A solid router to use in conjunction with ISP's router

norliss · 18 Apr 2022 at 20:02

I'm getting my broadband via 4g from Three. Yes, the speed is a bit up & down and nothing like as consistent as a fixed line connection, but it's cheap and moveable! As with most ISP-supplied routers, the one I've now got (a ZTE MF286D) isn't exactly a powerhouse. Its configurability is even more restricted than the previous router (Huawei B535) but it does seem to get better speeds at the top-end and unlike the Huawei supports bridge mode, so I'm looking at options for an additional router.

The ISP router is in a room at the top of the house (loft conversion) but WiFi performance isn't top priority since other than my phone (when I'm up there) and one other device, all my other devices that use WiFi are at the bottom of the house and currently use the WiFi access point built in to a TPLink Powerline unit.

So, I'm looking for something that's good and solid and that can actually handle routing network traffic and can leave the ZTE to just act as a modem, something at which it will hopefully do considerably better than it does as a router!

WJA96 · 18 Apr 2022 at 22:09

Pretty much anything Mikrotik will improve on your ZTE as a modem and router.

wAP AC LTE6 is a good place to start, for something a bit more consumer friendly there is a 4G (LTE12) and 5G (LTE18) version of the Chateau router and the ever popular hAP AC3 LTE6 is a top piece of kit.

Ditch the ZTE. I’m normally very relaxed about Chinese kit but ZTE are properly owned and run by the Chinese military and they have been busted time and time and time again for having backdoors and spyware on their kit. It’s not worth the risk.

philip2009 · 18 Apr 2022 at 23:26

Any specific features you want in the router?

norliss · 19 Apr 2022 at 18:35

WJA96 said:
Pretty much anything Mikrotik will improve on your ZTE as a modem and router.

wAP AC LTE6 is a good place to start, for something a bit more consumer friendly there is a 4G (LTE12) and 5G (LTE18) version of the Chateau router and the ever popular hAP AC3 LTE6 is a top piece of kit.

Ditch the ZTE. I’m normally very relaxed about Chinese kit but ZTE are properly owned and run by the Chinese military and they have been busted time and time and time again for having backdoors and spyware on their kit. It’s not worth the risk.

Many thanks for this. I remember hearing about Mikrotik when I looked into routers a few years back. They seem very well regarded and as you say, they have to be a better bet than ZTE for a whole host of reasons!

I can't quite get 5g right now but the network coverage is creeping toward me and I gather that the router would just default to 4g beforehand in any case? It would seem a shame to shell out on 4g-only hardware with 5g probably not too far off although the 5g variant of the Chateau is about double the cost of the 4g. 5g modem/routers still seem really expensive to me!

philip2009 said:
Any specific features you want in the router?

Nothing crazy, really. I like to be able to at least change DNS servers and make use of using fixed (LAN) IP addresses for certain devices and also MAC address filtering to ensure that the downstairs devices don't try to connect to the router itself rather than the downstairs access point.