Broadband questions

[Jordyshaw11]

Hey all,

Wondering if anyone can give some advice on the Vodafone Gigacube or the 5GEE Home router. Where I live the internet is pretty lame, running at 11-15mbs with spiking ping. Was thinking of getting one of these devices to boost my speeds. Vodafone says I'll get around 30mbs from the cube (because of my area). And EE will be the 5G device which is like up to 300mbs but pretty costly.

Any advice or knowledge would be appreciated, thanks. (These slow speeds are killing me)

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hey all,

Wondering if anyone can give some advice on the Vodafone Gigacube or the 5GEE Home router. Where I live the internet is pretty lame, running at 11-15mbs with spiking ping. Was thinking of getting one of these devices to boost my speeds. Vodafone says I'll get around 30mbs from the cube (because of my area). And EE will be the 5G device which is like up to 300mbs but pretty costly.

Any advice or knowledge would be appreciated, thanks. (These slow speeds are killing me)

I had the AI Cube

Huawei AI Cube, 3 in 1 - Alexa enabled, Smart Speaker and High Speed 4G router, Unlocked- White/Grey fabric https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T3P4KZ9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_l8iQEb0YQFB0H

on 4g for a week trialling it, and it performed extremely well on 4g averaging about 80mbs down and 30 up. Unfortunately I have an always on server which needed high uptime and the router took a few minutes after a power cut to cycle back up to 4g speeds so it wasn’t an option for me, otherwise if it had been just normal internet use and gaming I would have happily stuck with it.

If you’re only getting 30 down in your area then I’m almost 100% positive you won’t have 5g? 5g is currently only available in big cities.

Given the choice, I’d go with EE, much better for data and better support.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

Cheers for the insight. Well Vodafone aren't offering the 5G as it isn't in my area, but said the Gigacube is 4G and will offer me 30mbs. Only EE have 5G in my area but the cost of the tariff is pretty ridiculous. I've also looked at the Netgear nighthawk M1 which I've heard a bit about (O2 are offering it at 35 pound a month) How would I know what speeds I'll get in my area from that device though? Also how much GB would be enough for gaming would you say, they offer 150gb. Just anything up around 50mbs in speed will suit me nicely.

Thanks

 

[SpyderTracks]

Cheers for the insight. Well Vodafone aren't offering the 5G as it isn't in my area, but said the Gigacube is 4G and will offer me 30mbs. Only EE have 5G in my area but the cost of the tariff is pretty ridiculous. I've also looked at the Netgear nighthawk M1 which I've heard a bit about. Just anything up around 50mbs will suit me nicely.

Thanks

Can I ask what EE are asking per month?

I was paying £20 for unlimited data with 3. Such a shame about my server otherwise I definitely would have stuck with them.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

EE was up to 300mbs and 70 pound a month contract with a 100 pound upfront fee (5GEE Home router). Yeah I guess I need to just find a good mobile broadband SIM.

 

[SpyderTracks]

EE was up to 300mbs and 70 pound a month contract with a 100 pound upfront fee (5GEE Home router). Yeah I guess I need to just find a good mobile broadband SIM.

Wow, that is a lot, but good speeds.

3 are worth a look if they cover your area, probably only 4g, but I was impressed. Although support isn't that great.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

Yeah tell me about it. 3 are offering up to 150mbs at 26 pound a month which sounds alright. I just hope the device can give me them speeds in my area.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yeah tell me about it. 3 are offering up to 150mbs at 26 pound a month which sounds alright. I just hope the device can give me them speeds in my area.

I had 14 days to fully test it, must have gone through about 10GB in data transfer, but they took the router and sim back and didn't charge me a penny for anything after I tried it for a week.

Get one from each decent network (do it over their site if you can rather than phone), and then try them all over a week or so and cancel the ones you're not happy with.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

Yeah that seems like a good idea, thanks alot for your help. Just need to get a wireless adapter for my pc now.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yeah that seems like a good idea, thanks alot for your help. Just need to get a wireless adapter for my pc now.

All the best, keep us updated, would love to hear how it goes.

 

[Tony1044]

I would avoid O2 like the plague to be honest. I had a business account with them for years - 4 handsets on there. They were brilliant. Then they got the exclusive deal, back in 2007, to the iPhone and their service tanked. They never recovered.

They then outsourced all of their support to another company (I forget their name) and it tanked again. I caught them out lying repeatedly (on email, no less!) and ended up getting my account taken back in-house, but by then it was too late.

On top of that they simply don't have the spectrum that others have invested in. I went from full 3G in my house to almost no 2G overnight and they sent a femtocell to fix it.

I was with EE business for years after that and they were, frankly, brilliant. I made the mistake of changing to Three because EE didn't do unlimited data plans. Literally six weeks after I left them, they announced unlimited data plans! D'oh.

Three were great, to be fair, when they worked but again I found their signal to be almost as bad as O2's, When you get a signal it tends to be incredible, high speed, high quality. But there's no degradation - it just goes, so it was (for me) one extreme or the other. Also don't call them for any support - they tend to be rubbish.

I moved back to EE but on a personal plan. I got 5G unlimited data on a special thank you for coming back offer for £26 a month which was a genuinely nice surprise.

I used to have a company mobile that was on Vodafone. I always loved this irony - Vodafone's HQ is in Newbury. The company I was working for was also in Newbury. The signal there was absolute toss. Expensive, too, but they did have great support.

Of all the mobile providers, EE gets a thumbs up from me, personally.

My fibre, though, is with Vodafone. No line rental, so business fibre with 8 static IP's for £32 a month. Can't argue with that.

EE aren't generally the cheapest but the you do tend to get what you pay for in the mobile world.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

I had the AI Cube

Huawei AI Cube, 3 in 1 - Alexa enabled, Smart Speaker and High Speed 4G router, Unlocked- White/Grey fabric https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T3P4KZ9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_l8iQEb0YQFB0H

on 4g for a week trialling it, and it performed extremely well on 4g averaging about 80mbs down and 30 up. Unfortunately I have an always on server which needed high uptime and the router took a few minutes after a power cut to cycle back up to 4g speeds so it wasn’t an option for me, otherwise if it had been just normal internet use and gaming I would have happily stuck with it.

If you’re only getting 30 down in your area then I’m almost 100% positive you won’t have 5g? 5g is currently only available in big cities.

Given the choice, I’d go with EE, much better for data and better support.

Question? How was you getting 80mb speeds from that cube, I thought it only delivers up to 300mbps which is like 35mb?

 

[Jordyshaw11]

I would avoid O2 like the plague to be honest. I had a business account with them for years - 4 handsets on there. They were brilliant. Then they got the exclusive deal, back in 2007, to the iPhone and their service tanked. They never recovered.

They then outsourced all of their support to another company (I forget their name) and it tanked again. I caught them out lying repeatedly (on email, no less!) and ended up getting my account taken back in-house, but by then it was too late.

On top of that they simply don't have the spectrum that others have invested in. I went from full 3G in my house to almost no 2G overnight and they sent a femtocell to fix it.

I was with EE business for years after that and they were, frankly, brilliant. I made the mistake of changing to Three because EE didn't do unlimited data plans. Literally six weeks after I left them, they announced unlimited data plans! D'oh.

Three were great, to be fair, when they worked but again I found their signal to be almost as bad as O2's, When you get a signal it tends to be incredible, high speed, high quality. But there's no degradation - it just goes, so it was (for me) one extreme or the other. Also don't call them for any support - they tend to be rubbish.

I moved back to EE but on a personal plan. I got 5G unlimited data on a special thank you for coming back offer for £26 a month which was a genuinely nice surprise.

I used to have a company mobile that was on Vodafone. I always loved this irony - Vodafone's HQ is in Newbury. The company I was working for was also in Newbury. The signal there was absolute toss. Expensive, too, but they did have great support.

Of all the mobile providers, EE gets a thumbs up from me, personally.

My fibre, though, is with Vodafone. No line rental, so business fibre with 8 static IP's for £32 a month. Can't argue with that.

EE aren't generally the cheapest but the you do tend to get what you pay for in the mobile world.

Ah I see, Ive also heard in the past that EE are pretty crap with customer service. Im currently with o2 on my phone contract but personally had no problems. The contract on 5G EE are offering is just too expensive for me though, 70 pound a month with the 100 pound up front fee too, but I guess the quality, speeds and all the rest of it would be pretty good like you said. Just trying to choose the right router is a pain. Also alot of these devices come with LAN ports, and this going to be primarily for my PC to run off so I could just connect it via ethernet for a more stable connection?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Question? How was you getting 80mb speeds from that cube, I thought it only delivers up to 300mbps which is like 35mb?

There's the difference between Mb and MB again.

I was getting 70Mb/s (megabits per second) which is what ISP lines are measured in. Rather than MB/S (MegaBytes per second) which is what windows data transfers are measured in.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

There's the difference between Mb and MB again.

I was getting 70Mb/s (megabits per second) which is what ISP lines are measured in. Rather than MB/S (MegaBytes per second) which is what windows data transfers are measured in.

Ah right I see. So that'll be more than enough for gaming.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah right I see. So that'll be more than enough for gaming.

Yes, plenty.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

Recieved my Huawei B535 today and getting steady speeds around 15-30Mbps for now (was hoping for a bit more). Aslong as I can game without high ms and spikes its all good. Ive connected it via ethernet to my PC. Going play a few games and see how it goes.

Done some testing. Witht he router being in the room with me im not getting the best speeds or ping. To be fair it was a little worse than my original broadband connection for the reason of getting this ha. Lagged completely out of games a few times which was frustrating.

Ive now moved it to a different room in our flat and my speeds are up to like 30-50, which is alot better and ping has dropped only slightly too which im happy about. Going to keep it a couple more days and try a few more different games.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Recieved my Huawei B535 today and getting steady speeds around 15-30Mbps for now (was hoping for a bit more). Aslong as I can game without high ms and spikes its all good. Ive connected it via ethernet to my PC. Going play a few games and see how it goes.

Done some testing. Witht he router being in the room with me im not getting the best speeds or ping. To be fair it was a little worse than my original broadband connection for the reason of getting this ha. Lagged completely out of games a few times which was frustrating.

Ive now moved it to a different room in our flat and my speeds are up to like 30-50, which is alot better and ping has dropped only slightly too which im happy about. Going to keep it a couple more days and try a few more different games.

Positioning of the router is of paramount importance, it needs to be up quite high and as near to a window as possible.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

Aye, i'll keep experimenting.

 

[Jordyshaw11]

Tried the Huawei B525 (up to 300mbps), that wasn't too bad, speeds were around 20-50mb and nice and cheap to run, ping was always around 65-80ms.

Also tried the Netgear M1 (up to 1Gbps), speeds were a bit better and ping was alot lower, device/contract is alot pricier.

Think I'll still with the Huawei but buy one outright, and get a pay as you go SIM or a short contract one. Was thinking about trying another Huawei router (was up to 600mbps) not sure if it'll make much of an impact, might just be my location.