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ZTE MC888 vs Zyxel NR5103E

Nuno Gomes

Member
New user and a Luddite so be gentle!

I read this forum with interest and learned a lot. This was my first foray into 4g/5g hubs having lost the will to live with BT and the ongoing issues with my landline. Matters came to a head when my FTTC connection has been down for 6 months due to a vehicle wiping out the cabinet that supports my line.

So I committed to Three‘s home broadband. I live where the coverage for 4g is meant to be excellent and 5g for outdoors only. The cell ID is 261192. In reality I don’t see 5g on my phone and the 4g in my house is at best fair. So when contacting the local shop I was expecting them to provide a 4g hub but instead I was told I would be better off getting a 5g one so I was ‘future proof’. I had the Zyxel on an upstairs window closest to the mast but had a pretty ropey 4g signal through it (>110dbm) and no 5g. After a bit of experimenting I found by pointing the hub out of an open window I got a sketchy 5g signal (115-120+). Therefore I committed to an external antenna - Poynting XPOL-1-5G V2. This turned out to be useless giving me a worse signal than that through the open window. So decided to return the Zyxel And the antenna.

Surprisingly Three suggested I try the ZTE instead. What a difference! I am getting 5g in the same position without the need to open a window with a signal ranging between 108 to 118 dbm. Well pleased.
 
New user and a Luddite so be gentle!

I read this forum with interest and learned a lot. This was my first foray into 4g/5g hubs having lost the will to live with BT and the ongoing issues with my landline. Matters came to a head when my FTTC connection has been down for 6 months due to a vehicle wiping out the cabinet that supports my line.

So I committed to Three‘s home broadband. I live where the coverage for 4g is meant to be excellent and 5g for outdoors only. The cell ID is 261192. In reality I don’t see 5g on my phone and the 4g in my house is at best fair. So when contacting the local shop I was expecting them to provide a 4g hub but instead I was told I would be better off getting a 5g one so I was ‘future proof’. I had the Zyxel on an upstairs window closest to the mast but had a pretty ropey 4g signal through it (>110dbm) and no 5g. After a bit of experimenting I found by pointing the hub out of an open window I got a sketchy 5g signal (115-120+). Therefore I committed to an external antenna - Poynting XPOL-1-5G V2. This turned out to be useless giving me a worse signal than that through the open window. So decided to return the Zyxel And the antenna.

Surprisingly Three suggested I try the ZTE instead. What a difference! I am getting 5g in the same position without the need to open a window with a signal ranging between 108 to 118 dbm. Well pleased.
Welcome along to the forums Nuno Gomes.

There's a few of our users say that they get better results with the ZTE and also the other way round as well. :rolleyes:

I had the ZTE previously but found the Zyxel a little better but not by a huge amount.

Glad it worked out for you with the ZTE, what speeds are you achieving?

Scratch that, I just noticed that you're referring to the MC888 and not the MC801A.

I should have gone to Spec Savers. 🤓 😊
 
Ranges from about 40 Meg in the evening to 200+ in the early hours. I know it may not be megga but compared to my FTTC of 40-50 I am well satisfied.
 

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I recently bought an MC888, in fact I bought 3 and sent 2 back, due to disconnection issues, which I think I've sorted out now. I also use mine for 4g only, like you, I have no 5g in my very rural location.
I bought it to take over main internet duty from my Huawei B818 263 (Scancom EE SIM), load balanced with a Three SIM card, which is now in the B818.
It gives me between 40 (mid afternoon) and 150mbps (sparrows fart), with a very usable 70/80 - ish in the evening for streaming, and that's 10 miles from the mast.
The disconnects lasted for about 30 seconds, and happened every 3 or 4 hours, and funnily enough only happened with my EE SIM and I think what eventually fixed it was setting it to connect to 4g only.
I find the cell locking feature invaluable, with today's crappy weather, it would have real trouble sticking to the cell(s) which give me the best speeds, without cell locking, and instead of getting the 40 odd mbps I'm getting this afternoon, it'd be nearer to 10 or 15.

(Just re - read your post properly, and you most certainly do have 5g).
 
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would be interested to know from others too who have tried or using both these routers. I have recently signed up for business broadband and 3 have sent me ZTE MC801a, that too doesn't look new (scratch marks). I am planning to send that one back and ask if they can send me MC888 else I will cancel the contract.
 
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got a 3 branded mc888 from ebay - the admin interface is locked - the username for login is now user!!!
has anyone able to over come this?
 
Hi everyone!

I ordered my Three 5G broadband less than a month ago. A few days ago I spotted they didn't send me the router they advertise, "the big one". They sent me the ZTE mc888 insted so I got upset thinking I could get a better router but they sent me the cheap one insted. I work remotely from home and I need real time interaction dor this. The case is I've been doing some test with the ZTE mc888 and placed it close to window. The download speed is food for me the upload isn't that great but enough. The weirdest think for me (Idk too much about devices networks etc) is if I place the router inside home the upload speed goes up and the download speed goes down and the opposite if I place it close to the window. Anyway installation very easy no problems with the conection like down times or anything so far. I attached a pic of the speed test, I'm in NW8 London where I think the 5g coverage is good. Anyone think I should complain and ask for the bigger router?
The upload went to 150mg/s If I place it inside but download goes down like 150/250 mg/s

Thank you!
 

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