Thinking of using 5G router. How to go about it?

CaptainRock

I'm no expert in these matters so I need some help.

I'm currently with Plusnet for my broadband (67MB connection) but the price keeps rising each year which I'm not happy with.

Instead of using one of the big broadband companies I read in a computer magazine of someone switching to iDmobile.co.uk and using 5G.

Unlimited data, minutes and texts for £16.00 a month for 24 months, which is a very good deal.

So from what I can make out, I need to get a router but I  don't have a clue what type I should be getting.

I've also just thought about the sim card.  How will that work?  Will the sim card go in my mobile phone but how will I get 5G on the router?

The most important part I need to find out, is if I can get a good 5G signal.

I've searched but can't seem to find a website that can give me easy to see results I'm looking for.

Is there one that anyone can recommend?

littleboo

IDMobile use the Three network, you need to check if you have a good indoor 4g or 5g coverage from them. Or find another network that does. The SIM card goes in the router. 

CaptainRock

littleboo said:

IDMobile use the Three network, you need to check if you have a good indoor 4g or 5g coverage from them. Or find another network that does. The SIM card goes in the router. 

If it goes in the router then I don't get use of the free minutes?

littleboo

No, but do you have a mobile phone? All but the cheapest SIM only deals seem to have unlimited minutes

CaptainRock

Yes, I have a mobile.

iniltous

Before you are committed to a mobile data contract and a mobile Mifi router , you should probably get a cheap PAYG sim and put in a mobile phone  , set it to work as a mobile hotspot then connect your devices to that mobile hotspot and see what the day to day experience is like , no doubt for some this type of mobile access is  a cheaper and acceptable replacement for a landline based broadband, but for others it isn’t ….

alanwsg

I did exactly that at of at the end of last year, all going fine so far.
I switched from Plusnet BB at 30MBs speed to '3' mobile which varies between 40-180Mbs
If you're an on-line gamer be careful as mobile connections have quite a high latency.

I have a 5G modem but only only get 4G in my area at the moment.
I bought a MC7010 off Ebay for £130 but whatever you get make sure it's at least CAT20 or your speeds will suffer.

Go on Amazon and search for 'Scancom' for an unlimited data-only SIM card.
Typically you're looking at £200 for 24 months, so around £8.50/month
I got mine during Amazon 'prime' week for £149, so around £6.20/month.

I tested it out by tethering an old mobile to my router before forking out for the SIM.

CaptainRock

Useful information above. Thanks

CaptainRock

Any idea if there is a way of finding out if one 5G network is better than another in my area?

kafue

I tried Three mobile broadband when I moved house in Jan. At first it was quite good, certainly fast. Then problems emerged:
1) signal was very variable, so sometimes no internet at all. Solved by switching to 4G (you can do this yourself from the router's settings)
2) the biggy - which took a while to figure out. I got lots of help from a broadband forum. A lot of my outgoing emails were blocked by their recipients' server. This is because the router provided by Three does NOT provide you with a static IP address - instead it is random. So the IP address you are sending from could be a known spammer, and is therefore on a blacklist from organisations like spamhaus. There is a way round this (as I later found out) which is to use an alternate SMTP server - which is free if you don't send lots of emails.
3) Customer service from the company was dreadful. I got better help from a local sales office!
4) Wifi from the router was poor. I bought a Halo mesh set which has improved it hugely.

My broadband speed right now is 37 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 77 ms latency
I am looking to switch to full fibre.

Neil49

CaptainRock said:

Any idea if there is a way of finding out if one 5G network is better than another in my area?

Quite honestly, No. There are websites which give a general indication of signal strength in your location but it is only general. Where I live the checker tells me that the Three signal is poor yet in practice it's workable. It says Vodafone is ok but in real life it is non existent. I'm with O2 with little or no signal and depend on wifi calling for my mobile. I can walk 50 yards up the road and it's fine. 

The only way is to get sim cards from providers using the 4 main networks and find out by trying them while sitting in your own home.