Switching to mobile internet

joess

Heya,
Couple basic questions. Recently decided to try 3 on my smartphone, the mobile internet it provides was way faster than my dedicated "broadband" connection even at peak times so deciding to cut the cord. After a while on that ended up connecting to the "3." network instead from what my research tells me would've been the O2 mast prior to the merger.

If I was to buy one of the devices 3 sells i presume it's locked to their network so only their sims work but would it be able to connect to those "3." masts as well? May be a stupid question but just wondering if anyone's done exactly that before jumping on it.

Phone now and again gets a 4g connection (low signal), coverage map seems like my location is just out of reach for 4g coverage but the "3." mast seems faster than that anyway, not sure if its due to the low signal or not..any thoughts? (getting about 8mbs down) I don't think it'd be worthwhile getting a super pricey model, external aerial, etc to try and catch that 4g signal if what's there is viable for me?

Realistically should the Huawei E5573/E5377 offer similar capabilities to the phone I'm currently using? (it's nothing special, pretty basic Android from a few years back) anyone any experiences with how decent their signals are? Presume there's no problem with just leaving them plugged in for the majority of the day and not caring about the battery.

So many questions, most of them probably stupid but I appreciate any input!
Cheers.

ED E

If you want to do this permanently buy a B593. No point half arsing it.

gooner99

Pretty much in the same boat myself. Just bought myself the b593-22, but not yet delivered. I think you need the b593-22, I may be wrong but I think it is the correct one for our region.

I jump on my android from 4g, to h+ to h often. I'm not too much up on this, but I guess this is the phone going to the nearest or best signal mast?

Is there any test apps I should run to find out what is best?

Also should the b593 be set to auto band type selection or 4g only?

Anything else I should be aware off?

mayo.mick

gooner99 wrote: »

Pretty much in the same boat myself. Just bought myself the b593-22, but not yet delivered. I think you need the b593-22, I may be wrong but I think it is the correct one for our region.

I jump on my android from 4g, to h+ to h often. I'm not too much up on this, but I guess this is the phone going to the nearest or best signal mast?

Is there any test apps I should run to find out what is best?

Also should the b593 be set to auto band type selection or 4g only?

Anything else I should be aware off?

I've mine set to auto, it will select strongest signal, 3G or 4G.

gooner99

Sounds good. so just plug and play then so.

mayo.mick

gooner99 wrote: »

Sounds good. so just plug and play then so.

Yip, its a great router! You might need to move it around to get the best signal. I've mine at one end of the house where signal is strongest. I connected my old dovodo to it with cat 5 and use that as an AP. Great wifi signal all over the house.

gooner99

mayo.mick wrote: »

Yip, its a great router! You might need to move it around to get the best signal. I've mine at one end of the house where signal is strongest. I connected my old dovodo to it with cat 5 and use that as an AP. Great wifi signal all over the house.

Was a toss up between it and the new b315, but seems the in built antenna are better in the b593. When you say move around for best signal. Is that the indicator at the top right of the display on the outside of the router you are looking at?

mayo.mick

gooner99 wrote: »

Was a toss up between it and the new b315, but seems the in built antenna are better in the b593. When you say move around for best signal. Is that the indicator at the top right of the display on the outside of the router you are looking at?

That's it. Only seen there its showing 1 bar, its usually 4/5. Moving it to the far end of the house weakened the wifi at other end (2 foot stone walls don't help either!). Luckily I'd my dovodo router which served me well for 6/7 years which I was upgrading from. Does the job grand for boosting the wifi.

Not overly impressive down/upload speeds but that's to do with network and contention. Consistently good though and stable. You can always get an external Arial as well, there's a thread on them here too.

gooner99

Cheers. I'll see how it works for a while and see if I need the antenna.

ACLFC7

gooner99 wrote: »

Also should the b593 be set to auto band type selection or 4g only?

I've got mine set to 4G only. Most of the time 1 bar of 4G is much better than full 3G signal.

gooner99

ACLFC7 wrote: »

I've got mine set to 4G only. Most of the time 1 bar of 4G is much better than full 3G signal.

Cheers will play around with that. Still waiting for delivery.