:

 
@vadalus I believe the "pro" router have had some firmware and other issues and struggled to maintain 5G connections from what I remember reading on the forum, hope others will advise.

Pro2 should be significantly better and also has that nice WiFi 6.

If your router is from Three then it probably has a custom firmware with bridge mode disabled.

With regards to the external antenna, try to stick the Pro2 out the window, see if you get better results, in theory this is what the external antenna would improve, if anything.

If you are adamant on using an external aerial there's a forum member ( @Istis1st84 ) who mods these devices so they can be used as such:

thanks for the reponse. yes, maybe you're right that the better approach is moding the PRO2. Everything i have is all returnable so maybe it's worth testing the external antenna with the PRO and if indeed it does yield the results i am looking for, modding the PRO2 might be the better option.

OR i cuold just be going down a rabbit hole. looks as thuogh a lot of these external antenna's are for creating a 'decent' signal from a poor one. not necessarily making a 'good' signal into an 'excellent' one. i was more interested in improving my upload speed, which i think might be quite capped anyay... many thanks..
 
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@vadalus can you share with us the radio signal values of RSRP, RSRQ and SINR from the Device Information page in the router web UI?

The problem with the upload is not the limit (there is none) but the Three 4G bands that are usually quite overutilised and also there is no 5G or band aggregation to use for that so you're stuck with a little bit of spectrum for uploads.. not ideal but hey ... it's cheap.

As I said, try to keep the Pro2 out the window, see if there is significant improvement, if not then an external antenna might not help all that much.

Also, as other forum members will testify, radio's got its own little quirks and the best location for reception or performance is not necessarily the most intuitive one. Some found a room corner or near a chimney breast provides better speeds than by the windows, so I think you should try various locations, various rooms, loft etc.

Should all that fail, 200/10 is still very respectable and more than most get. :)

BTW, assuming you signed up to Three's 5G "broadband" service and got the Pro2 from them, then you should keep in mind you can sign up to SIM-only contracts with them for as little as £10/m (after cash back deals etc), so perhaps there's money to be saved there if you do end up liking the old "Pro" model and can still return the Pro2 and cancel.
 
I believe Three's 5g routers remain the property of Three so it might be worth mentioning that modding one is probably not a good idea unless you own it.
 
Yeah, it's property of three till you've finished your contract then it becomes yours
 
Yeah, it's property of three till you've finished your contract then it becomes yours
understood and good point. i guess i have a one year contract i usually cannot get out of.. therefore modding earlier should be moot... unless there is more to 'them owning the equipment' than i think...
 
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@vadalus can you share with us the radio signal values of RSRP, RSRQ and SINR from the Device Information page in the router web UI?

The problem with the upload is not the limit (there is none) but the Three 4G bands that are usually quite overutilised and also there is no 5G or band aggregation to use for that so you're stuck with a little bit of spectrum for uploads.. not ideal but hey ... it's cheap.

As I said, try to keep the Pro2 out the window, see if there is significant improvement, if not then an external antenna might not help all that much.

Also, as other forum members will testify, radio's got its own little quirks and the best location for reception or performance is not necessarily the most intuitive one. Some found a room corner or near a chimney breast provides better speeds than by the windows, so I think you should try various locations, various rooms, loft etc.

Should all that fail, 200/10 is still very respectable and more than most get. :)

BTW, assuming you signed up to Three's 5G "broadband" service and got the Pro2 from them, then you should keep in mind you can sign up to SIM-only contracts with them for as little as £10/m (after cash back deals etc), so perhaps there's money to be saved there if you do end up liking the old "Pro" model and can still return the Pro2 and cancel.
screen shot attached of the stats you asked for... let me know if there are any issues you see with these!
 

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screen shot attached of the stats you asked for... let me know if there are any issues you see with these!
Well, these are not great.. see for example my values which are a lot better.
There's a chance an antenna will help.
Did you try holding the router out the window or other locations, any luck?
 

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OK, i just moved the modem outside (with some water proofing). Now i'm at 300-400/35-40 which i am pretty darn happy about I going to keep the PRO2 and send the rest back. My signal quality was "95" and the external antenna on the PRO1 was not giving me anything better than that!

PCI 24
CELL_ID 1079553
CQI CQI0:7 CQI1:127
RSRQ -17.0dB
RSRP -88dBm
RSSI <=-113dBm
SINR -10dB
Wireless transmit power PPusch:0dBm PPucch:0dBm PSrs:1dBm PPrach:0dBm Uplink mod/demod of MCS
mcsUpCarrier1:15
Downlink mod/demod of MCS
mcsDownCarrier1Code0:1 mcsDownCarrier1Code1:19
5G uplink mod/demod of MCS NRmcsUpCarrier1:20
5G downlink mod/demod of MCS NRmcsDownCarrier1Code0:1 NRmcsDownCarrier1Code1:0
5G RSRP -88dBm
5G RSRQ -10.0dB
5G SINR 13dB
5G CQI CQI0:32639 CQI1:32639
PLMN 23420
5G PCI 0x19A
 
Last edited:
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No I think the 5G routers remain property of Three and have to be returned at the end of the contract - that's what my Three 5G contract T&Cs state.
Weird. Mine and Zakirs both said it's threes till the end of the contract.
 
Weird. Mine and Zakirs both said it's threes till the end of the contract.
Here is the link for the Home Broadband T&Cs and here is the relevant section:


Equipment: Where we have provided any 5G Equipment this Equipment is not owned by you and is loaned to you for the duration of you taking our Services. The 5G Equipment is supplied to you at no cost and remains the property of Three at all times. When you stop taking our Services you must return the 5G Equipment. If you do not return the 5G Equipment within 28 days we will charge you a non-return charge (see Section 9.7).
 
Just a quick note to say the Pro 2 also has carrier aggregation, which the Pro does not. By the way, my understanding is the router needs to be returned if you stop taking the Three contract too.
 
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