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Three 4G Plus Hub?

I'm looking to upgrade my Three 4G router now, which is Huawei B311 (pretty old)

They offer 2 routers 4G Hub and 4G Plus Hub for £14pm or £17pm respectively

The only difference I can see is the addition of 42 band, a frequency Three don't utilise anyway... And potentially something about 4x4 mimo which isn't mentioned on the Plus, but is on the Base

Now people have more experience of them, is there any benefit for paying the £72 extra (over 24mths) for the 4G Plus Hub

Am I better off just selling either Hub & buying a 3rd party one online
The only differance is the mobile app with the plus model, i have the standard 4G hub and it is great outside of threes shoddy network performance.
 
The only differance is the mobile app with the plus model, i have the standard 4G hub and it is great outside of threes shoddy network performance.
even then the ZTE is basically a B535 with B32 and no HuaCtrl
 
I do wish i had access to HuaCtrl, so i can turn band 20 off.
huactrl is just one reason I will forever use Huawei gear for anything 4G that isn't phones
 
I'm looking to upgrade my Three 4G router now, which is Huawei B311 (pretty old)

They offer 2 routers 4G Hub and 4G Plus Hub for £14pm or £17pm respectively

The only difference I can see is the addition of 42 band, a frequency Three don't utilise anyway... And potentially something about 4x4 mimo which isn't mentioned on the Plus, but is on the Base

Now people have more experience of them, is there any benefit for paying the £72 extra (over 24mths) for the 4G Plus Hub

Am I better off just selling either Hub & buying a 3rd party one online
What is the reason you're looking to upgrade - just that it's old?

Be aware that a new/different router may not bring any benefit at all; your mast and the network's bands/technology deployment on the mast drives everything you're able to leverage.
If you know your mast has more frequencies available then a different (higher CAT rated one) could give an improvement, particularly if it's Band 1 (personally I ignore Three's Band 20).

In the interface of your B311 does it show the Cell_ID somewhere (advanced>system info or something)? If you can find it then that can be used to look up on cellmapper to see if your mast has got Band 1 or not (assuming it's been mapped)
 
What is the reason you're looking to upgrade - just that it's old?

Be aware that a new/different router may not bring any benefit at all; your mast and the network's bands/technology deployment on the mast drives everything you're able to leverage.
If you know your mast has more frequencies available then a different (higher CAT rated one) could give an improvement, particularly if it's Band 1 (personally I ignore Three's Band 20).

In the interface of your B311 does it show the Cell_ID somewhere (advanced>system info or something)? If you can find it then that can be used to look up on cellmapper to see if your mast has got Band 1 or not (assuming it's been mapped)
Thank you, my cell id is 1429761

I shall look it up

An issue with the b311 is that it only a/b/g/n WiFi not the later versions, and I get severe lag spikes as other devices connect or disconnect, which is an annoyance but not a deal-breaker
 
Thank you, my cell id is 1429761

I shall look it up

An issue with the b311 is that it only a/b/g/n WiFi not the later versions, and I get severe lag spikes as other devices connect or disconnect, which is an annoyance but not a deal-breaker
That's fair enough, as you say, it is lacking somewhat on the WiFi side.

Looking up your cell ID, that mast (which is located just off the A6006 here :https://goo.gl/maps/E4i2Mh7dTKv2ksiU6) does seem to have only Band 3 for Three from the data that has been collated by cellmapper. There is a chance that there are more but no-one has collected/submitted data to cellmapper for it yet.

Given that, if you're intent is to stick with Three, then any 4G router that satisfies your needs on the WiFi side would suffice on the 4G side (99%+ support Band 3).

If you wanted to future proof a little, getting one that can aggregate Band 3 and Band 1 (and/or Band 28, though this is fairly new/rare) would be a good step up, for when those frequencies arrive, though how long that might be no-one knows (could be tomorrow, could be in 5 years!).

Going further you could consider a 5G unit but those are much more expensive and there is still no telling when 5G might come to your mast.
 
That's fair enough, as you say, it is lacking somewhat on the WiFi side.

Looking up your cell ID, that mast (which is located just off the A6006 here :https://goo.gl/maps/E4i2Mh7dTKv2ksiU6) does seem to have only Band 3 for Three from the data that has been collated by cellmapper. There is a chance that there are more but no-one has collected/submitted data to cellmapper for it yet.

Given that, if you're intent is to stick with Three, then any 4G router that satisfies your needs on the WiFi side would suffice on the 4G side (99%+ support Band 3).

If you wanted to future proof a little, getting one that can aggregate Band 3 and Band 1 (and/or Band 28, though this is fairly new/rare) would be a good step up, for when those frequencies arrive, though how long that might be no-one knows (could be tomorrow, could be in 5 years!).

Going further you could consider a 5G unit but those are much more expensive and there is still no telling when 5G might come to your mast.
Thanks
So I could just get a 2nd hand, now older Huawei 535 & be the same off as far as 4G connection is concerned but upgrade my WiFi, although the recommitment 'Black Friday' deal to a new contract could get me the new '4G Hub' router AND save me £7/m over my current rate & the new 4G Plus Hub won't be worth it to me?
 
Thanks
So I could just get a 2nd hand, now older Huawei 535 & be the same off as far as 4G connection is concerned but upgrade my WiFi, although the recommitment 'Black Friday' deal to a new contract could get me the new '4G Hub' router AND save me £7/m over my current rate & the new 4G Plus Hub won't be worth it to me?
Yes, an older/2nd hand router would be suitable.

As for whether that (2nd hand router and keep current contract rolling monthly) works out financially advantageous versus taking an upgrade/recontract with a new router is something you'll have to weigh up.
 
Hi as I'm looking to switch to 3's 4G hub this thread has been super helpful.

Does anyone know if I can use the 4G hub as a modem only, plugging it into my existing router?
Any advice on this would be greatly apprecaited.
 
Some 4G routers can be configured that way, depending on the product it may be called "bridge mode" or "pass through". In either case what it does is offer it's WAN IP address to your router, normally via DHCP. So it's not quite like a modem where you'd configure your router for PPPoE, but the end result is the same. One challenge is how or if you can still manage the 4G router in this configuration.

My experience with a Three branded B535 was that bridge mode was disabled, simply missing from the UI menus. I now use a Mikrotik which has much more sophisticated networking functionality. The LTE capabilities are less than some Huawei models but based on what's available from our mast that doesn't matter in our case.
 
I too replaced my old, and dead, Huawei LTE router with this 4G+ Set comm router from Three last week. Similarly I also have an external aerial mast with what was a very successful signal on the old router.

I live on a narrowboat, so the outside aerial is a must, but I have found that I get the same one bar signal with the outside aerial as I do with these stupid rabbit ear masts.
I have contacted Three’s Broadband support team to confirm that there are no configuration settings to cater for the outside aerial. The old LTE router had to be told that it had such a connection, but hunt as I did I couldn’t find any reference in any of the configuration pages on the supplied software.

I’m convinced that there must be a switch setting somewhere, but alas cannot find it, so I’m still getting -120db no matter what I do. I’ve even increased the height of the mast to no effect.

There’s no time here to go over the number of times Three have denied a problem for later the solution to present itself, so has anyone any suggestions that don’t necessarily mean scrapping the whole thing and throwing yet more cash at this problem?
 
I too replaced my old, and dead, Huawei LTE router with this 4G+ Set comm router from Three last week. Similarly I also have an external aerial mast with what was a very successful signal on the old router.

I live on a narrowboat, so the outside aerial is a must, but I have found that I get the same one bar signal with the outside aerial as I do with these stupid rabbit ear masts.
I have contacted Three’s Broadband support team to confirm that there are no configuration settings to cater for the outside aerial. The old LTE router had to be told that it had such a connection, but hunt as I did I couldn’t find any reference in any of the configuration pages on the supplied software.

I’m convinced that there must be a switch setting somewhere, but alas cannot find it, so I’m still getting -120db no matter what I do. I’ve even increased the height of the mast to no effect.

There’s no time here to go over the number of times Three have denied a problem for later the solution to present itself, so has anyone any suggestions that don’t necessarily mean scrapping the whole thing and throwing yet more cash at this problem?

If it’s anything like the three ZTE device I have then the modem inside the unit picks which antennas it wants to use with no user intervention possible
 
If it’s anything like the three ZTE device I have then the modem inside the unit picks which antennas it wants to use with no user intervention possible
So it’s back to Three’s so called support team then to try and convince them to swap it out for something that works

Plus . . . The App freezes most of the time too, so in the good old EBay review parlance ‘Avoid, Avoid, Avoid’.
 
Hi All,
Just thought i'd pop my head up and add a few comment on the pile of silicon and plastic squit that is the sercomm.

The speeds i get from only 2 bars of signal is pretty good (55-75Mb), with or without its rabbit ears, but where i really do have an issue is my asus nas box/server/streamer among other things cant even access the internet let alone let me access it remotely, also cant use teamviewer or an ipcam despite opening several ports.

Anyone use anything similar?

so a fun time ahead talking to 3's tech guys.....

Update:

Ok so spoke to a tech girl no less! who was alas no help because as she said they hadn't been trained on this router and it only came out this year.
obviously not realised this year has nearly passed her by.... she then gave me the contact info for Sercomm - yeah thanks one in America and the other she didn't say where...
And as a final gasp suggested i go on YouTube as she finds it very helpful.... What the..... So 3 it would seem don't even train their Indian staff on the tech that's supplied.

Thankfully this place exists and it's knowledgeable folk, so Ebay for a B535 by the looks of it
 
Last edited:
I guess the only real advantage here is the ability to utilise external antenna where as the ZTE atleast with three seems to not utilise external antennas. Seems the answer is to buy a Huawei router and then just pop the sim into that unless its easy enough to modify the ZTE or perhaps load it with other firmware to be able to utilise external antenna. Thoughts? It's ashame you can't send the ZTE back and get a couple of quid off towards buying your own router eh.
 
Hi All,

Sorry I see this thread is a bit dead however I receiver the Sercomm router with the 3 Mobile package. (long story short is that I cant get broadband to my house and 3 mobile had the best signal).

I am receiving on average 100Mbps which far exceed my exportations, however for some reason I cant see the 5gh band on my laptop and phone (both can receiver 5ghz signals). When looking at the app it refers to the "Main Wifi" in the menu so I have no idea what this is. However in the menu it mentions both 2.4ghz and 5ghz with an option to change the SSID of the "Main Wifi", not too sure if this is the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz . Not too sure if this is a device issue. Anybody having the same issues?

TIA
 
Hi All,

Sorry I see this thread is a bit dead however I receiver the Sercomm router with the 3 Mobile package. (long story short is that I cant get broadband to my house and 3 mobile had the best signal).

I am receiving on average 100Mbps which far exceed my exportations, however for some reason I cant see the 5gh band on my laptop and phone (both can receiver 5ghz signals). When looking at the app it refers to the "Main Wifi" in the menu so I have no idea what this is. However in the menu it mentions both 2.4ghz and 5ghz with an option to change the SSID of the "Main Wifi", not too sure if this is the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz . Not too sure if this is a device issue. Anybody having the same issues?

TIA
Sometimes they both work together on routers ie theyre two layers working along side one another and will switch between the two channels, if there's an option to turn one off turn off the 2.4ghz channel and 5ghz should be available also may want to check the bandwidth settings if available are compatible with your devices, usually start at 20mhz and go from there
 
Following on from Wod's comment, if you still can't see the 5ghz band with your client devices it's possible that the router is using a higher band. There are three 5ghz bands, A, B and C. A runs from channels 36-48, B runs from 49-139, C runs from 140 upwards. Until very recently, band C was not available for EU or UK regions and even recent devices won't see it. Older devices may not be able to use band B either. You should be able to check the wi-fi menus and change 5ghz from auto to manual. This will then offer you a choice of channels. Try one of the band A channels. If that works and you have a choice of band B channels swap to one of those and check again. If you live in a typical suburban neighbourhood band B will be less congested.
 
Hi All,

Sorry I see this thread is a bit dead however I receiver the Sercomm router with the 3 Mobile package. (long story short is that I cant get broadband to my house and 3 mobile had the best signal).

I am receiving on average 100Mbps which far exceed my exportations, however for some reason I cant see the 5gh band on my laptop and phone (both can receiver 5ghz signals). When looking at the app it refers to the "Main Wifi" in the menu so I have no idea what this is. However in the menu it mentions both 2.4ghz and 5ghz with an option to change the SSID of the "Main Wifi", not too sure if this is the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz . Not too sure if this is a device issue. Anybody having the same issues?

TIA
Hi Grant, Any chance you can post a speed test from speedtest.net as I live in a rural area that has 4G (not 5G) and am considering buying it? TIA
 
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