Huawei B818-263 Cat 19 4G Router

Firegod

Firegod

Firegod

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Just a real quick post.

I moved 2 days ago from the TP-Link Cat 6 Archer MR600 to the Huawei B818-263 Cat 19 router.

I was previously seeing around 60 down. Recently it was a bit faster. EE must have put an extra hamster into the wheel... :) The B818-263 has been priced mid £250ish mark but it was (still is?) now available at £180. I hopefully have a buyer lined up for the MR600, so really the switch has cost me just over £100.

This is the result of the speed test. Please note, I'm hooked up to a beefier aerial (still in doors though). Router has full signal and is placed in the loft.



Pleased with that! I don't game online so for me ping is fine.

Now interface wise, the TP-Link router is miles better. The Huawei in comparison is limited. For example, I'm yet to see how to set preferred DNS IPs in the DHCP/LAN section. So I have to set these locally on the NIC. And the menus just seem sparse in comparison. But for me, someone who just needs to plug it in, get assigned an IP, and who wants the quickest speed then the Huawei is perfect. I think if you wanted to start to get fancy then people may find it lacking.

And all you get in the box is the router, and a power lead. Not even a network cable. :eek:
 
LabR@t said:
Window is recommend placement isn't it?
Click to expand...

Yeah for sure, windows usually, or height. I live in a bungalow so the loft actually gave me 100% signal. Weird! Thankfully the loft is all boarded out so it's on a nice shelf. And the aerial is attached on one of the beams. Works well. I had it in most rooms and I was fluctuating between 50-75% signal.
 
LabR@t said:
Nice, thinking of going down this route myself.
Click to expand...

I certainly think its worthwhile but just the ping for online gaming may but some off. I'm currently trying to work out how to improve the WiFi. I have two AC1200 Mesh WiFi plugs. I've switched them from Mesh to High Speed mode so basically they are just two range extenders now with their own SSIDs. I'm just wondering if I'd be better changing them for Powerlines that then also repeat the WiFi. I read that normal WiFi range extenders lose bandwidth. And as the Huawei doesn't support Mesh natively I'm at a cross roads. Or, do I bridge the Huawei into a newer WiFi 6 Router and use that to send out the WiFi signal instead? Probably more expensive and as I have no WiFi 6 devices, seems a waste. I'm leaning towards the Powerline idea. I already use the regular Powerlines for my TV's / PC etc.
 
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Interested to here how this is going? As i have been looking at the Huawei B818-263 Cat 19 router myself.

i am currently using a Netgear Nighthawk MR1100 Cat 16 Running on EE connected up to a TPlink Archer C3200 which everything connects up to. Prior to this i had been using a TPlink MR200 on its own had to move it around the house for coverage though. The archer C3200 with MIMO and beamfroming helps loads with coverage

Worth noting that EE have reduced their fair usage policy to 600GB down from 1000GB, had a letter as i regular exceeded 1000Gb with a family of 5 :D might have to move back to Three although the kid moaned about rubber banding in games with three...
 
Also interested to refresh my knowledge.
Moving to a semi-rural place with no Virgin Media and BT speeds (and other providers) only promise up to 50-60Mbps.
I did do a rush spec for a site I used to work on using a Teltonika 945 (or similar model) and an omni aerial, I got internet where the "profesional" couldn't saving a 200m+ run of cat5, and never any complaints to me about it - this was 3 years a go now, or maybe 4.

I was looking at the MR600 but a review says it's incapable to connect to the three 4g+ network, so wary of limitations it may have.
 
50-60Mbps on FTTC is a perfectly fine connection, I doubt the overall experience offered by 4G is going to be worth it.
 
I've just got the Mikrotik Chateau 12lte and with a 3 sim (not good indoor coverage, 2 bars) I can play BFV better than on my VM 200mb connection recently and the 4G is anything from 15 to 35Mbps.
 
picked up a huawei 5g cpe pro 2 to replace the M1 Nighthawk as im pretty sure the M1 isn't made for 24/7 usage that it has been doing for the last year and a bit. Requires turning off to cool down every now and then.

only question now is can the huawei 5g cpe pro 2 replace both the M1 & the Archer C3200 triband?

will report back with update.
 
Also just ordered one of these, should be landing with me in the next couple of working days. I'll be putting a Smarty Unlimited tariff SIM in it, which is £18 per month, and due to having go LoS to the masts I think I should get a decent speed out of the internal antenna array. Will need to do some reading up on LTE bands and get to grips with what works best, and how much location inside the property effects the speeds. May very well end up using an external pole antenna if this become my main/permanent connection, and then having the FTTC as a backup.
 
Glad to see more people potentially using this Router and the CPE Pro 2. :) I've had no problems at all with the Router. It's now hooked up to an AX50 WiFi 6 Router in AP mode that I have down, out of the loft. It's all working well. Very pleased still.
 
do you find better speed using it as an AP? I'm not sure whether to use the CPE Pro2 as is or as an access point for my archer C3200?

Archer is theory = 3200mbps wifi 5 tri band
CPE Pro2 is theory = 2976mbps wifi 6 dual band

not much in it but didnt know if wifi 6 was worth it over the 5? all the phones and computers are wifi 6 in the house.
 
Electroshadow said:
do you find better speed using it as an AP? I'm not sure whether to use the CPE Pro2 as is or as an access point for my archer C3200?

Archer is theory = 3200mbps wifi 5 tri band
CPE Pro2 is theory = 2976mbps wifi 6 dual band

not much in it but didnt know if wifi 6 was worth it over the 5? all the phones and computers are wifi 6 in the house.
Click to expand...

If you have WiFi 6 devices (I just have the main PC but obviously it is backwards compatible with everything else) I'd certainly say so as there are features that you don't get with WiFi5. MU-MIMO, OFDMA and Target Wake Time are 3 that I think I'm right in saying are WiFi6 only features.
 
Slight necro but I found this after searching for details on the Vodafone Gigacube, apparently the Huawei B818-263 is the OEM.

We are potentially renting a rural property for a couple of months, BT have offered 'broadband' at 1-3mb, but with a min 24month contract.

@ash_scotland88 how did you get on with it?

Vodafone offer a rolling contract but £100 upfront, so could be better to buy and sell after?


Edit - did the unit come with external antenna? A quick check showed patchy 4g inside but it was far from a site survey!
 
In the old house wasn't that impressed.

I got the impression from an other forum that I should get faster speeds than my phone, tested using my three SIM card and phone set as a WiFi hotspot. Had (from memory) 25mbs (or Mbps?) From phone and 20 from the router. I think there was having a bad night then.
New house, basically can't get three signal at all. Thought I had a EE payasgo sim card but that doesn't want to register.
From friends visiting O2 appears to have decent signal so we will be picking up a cheap SIM today
 
LabR@t said:
Window is recommend placement isn't it?
Click to expand...

Usually it is true - I had mine mounted in the window as for a long time it provided the best speeds out of other locations - but then by pure accident I found that an approx 18x18 inch corner of my bedroom which is behind 2 walls provides up to double the speeds for whatever reason.

I got from ~37 down, 12 up to ~65 down, 25 up with the RSRP going from ~-101 to 103 to a solid -93 and SNR 8-11db to 15-22db.
 
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