Sponsored Links

Upgrade from Archer MR600 to a HUAWEI LTE CPE B818-263?

Jabra

Regular Member
I'm thinking of giving the Huawei 818 a go but the only stock available on Amazon is the Indonesian Version. I don't suppose anyone has any experience of using this version or would know if it will work just the same as a uk one?

I'm currently using an Archer MR600 combined with a Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 and my average speed during the day is between 19Mbps and 30Mbps. Later in the evening 40 - 50. Best i've seen was 76Mbps but that seemed like a one off.

I live out in rural devon my closest mast is just under a mile and a half away. If it wasn't for a slight hill infront of my bungalow, I'd actually have direct sight to it. Vodafone give me the best speeds (aftyer trying a few). Our Bungalow sits 153ft above sea level (I've spent too much time researching this stuff lol) and the mast sits at 96ft. I've attached a pic.

My signal readings look like this, with the current set up.

RSRP-109dBm > -94dBm
RSPQ-11dB > -8DB
SNR 6.4dB > 8dB

4G has been a god send as without it we get max 0.5Mbps. And that's to be shared between a family of 6!

I'm hoping that spending that little more on the new 818 is that I may just get a more stable connection (had a couple of drops over the 5 days i've been running it).

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-11-20 at 14.40.32.png
    Screenshot 2020-11-20 at 14.40.32.png
    115.7 KB · Views: 157
Last edited:
Here is one non-indo, the indo doesn't cover as many bands, though it may work .

What speeds do you get outside with that sim in your phone? The b818 has a high cat19 lte modem inside, similar to newish smartphones, hence my question.
Thanks for the reply and the info on the router. Glad I didn't impusle buy.

Outside (if I walk 5-7 m from my house) I can get 20Mbps. Just outside I'll get around 9/10Mbps.

My phone isn't new though. iPhone SE (1st ed). My wife has an iPhone 7. Worth trying in that?

Cell mapper says the mast i.d is: eNB ID 10579 - LTE incase that helps at all.

Just to that my speed and signal improved when I combined the router with the Poynting (I was lucky enough to pick them both up for under £150.). The signal readings constantly change though.
 
Sponsored Links
Iphone 7 is lte cat 9 and can aggregate 3 bands, it's probably much better than the archer, worth trying. If it gives you better speeds then b818 should be at least as good.
 
I've run a few test around the property and the best I can get on the iphone 7 is around 14.

I came inside and ran a test on router and it gave me 22 > 26Mbps

I think I was actually getting better speeds than the iPhone without the extrenal antenna.
 
Do you know what cell ID you're connected to on the eNB? Looks like the mast has both B20 and B1, but depending if you're able to connect to B1 or not would be the determining factor if you can get an improved speed with a different router that can aggregate the bands.

The antenna you have, being omni-directional, isn't the best for improving signal metrics (compared to a directional one) as they aren't focused and generally don't give as large a gain.

For any speed testing I highly recommend using an ethernet connected computer to ensure WiFi fluctuations aren't playing a part.
 
Sponsored Links
Do you know what cell ID you're connected to on the eNB? Looks like the mast has both B20 and B1, but depending if you're able to connect to B1 or not would be the determining factor if you can get an improved speed with a different router that can aggregate the bands.

The antenna you have, being omni-directional, isn't the best for improving signal metrics (compared to a directional one) as they aren't focused and generally don't give as large a gain.

For any speed testing I highly recommend using an ethernet connected computer to ensure WiFi fluctuations aren't playing a part.
Thanks for the help.

How would I find out what cell ID i'm connected to? Is that the bands?
I'm connected to B1 & B20 if so.

I was really torn between directional and omni. Went for omni in the end because a chap near me was selling for £45 so thought i'd give it a bash. I also assumed that because I have that hill in the way (and therefore no line of sight) it wouldn't give me the best results.

Glad to hear it may be worth giving one a shot though.

I've used Speedtest which is built onto the router for testing. I'm guessing that should be pretty accurate?
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-11-20 at 21.11.01 copy.jpg
    Screenshot 2020-11-20 at 21.11.01 copy.jpg
    29.5 KB · Views: 184
I'm confused how you can be connected to B1 and B20 with the MR6400 because I believe that's a CAT4 device and so can't aggregate bands.

But if you are already aggregating both bands then a different router is unlikely to give any improvement, a directional antenna might improve the radio statistics but that won't necessarily improve speeds.

Speedtest through the in-built UI is probably fine at those speeds, but at higher speeds the processing speed of the router might hamper the reported speed.
 
I'm confused how you can be connected to B1 and B20 with the MR6400 because I believe that's a CAT4 device and so can't aggregate bands.

But if you are already aggregating both bands then a different router is unlikely to give any improvement, a directional antenna might improve the radio statistics but that won't necessarily improve speeds.

Speedtest through the in-built UI is probably fine at those speeds, but at higher speeds the processing speed of the router might hamper the reported speed.
Whoops...

It's Archer MR600. Sorry guys. I'ts been a long couple of days. I've amended the title.

I'm really happy with the speeds. Especially compared to what we used to have. I'd just like to have a more secure connection. As mentioned it has dropped a couple of times. And last night I lost the 4G+ signal and all the bars for a few minuites. So that was a little worrying.

I'd also love to ditch my Sky contract as we're paying fibre prices for a stone age connection. If I can rely on this connection then we're laughing! :)

No ones in a rush to get real fibre out to us so these new 4G unlimited plans (for a relatively reasonable cost)) have been a real life saver. Especially with working from home.
 
Last edited:
Whoops...

It's Archer MR600. Sorry guys. I'ts been a long couple of days. I've amended the title.

I'm really happy with the speeds. Especially compared to what we used to have. I'd just like to have a more secure connection. As mentioned it has dropped a couple of times. And last night I lost the 4G+ signal and all the bars for a few minuites. So that was a little worrying.

I'd also love to ditch my Sky contract as we're paying fibre prices for a stone age connection. If I can rely on this connection then we're laughing! :)

No ones in a rush to get real fibre out to us so these new 4G unlimited plans (for a relatively reasonable cost)) have been a real life saver. Especially with working from home.

Having started using 4G for our primary connection initially with an MR600 and then testing a B535 before now settling on a B818 - can highly recommend the B818.

Found the B818 to boost speeds & consistency vs the 535 and especially the MR600 and when teamed with an external antenna now delivers a reliable 70-73Mbps downstream and 27-30Mbps up.

With the routers in the same position (prior to adding the antenna), the MR600 was delivering around 15-18Mbps upstream compared to about 20ish from the 535 and 25 from the 818. Adding the antenna (same as yours) improved consistency & boosted downstream speeds. Only thing to note is that you'll need a pair of adapters for the antenna as the 818 uses TS9 fittings - we're using a couple of these: https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/28550-solwise-adap-ts9-smaskt/

Speedtest from this morning: https://www.nperf.com/en/r/3288275947912249-FOsJgWO1
 
Sponsored Links
@tims20 do you know if the MR600 and B818 are using the same bands (and mast) when comparing? If not then it might not be a fair comparison - the B818 might be aggregating 3 (or more, up to 5) bands whereas the MR600 can only do 2 at most. The OP's mast only has 2 bands to start with, so there aren't more bands available that a higher CAT device could use.

Also, the B818 can do 4x4 MIMO on its internal antennas, which would see an uplift download speeds providing the signal metrics we're at a suitable level (doubling the theoretical speed) - I think by using an external antenna this will be limited back to 2x2 (I don't think internal antennas get used simultaneously with external ones).
 
@tims20 do you know if the MR600 and B818 are using the same bands (and mast) when comparing? If not then it might not be a fair comparison - the B818 might be aggregating 3 (or more, up to 5) bands whereas the MR600 can only do 2 at most. The OP's mast only has 2 bands to start with, so there aren't more bands available that a higher CAT device could use.

Also, the B818 can do 4x4 MIMO on its internal antennas, which would see an uplift download speeds providing the signal metrics we're at a suitable level (doubling the theoretical speed) - I think by using an external antenna this will be limited back to 2x2 (I don't think internal antennas get used simultaneously with external ones).
Same mast, not sure about the bands.
Interesting point on 4x4 MIMO - was under the impression it would either use internal or external, not both. Performance was good with just the internal antenna but it's definitely more consistent with just the external {shrug}!
 
I should have added that it would depend if the mast is 4x4 enabled. If it's only 2x2 then a router with more isn't going to bring any benefit.
 
Thanks for that info tims20. I'd be interested to know if your mast is 4x4 enabled also.

Right now, as I type this my connection has dropped to just 4G. I thought the later it got, the more it would improve (less people using the mast, reduced noise?). Where as earlier on in the afternoon I was downloading at 40-50Mbps.

My next nearest masts are over 3 miles away and signal was pretty poor. I used to be on the three network that one of them uses and the speeds were worse than my fibre connection.

I've attached two pics of my router stats. One taken just a few minutes ago and the other on Wednesday around the same time (weather conditions are very similar, clear night no rain around 11 degrees). The router and antenna are in the same position for both.

You can see what I mean about the connection being unstable.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-11-18 at 02.09.58.png
    Screenshot 2020-11-18 at 02.09.58.png
    64.3 KB · Views: 196
  • Screenshot 2020-11-22 at 01.20.08 copy.jpg
    Screenshot 2020-11-22 at 01.20.08 copy.jpg
    29.5 KB · Views: 244
Sponsored Links
I've added the 2nd image. Sorry, hadn't noticed that the file size was too large.

I'm coming at this as a complete novice (who's done a little internet homework). So when I say unstable, I'm taking about the fluctuations in the readings. But perhaps they aren't that unusual?

However, In the new image provided you can see my signal dropped to zero. The signal noise decreased from 14.0 to -3.8 (compared to the reading from a few days prior, at the same time of day etc) and that left me me a 3G connection (for around 5 minutes) during a time I would have expecting the best results.

The signal quality is the one constant high point. Even though it changes as often as the other readings, It's always sat in the good to excellent range.

I should emphasise that most of the time everything seems fine (other than changes in the download/upload speeds). I've only ever noticed one occasion when I lost complete connection the internet.
 
Last edited:
There is always some fluctuation in the metrics, however the drop to 0 signal and negative SINR to me are a bit concerning. Does that happen a lot?
Are you able to verify the antenna cable connections? Or even perhaps try it for a while without an antenna to see if that continues.

The quality metric isn't really key - RSRP (power) and SINR are usually more important.
 
I've only noticed it drop twice to 0% Last night, and the night before. Strangely, on both occasions it was around 2am. I've had the routers home page open since buying and most of the time the signal sits at 50% Later in the evening it will often stay on 75%. 100%, again, only noticed that happen twice.

RSRP is where I suffer the most. Best i've recorded was at -92dBm which I know isn't great. Best SNR recorded was 15dB.

I had the router for around a week without the external antenna and it didn't perform as well. At a basic level, rather than having 1 or 2 lights on the front of the router it would always just sit at 1.

Everything is connected nice and tightly on both the router and antenna.

Just to say, I ran another quick test. Had my wifes phone just outside the window nearest the antenna and got 20Mbps. At the same time the router reached 13. Faster ping on the router 30 > 67ms
 
Last edited:
I recently tried exactly the same as my MR600 seems to require a reboot every couple of days. I went for the B818-263. I would not recommend ditching your 600 unless you are having problems with it.

Setup with the 818 was not straightforward (language setting aside).

The Huawei mobile app is buggy - It was reporting an error when I was creating the connection profile but when I later logged in to the device through the web GUI, it had indeed been working as there were numerous duplicate profiles. It took about 30 minutes of fiddling before the B818 would actually let me connect to the internet.

The B818 has an unusual external antenna connection so I could not use my poynting with SMA connectors, which is installed in the loft (not outside).

My speed dropped from a fairly consistent 40/20 with the MR600 (similar speeds on my mobile phone) to 15/20 with the B818.

I found the web gui to be relatively awful, although there's not much to be said for the Archer either in that regard.

I did not test WiFi performance as I use separate access points attached to my main router.

I shall be returning the B818.
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5467)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2523)
  4. Openreach (2290)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2233)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1778)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1607)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules