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Looking at ditching the landline and broadband in the shop.
We don't need a lot of bandwidth and don't use the landline at all.
Looking on line and there the prices vary from £50 to £1000!
We don't have 5G in the village and I'm not holding my breath on that rolling out.
So any recommendations on a 4G LTE router for about £100?
Any to avoid?
What do you use it for? If it’s mainly for Sumup etc. could you not just tether it to your phone?
(I’d go s/h Draytek Vigor of some description, either with built in LTE or with a USB ‘stick’ modem)
Banking, ordering, a bit of browsing, youtube, radio etc.
Basically 20mbs is plenty.
Currently paying £50 a month for phone and broadband package.
Smarty do an unlimited data plan for £20 a month.
Is that a data-only plan? Might be issues with using an unlimited ‘phone’ plan for this?
(Also, if I was doing this I’d look at putting in an external antennaj
It's a data only plan.
We used this for 2 years: https://www.solwise.co.uk/4g-routers-rut240.html
Just a bit over your budget but made out of proper metal and everything. We chose this one as we used the same company to source an external antenna. Also it was living in our loft where temp range is quite extreme and we wanted something that could handle that.
Zero issues, UI is a bit, er, industrial but did the job. We didn't use the wireless as we had a mesh but when I tested it, it seemed decent enough. Solwise are nice people to deal with as well.
Smarty pretty much is Three - so I'd take boomer up on their offer and try that.
I got one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314997317325
Not sure on the longevity, but for £25 it's worth a try.
+1 on getting a free router. But if you want to buy one, we've been using one of these in our static caravan since Aug last year and it's been spot on.
Thanks for all the advice.
@boomerlives - Very kind. Thank you. However - I think I dodged a bullet with Smarty - I have since been told that 3 has very poor performance in our village and O2 is one to use. So looks like Giff Gaff might be the choice of SIM.
Regards router, found this on Ebay, looks like a good deal and allows the addition of an external aerial if needed.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284986701142
ZTE makes a perfectly good router. Even the mifi one that goes for about £30 on fleabay will do just fine for most people.
No worries Gobuchul.
The Three box is ZTE.
It was good when Three managed to keep the masts working... About 3 times as fast as the BT BB that was hard wired to the house.
Thank heaven for Full Fat Fibre
Regards router, found this on Ebay, looks like a good deal and allows the addition of an external aerial if needed.
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284986701142
That looks decent. The ZTE iPhone app is good for SMS etc. I'm assuming there's a similar Android version.
Check the provider for 4g home broadband availability. I tried with Smarty (Three), but could only get around 17meg connection speed.
I read somewhere, Twitter or Three help section/community, that only a portion of the 4g signal is designated for 4g home broadband. Three website "checker" says I get an excellent 4g phone signal, but no 4g home broadband. This is kind of backed up by my phone's 180-ish connection speed, and the poor router speed
I read somewhere, Twitter or Three help section/community, that only a portion of the 4g signal is designated for 4g home broadband. Three website “checker” says I get an excellent 4g phone signal, but no 4g home broadband. This is kind of baked up by my phone’s 180-ish connection speed, and the poor router speed
Interesting, presumably that would need to be determined by the sim/account. The 2 data only sims I have (Voxi and Lebara) are just badged as mobile sims.
Be advised: 4G speeds are not consistent. It's fine if you use it occasionally but not great for a stable connection. Despite what is advertised, my speed rarely topped 4mb/sec and sometimes cut out entirely for a few hours. That was with EE aswell.
Interesting, presumably that would need to be determined by the sim/account. The 2 data only sims I have (Voxi and Lebara) are just badged as mobile sims.
If I still had the Smarty SIM, I'd stick it in the phone to compare, it was a data only, so I assume it was either the device, or the SIM/account which determined what "portion" of the signal you get. The only real comparison I had was, my phone would get 90-100 in the same position as the router (the higher speed I mentioned before was out walking the dog)
We have one of these - https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-MR6400-Unlocked-Configuration-Required-External/dp/B016ZWXYXG/ref=asc_df_B016ZWXYXG/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=226500799598&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4704529233136930133&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9180650&hvtargid=pla-386070767726&th=1 - and an ID mobile unlimited SIM. It is the same SIM that you would have in your phone and is only £15 for unlimited data.
The router has antenna so should get better signal.
We don't quite have LOS to the nearest mast (but it's close by). Using an external Omni antenna this is pretty representative of what we get from our 3 data Sim. Sometimes goes up to 70, sometimes down to 5. It is definitely slower evenings etc. Which you'd assume was congestion although not many people live here! Having said that the DSL is really bad - long way from exchange so maybe 4 meg if it's not raining absolute best case.
Fibre is on the pole outside. We're due to be connected Feb or March. Cannot wait!
Do you need an external aerial?
Ive 2 tp link ones i used before fibre went in. Both super reliable
I’m using a HUAWEI b535 4g router that I got off eBay unlocked and an ee 125gb data sim for use in our motorhome and in the in laws cottage in the wilds of Northumberland (as they don’t have a phone line). The routers are about £50 on eBay, get an unlocked one and if needed you can also use an external antenna. We use one from solwise (although bought from Amazon warehouse for £50) out the window and on a telescopic tent porch pole and it significantly increases the connection speed in the old cottage due to the thick walls and distance to the cell tower but doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference in the Moho.
there’s a motorhome guy on YouTube that has a useful bit of info that’s also transferable to using one at home. Check him out here
The HUAWEI has been so good I’ll buy one for the father in law to use himself at the cottage. They are cheap as chips and also run on 12 v direct from a stabilised 12v cigarette lighter plug which is handy.
Well I received my LTE router.
Very happy with it, 60-70 mbs. Solid piece of kit as well.
It has small external antennas don't think it will need an external.