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ZTE MC7010 External Router or Zyxel NR5103e + External Antenna for Rural location?

markie

Casual Member
I have spent countless hours reading various threads on this forum but am still unsure of what to do for the best, so thought I'd post in here.

I live in rural Norfolk so normal broadband is terrible. Currently have Starlink satellite broadband, which is very good, but the £75 a month cost is very expensive and the reason I'm looking at alternatives.

Having bought several PAYG sims to test speeds, Three seems to give the best signal in my location and was the only one to give 5G, despite not being in a 5G location according to the Three coverage map. It varies quite a bit but I have seen speeds into the low 300s, but it seems to average about 150, albeit the upload speed seems poor, sometimes 3-4 but normally between 1-2. This was tested with me holding a phone outside of the upstairs window, as inside speeds are a lot less with no 5G. Don't know why the upload speed is so poor compared to the download?

I seem to have narrowed it down to the following:

1) ZTE 7010 External 5G router - can this be connected straight to my Tp-Link Decos to act as the router?

2) Zyxel NR5103E with Poynting 4x4 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41)

3) Zyxel NR5103EV2 with 2x2 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1 V2)

Any suggestions on which would be most stable and suitable for my needs? Thank you.
 
Last edited:
I have spent countless hours reading various threads on this forum but am still unsure of what to do for the best, so thought I'd post in here.

I live in rural Norfolk so normal broadband is terrible. Currently have Starlink satellite broadband, which is very good, but the £75 a month cost is very expensive and the reason I'm looking at alternatives.

Having bought several PAYG sims to test speeds, Three seems to give the best signal in my location and was the only one to give 5G, despite not being in a 5G location according to the Three coverage map. It varies quite a bit but I have seen speeds into the low 300s, but it seems to average about 150, albeit the upload speed seems poor, sometimes 3-4 but normally between 1-2. This was tested with me holding a phone outside of the upstairs window, as inside speeds are a lot less with no 5G. Don't know why the upload speed is so poor compared to the download?

I seem to have narrowed it down to the following:

1) ZTE 7010 External 5G router - can this be connected straight to my Tp-Link Decos to act as the router?

2) Zyxel NR5103E with Poynting 4x4 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41)

3) Zyxel NR5103EV2 with 2x2 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1 V2)

Any suggestions on which would be most stable and suitable for my needs? Thank you.
What is your signal stats? Can you open the app netmonster and send a screenshot?

I normally recommend the outdoor router, but there may be a case here for a directional antenna. Of course, you could always also put the zte in an old parabolic.
Can you share an approx post code to see the masts in your area?

Do test EE as well via 1pmobile payg sim, who knows.
 
After working for several weeks with the Zyxel NR5103E + Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41 the speeds I get are good (~400/15Mbps), but it's really unstable, especially when connecting to more than 10 devices + connecting to external router (in my case it's the ZenWiFi Pro XT12 mesh system with 2 nodes).

I am still trying to find a better alternative, as I need this for work from home and it's critical.

I have seen recommendations for the ZTE MC7010, and I think this is what I'm going to try next, but am trying to find something even better (I care less about the price here, since I need it for work).

Hope that helps.
 
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After working for several weeks with the Zyxel NR5103E + Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41 the speeds I get are good (~400/15Mbps), but it's really unstable, especially when connecting to more than 10 devices + connecting to external router (in my case it's the ZenWiFi Pro XT12 mesh system with 2 nodes).

I am still trying to find a better alternative, as I need this for work from home and it's critical.

I have seen recommendations for the ZTE MC7010, and I think this is what I'm going to try next, but am trying to find something even better (I care less about the price here, since I need it for work).

Hope that helps.
Sounds like maybe you need to get some qos.
 
Sounds like maybe you need to get some qos.
I did in bridge mode using the ZenWiFi Pro XT12 QoS capabilities, with no good. Even without bridge mode where I can connect to each of them separately, when there is no internet it's apply to both, even when the NR5103E shows he is well connected (i.e. I'm connecting directly to the NR5103E and get no internet, while it shows the cellular signals are good).
 
I have done my own research on this. Bought all the equipment to test.

1) ZTE 7010 External 5G router - this was really bad for me. Poor speeds (approx 10th of what I got with the stuff below. Wasn't impressed at all. Will be sending back for a refund.

2) Zyxel NR5103E with Poynting 4x4 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41). Upload speed slightly better by 1 to 2 mbps compared to the Poynting 5G-XPOL-1 V2, but download speeds slightly lower.

3) Zyxel NR5103EV2 with Poynting 5G-XPOL-1 V2 . This seemed to be the best overall for higher download speeds (not by much though) but slightly lower upload speeds.

To be honest, either option 2 or 3 would have been fine but have decided to go for option 3, return the Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41 and keep Zyxel NR5103E as a spare.

I am averaging 150ish download and about 9-10 mbps upload, sometimes downloads can go between 300-400 at rare times - it does vary a lot - but this will be more than adequate for my needs and much cheaper than Starlink - approx £15 a month compared to £75.
 
I have spent countless hours reading various threads on this forum but am still unsure of what to do for the best, so thought I'd post in here.

I live in rural Norfolk so normal broadband is terrible. Currently have Starlink satellite broadband, which is very good, but the £75 a month cost is very expensive and the reason I'm looking at alternatives.

Having bought several PAYG sims to test speeds, Three seems to give the best signal in my location and was the only one to give 5G, despite not being in a 5G location according to the Three coverage map. It varies quite a bit but I have seen speeds into the low 300s, but it seems to average about 150, albeit the upload speed seems poor, sometimes 3-4 but normally between 1-2. This was tested with me holding a phone outside of the upstairs window, as inside speeds are a lot less with no 5G. Don't know why the upload speed is so poor compared to the download?

I seem to have narrowed it down to the following:

1) ZTE 7010 External 5G router - can this be connected straight to my Tp-Link Decos to act as the router?

2) Zyxel NR5103E with Poynting 4x4 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41)

3) Zyxel NR5103EV2 with 2x2 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1 V2)

Any suggestions on which would be most stable and suitable for my needs? Thank you.
Markie,

I am also in Norfolk and have 5G running quite succesfully. I have tested various indoor products (Zyxel 5101 and 5103V2) and several outdoor. Currently have a Zyxel NR7101 as permanent connection and been testing an outdoor TP Link NE210 side by side. Speeds do vary but on average get 100+ down at peak and up to 250 when the mast is quiet. I am 2.5 miles from the mast without direct line of sight. All the devices tested have been in passthrough mode connecting into my Draytek Vigor through the WAN.

From the sound of things, you could do with an externally mounted modem which is then cabled back to the router indoors. Happy to chat about this via DM as this is part of what i do for a living.
 
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I have spent countless hours reading various threads on this forum but am still unsure of what to do for the best, so thought I'd post in here.

I live in rural Norfolk so normal broadband is terrible. Currently have Starlink satellite broadband, which is very good, but the £75 a month cost is very expensive and the reason I'm looking at alternatives.

Having bought several PAYG sims to test speeds, Three seems to give the best signal in my location and was the only one to give 5G, despite not being in a 5G location according to the Three coverage map. It varies quite a bit but I have seen speeds into the low 300s, but it seems to average about 150, albeit the upload speed seems poor, sometimes 3-4 but normally between 1-2. This was tested with me holding a phone outside of the upstairs window, as inside speeds are a lot less with no 5G. Don't know why the upload speed is so poor compared to the download?

I seem to have narrowed it down to the following:

1) ZTE 7010 External 5G router - can this be connected straight to my Tp-Link Decos to act as the router?

2) Zyxel NR5103E with Poynting 4x4 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1-V2-41)

3) Zyxel NR5103EV2 with 2x2 external antenna (Poynting 5G-XPOL-1 V2)

Any suggestions on which would be most stable and suitable for my needs? Thank you.
A quick update if you didn’t purchase anything yet, as said since we needed this for work from home, I decided to buy something a little bit more pricey.

After reading many reviews, I went with the Spitz AX (GL-X3000), so far without external antenna and in a much lower position, with the same sim, I get much more stable results in terms of signal and much higher upload speed ~30Mbps and downloads of ~180Mbps.

I didn’t had time to test it, this is all with the plug & play auto configuration (I even didn’t needed to input manual APN settings), so I’m pretty amazed. In addition, it covers the entire house without the need for the mesh system.

I’ll try to update after a week or so if you interested.

Note there was a 30% discount in Amazon so it was only 342 GBP.
 
After reading many reviews, I went with the Spitz AX (GL-X3000), so far without external antenna and in a much lower position, with the same sim, I get much more stable results in terms of signal and much higher upload speed ~30Mbps and downloads of ~180Mbps.

I’ll try to update after a week or so if you interested.

By all means, keep us updated and good luck. :)
 
Markie,

I am also in Norfolk and have 5G running quite succesfully. I have tested various indoor products (Zyxel 5101 and 5103V2) and several outdoor. Currently have a Zyxel NR7101 as permanent connection and been testing an outdoor TP Link NE210 side by side. Speeds do vary but on average get 100+ down at peak and up to 250 when the mast is quiet. I am 2.5 miles from the mast without direct line of sight. All the devices tested have been in passthrough mode connecting into my Draytek Vigor through the WAN.

From the sound of things, you could do with an externally mounted modem which is then cabled back to the router indoors. Happy to chat about this via DM as this is part of what i do for a living.
@ninja365

Out of interest have you tested a zte mc7101 and how does that compare to indoor routers such as the NR5101. Does the 5101 and 5103v2 differ much?
 
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