Posted 14 January 2024

5G router options

Hi all,

My current broadband connection (fibrenest) is slow, expensive and I'm looking for alternatives. Unfortunately I can't change the provider for (fibre) as the cable are still owned by fibrenest.

I've looked into 5G routers and the most common name I see is zyxel nr5101 & nr5103.

Please can I have some feedback on these if you've used any? Also if there are any alternate options available please?

Only EE has good coverage at where I live.

TIA
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  1. KodaBear's avatar
    NR5103 (and V2 of this model) From ZyXEL are both good. As is the ZTE MC801A and MC888. Basically pick whichever of these you can find at a good price. CeX is often a good place to buy due to their 2 year warranties. I’ve used both ZyXEL and ZTE, amongst other brands too.

    If signal is poorer where you live, an outdoor router is almost always better than an external antenna. So do keep this in mind when buying.

    As EE is the only good network where you live, remember that EE is one of the most expensive options, and that they have a fair use policy on unlimited data. Either 600 or 650GB per month off the top of my head. So if you’re a heavy use the outdoor router may be worth it to see if you can pick up a signal from further afield from Three or Vodafone for their truly unlimited data.

    Can you not get Openreach where you live? Even if FTTC it may be better than your current provider if you say it’s slow and expensive. FTTC will get you up to 80Mb which is more than enough for most households - The most commonly sold broadband package in the UK is only half of that at 36-38Mb average for example.

    A fixed line is going to give you more stable speeds (and lower latency) than mobile broadband in almost all cases. So it’s important to mention this as you’ll most likely be losing that by going for 4G/5G.
    Ferris's avatar
    The Three-branded MC801A is rubbish. Constant dropouts make streaming or browsing a nightmare. Very close to returning to a mobile hotspot.
  2. Pájaro's avatar
    Do you need to share the connection? If you don't, easiest and cheapest solution is to enable the hotspot on your phone. Change your phone's hotspot name and password to match your existing router's, and it becomes a drop-in replacement.
  3. mkaay's avatar
    I’m in a same situation, love to hear feedback on this.
  4. bozo007's avatar
    Huawei CPE Pro 2 is another option. Please check signal quality first with a prepaid SIM.
    KodaBear's avatar
    OP - If you do go for this apply emphasis on the 2. The original CPE doesn’t support all of the bands used by UK networks and will give a worse experience.

    Note also that while most routers are unlocked, Some Huawei ones are network locked.
  5. TinplateGeek's avatar
    Have a look at the forums at ispreview.co.uk/ for advice about the pros and cons of 5G broadband.
  6. RadioRedders's avatar
    I took a risk a while back and bought one of those Unicomm V007+ 5G routers (about) £150 at the time from Ali Express, which came quickly..and went down quite a rabbit hole of seeing what could be done with it. The key takeaways for me...spending money on hardware hacks to use some of those sticky out aerials to the unit was a waste of time. Despite living in an area where the Three mobile coverage says 5G is not possible..using a Smarty sim (currently £16 on the 12 month promo deal) I'm able to get around 350mb download speed, but a rather weak 25mb upload speed via 5G. The latency is around 30ms. However, placement was absolutely critical even a couple of cm can make a huge difference to the received signal. I live on a busy housing estate. I did a lot of leaning out of windows regarding trying to optimise the signal when for some reason it was better inside the house. Be aware..they don't like double glazing! The WiFi signal of the modem itself, on both 5ghz and 2.4ghz was useless beyond a few feet so I invested in a WiFi 6 router (about £33) and connected it by wire to the modem. and placed it centrally in my four bed house.

    With a bit of tinkering in the advanced settings (and there's a lot to play with) , which are a faff, but doable, it seems to yield more than usable results. All my smart stuff is connected to it. With the speeds I have, I'm able to watch 4k streaming content with no issues. For fun I get the unit to reboot itself at 4am every morning just to give things a boost. I also registered for the access to mature content which whether a placebo or not, I feel did improve the speed. I'm able to play multiplayer games on the system via the Xbox, but I don't do anything too demanding. I use an MTU of 1430 in the router. I tend to set my devices to use either Cloudflare or Google for the DNS settings. I don't know if it helps. In short. The mobile route can work well, but using a 'phone hotspot..which I tried with the same sim card and placement was far worse than a separate modem. Additionally, it's worth noting that although my 4G signal is 'stronger' than the 5G the 5G still wins in terms of latency and DL speed. Hope some of that was helpful.
    (edited)
  7. vassy4u's avatar
    Author
    Thanks everyone for your valuable input.

    I tried the following sims:
    EE
    O2
    Vodafone
    ID
    Three

    Only Three had 5G sign - that's only from one corner of my house. EE had good reception and internet speed was constant when using from anywhere in the house but not 5G.

    I have ordered a 5G home router with sim from Three which should arrive tomorrow so I can test it. Atleast I have 30 days to return if the speed isn't great or consistent.

    Thanks all.
    mchu6am4's avatar
    Hi... What router did you go for in the end?
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