adsl and 4G bonding

[FlakGunna]

Sure there are ways of stopping Windows 10 doing any update stuff entirely - increasingly needing 3rd party software to actually accomplish that.

With just connection metering set I'm still seeing about 70% of the available updates get pulled down on both my Windows 10 tablets - I "shouldn't" have to go to the lengths of manually disabling services, etc. to manage stuff like that.

Yeah I agree with that, I love Windows 10 but hate the forceable nature it has on things such as privacy and what you mentioned.

 

[rangor gubbins]

So, time for an update....
Bought a second hand Draytek router (2830n) which has a USB port that allows a 4G dongle to be used as modem.
Bought a data sim card from Three with a few GB of data on.
Plugged it all in. No joy. I might be using the wrong settings for the modem, but i don't think so. It looks like the USB modem i bought is not compatible with the router. According to Draytek (https://www.draytek.co.uk/download/support/DrayTek_USB_Modem_Support_160117.pdf) the modem is compatible with the later version of my router, but not the version I've got.

I tested the usb 4G modem just plugged straight into the PC and i get pretty good reception and 20 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. A massive improvement on our ADSL.

So i think we're going to go ahead with using LTE for our home internet service and scrap the ADSL altogether
I now need to find the right hardware to get the best out of it.

Anyone got suggestions for a LTE router. Or I could use an LTE modem + the Draytek.
Not sure whether its worth putting an LTE antenna on the roof to maximise reception.

 

[bremen1874]

What dongle is it?

 

[rangor gubbins]

It's a Huawei E3372

 

[Cottee]

I have the same problem as you my adsl is only 3.5mb down, In the end I went into a three shop and they do an In store deal of 100gig a month for £30 your can’t get that deal online though. I use them both together now and get by.

 

[rangor gubbins]

Thanks for the info Cottee. I've seen a similar deal available online but it states that even though data allowance is 100GB, for tethering only 30GB is allowed.
Does your deal allow the sim card to be used in a wifi router so multiple devices can be connected, or would be classed as tethering in Three's eyes and therefore only have 30GB allowance?

Are you using a load balancing router to manage the adsl and 4g together? If so, which one?

 

[Cottee]

It comes with a huawei router you just put the SIM card in it, and it is 100gig allowance. I’ve not looked in to a load balancing router to be honest as I mainly use it for game updates and 4k Netflix, 4k Netflix doesn’t come out of your allowance which is good but if I watch something on amazon you are looking at about 9 gig for an hours tv at 4k.
It really has improved our experience especially for Netflix that kids use a lot, it frees up the crap speed of the adsl so we can live in the 21st century again.

 

[rangor gubbins]

I've signed us up for the 100GB data allowance deal with 3, which sounds like the same deal you've got. Comes with the huawei router too.
They told me Netflix and TVPlayer are both exempt from the data which is handy. Shame that amazon fire isn't as that's what we usually use, but not in 4K so hopefully it won't use up too much data. According my current adsl ISP we use between 60 - 100 GB of data per month. I'm hoping our new 100 GB data allowance will be enough!

 

[crinkleshoes]

If BT aren't planning to FTTC enable your area any time soon, get a few of your neighbours to register interest with Gigaclear and they'll be able to get a grant to deliver FTTP.

 

[Cottee]

I watch Netflix in 4k and it doesn’t come out of my allowance.

 

[rangor gubbins]

Cheers chaps.
Have signed up to Gigaclear and will suggest my neighbours do the same.
Three sim and router arriving today.

 

[pvtbanner]

I know this is an old thread but just in case anyone else is having issues, i recently got myself an unlimited data sim from 3 and a Zyzel LTE 3302, this is in bridge mode and plugged into the 2nd WAN port on my ancient but faithful Draytek Vigor 2820n.
Working very nicely so far.

 

[rangor gubbins]

Hi Pvtbanner
Where did you get the unlimited data sim from 3 from? We've got a 100GB data limit from 3, didn't realise they did unlimited.
How much is it per month if you don't mind me asking?

I gave up with bridging/bonding and we just use lte for our Internet connection.
Brilliant speed and reliability so far. Have to be a bit careful with streaming TV but otherwise its working out really well .

 

[pvtbanner]

Got it direct from 3. Its only on a 1 month contract because I wanted to see if it would all work first. £32 per month but if you sign up for 12 months it was £27. Went with it in light of them ditching all caps including tethering.
Unfortunately for me the 3 signal is a bit crap where I am, so I might see if EE respond with something reasonably priced, as I get decent speeds on my phone.
The 2820 doesn't do bonding but it does do balancing quite nicely. Need to play about with it a bit.

 

[bremen1874]

So you're using a phone sim in a way that breaks their terms and conditions?

Don't moan if they terminate the connection.

 

[rangor gubbins]

There is a statement in T&C regarding unlimited data, saying that for connecting more than one device, i.e. for using the sim as a hot-spot means the data limit is only 30GB.
However, would they be able to tell if a sim is being used in a router to provide Internet to multiple devices?

 

[bremen1874]

I think it’s safe to assume that they can tell what sort of device the sim is being used in.

 

[pvtbanner]

I haven't used the 30gb of tethering yet so chill your beans. I got the sim on month by month basis to trial it, so if they cancel it then fair enough. Considering I'm probably not going to continue the contract after this 1st month I don't think I'll be that upset if they decide to terminate it early, which is extremely unlikely.

I got because I'd read that the tethering caps were going to be removed from all accounts in December officially but might possibly being done now, maybe. Also read that there were going to be fair use limits placed upto 1tb of data a month.

I'll be honest I haven't actually read the t&c's, I just can't bring myself to do it. This is bad I know but que sera sera.

 

[PiKe]

Tethering caps have indeed been removed from three with a soft cap of 1TB in place.

 

[bremen1874]

Using a sim in something like a Zyzel LTE 3302 isn't tethering.

What do you do if you use multiple GBs of data and then Three decide that none of of is inclusive data because you're using it as a data sim?