****The Official 5G Home Broadband Thread**** (Three/EE/Vodafone/etc)

[mi9tchy]

Ok am new here so can anybody
PLEASE HELP or at least advise i got the ZTE MC801A 5G thingamabob
From 3 I am getting a very bad signal: 2 lights or if ai am lucky 3 lights alternating, I use only a couple of phones and smart TV, if I use a
4H antenna will it make any difference? As I hardly get 5G anyway, or does it HAVE to be a
5G antenna, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Oh and the mast is quite a distance from me

it should be an anntena tuned to the frenquency that you want to receive but many are tuned to multiple.

i'd try testing the router outside (when its not raining) first to see if the signal you get is any better, i used to have my old huawe cpe pro 2 in the loft as thats the only place it would get 5g inside

 

[Reppyboyo]

What is a decent inexpensive 5g router to try this out with?
Need to get myself a EE & Vodafone sim to try it with (Three has rubbish 5g in my area).

 

[CivilDrone]

Afternoon,
Finally thinking of getting a 5G and calling it quits with all the price-rises
I have narrowed it down to:

Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2
ZTE MC801A 5G
Zyxel NR5103E
ZTE 5G CPE MC888

Can someone with relevant knowledge/experience advise for/against particular router?

There is up to 10 devices to be connected, hopefully not all at the same time (TV's, Phones, PC's etc)
How is 5G for gaming? Ping seems to be 40ish, what would that mean in Warzone for example?

Much obliged for any shred of information

Thank you

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Three do a 4G mobile broadband service where I live so when I'm out of contract on the landline BB I'll be giving that a try theres a 30 day cancellation period if it doesn't work out. Online coverage checker states 5g is available but Three will only offer a 4G router its possible their checker is out of date as I believe it was only installed in the last year or so. Either way even if I only get 100Mbps it'll still be faster than the 36Mbps FTTC service thats the only other thing available where I live, cheaper too at £20 a month compared to nearly £25 for landline

For 5G?

I'm on the Huawei 5G CPE pro, and no antenna. I'm lucky that I have a 5G mast 300m away with almost uninterrupted line of sight.

£250 per router? Ouch!

 

[Journey]

In case anyone is looking for a cheap unlimited 5G deal, Three have their data only 5G SIM down to £5pm (24m contract) - it is a buiness deal but you can just apply as a sole trader using your name as the business.

3UK Self Service

Still on my £3 deal for a few more months, so hoping it will be around again then!

 

[RedMogg]

Three do a 4G mobile broadband service where I live so when I'm out of contract on the landline BB I'll be giving that a try theres a 30 day cancellation period if it doesn't work out. Online coverage checker states 5g is available but Three will only offer a 4G router its possible their checker is out of date as I believe it was only installed in the last year or so. Either way even if I only get 100Mbps it'll still be faster than the 36Mbps FTTC service thats the only other thing available where I live, cheaper too at £20 a month compared to nearly £25 for landline


£250 per router? Ouch!

When I moved two roads away, my new postcode wasn't on Three's 5G coverage checker on their website - so I went in-store. They were able to set up a 5G Broadband contract using their "test" postcode, then amend it to my real postcode after.

As I mentioned much earlier in this thread (around October '21) - we did get 5G speeds varying from 150-700Mb, but it wasn't stable enough for our needs and we ended up cancelling within the 30 days.

We went with Virgin 350 (minimum 18 month contract), which we got for £40/month, then the CPI increase in April meant we could cancel early - City Fibre had just installed down our road, so I thought we'd be able to sign up to Toob 900/900 for £25/m...

...but that doesn't go live until after 1st Quarter 2024.

Now on Sky Broadband (145Mb, £29/m) and it's been absolutely rock solid. It's another 18 month contract, but hopefully when Toob FTTP finally goes live, it'll coincide with either a CPI increase or the natural end of the contract...

 

[Mikey]

Waiting for Toob myself. Looking at the deal posted above for fail over for IoT things like Tado etc.

Pfsense dual wan setup, install a netgear modem and VLAN it off on WAN2 interface.

 

[img]

My experience with three this week:

Delivered a week ago next day delivery and told and said no sim in router. Told it might take until midnight to register.
Called next day and after about 90 minutes was told there was so issue with my order and it needs to go to another team which takes 72 hours and would get a call back 2 days after that as it was the weekend.
They did call but router still not working. Sim works fine in phone. Told they can ship me a new router in 5-7 days time to test that, even though new orders they ship next day they cannot do anything here. Cancelled it and have to drop off at nearest dpd depot.

Level of support and time taken is terrible. I guess you get what you pay for. it will be quicker to just sign up again as a new account and see but really they just annoyed me with how badly it was handled so will see other options. EE is twice the price unless i can just get an unlimited sim and buy my own router for it.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

My experience with three this week:

Delivered a week ago next day delivery and told and said no sim in router. Told it might take until midnight to register.
Called next day and after about 90 minutes was told there was so issue with my order and it needs to go to another team which takes 72 hours and would get a call back 2 days after that as it was the weekend.
They did call but router still not working. Sim works fine in phone. Told they can ship me a new router in 5-7 days time to test that, even though new orders they ship next day they cannot do anything here. Cancelled it and have to drop off at nearest dpd depot.

Level of support and time taken is terrible. I guess you get what you pay for. it will be quicker to just sign up again as a new account and see but really they just annoyed me with how badly it was handled so will see other options. EE is twice the price unless i can just get an unlimited sim and buy my own router for it.

Personally I'd bite your lip and try again, I know two people with Three 5G router and was quite jealous until I had my new Internet connection.

 

[Journey]

Well looks like I'll be moving away from 5G as my primary internet source soon, can't get the new CPE I want (at a reasonable price) and have two masts competing for signal at all times, so really need a cell lock function now, speeds are still great just annoying with the mast jumping. Will be keeping the SIM however, as I got offered a renewal albeit it slightly higher than the £3 I have been paying, it is now £4!

 

[kmax86]

Anyone here playing games like PoE with 5g broadband? Is there a way to improve latency spikes?

Ive been running id mobile + NR5103EV2 from cex and its been working quite well. Only issue is the latency spikes on path of exile/ online gaming

 

[Journey]

Anyone here playing games like PoE with 5g broadband? Is there a way to improve latency spikes?

Ive been running id mobile + NR5103EV2 from cex and its been working quite well. Only issue is the latency spikes on path of exile/ online gaming

Have you tested band locking?

 

[kmax86]

Have you tested band locking?

Never tried it. Will give it a go and see. Thanks

 

[kmax86]

Looks like my modem is using 5G NSA and mostly using B1.
I dont see any N-bands in the masts near me so hopefully locking to B1 will improve the latency

 

[Kol]

Chaps, looking to assist family while there is a pause in their BB. What’s currently the leading 5G router that I can get delivered to them from Amazon?

I’m going to keep it once they’re switched over for our new place.

Cheers.

 

[Firegod]

Chaps, looking to assist family while there is a pause in their BB. What’s currently the leading 5G router that I can get delivered to them from Amazon?

I’m going to keep it once they’re switched over for our new place.

Cheers.

Who is the isp going to be? As different routers can support different bands.

 

[Kol]

Good question, my info was a little sparse. I’m on Vodafone and doing a quick test in the spare room was getting 200-300mbps on my iphone15 pro with full bars so most likely going to stick with them for now.

…and thank you btw, appreciate your help.

 

[GIBURROWS]

A stretch here but anyone with Three 5g, an Xbox series X and Hell Let Loose able to play it?

Server connection error once I join a game.....

 

[Firegod]

Good question, my info was a little sparse. I’m on Vodafone and doing a quick test in the spare room was getting 200-300mbps on my iphone15 pro with full bars so most likely going to stick with them for now.

…and thank you btw, appreciate your help.

Cool so just need to ensure the router supports lte bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 20, 32 and 38 and n78 for 5g. I think 7 and 20 are the main lte ones.

Things like the TPlink deco x80-5g would work. Or the Dlink dwr978 (only wifi 5). Or the Zyxel NR5101. Or the ZTE CPE MC888. Or the Tenda 5G03.

I've not tried the Tenda router but it looks interesting also has ts9 antenna ports. That, the Zyxel, and the ZTE can all be had through the rainforest company. I guess if no good you get 30 days to return as well. I know I did that a few times when trying out various 5g routers in the past. The TPlink one looks expensive. I think they do an x50-5g.

 

[Kol]

Fantastic. Thanks @Firegod !