b593-22 or e5186-22 router

loopymum

Hi, Three have recently upgraded the network to 4g and having just changed my old note 2 to Vodafone ultra 6 I see that I can get pretty decent 4g at the front of my house.
My old set up is the huaweii 556g router with a meteor dongle plugged into it so definitely time to upgrade as it just can't cope with much traffic anyway.

I'm looking a the b593 router and e5186, there seems to be about £40+ sterling difference, I am prepared to pay for the right unlocked router and I was all set to buy the e5186 but it seems that the b593 is excellent as picking up the signal. I would prefer to avoid an external antenna if possible.
On the smart ultra I have gotten 25mbs downloads about 3am a few feet back from the window and by the window downstairs with the current router I am getting 10mbs downloads.

The only thing about the b593 is that is doesn't support 800mhz I think and I am planning on using a three sim for access

ED E

Use an LTE diagnostic app to check the current band usage.

If you have LOS to two 4G masts or likely will in future then the 5186 is the only choice, if you're more rural you won't see its main benefit but it may still be the only choice if 800 is in use.

loopymum

Thanks
I have installed LTE discovery lite.
How will I know if I have Los?
I was looking at a website last night and according to that one there hardly any 3 masts near me.
I will have a look at site viewer later.
Will three be using mostly 800mhz?

ED E

Its around about 50/50 in Dublin by my testing (Band 3 vs Band 20).

If you know from Siteviewer there's only one tower near you and you've checked it with LTE Discovery then you're sorted.

loopymum

I have LOS to the masts, they are on big mountain at about a 45 degree angle to the front of my house, a couple of miles as the crow flies, there are both o2 and three masts, the LTE app doesn't know what bandwidth they are using and it says one other cell available for connection.

ED E

Some phones can't tell, others can. Usually qualcomm based devices expose the details.

If any friends/family have a different 4G device you could try that.

loopymum

ED E wrote: »

Some phones can't tell, others can. Usually qualcomm based devices expose the details.

If any friends/family have a different 4G device you could try that.

Thanks, I will ask around

loopymum

arghhh! I bought the e5186 and it's just after going kaput, I didn't touch it at all and nobody was messing with it! It seems to be in a constant boot loop and I can't connect to with an ethernet cable either, no lights on with ethernet cable and when I remove the cable again all the thernet leds flash.
I'm looking at an archer 750 now, any good?

editorsean

I suggest trying another 12V power supply with it as it may have failed. With the last power supply that failed on me (different router), the device behaved similarly where it appeared to be stuck trying to boot.

The power supply for the E5186 needs to be 12V 2A with a '+' tip, usually shown like '-C+'. Many routers (especially Huawei and TP-Link based) and external hard disks have a 12V 2A '+' tip power supply, so you might have a compatible one that you can try. The amp (A figure) rating can be higher, but the voltage (V figure) must be 12V and the tip must be '+'.

loopymum

Thanks. I will give that a go

loopymum

editorsean wrote: »

I suggest trying another 12V power supply with it as it may have failed. With the last power supply that failed on me (different router), the device behaved similarly where it appeared to be stuck trying to boot.

The power supply for the E5186 needs to be 12V 2A with a '+' tip, usually shown like '-C+'. Many routers (especially Huawei and TP-Link based) and external hard disks have a 12V 2A '+' tip power supply, so you might have a compatible one that you can try. The amp (A figure) rating can be higher, but the voltage (V figure) must be 12V and the tip must be '+'.

Thanks so much editorsean! That worked brilliantly! I used a power supply from an old router that was lying around!
Brilliant!