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Confused - 2 vastly different mobile routers but same download speed

stan84
Investigator
Investigator

‎05-11-2020 09:40 PM

Help me solve this.

My old mobile Wi-Fi Router was:

Huawei B311 2020-4G/ LTE 150 Mbps Mobile Wi-Fi Router

 

When using this router I had an average download speak of 20Mbps (tested using Ookla speed test). Today, I bought a new NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 Mobile Hotspot 4G LTE Router (supported download speed 2 Gbps). However, when I tested the Download speed it was exactly the same - 20Mbps! Perhaps I am doing something wrong?

I am using a Sim card that has a 5G unlimited data plan but it is a mobile phone sim card plan. Perhaps I should switch to a data plan sim card? My gut feeling is that the new router, the NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 is supposed to work faster by using '4GX LTE Advanced' which is not a part of my Sim Card plan. 

 

Any idea?

 

Thanks,

 

Stanley

0 Helpful
3 REPLIES 3
XRaySpeX
EE Community Star
EE Community Star

‎05-11-2020 11:23 PM - edited ‎06-11-2020 03:03 AM

Why should a diff router be any faster? It's the SIM & the mobile network that determine the speed & that hasn't changed. 

 

You buy a new router for its features, not for its speed!

 

Both routers are 4G (LTE) & neither will make any use of a 5G SIM.

 

With the mobile phone SIM you have bought an unlimited data plan; you can't do that on a data SIM. 

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stan84
Investigator
Investigator
In response to XRaySpeX

‎06-11-2020 06:10 PM - edited ‎06-11-2020 06:11 PM

Ookla Speed test when connected via Ethernet CableOokla Speed test when connected via Ethernet Cable

 

So I spoke with NETGEAR Support (the company that I bought the mobile router from and they have adviced me to test the speed using an Ethernet cable connected to my laptop. I was very skeptical but it seems that they were 100% right. The download speed is vastly higher when using an Ethernet Cable!!

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bristolian
EE Community Star
EE Community Star
In response to stan84

‎06-11-2020 06:41 PM - edited ‎06-11-2020 06:45 PM

Sometimes different categories of devices are theoretically capable of different maximum speeds, but I've not been able to check on the specifics of the routers you've mentioned. @Peter_C is quite familiar with some of these, and may well be able to offer further suggestions.

 

In this case, you mention that an Ethernet connection has given a better speed than a WiFi one - this isn't a surprise, but does suggest you're possibly suffering from WiFi congestion.

 

It may be worth trying a program such as InSSIder (or similar) to investigate which WiFi channels are being used in your immediate locality and whether better performance might be obtained by changing to a different one. Subject to router options allowing you, of course.

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