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

Yep I agree. It does sound like a placement issue. @Begbie have you popped the zyxel air app on your phone and connected to the WiFi on the router. It'll give you signal stats so useful for finding a suitable spot. FYI it can take a few seconds for the app to update when moving the router.

So I've done this (three app) and I can get a 5g signal, but fairly poor but as the 4g signal is stronger it will still continually switch over.

My phone is consistently receiving 5g, with good speeds.

I've asked to return it as no matter how good a signal I can achieve it will continuously switch over to 4g eventually. Which is a shame as when it's working I'm getting 400meg.

I might try getting the v2, as it might even be something physically wrong with the router after some searching.
 
So I've done this (three app) and I can get a 5g signal, but fairly poor but as the 4g signal is stronger it will still continually switch over.

My phone is consistently receiving 5g, with good speeds.

I've asked to return it as no matter how good a signal I can achieve it will continuously switch over to 4g eventually. Which is a shame as when it's working I'm getting 400meg.

I might try getting the v2, as it might even be something physically wrong with the router after some searching.
Yeah I don't have any experience with the the 5103e model for resellers. There isn't even a firmware I can see for this from Zyxel but they do list the regular non-e model. I don't understand why it would fail back to 4G if the setting is not on auto. It should remain on 5G even with the poor signal. I have the NR5101, and the FWA710 (used to have the NR7101 but that died sadly). I can't find much stock for the other indoor 5G models (i.e FWA510 which replaces the NR5101 iirc).
 
Yeah I don't have any experience with the the 5103e model for resellers. There isn't even a firmware I can see for this from Zyxel but they do list the regular non-e model. I don't understand why it would fail back to 4G if the setting is not on auto. It should remain on 5G even with the poor signal. I have the NR5101, and the FWA710 (used to have the NR7101 but that died sadly). I can't find much stock for the other indoor 5G models (i.e FWA510 which replaces the NR5101 iirc).

Yeah I seen some other forums saying they had this issue and got the router replaced, which fixed it.

It won't get a signal at all with choosing just 5g bands, but will on auto (for maybe 20 minutes or so) and it'll drop you from games/youtube etc when it happens.

There is the ev2 model, which also doesn't use the 4x4 mimo external antenna - so I can always get a cheaper external antenna.
 
Decided to join this little club of complete wrong'uns. Signed up to 3, I'll test run it for 30 days and if it's not good enough then I'll be off.

Sign up process is a joke... what month and year did you open your bank account, really?

Then at the end of the order it told me my equipment was being dispatched... to my old address... which I haven't been at for over 2 years. Had to phone customer services immediately and apparently it was just a bug on the website because the email told me it's coming to my current address!

To add insult to injury the customer service rep tried to upsell me on a new tablet or smartphone at the end of the call... it's off to a great start. :cry:
 
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@Pulseammo three customer services are all outsourced to india and they follow a predetermined script so very PITA if trying to get help from them
personally, they also have "brownouts" in my area every 2-3 months where the speeds will slow to a crawl...like 0.5mpbs for a whole afternoon before back up to normal speeds in the evening
im jumping ship for my broadband as soon as my contract ends which hopefully should coincide with fttp being enabled in my area
too bad i've got another 18 months to run for my mobile contract :(
 
How come you signed up to contracts rather than just buying kit and going SIM only for both devices? I am sure you've learned a valuable lesson! :p
yeah, the 5g broadband was needed as i just moved in and had no telephone wires connected etc so took the £20/mth 24month contract...didn't know they offered the £5 business plan at the time and too late to cancel (> 30 days) by the time i read about it lol...incidentally from your posts :cry:
mobile phone contract was an "unmissable" s23 deal which was a negligible cost upgrade from my old s10 lite (and previous SIMO pay monthly) ...learnt my lesson with three though lol. #avoid
 
@Pulseammo three customer services are all outsourced to india and they follow a predetermined script so very PITA if trying to get help from them
personally, they also have "brownouts" in my area every 2-3 months where the speeds will slow to a crawl...like 0.5mpbs for a whole afternoon before back up to normal speeds in the evening
im jumping ship for my broadband as soon as my contract ends which hopefully should coincide with fttp being enabled in my area
too bad i've got another 18 months to run for my mobile contract :(
Brown outs which only last a couple of hours instead of days? Sounds super! Only every 2-3 months you say as well? Not bad at all! :D

This disappointing all the customer support is outsourced, I was fingers crossed it was because it was a Sunday.

I've signed to the 24month contract, it does make me nervous but it's basically 6months at £12, 18 months at £24 and a £76 cashback - just under £18 a month. I think our village will likely be some time in 2026 for FTTP.

I did think about being naughty and using a business package as @Journey suggested but decided to be a good boy... If something comes a long during my trial period though that makes more financial sense though I'll cut and run.

EDIT: The business SIMO is £19+vat atm anyway, and then I'd need equipment.
 
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I did think about being naughty and using a business package as @Journey suggested but decided to be a good boy... If something comes a long during my trial period though that makes more financial sense though I'll cut and run.
yeah three were offering £5/mth business SIMO contracts last year...i think many people got that sim and used it in their 5g broadband routers lol

I've signed to the 24month contract, it does make me nervous but it's basically 6months at £12, 18 months at £24 and a £76 cashback - just under £18 a month.
yeah that was what suckered me in at the time too but was 3 months free rather than 6 months half price (works out the same overall though)

Brown outs which only last a couple of hours instead of days? Sounds super! Only every 2-3 months you say as well? Not bad at all! :D
:cry: is there a network worse than three?
 
:cry: is there a network worse than three?

Yeah, it's called Openreach FTTC when you're only 900m off the cabinet. :rolleyes:.

My general maximum line speed is about 24mbit and a 2mbit upload. Whenever the weather changes, if it gets suddenly sunny, or there's a lot of rain the speeds will tank and it'll take a week for my line to re-train. About 3 or 4 times a year we'll just get a total loss of service as well, or we'll get it dropping in and out constantly over the course of a week. I don't think my line is in bad condition or anything, I'm getting quite a good rate based on the bt address checker.

Don't get me wrong, it's fine enough when it works, but I'm going to try this to see if the grass is greener on the other side, I've got a 1 mile very very clean line of sight to the mast.
 
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yeah, the 5g broadband was needed as i just moved in and had no telephone wires connected etc so took the £20/mth 24month contract...didn't know they offered the £5 business plan at the time and too late to cancel (> 30 days) by the time i read about it lol...incidentally from your posts :cry:

Which router did they give you? Have you recorded the Cell ID's you are connecting to and the bands, so you can compare when you get the drops? I have tow masts that compete for my connection so when the wind changes or it rains unless I use cell locking it swaps to the less favorable one with worse banding options and lower throughput.
 
Which router did they give you? Have you recorded the Cell ID's you are connecting to and the bands, so you can compare when you get the drops? I have tow masts that compete for my connection so when the wind changes or it rains unless I use cell locking it swaps to the less favorable one with worse banding options and lower throughput.
Zyxel NR5103E (v1) and not the gimped v2 they are sending out nowadays
I haven't recorded the cells, what should i be looking for? this is mine at the moment

Code:
Access Technology NR5G-NSA
Band B1,B3,n78,n78
RSSI -81
Cell ID 827721
Physical Cell ID 73
UL Bandwidth (MHz) 10M,100M
DL Bandwidth (MHz) 10M,15M,100M,30M
RFCN 99,1392,640548,632666
 
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Urgh, what's gimped about the v2? I think that's what I'm getting.

The main differentiator is that the V1 has 2.5GB ethernet, whereas the V2 only has 1GB
Also the V1 allows external antennas (4 ports) whereas there's no such provision for the V2
The internal antenna of the V1 is more omnidirectional than the V2...so location and positioning for the V2 is more crucial than the V1
The only benefit of the V2 is that it's smaller (lol :cry: )
Rest of the specs are shrouded in secrecy

Someone who has compared both, but as always, YMMV
NR5103e VS NR5103eV2 Testing

Whilst I had the opportunity, I went deeper into testing the two routers to see which one I wanted to keep for my new contract. The new router is much smaller which is a plus point, it is also worryingly much lighter, does that speak for the quality of the components?

I placed each router in the exact same space on my windowsill where I get the best signal. It didn’t take long to notice that the NR5103e (V1) had a better and much more stable signal than the newer NR5103eV2 (V2). I will refer to them as V1 & V2 moving from now on.

The V1 would be at a constant 87-89 RSRP, 15 SINR, 2/3 RSRQ and it would always be on a continual 5G connection, rarely dropping to 4G.

In comparison the newer V2 was so temperamental with the signal. It would generally stick at around 93RSRP but occasionally dip to 88 at random, then up to 96 and moving around all over. SINR 13, RSRQ was worse at 11. But what was really noticeable was the constant jumping between 5G, 4G+ and 4G. There was rarely a moment when I was looking at the signal where it was on 5G constantly and would change every 30 seconds or so and would dance about between them all, which can’t be great for a reliable connection surely?

The speed tests were actually ok for both. The download speed was noticeably quicker on the V1 which regularly would hit 200mbps higher than the V2, this could simply be down to the fact the signal was more reliable. But to put in perspective, even the lowest download on the V2 was still 300mpbs. The highest on V2 was 575, highest on V1 was 860mbps! One thing where the V2 did sometimes shine though was the upload speed. At times the upload speed would be 90-110mbps on the V2 where as the V1 could only manage 75-85mbps. The V1 was a constant upload speed though with no dips, whereas the V2 dropped as low as 60 sometimes. All I can think of here is the V2 is better at handling uploads compared to the V1, so when it has a strong, constant signal, it will achieve a higher upload speed. Either way 60 being the lowest recorded upload speed, it still incredibly quick and more than enough!

Overall, either router would probably work fine for most people, although this depends on your signal and how close you are to the mast. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am very lucky, that although I don’t have clear line of sight to the mast and there are a couple of houses in the way, it’s almost irrelevant as I am approx. 50m away from it. For me, the extra 20mbps that I sometimes get on upload with the V2, is negligible in comparison to the constant reliable signal that the V1 gets, and the extra download speeds it regularly achieves over the V2 are more useful. There have been a number of posts backing up my findings on the V2 that the signal is all over the place and not reliable and drops out, and for that reason, I am sticking with the trusty V1 for my new 24-month contract.

I hope you find my post useful!
 
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I haven't recorded the cells, what should i be looking for? this is mine at the moment

Looking at your stats you are connected to the mast and cell below, do any of the other masts fall in you local vicinity? No need to say here, but make note.

o3RVLfH.png


Keep an eye on the ID's when you get strange issues to see if you've jumped to a less favourable cell/mast with worse connectivity. You can lock the bands, I have found on my local that B28 + N78 +N78 is best, you don't seem to have B28 might be worth doing a cell scan to see if it is anywhere else?
 
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