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

I’m trying to find a way to get access to Vodafone’s 5G SA (their 5G Ultra) service through a VOXI SIM. Apparently VOXI does support 5G SA so that’s half the battle won.

Does anyone know if the Zyxel NR5103E or NR5103EV2 from Three are unlocked and support Vodafone SIMs?

​

EDIT: I may have jumped the gun. If I don’t get Vodafone 5G on my phone, I’m not getting 5G SA in the same location, right?
 
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I've been testing ID mobile which uses three
Network on TP link Archer NX500 5g router

It kept bouncing between bands 1 and 3 but locking it on band 3 made it more stable and better speeds

During say 1am - 8am speed is around 500mb down but during the day it slowly drops lowest is at around 4pm - 9pm still stays just above 100mb I'm guessing this is to do with congestion with more people using it , would external antenna improve it?

ID pricing is really good compared to others and doesn't have fair use policy, rolling monthly I'll probably try talk mobile next which uses Vodafone

I've seen the three outdoor router called Greenpacket Y5-210MU wondering how that would compare
 
shamus21 said:
Vodafone coverage checker is wrong. It is worthless Voda love telling porkies.
Click to expand...

I'm finding Vodafone pretty poor these days sadly, I've been a long standing Vodafone customer on my main phone but use EE quite a lot for other devices and the difference between them in coverage, accuracy of the coverage map, and actual signal quality is increasingly stark. I feel they killed off their 3G prematurely as well as there is loads of places I used to get at least an OK 3G signal where now I have either nothing or a barely usable Edge connection.

One of our work sites recently got Vodafone 5G as a fallback and testing it has shown while the average is 80mbit/s down it constantly yoyos from 20 to 380mbit/s and latency is well over 100ms, and I get similar on my phone, using EE there I get a steady 300mbit/s and under 40ms latency. Upload on Vodafone there swings between 2 and 5mbit/s while EE is close to 30mbit/s with the odd dip to 20.

EDIT: This was the speedtest I did on my phone there:

11114830765.png


Not sure why it is showing LTE there as it shows 5G in the history on my phone.

ZAGmE4j.png

Slightly different to what I said above but multiple runs on the broadband connection were consistent with what I said but I don't have the link for those - I probably should create an account.
 
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Rroff said:
I'm finding Vodafone pretty poor these days sadly, I've been a long standing Vodafone customer on my main phone but use EE quite a lot for other devices and the difference between them in coverage, accuracy of the coverage map, and actual signal quality is increasingly stark. I feel they killed off their 3G prematurely as well as there is loads of places I used to get at least an OK 3G signal where now I have either nothing or a barely usable Edge connection.

One of our work sites recently got Vodafone 5G as a fallback and testing it has shown while the average is 80mbit/s down it constantly yoyos from 20 to 380mbit/s and latency is well over 100ms, and I get similar on my phone, using EE there I get a steady 300mbit/s and under 40ms latency. Upload on Vodafone there swings between 2 and 5mbit/s while EE is close to 30mbit/s with the odd dip to 20.

EDIT: This was the speedtest I did on my phone there:

11114830765.png


Not sure why it is showing LTE there as it shows 5G in the history on my phone.

ZAGmE4j.png

Slightly different to what I said above but multiple runs on the broadband connection were consistent with what I said but I don't have the link for those - I probably should create an account.
Click to expand...
Yes i dropped Vodafone couple of months back Just to much congestion . They need to start spending money to bring their network up to a reasonable standard.
 
Thankfully, talkmobile (I.e Vodafone) is working well here for me. Rivals EE for speed and costs me a lot less money. Quick test from my cheap android phone this morning...

Screenshot-20250920-085741-Speedtest.png
 
thewanted said:
I’m trying to find a way to get access to Vodafone’s 5G SA (their 5G Ultra) service through a VOXI SIM. Apparently VOXI does support 5G SA so that’s half the battle won.

Does anyone know if the Zyxel NR5103E or NR5103EV2 from Three are unlocked and support Vodafone SIMs?

​

EDIT: I may have jumped the gun. If I don’t get Vodafone 5G on my phone, I’m not getting 5G SA in the same location, right?
Click to expand...

Just wondering if anyone knows if these modems are unlocked from Three?

Is there a better modem I should consider? I need it to support 5G Standalone and bridge mode.
 
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Is Vodafone down again? 5G signal here is fine but my ping is in the 200ms range and speeds have tanked. Rebooted router and devices. No joy at all.
 
Raised a complaint via the online form. Looks to be a core network problem looking at a traceroute. Leaves me ok but then it all goes downhill. Tried telling this over the phone to Talk mobile but I may as well have been speaking another language. Lol.
 
thewanted said:
Just wondering if anyone knows if these modems are unlocked from Three?
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kmax86 said:
Zyxel NR5103EV2 5G Dual Band Indoor WIFI Router, Unlocked
Is what I bought from them. It says unlocked but when it arrived it has the '3' logo on it.

I have read that all the '3' NR5103EV2 are supposed to be unlocked as well.
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also here: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/3-zyxel-nr5103e-unlock.39933/page-2

YMMV
(i use mine with a three sim, so i can't confirm or deny this)
 
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Can I ask for opinions on how reliable EE's mobile network is for home broadband compared to FTTH? This is for general stuff and WFH Teams calls but no gaming.

I've just cancelled my VM M350 contract and am waiting for the call from retentions. Unfortunately VM is the only FTTH provider available in my area, although Openreach is supposedly coming next year. So that really leaves mobile broadband as the alternative.

EE speeds are good with the 5G router I've already got, but I've not used it for long enough to know if it's consistently good... if I do go down the 5G route though it will be significantly cheaper (about £10/m for a preloaded unlimited SIM compared to about £28/m for VM) and I wouldn't be tied into a 24m VM contract.
 
wonko said:
Can I ask for opinions on how reliable EE's mobile network is for home broadband compared to FTTH? This is for general stuff and WFH Teams calls but no gaming.

I've just cancelled my VM M350 contract and am waiting for the call from retentions. Unfortunately VM is the only FTTH provider available in my area, although Openreach is supposedly coming next year. So that really leaves mobile broadband as the alternative.

EE speeds are good with the 5G router I've already got, but I've not used it for long enough to know if it's consistently good... if I do go down the 5G route though it will be significantly cheaper (about £10/m for a preloaded unlimited SIM compared to about £28/m for VM) and I wouldn't be tied into a 24m VM contract.
Click to expand...
I've always had a good experience with EE 5G in my area for working from home. I'm about to quickly swap back actually, as last few months I've been with Talkmobile on 30 day rolling. No real issues, but EE just released 5GSA in my area so I'm going to see if it works or not within 14 days period and decide who to stick with. But it is double the price of Talkmobile so it needs to be worth it. I found with EE the latency was the best. Like 25-30ms. With Talkmobile I'm seeing 50-60ms.
 
Hi, I’ve been directed here as we’re dropping virgin media and I was looking at a 5G solution until fibre is run to our area some time next year. Once we have fibre I’ll use the 5G as a failover backup.
I have been looking at buying a zyxel FWA510 modem and using it in bridge mode to my UniFi udm-se. We are pretty heavy data users (2.63tb in the last month) are any of the unlimited sim deals really unlimited? I have seen that EE have a fair usage cap of 600gb.
Are there any other decent equipment that would be recommended in place of the zyxel 510, I don’t need the WiFi side or routing as I have a full UniFi setup.

TIA
 
Three business 5g broadband unlimited
southy1978 said:
Hi, I’ve been directed here as we’re dropping virgin media and I was looking at a 5G solution until fibre is run to our area some time next year. Once we have fibre I’ll use the 5G as a failover backup.
I have been looking at buying a zyxel FWA510 modem and using it in bridge mode to my UniFi udm-se. We are pretty heavy data users (2.63tb in the last month) are any of the unlimited sim deals really unlimited? I have seen that EE have a fair usage cap of 600gb.
Are there any other decent equipment that would be recommended in place of the zyxel 510, I don’t need the WiFi side or routing as I have a full UniFi setup.

TIA
Click to expand...
 
southy1978 said:
Hi, I’ve been directed here as we’re dropping virgin media and I was looking at a 5G solution until fibre is run to our area some time next year. Once we have fibre I’ll use the 5G as a failover backup.
I have been looking at buying a zyxel FWA510 modem and using it in bridge mode to my UniFi udm-se. We are pretty heavy data users (2.63tb in the last month) are any of the unlimited sim deals really unlimited? I have seen that EE have a fair usage cap of 600gb.
Are there any other decent equipment that would be recommended in place of the zyxel 510, I don’t need the WiFi side or routing as I have a full UniFi setup.

TIA
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only networks on three are truly unlimited no fup and also some on Vodafone
Mobile Broadband Data Sheet you can find info who truly is unlimited
docs.google.com

Mobile Broadband Data Sheet

docs.google.com docs.google.com

I myself cancelled virgin media few months ago been temporary using Talk mobile which uses vodafone rolling 30 day £16 per month and is truly unlimited using about 1.5tb-2tb per month , Im using it in spare 5G phone which is tethered via USB to Asus router getting around 150mb-250mb down , 20-30mb up , I did try ID mobile which is £15 per month and uses Three but signal isnt as reliable , if you want truly unlimited you only have choice with networks that use Three or Vodafone

I tried the ID mobile sim at friends and it was getting around 600mb down and 70mb upload

I will probably join vodafone fixed broadband 500mb which is currently works out £21.75 per month all through the 24 months contract with cashbacks and voucher but over the few months using talk mobile on 5G it hasnt missed a beat and this is in busy household with few devices streaming and 4K at that, but as always its gonna depend on the area
 
5GSA with EE in the FWA710. Tested from my PC via WiFi 7. I'd imagine slightly faster if I ran the test direct from the Router. :cool:


  • Band N78 (TDD 3500)
  • RSSI -75
  • RSRP -78
  • RSRQ -3
  • SINR 20
It's quite sad I know off by heart now where all the cell towers are. Vodafone one way, Three the other way, EE this way. haha.
 
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tamzzy said:
Three business 5g broadband unlimited
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Thanks to yourself and @uscool. I went with three business 5G broadband and returned the zyxel fwa510 router.
It has been up and running for around a week now without issues. Very pleased with the speeds after taking a few hours to decide on the location around the house with the best signal.

 
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