topic Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question in Mobile Broadband

5G Home Router Charging Question

mickeyp — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 15:16:41 GMT

This week we upgraded our 4G Home Router to the 5G Home Router, for no other reason than the package offered was cheaper than our existing one (rural location, 4G router has been working fine for 4 years). Upon arrival of the new router and reading the 'Safety Information' leaflet, I find the following 'Advisories'-

Do not fully charge/discharge battery;

Avoid plugging in power adapter continuously for >12 hours;

Only charge device when battery <40% capacity.

Having not known beforehand that this router was battery powered, this is somewhat annoying. I'm disabled, so to have to keep plugging/unplugging this from the mains socket is going to be a real pain, aside from the fact that I'm going to have to remember to monitor the charge indicator for when to plug in.

I also find the advisories somewhat ridiculous as given that the 'full charge' indication is the same for any charge over 21%, how to tell when fully charged?, and there is no indication of a 'below 40% charge' (the only low charge indication is below 20%, which yes I accept is below 40%).

Does anyone with this 5G router leave it plugged in to the mains permanently? Whilst I realise that the above are titled 'Advisories' I'm somewhat reluctant to just ignore on the grounds of safety more than anything else.

To be honest, given the above plus what I'm reading on here of others problems with 5G overall I'm thinking of just leaving it in the box and sticking with my 4G router whilst continuing to pay for the (cheaper) 5G package. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind........

Thanks in advance to any who reply.

Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question

Chris_B — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 15:42:48 GMT

@mickeyp Does it look like this ? If it does it’s not battery powered it’s mains powered and you can forget about that battery recommendation.

if it looks like this then this is battery powered and your getting the advisory so the battery within it lasts longer as overcharging batteries destroys their working life span.

Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question

XRaySpeX — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 16:26:42 GMT

@mickeyp : If you ordered by phone or online you always have a statutory cooling-off period up to 14 days after delivery to cancel your order FoC. If you ordered in-store you have no such "change-of-mind" right of return.

Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question

rwillcox — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:21:42 GMT

In identical situation. Only reason we changed was on EE advice as old 4G router security was no longer deemed secure for mobile phones otherwise it was fine. Found no WiFi this morning as battery had run flat over night and only lasts 8 hours! At 6.15am I’m plugging it back in and after 24 hours of user I’m on here looking to see if somethings wrong with it!

it’s really annoying as we go away longer than 8 hours at a time and need the WiFi on to pick up emails etc so it’s a poor connection device due to limits of battery. We have a router because we live in sticks so can’t get fibre optic cable and our house burnt down in 2022 (now rebuilt) and list all main line cables so the router is our lifeline. Seems only for 8 hours a day!

I plugged it in to recharge and saw your message because I was browsing for same reason- planning on leaving it plugged it! Don’t want another housefire as a result!!! Don’t really care about the battery life performance if it doesn’t meet ordinary reasonable living requirements EE will have to provide a battery or plug in router like the 4G. Otherwise the product design is knowingly supplied as a remote device without full 24 hour use capacity because you have to keep manually fixing it.

I am disabled too but the technical sales team never enquired about that to find out if I could actually keep pressing the router button and plug in the usb twice a day.

Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question

Rach_H — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 07:27:08 GMT

Hi @rwillcox,

Welcome to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear that you're not happy with your device, so I'd recommend reaching back out to our team and logging a complaint and the team will be able to take a look and work to get your concerns resolved.

Rach

Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question

dundonnell — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:14:19 GMT

Hi @rwillcox

If you need an "always on" permanently connected device at home you should be looking at one of these Smart 5G Hub 7 Plus which are designed specifically for that purpose. The 5G device you have is designed for mobile connectivity when you are out and about away from home

Nick

Re: 5G Home Router Charging Question

XRaySpeX — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:26:10 GMT

@rwillcox : If you want a permanently powered mobile router you should be look at the mains powered EE Smart 5G Hubs, not the battery powered EE 4/5 WiFi Routers.