Home portable router

[JuanMat_1657689]

Hi there I need a portable home router , always I'm tethering hotspot with my smartphone, any suggestions ?

[Jomac · Accepted solution]

Just look on eBay for an unlocked 4G Router, you should be able to pick one up for well below £30 THREE network who own Smarty and share the same network supply a free router,

[MikeHorn_626296 · Accepted solution]

I use a 4g ZTE router bought of Amazon for £35 works fine 

[MarkWeatherill]

Hi, I have a couple of 4GEE 'mifi' routers, the bigger ones have good battery life, are fairly cheap second hand and if needed can be unlocked easily. I find they do freeze up occasionally but very useable and of course, portable.

[Elizabe_2519983]

Hello, how did you unlock? I phoned EE and they wouldn’t allow me to unlock it, they wanted me to buy an EE data plan

[MarkWeatherill]

Unlock codes are available from third parties on eBay, for example.

One of my 4GEE mobile routers has just failed, sadly. I replaced it with a BT mini hub.

[MSF]

@MarkWeatherill Don't forget that, if a device is outside of contract, the original network are obliged to unlock it free.

[the_owl_0v0]

Assuming "portable home router" means a home router connecting via the mobile network, I can suggest the Huawei H112-370 for use in the UK.  

In Leicestershie I'm currently getting ~600Mb/s down and 32 Mb/s up on both Ethernet to my laptop and and WiFi 6 to my phone (Ookla speed test at time of writing this response)

Hope this helps.

[Peto_Peter]

Yeah but are you willing to keep removing sim card btw phone and router ? I was thinking same but was asking my self why when u have phone as router already ..

I was checking 5G WiFi 6 mobile routers a they cost like 200 or 300 or more so no point 

[Jomac]

For what it costs Peto, I have two Sim card contracts, one for the router which is unlimited everything and a basic Sim for the phone, so no swapping needed. Other than general surfing on the phone, the only thing that would use expensive data would be Google Maps and even they can be preloaded into your phone before a journey. Using a basic Sim with limited data, I have never come close to using anywhere near my limit and never had to swap Sim's

[Peto_Peter]

Why would u pay twice?? person need just one sim and one payment ! 

So u bought expensive acces point ? how much ?

[Jomac · Accepted solution]

Just look on eBay for an unlocked 4G Router, you should be able to pick one up for well below £30 THREE network who own Smarty and share the same network supply a free router,

[MikeHorn_626296 · Accepted solution]

I use a 4g ZTE router bought of Amazon for £35 works fine 

[Jomac]

Mine's a ZTE as well, very nice, cheap and simple to set up and customise.

[JaneSta_2609973]

Hi there, I have bought a ZTE router and put the Smarty sim in - but I am not finding the network with devices - please can you tell me how you did that? Thanks

[MSF]

@JaneSta_2609973  First thing is to ensure that the APN is set to mob.asm.net

You do this via the settings page for your router. Usually, you can type in 192.168.1.1 or similar into the address bar of your browser and it should bring up the page. Normal settings for username and password are admin and admin.

[SimonGuru · Accepted solution]

Hi my recommendation is a TP-Link TL-MR6400. This is a 300Mbps 4G mobile wi-fi router with SIM slot unlocked to all networks and no configuration required. It also has removable external wi-fi antennas.

30.00 and a very good make and you can control it with the TP-LINK APP And TP-Link TetherApp 

I Have this one and it has amazing reviews and a good price or if you have any routers or modems sitting around your house by any isp supplying organisation then use that in bridge mode and use it as a range extended or a modum on its own 

Regards Simon 

[Brookhouse]

Struggling to find this at £30, Can you advise where you found it at that price?

[Chalkychap]

That's inflation for you... +10% per annum. 

Perhaps @SimonGuru acquired their's pre-owned.

[SimonGuru]

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/3g-4g-router/tl-mr3420/ 

[SimonGuru]

Link below £26.70

[SimonGuru]

TP-Link 300 Mbps 3G/4G Single-Band Wi-Fi Router, 1x 2.0 USB Port, 5x Fast WAN/LAN Ports, Connect up to 32 devices, WPS Button, No Configuration Required, UK Plug (TL-MR3420)

They changed the model number so this might be why you couldn't find it it's has over 30 k reviews 

[DanielP_2058417]

Be careful buying tp link. Lots of people either cant get them working at all with smarty or like me i can only get 3g. 4g seems to be blocked. In my phone it gets 500mbps but only 3mbps in the expensive router lol 

[Brookhouse]

Which router do you use then?

[DanielP_2058417]

Ok i did a factory reset and now its working at 100mbps.

I wonder if my new item from currys was a previous return and had some settings changed as it had some marks on it.

https://ibb.co/r5zHpMzhttps://ibb.co/r5zHpMz