ZTE MC801A Review

[Mark.J]

Three has confirmed that they're aware of the issue and are working on a fix, but did not provide an ETA (I'm pressing for one). In the meantime, they added that 4G should still work.

 

[The Wee Bear]

Here's A little summary from Mark about the current three 5G router problems folks, just in case you may have missed it.

Router Problems

 

[Zygorf]

Another update, this morning my router had been rolled back to firmware BD_UKH3GMC801AV1.0.0B04

This now means the router connects back to 5g (band 78) but still not getting pre-bug full 5g speeds

 

[Mark.J]

Anybody else seeing the rollback?

 

[brookheather]

The router I received yesterday on the B04 firmware is now picking up a good 5G signal so it looks like Three had turned off 5G for this model yesterday and have now re-enabled it after pushing out the firmware downgrade.

 

[sammyelrefee]

Awaiting the rollback. Tried a manual update to no joy no update found.Hopefully overnight tonight maybe?

 

[JamJar]

I was alerted by my household on Saturday 7 May morning the internet is flaky, and when I looked at the router the network light was flashing blue>white>blue every second or half second. I logged into the ZTE admin web UI and was shown a pop-up 'Update successful'. Hmm thats strange, I'm sure I switched 'Auto Check for updates' to off. Noticed from the Detailed Info I am on the B07 firmware, so I immediately suspected this was related to my recent problem.

The network info page on the web UI was not showing any data/values for the 5G section, whereas previously I had stuff like Connected Band: N78, 5G SINR 11.5 DB etc.

I went from around 250Mbps to about 1 or 2 Mbps! It was excruciating as it was now my main and only home internet service.

I tried all the usual troubleshooting like reinsert SIM, restart, and then eventually even a factory reset using the pin hole at the bottom, but it did not make a difference.

I called Three on Sunday and was on the line for about an hour and was passed around various people. I told them the issues happened straight after the B07 update and was told they will get back to me within 7 days with an update with a resolution.

I logged into the web ui today and saw another 'update successful' alert message. Checked the software version and I am back on B04 firmware and my 5G connection is solid again and as good as it was previously (actually even slightly better).

Thanks to Mark and the team on ispreview for raising awareness and pressuring Three into at least in the interim rolling back the buggy firmware.

 

[James7921]

Strange how some are being rolled back to B04 as mine still shows the current buggy B07. I’ve checked to see if there’s a firmware update and it gives me the following message I’m already using the latest version. I still have no 5G connectivity and it’s bouncing from 4G & 4G+ every 1-2 seconds. Has anyone else’s firmware been rolled back?

 

[Edd28887]

I can confirm than my ZTE was on B04 until the weekend. Over the weekend my speeds dropped to 1-10mb. I noticed that my firmware 'updated' to B07. I've just logged on now and my router is back to Firmware B04 with 5g speeds of 300mb. (Same as before the weekend.) Thanks for highlighting the issue Mark.

 

[Barns]

I can confirm than my ZTE was on B04 until the weekend. Over the weekend my speeds dropped to 1-10mb. I noticed that my firmware 'updated' to B07. I've just logged on now and my router is back to Firmware B04 with 5g speeds of 300mb. (Same as before the weekend.) Thanks for highlighting the issue Mark.

Same here - just been able to look at my hub and it's back to B04 again (updated 3:40am today) and speeds back up to 350+Mbps (were at 10-60Mbps variable since Monday whilst on the B07 firmware).

Edit: forgot to mention, I had to reboot the hub to get it to connect to the 5G speeds, it didn't connect automatically after getting the new/old B04 firmware update.

 

[craigh]

I'm back to normal now. I tried a firmware upgrade and it said none available. I rebooted the router and the 5G to 4G+ to 4G issue was back again! So, I tried an update again and it said an update was already active. I then got kicked off wifi and the router lights went out, then flashed white: wifi=>network=>signal for 2 or 3 minutes. After that, the firmware was updated/downgraded to 0B04. Hey presto, 5G back to usual pre-firmware debacle speeds.

So, if you still have the issue and the firmware is still reporting v B07, try a reboot and watch the lights on your router to see if it goes into update mode.

Good luck!

 

[craigh]

Anecdotally, I'd say that firmware caused the router to not be able to lock to 5G, so rotated to 4G+, then 4G, then retried 5G again, causing really poor speeds. Three then switched the network to ignore 5G requests from the specific router model (or sim?), thus providing stable, but slower 4G speeds. They then released an updated/downgraded firmware and allowed 5G connections to the network again.

Just my theory, of course.

The thing that grinds my gears is that three didn't communicate the issue to its customers, call centre staff or social media staff, so we were all getting duff info for 48 hours.

 

[sammyelrefee]

Rollback completed issue resolved. Thanks Mark you've been brilliant on the ball with this one

 

[flyingguy]

I plugged my router in today having taken it with me on a trip, was running fine then noticed I was kicked off the WiFi. Saw the lights were cycling on and off one by one. Did the instinctive thing of unplugging and when I plugged it back in only the power light is coming on, tried resetting a few times and nothing. Have I bricked it mid update? In my defence I had no idea it was doing an update! I've not got a an ethernet lead with me so can't see if I can get to the interface or not. Any ideas?

 

[James7921]

I can confirm after a simple reboot, lo and behold my hub goes into update mode. After a few minutes of the lights flashing on and off, I’m now using version B04 and can finally connect to 5G.

Thank you @craigh for such a simple but overlooked solution to fix this.

 

[Ryanc1995]

I plugged my router in today having taken it with me on a trip, was running fine then noticed I was kicked off the WiFi. Saw the lights were cycling on and off one by one. Did the instinctive thing of unplugging and when I plugged it back in only the power light is coming on, tried resetting a few times and nothing. Have I bricked it mid update? In my defence I had no idea it was doing an update! I've not got a an ethernet lead with me so can't see if I can get to the interface or not. Any ideas?

I'm currently suffering from the same issue, I only have the power light on the device and doing the standard power off/on does nothing and neither does the hard reset using a pin on the bottom of the router, I've spoken with the technical team on the phone 3 times now and have been given nothing but "we'll pass it on and someone will get back to you" which is frustrating to say the least

 

[flyingguy]

I'm currently suffering from the same issue, I only have the power light on the device and doing the standard power off/on does nothing and neither does the hard reset using a pin on the bottom of the router, I've spoken with the technical on the team 3 times now and have been given nothing but "we'll pass it on and someone will get back to you" which is frustrating to say the least

Glad to know it's not just me! Let me know if you hear anything, the best route I've found is to start ranting on twitter. They don't like bad publicity.

 

[Ryanc1995]

Glad to know it's not just me! Let me know if you hear anything, the best route I've found is to start ranting on twitter. They don't like bad publicity.

I'm currently going to the store to see if they can offer any sort of further assistance as I feel I'm getting nowhere with telephone support so I'll keep you updated on what they say.

 

[Ryanc1995]

Glad to know it's not just me! Let me know if you hear anything, the best route I've found is to start ranting on twitter. They don't like bad publicity.

Sorry for the double reply but just been in store and they have exchanged the router to one that is working fine, all I took in was my router/power cable and sim with the receipt they tested it there and exchanged it on the spot when they saw it was faulty, they also tested the new one in store whilst there to make sure there was no issues... Hope this helps!

 

[flyingguy]

Sorry for the double reply but just been in store and they have exchanged the router to one that is working fine, all I took in was my router/power cable and sim with the receipt they tested it there and exchanged it on the spot when they saw it was faulty, they also tested the new one in store whilst there to make sure there was no issues... Hope this helps!

I might do the same, which branch did you go to? I haven't got a receipt though, what did you provide?