Depends on your use case, if you are doing latency sensitive stuff as mentioned, say online gamer or heavy interactive graphics user like myself you need to give it some thought and at least trial it before committing, it's actually pretty good and if I had a local server for work, I'd say it would be fine, I'd reckon it is suitable for the majority who just want to stream TV and download games etc, in these scenarios its fantastic, as mentioned 50% faster bandwidth than my fibre for 25% of the cost, if you browse the web on something like an ipad or phone, you probably wouldn't even notice any latency spikes as these machines are a slow web experience anyway.
****The Official 5G Home Broadband Thread**** (Three/EE/Vodafone/etc)
- Thread starter TallPaul_S
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Depends on your use case, if you are doing latency sensitive stuff as mentioned, say online gamer or heavy interactive graphics user like myself you need to give it some thought and at least trial it before committing, it's actually pretty good and if I had a local server for work, I'd say it would be fine, I'd reckon it is suitable for the majority who just want to stream TV and download games etc, in these scenarios its fantastic, as mentioned 50% faster bandwidth than my fibre for 25% of the cost, if you browse the web on something like an ipad or phone, you probably wouldn't even notice any latency spikes as these machines are a slow web experience anyway.
Needed to reroute some cables due to the change over, so took the time to do some further placement optimisation of the modem/router, the results is as below.
A total of 23cm left, and raising it up about 30cm made the difference.
A total of 23cm left, and raising it up about 30cm made the difference.
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Needed to reroute some cables due to the change over, so took the time to do some further placement optimisation of the modem/router, the results is as below.
A total of 23cm left, and raising it up about 30cm made the difference.
Some serious numbers there, nice!.
I've just ordered a proper 5g router. A China Unicom VN007. Which was a fair bit cheaper that the other Oppo and huawei ones.
So hopefully I'll be able to get full speed on devices and less latencey that the phone.
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I'll definitely post some data when I get it.
I missed the delivery today, but should get it soon to have a play over the weekend.
So this thread has inspired me to try and improve my setup further as well. I'm going to replace the Huawei B818-263 with the D-Link DWR-978. Going to route that out of the loft onto a 6ft swan neck mast. And I have a Solwise 5G-XPOL-A0002 (V3) antenna on order to go with it. Going to have to spend some time with the direction due to the higher peak gain, so the radiation pattern is more focused, but it should allow me to pick up a better 5G signal. Last time I tried 5G with a previous setup I was flicking on and off as I was on the cusp so returned the Router. Failing all that, it should at least give me a much better 4G+ signal compared to the current antenna mounted inside the loft.
Whilst I wait for the D-Link DWR-978 to return to "in stock" I'm going to hook this up into the Huawei (need to get some SMA > TS-9 converters if possible).
Whilst I wait for the D-Link DWR-978 to return to "in stock" I'm going to hook this up into the Huawei (need to get some SMA > TS-9 converters if possible).
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I installed the VN007 last night. I haven't played with placement and settings a lot yet, but the early results are very promising.
17ms ping
312.82 Down
63.48 Up
The lower latency makes a real noticeable difference to the experience when browsing compared to the tethered phone.
* instructions were all in Chinese. But the web interface was English as default.
* The wifi is only AC standard.
* It initially couldn't get a 5g signal. Until I changed a DDL option to "5G NSA only".
Plan over the weekend is - work out the best placement.
Turn off it's wifi capabilities.
Ethernet cable to my asus router. Use that as the wireless access point for Wifi 6 and the option of adding another later for mesh.
That is, If that config works well and doesn't add (much) latency.
@sandys
@Journey
17ms ping
312.82 Down
63.48 Up
The lower latency makes a real noticeable difference to the experience when browsing compared to the tethered phone.
* instructions were all in Chinese. But the web interface was English as default.
* The wifi is only AC standard.
* It initially couldn't get a 5g signal. Until I changed a DDL option to "5G NSA only".
Plan over the weekend is - work out the best placement.
Turn off it's wifi capabilities.
Ethernet cable to my asus router. Use that as the wireless access point for Wifi 6 and the option of adding another later for mesh.
That is, If that config works well and doesn't add (much) latency.
@sandys
@Journey
Great stuff @pandem0nium , where did you buy it from to get it so quickly?
Also can it work in modem only mode or is it a case of double NAT.
Also can it work in modem only mode or is it a case of double NAT.
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Damn, 5G or Starlink... I'm getting a paltry 70Mbps from my FTTC for £30 a month...
Soldato
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I've just been looking out on ebay. I picked up a used one based in the UK. I hadn't heard of it if I'm honest. It appeared under the results with less words and had a best offer option.
I know you can get them from the popular Chinese wholesaler though.
Not sure on that one. I think the Asus in access point mode doesn't do any of it's own 'routing' and relies on the source device for DHCP and things.
But I know I can turn off the wireless on both bands on the router web interface.
Networking isn't my strong point tbh. I'm picking up bits as I go along.
Edit:
looks like I can turn off it's DHCP server as well. So maybe I could use the Asus as the main router.
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It is certainly noticeable, I switched back to 4G for a test I wanted to do and you can tell the difference with heavy page with lots of calls for different elements.
If you are lucky enough to have a Bridge mode, then it should be all good. I don't on the Huawei so need to put my secondary router I.P in the DMZ of the Huawei in order to get all my forwarding working etc.
Chances are your latency is far superior and stable, so wouldn't worry too much unless download speeds are all you care about.
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On the VN007? there's no option I can see like that. The Asus has a bridge mode, but that's like using it basically as a gb switch connected to the wifi.
There's a DMZ toggle switch, So I can have a look at that.
I think the best (if overkill) setup would be:
VN007 "Modem mode" => pf sense box => Asus in access point mode => maybe another one on another floor as an AI Mesh node.
Three times the price for better performance maybe some of the time, and a roughly similar upload?
70Mbps is not a slow connection, it's definitely not slow enough where contended satellite behind CGNAT is a true alternative. If you want more download speed then just add two more FTTC connections - same price, and you'll get 200Mbps on multi-thread downloads.
Thanks, so existing antenna is just a freestanding indoor unit (separate to the Router). It is the Taoglas Gemini LMA100. The new antenna arrived today - it is huge! Neigh enough 12" corner to corner.
And the 6ft swan neck mast also arrived. So we've been working out placement today and we're going to get it all mounted up outside tomorrow and get the wall drilled. Once I get the shelf moved in the loft and an additional plug installed we should be good to go for some testing (albeit on the existing Huawei non-5G Router).
I'm stuck on some pretty crappy speed from my 5g gigacube. 20 to 40ish meg a sec - that's from three bars of 5g and full 4g (get 85 on the score). I get 350meg a sec on 5g handset in same location.
I have roof access so have the option to stick an antenna on there and run the cables BUT before going through all that effort has anyone tried the new Huawei Pro 2 unit?
https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/5g-cpe-pro-2/
It apparently allows mixing of the 4g as an anchor with the 5g instead of one or the other which should give me a base speed of 120 off LTE. It also supports more of the 5g spectrum which might get it up to the same speeds as my phone.
The downside is that it doesn't have antenna ports so it's an either or option. At £370 the price will work out about the same as the pole, mounting antenna etc.
I have roof access so have the option to stick an antenna on there and run the cables BUT before going through all that effort has anyone tried the new Huawei Pro 2 unit?
https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/5g-cpe-pro-2/
It apparently allows mixing of the 4g as an anchor with the 5g instead of one or the other which should give me a base speed of 120 off LTE. It also supports more of the 5g spectrum which might get it up to the same speeds as my phone.
The downside is that it doesn't have antenna ports so it's an either or option. At £370 the price will work out about the same as the pole, mounting antenna etc.
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Is there a reason why people are combining the Huawei 5G routers with external antennas, rather than getting something like their external 5G routers, e.g. https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/5g-cpe-win/
I'm not familiar with any cost differences so there might be good reasons, but I'm always wary of the signal losses through long thin coaxial cables.
I'm not familiar with any cost differences so there might be good reasons, but I'm always wary of the signal losses through long thin coaxial cables.
I initially bought into 5g router as a back up for when my landline internet goes down so the fact I could bash it out as and when it was needed was key
However moving to a new address with no possibility of FTC (City of London, non-zoned resi) I'm relient on 5g for anything other than dial up speeds.
That said I've not seen any reviews for the external units - for me it's the fact I can always take the router somewhere and get a decent 4g signal. Also power over Ethernet seems like a pain?
But if someone can point me at a review showing the externally mounted routers perform excellently I'd much rather do a cat 7 run than coax!
However moving to a new address with no possibility of FTC (City of London, non-zoned resi) I'm relient on 5g for anything other than dial up speeds.
That said I've not seen any reviews for the external units - for me it's the fact I can always take the router somewhere and get a decent 4g signal. Also power over Ethernet seems like a pain?
But if someone can point me at a review showing the externally mounted routers perform excellently I'd much rather do a cat 7 run than coax!
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You've not said what network you are using, and are the reported speeds those of an inner urban area?