Getting Huawei B311 mobile router working with Vodafone

martin27

Hi, I have a holiday spot with at best fringe Vodafone 4G coverage and no 4G coverage from any other provider, and I need data. Vodafone shop said that a mobile dongle would be of no help - reception would be worse than phone/hotspot. So bought a Huawei B311 mobile router online because it has an external aerial capability - could not find anything equivalent on sale in Ireland.

With a simple aerial, mobile router works fine - but only with a Vodafone billpay SIM (my normal phone); it will do nothing with a Vodafone PAYG SIM (except access Vodafone IE website). Router works fine with a 3 PAYG SIM (in another location, obvs. And the Vodafone PAYG SIM works fine in my phone but not in the router.

So obvs the router is not completely locked to a carrier if it works with 3 and Vodafone billpay. It was bought as unbranded/unlocked and seems to behave that way. The PAYG SIM works fine everywhere EXCEPT in the router.

@All: I don't want to take out a billpay contract for a location that is only used occasionally. Is there a way to get the PAYG SIM to behave? Any other ideas?
@Vodafone: I don't want support for my device, that I can look after myself - just want the data access I bought!

pizzahead77

The most obvious thing would be to check whether or not the Vodafone APN is set up correctly in the router when the SIM card is inserted

smuggler.ie

I think with VF you must register SIM as "data" card. Call VF support, they will/should explain and will be able to assist

Ten Pin

AFAIK there is no difference between PAYG broadband (data) SIMs and PAYG phone SIMs on VF. Broadband plans use HS APN while phone plans use Live APN. If VF detect tethering on a phone plan on Android 8.1 and newer or on IPhone they reroute traffic through HS APN and charge for it. Informing VF that the SIM is in a router will most likely prompt a response of "you need a broadband plan for that"...and PAYG broadband plans have low allowances compared to phone plans.


Set the APN to live.vodafone.com and see if that works. The SIM PIN might also need to be input in router settings.

smuggler.ie

Ten Pin wrote: »

AFAIK there is no difference between PAYG broadband (data) SIMs and PAYG phone SIMs on VF. Broadband plans use HS APN while phone plans use Live APN. If VF detect tethering on a phone plan on Android 8.1 and newer or on IPhone they reroute traffic through HS APN and charge for it. Informing VF that the SIM is in a router will most likely prompt a response of "you need a broadband plan for that"...and PAYG broadband plans have low allowances compared to phone plans.


Set the APN to live.vodafone.com and see if that works. The SIM PIN might also need to be input in router settings.

You could be right.