Mobile wifi instead of landline broadband question.

harz99

I'd like to ditch my home broadband/landline when renewal is due, the 2 of us have 2 tablets, 2 smart TVs a smart PVR and a laptop, of which at most half are connected via broadband and in use at any one time.

My question is can i simply by a mobile router like this one with an unlimited data sim card from ID/Smarty or similar, plug it in to power and after set up expect reasonable stability and speed for our usage which is mostly surfing the net, occasionally catch up tv and a couple of painting by numbers/jigsaw apps.

TP-Link TL-MR6400 300 Mbps 4G Mobile Wi-Fi Router.

Carrot007

harz99 said:

My question is can i simply by a mobile router like this one with an unlimited data sim card from ID/Smarty or similar, plug it in to power and after set up expect reasonable stability and speed for our usage which is mostly surfing the net, occasionally catch up tv and a couple of painting by numbers/jigsaw apps.

Router is irrelevantv and I would seperate wifi oput so you can use it with internet from any form.

Speed depends on signal quality around you and you will know what you get. Do you get good 4G? How about 4G. I could only ever use as a backup as it has to be in a very specifica place to get a signal.

As for does that thing look any good for wifi. No, unless you live in a 1 bed get a 3 node mesh setup. And like I said just buy a simple device for mobile or whatever and connect that to you mesh via a wire.

debitcardmayhem

what is the 4g signal like indoors, mine is barely usable at 2.5Mbps and outside it goes to 18-19. If you get good reliable speeds then I would use a router from someone like asus which can take a sim.

flashg67

Im in a poor area for land-line broadband so use a 4g Huawei router and lebara unlimited sim and its fine for WFH, streaming and multiple smart home devices. I get 30mbps plus depending on time of day etc just using the routers internal aerials. Router placement is fairly critical but not an issue as you only need to be near a plug socket. I tested the signal with multiple sims before deciding... All the networks said I'd get a good signal but in reality only Vodafone gave me anything usable

Withbellson

Of course the router does matter, as does the network you choose. 

Let's take EE as an example: 

Firstly you need to make sure that your modem/router covers the relevant frequencies. In the case of EE: 
B1 (2100 MHz) B3 (1800 MHz) B7 (2600 MHz) B20 (800 MHz)

You can also discover which of those frequencies are available to you at your location using your current Smartphone(which incidentally, may support CA. More on that coming up).

Once you have determined that, the next thing to look at is Carrier Aggregation(CA). The router in the OP is not capable of CA and so will have a limited speed capability, of perhaps less than 20 Mbps.
If you want higher speeds, you'll need CA capability. In other words, your modem router having the ability to combine the bands.

In the case of EE, their combinations look like this:  
CA_3C (B3+B3)
CA_3A-7A (B3+B7)
CA_3A-7C (B3+B7+B7)
CA_1A-3C-7C (B1+B3+B3+B7+B7)

Your router will need to have the ability to match one or more of these combinations to obtain higher speeds. 

Your Smartphone can be a useful tool in determining what is needed.

Withbellson

debitcardmayhem said:

what is the 4g signal like indoors, mine is barely usable at 2.5Mbps and outside it goes to 18-19. If you get good reliable speeds then I would use a router from someone like asus which can take a sim.

Why not get an outside aerial to feed the stronger signal to indoors, if necessary?

harz99

Withbellson said:

Of course the router does matter, as does the network you choose. 

Let's take EE as an example: 

Firstly you need to make sure that your modem/router covers the relevant frequencies. In the case of EE: 
B1 (2100 MHz) B3 (1800 MHz) B7 (2600 MHz) B20 (800 MHz)

You can also discover which of those frequencies are available to you at your location using your current Smartphone(which incidentally, may support CA. More on that coming up).

Once you have determined that, the next thing to look at is Carrier Aggregation(CA). The router in the OP is not capable of CA and so will have a limited speed capability, of perhaps less than 20 Mbps.
If you want higher speeds, you'll need CA capability. In other words, your modem router having the ability to combine the bands.

In the case of EE, their combinations look like this:  
CA_3C (B3+B3)
CA_3A-7A (B3+B7)
CA_3A-7C (B3+B7+B7)
CA_1A-3C-7C (B1+B3+B3+B7+B7)

Your router will need to have the ability to match one or more of these combinations to obtain higher speeds. 

Your Smartphone can be a useful tool in determining what is needed.

Many thanks that is really useful, I want to use a provider that has a rolling 1 month/30 day unlimited data contract, am i correct in thinking that only ID and Lebara offer this?

flaneurs_lobster

Withbellson said:

debitcardmayhem said:

what is the 4g signal like indoors, mine is barely usable at 2.5Mbps and outside it goes to 18-19. If you get good reliable speeds then I would use a router from someone like asus which can take a sim.

Why not get an outside aerial to feed the stronger signal to indoors, if necessary?

Because you might not be allowed to attach stuff to the outside of your dwelling or drill holes to feed cables

Because it's complicated https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/04/how-to-choose-an-external-4g-or-5g-mobile-broadband-antenna.html

Because it costs hundreds of pounds


EDIT : or the actual reason below 

debitcardmayhem

Withbellson said:

debitcardmayhem said:

what is the 4g signal like indoors, mine is barely usable at 2.5Mbps and outside it goes to 18-19. If you get good reliable speeds then I would use a router from someone like asus which can take a sim.

Why not get an outside aerial to feed the stronger signal to indoors, if necessary?

Not relevant in my case , since I only use it if the vdsl drops out, but it is useful for someone looking to use 4g full time.

flaneurs_lobster

Iharz99 said:

I want to use a provider that has a rolling 1 month/30 day unlimited data contract, am i correct in thinking that only ID and Lebara offer this?

Asda, Smarty, 3, Giffgaff, Voxi (albeit sometimes PAYG w/ recurring packages)

jon81uk

I can't see the plans as Three won't accept my postcode, but they offer a 30day rolling plan.

We used this last year before our fibre was set up in a new home and got very good speeds on 4G,at least 35/40MB.
We bought over the phone with Three (new build address issues) but no idea why their postcode finder won't accept us now!
But I was impressed with the speed and the one router just managed to cover our 3 bed house.
4G & 5G Home Broadband | Three