4g LTE±. Unlimited sim in 4g router

[Drpau]

Hi, just started with EE at the beginning of Jan and have an unlimited data sim in a Huawei B535. What I've noticed I generally get below 60mb  {typically 40mb) whereas if I put my BT work sim in I get 100mb. This to me  seems like  it's been throttled back and 4g+ isn't being allowed by the EE sim. THE BT sim on the same network is unencumbered. Is this plausible?

Don't get me wrong I'm not that bothered as what I had before was a flakey 12mb landline, it's just I've not seen this written in any of the terms. My neighbour who has 4gee router 2 for 55£ a month doesn't get LTE+ speeds either, for him it's more of a struggle as he's using a range extender to his office and so by the time it gets there his 40mb end up being a quarter of that.  For my neighbour it could be his location, but for me it definately seems like the EE sim is restricted.

Thanks! 

Paul

[bristolian]

Those seem like perfectly reasonable radio figures for a slightly more distant (but entirely usable) cell.

Returning to your original query about data speeds, one good test would be to use your devices when your serving cell is likely to be lightly loaded and have minimal data traffic.

In the current climate, that's likely to be late at night or overnight.

[Drpau]

Hi, what I actually did was some direct comparisons in 2 routers (one a more snazzy Cat 19 router) one evening (sad I know)

EE Sim   in B535= 57mb   immediately after  BT Sim in B818= 113mb

BT Sim in B535 = 75mb  immediately after EE sim in B818= 71mb

5 repeats in each all connected to the same cell.

So it seemed that all the time the BT sim would be quicker. 

[kestrel4]

I note that EE's £20 per month for 160 GB (which I was considering) is promoted with the phrase, "Keep things simple with our most essential plan".

Elsewhere EE says that EE  Essential Plans have "4G speeds of up to 60 Mpbs"

If the 160 GB for £20 offer is capped, there is little point in me buying a high performing and expensive router.

[EssexBoyEE]

You may need to double check but I'm pretty sure the above deal of 160gb is 5G and no Speed Caps

[kestrel4]

You are right.  It is a 5G plan

The £20 for 160 GB offer is advertised as Superfast (for 5G only) and my suspicion is that it is capped at 60 Mbps for 4G.   

Could it be that all EE plans are capped when used for 4G, in order to conserve bandwidth.  

If this is the case, wouldn't it influence the type of router that would be best?  I will only have 4G for the foreseeable future so a router that gives reliable and consistent performance at modest speed would seem to make sense.

None of the networks really want to talk about speed.  Could a 4G capping policy be the reason? 

[EssexBoyEE]

Any EE 5G SIM Monthly Plan will not be Speed capped at 4G Speeds.

Best Ive done on 4G (pre 5G days) SIM on EE is around 435 DL and 150 UL using a Netgear Nighthawk M1 LTE Router.

[kestrel4]

Thanks @EssexBoyEE 

Wow, I can only dream of those speeds

[mikeliuk]

Hi @EssexBoyEE ,

Was any tweaking required to hit that on the Netgear MR1100? (e.g. telnet via USB port) From a double check, I don't know why I thought the MR1100 is Cat4, 2x2 MIMO, as it seems to be Cat16, 4x4 MIMO, 256QAM, carrier aggregation capable.

The highest numbers I've seen are way below that at about 35 Mbps down, and 58 Mbps up (just completing my first month with EE).

https://cacombos.com/device/MR1100-100EUS

Does "Current radio band" show multiple bands when carrier aggregation is in play? I do see a "4G+" indicator which I might guess is LTE-A in play but it's been awhile since I looked into that.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Mobile-Routers-Hotspots-Modems/LTE-CA-Combo-List-For-MR1100-EUS/m-p...

https://mt-tech.fi/en/enable-manual-band-selection-on-netgear-mr1100/

Making a note of this for future usage: https://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2017/06/theoretical-calculation-for-ees.html

[EssexBoyEE]

@mikeliuk 

This was a standard EEUS M1, the double EE stands for EE Firmwae over the normal EUS, this was unlocked from EE and was sitting on Pub Table about half a mile from the EE Site, it seemed very consistent speeds as well over a few days of testing.

No Band locking, nothing, just out of the box stuff, you are correct, the M1 is Cat16 and 4x4 Mimo, in stand alone mode in my my opinion, for 4G and 4G+ (without the 5G haggle) probably one of the best LTE+ Routers out there.

I did try an M2 as well which from memory is Cat20, but could only get around half the the speeds so that got sent back.

At home I use Huawei CPE stuff and from my local EE Masts, around 35 to 45 DL on 4G+ and arround 65 if it Carrier Aggregates with 5G, if I Band Select and Knock out 800 and 1800 Bands I can lock on to some better equipped Masts that are further away but provide 2100 and 2600 + 3500 5G, my Signal and SN drops considerably, but I'm into around 150 to 200 DL but as expected really poor upload.

And yes 4G+ or LTE A is Carrier Aggregation that together with 2 or 4x4 Mimo can make or break the Speed. Get your best 4G+ Signal sorted out first then use the 5G Part as a bonus.