****The Official 5G Home Broadband Thread**** (Three/EE/Vodafone/etc)
- Thread starter TallPaul_S
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Stuck the Three SIM I have into a 5G router, getting typical speeds of 400Mbps+ down and 60Mbps up, had quite a bit higher than that as well, but the router wasn't/isn't optimally placed for great reception, and it is raining so heavy I can't see much outside.
I am more than happy for <£4 per month.
The data on the website wasn't showing the mast as having 5G coverage, but I did more digging and found out otherwise!
I am more than happy for <£4 per month.
The data on the website wasn't showing the mast as having 5G coverage, but I did more digging and found out otherwise!
Soldato
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Ah ok, thanks.
I don't have the option, and I think I know why. It's a Xiaomi Phone running MIUI 12. Which is Android 10 based, despite it being a very recently released phone.
I've ordered a usb dongle anyway to give it a go.
Soldato
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Stuck the Three SIM I have into a 5G router, getting typical speeds of 400Mbps+ down and 60Mbps up, had quite a bit higher than that as well, but the router wasn't/isn't optimally placed for great reception, and it is raining so heavy I can't see much outside.
I am more than happy for <£4 per month.
The data on the website wasn't showing the mast as having 5G coverage, but I did more digging and found out otherwise!
Good stuff. What router did you get?
That really is cheap. That can't be unlimited data for that much?
I got the £16/mo sim with £65 cashback. So £10.50ish a month.
The Huawei H112-370.
Yep, totally unlimited. Another forum member sent me a trust asking how to get it so cheap, I think he though I was fibbing
£18pm (12 month contract) £144 cashback via redemption and £25 Quidco.
Soldato
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The Huawei H112-370.
Yep, totally unlimited. Another forum member sent me a trust asking how to get it so cheap, I think he though I was fibbing
£18pm (12 month contract) £144 cashback via redemption and £25 Quidco.
Fair play then, you've done well there. No offers that good when I was looking.
Ah, yes I tried it on a xiaomi mi 10 lite 5G as I was going to buy one instead on using my Note 10, but wgilst it appears to talk to the Ethernet, network lights flash etc, it didn't have the options to set it up to tether, perhaps next release.
It's still on, I've had two now, one for the router and one for a phone.
Soldato
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It's still on, I've had two now, one for the router and one for a phone.
Ah ok, I see it.
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/th...6-per-month-12mo-at-affordable-mobile-3669886
Good stuff. Though too late for me.
Soldato
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I've got a 10t lite as well, and a Note 9T that I bought specifically for this.
A quick search says that a Android 11 based software update is coming soon.
I peaked at 800Mbps this morning on a Steam download, sadly my upload is capped at 70Mbps.
Associate
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How stable are these connections? That is currently why I would prefer wired connection?
Define stable, do you mean downtime, guaranteed speeds, or something else?
When I was running the 4G I had no downtime and could rely on it being available all of the time, unlike my Virgin Media which is why I needed failover WAN in the first place. The 4G suffered in the same way as VM did during peak times when instead of 90Mbps I might get 40Mpbs, but the upload was always fine.
I've just moved to 5G so will keep a close eye on it, but so far it has been rock solid and the speed obviously varies with the conditions as I am in area that isn't officially covered, so my signal strength isn't as good as it could be, and the SNR is poor as well.
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I guess it is the stability and variability. I am currently on VM 200mb and my experience is one of a stable connection that rarely fails and doesn't really vary too much from hour to hour.
Mine's is not as fast as some of these guys with 5G only doing 250/30 but that is faster than my fibre so I tested it for a week of work to see if I could drop Fibre for it, because I pay 40quid a month for Fibre and a three sim can be had to a quarter of that price, in reality my sky box consumes more data than me.
Could it replace Fibre for me the short answer is not really, that is mainly because I spend my days doing interactive graphics work on a VPN in Europe which already has a fair amount of latency to it, 5G only added 10-15ms to it which was acceptable in most use cases but there were more latency spikes which are a pain in the middle of work.
So for me I wouldn't switch to it entirely but YMMV, I have 40+ devices connected to the network, 3 seperate VPNs for different people in the house, so perhaps I am just a bit much, it is also fair to say I was using a phone not a 5G router, this might make a difference.
I also found that Sky Q did not like it, it determines that you are on a mobile connection and won't download UHD on demand programming until I piped the 5G connection through a VPN, so not as simple straight forward as internet should be, probably against Ts&Cs and of course and additiuonal charge for me to manage.
I'm still tempted though for cost savings, Sky are raising prices and once out of my current Sky deal in a couple of months then as good as the service is, it is not worth their asking price so I will be out of Sky and perhaps then I might consider it.
My fibre latency is just so solid though, I couldn't care about bandwidth so much, single digit pings is what makes the experience great, 5G is not there yet in my area. Its fair to say that I have tested VM in my area as it is an option if I switch from Sky for TV and its latency was as high as 5G which was surprising but I'd imagine it is far more stable.
At no point did a loose the 5G connection or feel I was under contention, I was impressed with what it could do.
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In one way they are very stable. In the same way that your mobile phone voice service is generally very stable so long as you are standing still.
And, if you have lots of users then the quality of service can drop. If there is extreme solar or ionospheric activity then the quality of service can drop. So you can never guarantee the best speed is always going to be there. Which is also (less so) true of FTTC even FTTP depending on contention levels.
I know LOTS of people whose only internet connection is their mobile phone. So they already are relying on 4G. Personally, I'm not ready to give up my FTTP or leased line connections simply because they are faster and more stable.
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Thanks for the responses. What I took from them is that (as you have indeed said) 5g is not yet a viable alternative to a solid wired connection. You do wonder if long term it will replace the last mile of wire though.