ZTE 5G MC888

[Highlandspring3]

Hi,

I purchased this router with an EE sim last October. It worked perfectly until last Monday.

It stopped working, i took the sim out and put in my phone and 5 g worked fine. I tried a Giff Gaff sim in the ZTE router and that worked fine. So there is  a compatibility problem it would seem, but why suddenly after 5 months?

I called EE who sent me a new SIM. I called ZTE who couldn't understand it and sent me a new router.

Today i tried again , exactly same issue. The EE sim card works but not in the ZTE router and a different SIM card (both Voda and Giff Gaff ) work in the router.

Can someone throw some light on this absurd situation. Please don't suggest rebooting or factory reset i went through all that last week and it didn't work. The  fact is the router works the SIM works, but they are no longer compatible,: but they were from September 2023 to February 2024  inclusive! 

Thanks in anticipation

[Highlandspring3]

Thanks for the reply. Did this happen to you very recently?

[KGB72]

Yes, the last two weeks. Between October and the beginning of February it was working perfectly. 

[Highlandspring3]

Ridiculous isn't it. What are you buying to replace it, any suggestions?

[KGB72]

Very annoying, all the more so because I don’t really understand the issue. But I was impressed that Amazon are refunding the whole cost. 

Have avoided ZTE and Huawei because of reports of the same issues with them, too. 

Have just ordered https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C5RCQ8N5?tag=track-ect-uk-1739210-21&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1&ascsubtag...

More expensive, but 25% off on Amazon until the end of Feb. It also come second in “best 5G routers of 2024” on bestproductsreviews.co.uk. 

[Vincent0207]

I've got the same issue! Owning ZTE MC888 5G router and scancom EE 5G unlimited SIM card from Amazon UK, the sim card worked perfectly until this Monday. 

However, when I plug it into my iPhone, it works. It seems not compatible to ZTE MC888 only.

[BillCarson]

It won't work with this router either, I bought one then found it was still not working, I am now using a Vodafone sim. my conclusion is that its something to do with EE, as Smarty sim also works in the router. PS If you bought the sim EE card from Scancom don't expect much support.

[BillCarson]

Read above, its not only the ZTE. I wrote to Scancom and this was their reply:

Hi

We have had many users experience difficulties with 4 different makes of routers:
Huawei
TP Link
ZTE
GL-X3000.
It is something to do with their settings that does not fully allow the EE sims to function.
 We have tried and tested our sims in these 2 routers and can confirm they work with no issues:
TP-Link Deco X50-5G (also known as AX3000)
EE Smart 5G Hub (but ensure it is the latest one)
You have been warned 

[thisaintgood]

scancom really are useless. I reported same issue on two ee data sims from them on a  teltonika rutx50 . They acted like im the only one with an issue and said my sims were not blocked on their side. So they know that my  router also has this issue and didnt add it to the list they sent you. then they told you tp-link and huawei have the issue but then recommended a tp-link router and my sims work in a tp-link 4g router (TP-Link AC1200) and a Huawei E5885. Both are 4g routers so could this be 5g router specific? But the point is that list they sent you makes no sense. Blaming the routers is silly because for all of us everything worked till recently so for sure this is a change on the ee side.

 

[Nigel123ramzy]

I have just recently suffered the same fate. For the past 10-months post purchase, my ZTE MC888 worked perfectly fine with an EE sim card bought from EE directly. Then a few days my ZTE MC888 failed after randomly rebooting for no apparent reason for several weeks. It now just sits there with the Network light on red. I have noticed that the APN is incorrect, whereas before it show the correct EE APN and several alternative APNs, it now just shows the one called btonephone and of course I am not a subscriber to btonephone. I am in the process of returning the ZTE MC888 jn the hope the ZTE Engineers can fathom why this has happened

[Nigel123ramzy]

Today, I have solved the problem - it is the default network selection setting causing the red Network light. The default network selection setting is 5G/4G/3G. Change it to either 4G only or 5G NSA, and the Network light turns white after automatically rebooting.