Hi everyone!
I recently bought a ZTE MC7010 from Amazon.de.
The device came with the BD_XCBZHKMC7010V1.0.0B0 firmware which does not update automatically to anything else.
My first tests were completely disappointing, as my connection was very unstable and extremely slow around 8 Mbps both for download and upload.
I live in Greece and my ISP is Cosmote which uses the B3+B7+B20 bands for CA and the N78 for 5G.
I live in an open farm and I have optical contact with two distant public antenna stations, which host antennas for my ISP too. The distance is quite large for both antenna stations, 5,7 km and 6,3 km respectively, according to Google Earth, but both with perfect optical contact. Even tall trees do not get in the way.
In the same location of the MC7010 a Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro, which has a CAT12 modem as far as I know, is able to achieve speeds over 120 Mbps for download and over 30 for upload.
Initially the MC7010 showed a very weak (in my opinion) signal reception, "medium" according to the ZTE install helper app, and is something I still cannot explain, as my Xiaomi smartphone has perfect signal reception at the same exact outdoor point where I have placed the MC7010.
The signal reception issue which affected stability beyond speed, was improved significantly when I changed the network selection from 5G/4G/3G to 5G NSA or 4G only. The 5G SA mode is not an option for me yet, as I have first to find or buy a 5G smartphone, which is included in the compatibility list of Cosmote, and send a SMS to 1333 with the text "5G".
The speed issue was also improved significantly when I used the ZManager Android app to lock the bands of the MC7010.
Until some days before the LTE speeds had reached the same levels with my smartphone, over 120 Mbps for download and 30 Mbps for upload. Then I had to play with some settings for another irrelevant issue (SIP ALG) without success, and I reset the router and did everything from the beginning. Now after the reset, and with the same settings from both the web interface and the ZManager app, for some reason my speeds are far below 100/30 Mpbs.
I have built a Raspberry Pi 4 internet speed monitoring solution with instructions from this awesome web site
https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-internet-speed-monitor/ and my today's speeds are what you can see here:
View attachment 3035
Red: download, Green: upload, Blue: ping
Anyway, what I would like to do, is to manually change the firmware and try something of the four options I have found, Telia/Elisa/Play and the CN_ZTE_MC7010V2.0.0B02 which I found from this awesome forum.
So I would like to make some questions if anyone can help me.
Which of the four firmwares should I prefer and why?
What about the administration web interface password after a successful firmware update?
What will be the administration IP address after a successful firmware update?
The software tools I found in androidhost.ru for firmware flashing, are they compatible with all four firmwares?
That's all for now... I'm happy to join this community and share valuable information.
I also have contacted the ZTE support via e-mail and I still have an open conversation with them based on my support request. Unfortunately the only advice ZTE gave me, is to return my device to the seller...