Using 5g as main Broadband

breeno

Hi all

I see Eir have published their 5g broadband offer for 45 per month.

https://www.eir.ie/mobile/broadband/

I'm in Dublin in a 5g location so have access to good home broadband options but I also have a small place in the country that needs connectivity too. I was thinking this could be a good solution as I could just pack the modem when heading down and get a decent 4g signal down there (based on previous experience with an Eir phone and sim hotspot).

I'm just wondering if people have any opinions on 5g routers as a full time solution at home and how reliable it is given I work from home now and the family aren't keen on Netflix buffering! Any advice would be appreciated.

alan4cult

breeno wrote: »

Hi all

I see Eir have published their 5g broadband offer for 45 per month.

https://www.eir.ie/mobile/broadband/

I'm in Dublin in a 5g location so have access to good home broadband options but I also have a small place in the country that needs connectivity too. I was thinking this could be a good solution as I could just pack the modem when heading down and get a decent 4g signal down there (based on previous experience with an Eir phone and sim hotspot).

I'm just wondering if people have any opinions on 5g routers as a full time solution at home and how reliable it is given I work from home now and the family aren't keen on Netflix buffering! Any advice would be appreciated.

Yeah should be grand.
Might not be so reliable for a VPN to work etc .though because a lot of providers are using double NAT to share IP addresses.

chiral_fluid

breeno wrote: »

Hi all

I see Eir have published their 5g broadband offer for 45 per month.

https://www.eir.ie/mobile/broadband/

I'm in Dublin in a 5g location so have access to good home broadband options but I also have a small place in the country that needs connectivity too. I was thinking this could be a good solution as I could just pack the modem when heading down and get a decent 4g signal down there (based on previous experience with an Eir phone and sim hotspot).

I'm just wondering if people have any opinions on 5g routers as a full time solution at home and how reliable it is given I work from home now and the family aren't keen on Netflix buffering! Any advice would be appreciated.

I've been using 5gbroadband.ie for 3 months.
Speeds were decent (300-1000mbit/s) most of the time. You may get dynamic public IP. Pings are not that nice as on FTTH, 10-15 ms comparing to 3ms on SIRO, but still very decent. Most of the time there were no disruption to 5G signal, the router had been gracefully degrading to 4G+ during heavy rains...



Beware of Huawei routers, they are buggy and need to be rebooted regularly (otherwise the speed may degrade greatly). Also I had some very strange problem with my Huawei CPE router MITMing me from time to time. The firewall was off. Here are some people complaining about the same but no any explanation: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/218425/router-tries-to-manipulate-https-connections

Lord Nikon

So, 5g works with the modem in the house, not mounted on the wall outside. Hmm, would like 5g speeds over my FTTC where I'm only getting a 60mb line. Wondering what would be the cheapest 5g phone to use as a hotspot, as 5g modems are ridiculous money.

breeno

Lord Nikon wrote: »

So, 5g works with the modem in the house, not mounted on the wall outside. Hmm, would like 5g speeds over my FTTC where I'm only getting a 60mb line. Wondering what would be the cheapest 5g phone to use as a hotspot, as 5g modems are ridiculous money.

Vodafone doing the 5g modem for free when you sign up for 12 months. Eir charging 99 when signing up as well. My big worry is not having any equipment to check the speed before I sign up. I have a 5g iphone 12 but it's locked to three and they don't have good coverage where I am. I could sign up and cancel during the cooling off period but its risky business with Eir customer service haha

dam099

Lord Nikon wrote: »

So, 5g works with the modem in the house, not mounted on the wall outside. Hmm, would like 5g speeds over my FTTC where I'm only getting a 60mb line. Wondering what would be the cheapest 5g phone to use as a hotspot, as 5g modems are ridiculous money.

I'd be wary of any mobile solution if you have a solid 60mb FTTC line. You might get better headline speeds on 5G but a reliable FTTC connection has its merits.

alan4cult

Lord Nikon wrote: »

So, 5g works with the modem in the house, not mounted on the wall outside. Hmm, would like 5g speeds over my FTTC where I'm only getting a 60mb line. Wondering what would be the cheapest 5g phone to use as a hotspot, as 5g modems are ridiculous money.

They are ridiculous money for a reason. A phone you have to tether/hotspot and many providers are directly blocking tether dun apn making it more difficult to tether. The modem does not have this issue as it is routing the traffic directly to the Ethernet port/WiFi.

I would agree with the previous poster, a solid FTTC connection is better, plus you will get a straight through IP address for joining a work VPN etc.

Minifox

I'm considering the Eir 5G mobile broadband option too but I'm in two minds.
I'm currently using Vodafone 4G Mobile broadband but I'm only getting about 10Mbs at best, and at night it often becomes so slow as to be unusable. I moved to the country and fixed-line broadband isn't an option out here (Meath/Westmeath).
According to Eir's interactive map, I'm in their 5g coverage area, but I'm wary of forking out €100 for an Eir Modem, only to find out that their real speeds are the same or less than what I'm currently getting with Vodafone. Moreover, I had a quite unpleasant experience with Eir a few years ago and I know how hard it can be to cancel a contract with them or get any money back. I've read their customer service is improving but I don't want to put that to the test!
My work phone uses an Eir SIM (definitely not a 5G phone!) and the best it can manage is usually H+. Does that mean the 5G signal from Eir will be equally bad, or do 4G and 5G use different masts?

smuggler.ie

Minifox wrote: »

My work phone uses an Eir SIM (definitely not a 5G phone!) and the best it can manage is usually H+. Does that mean the 5G signal from Eir will be equally bad, or do 4G and 5G use different masts?

Treat 5G as luxury if you can get it, 4G as main connection. For now anyway.
Shop around Broadband and Midband forums for info. It seams to me it is widely oversold. Would be glad to be proven wrong

If you only manage to get H+ i don't see much chances you get 5G. Currently 5G operates on 4G platform and rely on same masts.
Map clearly indicate "outdoor coverage"
H122 5G CPE (H122-373) router has no external antenna ports - no chance to improve reception.
Strongly advice to test, at least on the phone, before committing

breeno

Would there typically be any speed improvements seen when using a 4g/5g router over using a phone on hotspot at the same location? Or would they be largely similar in speed?

smuggler.ie

breeno wrote: »

Would there typically be any speed improvements seen when using a 4g/5g router over using a phone on hotspot at the same location? Or would they be largely similar in speed?

Router might have better built in antenna.
Router might have option for external antenna to improve signal if inside is obstructed by building structures

Minifox

Thanks for the feedback, Smuggler.
What do you guys think about external antennas? I mean the small 'rabbit ears' type that plug into the back of the modem (mine is a Huawei B528 23a 4G GigaCube Modem).
I don't want to start drilling holes through external walls so I'm not going to set up an external arial. Googling provides mixed feedback--some say they dramatically improve speeds, some say they make it worse.

smuggler.ie

Minifox wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback, Smuggler.
What do you guys think about external antennas? I mean the small 'rabbit ears' type that plug into the back of the modem (mine is a Huawei B528 23a 4G GigaCube Modem).
I don't want to start drilling holes through external walls so I'm not going to set up an external arial. Googling provides mixed feedback--some say they dramatically improve speeds, some say they make it worse.

For me it din't worked, make worse.
If cant get outside antenna, there are certain models that just suck on to window surface. Have not used, but from what i could gather they are weaker.

Ten Pin

I don't want to start drilling holes through external walls so I'm not going to set up an external aerial

Short flat window cables are available to avoid drilling holes....
https://www.wifi-shop24.com/coaxial-window-cable-4g-antenna-40cm-sma

conalfearmhor

I have the Eir 5G home broadband. I was getting 4G+ previously. 4G+ was getting 80mb at stages and was fairly good but weekends and evenings could see it drop down. I upgraded to 5G..it seems to be maxing out at 50mbs but it's consistent so far and low ping. I tested before getting on my Gomo sim(eir network) and 5G phone. I was getting 200mb DL on it so I assume Eir have dropped the speeds to ensure traffic doesn't congested. Huawei CPE Pro 2 is the modem Eir provide. These are like 400eur brand new with no network lock so 99eur isn't bad.

JTMan

Are the 5G modem that Vodafone and Three included in their packages network locked or not?

alan4cult wrote: »

Might not be so reliable for a VPN to work etc .though because a lot of providers are using double NAT to share IP addresses.

I use a VPN for work. How big an issue is this double NAT issue?

chiral_fluid

JTMan wrote: »

Are the 5G modem that Vodafone and Three included in their packages network locked or not?



I use a VPN for work. How big an issue is this double NAT issue?

Depends on what kind of VPN you use. NAT/double NAT is not a problem for many of them (eg openvpn).


You may have public (although dynamic) IP address with 5gbroadband.ie