4G Router Recommendations...

gpuerrilla · 7 Aug 2020 at 18:21

No i didnt tick all the bands.

I ticked them in this screen, and hit the 'apply config' is that how you do it?

Im not gonna touch anything yet as I have not checked any guides. I will wait for the tips, so far though its working on the devices, will patch in a couple of wifi points later after im happy with the config.

WJA96 · 7 Aug 2020 at 19:31

You can click on all the ones used by 3

https://www.4g.co.uk/4g-frequencies-uk-need-know/

Kobi · 8 Aug 2020 at 07:49

Ok, got on this early as speeds can be erratic later in the day with all the holidaymakers hogging the net.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the speeds themselves, more the difference in the speeds, they don't stay that high all day haha. Both the 4gee router and the RUT one are using the same antenna's. I'm not sure how much fine tuning i can do to help the STX as i can literally see my mast, its only about 1.5 miles away. But thats full bars on the 4gee and RUT routers with 4/5 bars on the STX.

EDIT: With the RUT router, the RSRP doesn't look great, i think this is due to the massive antenna cables im using. This is my daily home net driver on Three as the EE one is just used for gaming. The Three mast is further away, no LoS and this is using an omni directional antenna and PoE.

gpuerrilla · 8 Aug 2020 at 11:18

Man got to get my head round the VLAN and Bridges - been long while since I have to use these. Most of my devices are there, although some are not showing up on the list. I cant see it being limited to say 8 devices, will check my switches.

gpuerrilla · 11 Aug 2020 at 23:32

OK it was painful but managed to get a VLAN alongside my default interface chaps!

Most of the videos out there are on switches and routers with lots of ethernet ports, often poorly explained.

Kol · 20 Aug 2020 at 09:32

Tapping into this thread, I've been having major issues with my FTTP installation and far too many discussions with BT resulting in about five visits so far because of the first openreach guy's **** up and no one wanted to take responsibility.

I bought an MR600, which has been good, so now I'm seriously considering cancelling the FTTP (and being tied into a 24 month agreement) and sticking with 4G+/LTE.

Am I best to stick with the MR600 then or would I be better getting the Mikrotik (using Voxi unlimited sim)? To get 100% signal I have to have the MR600 in the window, if I stick with it I'd prefer mounting something externally, so a toss up between this with external aerials (which I've read isn't always that effective) or a unit which can be mounted externally. Decisions....

gpuerrilla · 20 Aug 2020 at 11:50

After using an outside modem, its better to pay that little bit extra and do it. I used PoE so only a hole for the Ethernet and mounted high up. Most normal looking routers are £70 and if you want to start external aerials etc your gonna end up spending maybe more.

I didnt realise these routerboards have very flexible settings in the software to configure, its a great piece of kit.

Caged · 20 Aug 2020 at 13:42

I would keep your FTTP install going and deal with the hassle, and then make a call within the 14 days whether you want to cancel or not. It costs you nothing and then you can always get the service activated if you need it in future.

Kol · 20 Aug 2020 at 14:12

Th0nt said:
After using an outside modem, its better to pay that little bit extra and do it. I used PoE so only a hole for the Ethernet and mounted high up. Most normal looking routers are £70 and if you want to start external aerials etc your gonna end up spending maybe more.

I didnt realise these routerboards have very flexible settings in the software to configure, its a great piece of kit.

Did you get the SXT Lte6 yea?

Caged said:
I would keep your FTTP install going and deal with the hassle, and then make a call within the 14 days whether you want to cancel or not. It costs you nothing and then you can always get the service activated if you need it in future.

Yea, at the very least I'm going to persevere and get it installed. Had another visit today, the cable is totally ****** from the previous engineer, but Kelly (the guys running fibre) refused to run it again (even though that was the point of their appointment today) because they said they got paid to run it last time, did it, openreach messed up...they are paid per job and won't get paid so it's openreaches fault and they have to sort it. I laughed and said, but they outsource that to you so it's not getting fixed(?) and he said no. Laughable!

gpuerrilla · 20 Aug 2020 at 17:24

Kol said:
Did you get the SXT Lte6 yea?

Yeah (the kit) it was between a couple of suppliers but went with a well known one as I had some credit from a return to use up so it cost me all in posted a ton. It also arrived just over a day later so gave me time to swap out the old setup and connect it that evening.

Firegod · 22 Aug 2020 at 16:15

Kol said:
I bought an MR600, which has been good, so now I'm seriously considering cancelling the FTTP (and being tied into a 24 month agreement) and sticking with 4G+/LTE.

I've been with EE on their quicker 4G service for about 2 years. And I've been working from home since the start of lockdown and it's been faultless. Never been off once. Just ran a speed test, getting a ping of 47ms, download speed of 93Mbps and upload of 18Mbps. Obviously both these values fluctuate. I'd never go back to a fixed line. I'm on 12 month contract, unlimited data... costs £28 I think. It's brilliant. I'm about to test the Huawei B818-263 Cat 19 4G Router next week to see how it compares to the MR600 Cat 6 I'm currently using.

Rroff · 22 Aug 2020 at 16:27

If you are gaming 4G is still lacking - I get a pretty solid 26-30ms on my 4G connection most of the day (peak times it fluctuates more) which gives reasonable results but the 10ms on my FTTC is far more responsive. Unless in a poor signal area can game for hours without a single drop - in fact aside from 2-3x half hour drops at ~2am it has been a pretty solid connection the last 18 months. Get ~35 down, 10 up with an OK signal at home and regularly see 60-70 down, 25 up elsewhere.

Occasionally though I have seen it drop as low as 8 down, 2 up at peak times if something big is on like football.

gpuerrilla · 22 Aug 2020 at 23:23

I will take that anyday @Rroff where I live now is very rural. The BT wiring is twisted copper pair with max 5Mb down 0.9 Up. 4G isnt perfect and I havnt gamed on it properly testing MMO's to be fair but did some warzone and it was good enough.

As lockdown continued and the cell companies began 'maintenance' on the masts its been poor going. Hopefully it will pick up with people returning to work and dropping the netflix packages when the crunch kicks in, not sure if the 5G upgrades will help alleviate the burden on the network.

Rroff · 22 Aug 2020 at 23:43

Th0nt said:
I will take that anyday @Rroff where I live now is very rural. The BT wiring is twisted copper pair with max 5Mb down 0.9 Up. 4G isnt perfect and I havnt gamed on it properly testing MMO's to be fair but did some warzone and it was good enough.

As lockdown continued and the cell companies began 'maintenance' on the masts its been poor going. Hopefully it will pick up with people returning to work and dropping the netflix packages when the crunch kicks in, not sure if the 5G upgrades will help alleviate the burden on the network.

Similar situation here - very rural but luckily I'm one of 4 properties that can get FTTC albeit only 30/6 - everyone else has 3Mbit ADSL on a good day. Likewise using a MR6400 to supplement the FTTC which I've found surprisingly good - it gets really close results to an external antenna - the only difference I've found in testing really is that higher end/external setups can hold the connection a bit better when conditions aren't as ideal - otherwise the speeds aren't that much different on a normal day.

gpuerrilla · 23 Aug 2020 at 09:25

I have so far found same @Rroff .

My boss at work lent me the router, which I used for months. He wanted it back so I got the outside Mikrotik. Its not much better for signal but its more stable. Nice bit of kit and slightly cheaper than buying an indoor router then getting the aerial outside.

neodude · 4 Sep 2020 at 21:47

I use a Netgear LB2120 with a 3UK sim as a failover WAN for my PfSense box. No issues, been rock solid.

platypus · 19 Jul 2021 at 15:44

Firegod said:
I've been with EE on their quicker 4G service for about 2 years. And I've been working from home since the start of lockdown and it's been faultless. Never been off once. Just ran a speed test, getting a ping of 47ms, download speed of 93Mbps and upload of 18Mbps. Obviously both these values fluctuate. I'd never go back to a fixed line. I'm on 12 month contract, unlimited data... costs £28 I think. It's brilliant. I'm about to test the Huawei B818-263 Cat 19 4G Router next week to see how it compares to the MR600 Cat 6 I'm currently using.

Appreciate this is rather an old post but just wondering if your experiences have been constant the year since? We're moving to somewhere that doesn't have fibre until next year, and I will need a 4G connection from home. Did you test the router and if so what was your experience? EE is one of the providers in the area so I'd be really interested to know how you're getting on.

Rroff · 19 Jul 2021 at 15:52

EE has held up well for me so far - very little if any downtime and speeds hold up a bit better at peak times than other networks, overnight speeds are very good which makes things a bit less tedious for downloading games, etc. in a very rural area with poor connectivity.

Firegod · 19 Jul 2021 at 16:55

platypus said:
Appreciate this is rather an old post but just wondering if your experiences have been constant the year since? We're moving to somewhere that doesn't have fibre until next year, and I will need a 4G connection from home. Did you test the router and if so what was your experience? EE is one of the providers in the area so I'd be really interested to know how you're getting on.

Yeah can't fault EE. It's been really good service for me personally. We've had people with problems connecting in to our work remotely and it's always been ISP issues. Mainly Virgin and Sky. I'm so happy I'm not on a fixed line package. Agree with what @Rroff says as well. A few people I know have O2 sims and wanted to try out moving to 4G LTE for their internet so I gave them my Router to try out; they got dire speeds. Like sub 10Mbps. Popped in my EE sim and the difference was amazing.

With regards to the B818-263, it was a good speed bump over the CAT6 TP-Link Router. Limited interface and not many options to tweak. It had an annoying habit of flicking between masts at its own choosing. It took me into ~160Mbps download territory though. I've recently moved over to a new Zyxel 5G Router, and depending on which mast I connect to (as you can control the bands in the Zyxel) I can go from 250 - 400Mbps download (on NR 5G). Upload varies between 20 - 30Mbps. And that is using WiFi, if I was cabled, I may get a bit quicker.

But to summarise - yep experience has been constantly positive with EE.

Hope this helps.

platypus · 19 Jul 2021 at 17:13

Thanks chaps thats really helpful. How reliable is the Ofcom checker? I've just run through that, and it looks like O2 provide "good" coverage whilst EE provide "OK" coverage - I appreciate its tough to know for certain but I might buy both and test them, and return the worse one within the cooldown period.