Best antenna for Huawei B525 mobile data SIM router

Associate
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Posts
53
I've just bought a Huawei B525 router to use with a mobile data SIM for home broadband. I currently have a Pixel 2 mobile phone using a Three SIM card. I get very good data speeds from my phone, get around 30 to 55 Mbps from pretty much all areas of my house.

I put the exact same SIM card into the Huawei hub and the best speed I can get is 0.5Mbps. The hub is in the exact same location as my phone is when I get 30 to 55 Mbps so I don't believe it is a bad location (not outright anyway). I have tried different locations in the same room but still get the same issue.

I have just ordered some external antennas (that look like this):

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41gi2gj-CHL._SY355_.jpg

They have mixed reviews so I'm not very hopeful they will improve it much. Is there a better antenna that will work for this hub.

I've not tried moving the hub near the window (not sure if glass will be better for signal) but I can try that location if it works. Alternatively, if there is a clearly much better antenna, then happy to try that.

If I can get at least 15 to 20Mbps, then I'd be happy enough.

Any suggestions?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2008
Posts
12,096
So why do they sell phone sims and mobile data sims as separate items? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a provider that allows phone sims to be used in routers, tablets, etc.
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2014
Posts
7,623
Location
The Cronx
Interesting - I have just ordered one of the stick on window variants from the same large retailer (I recognise your choice) for my 4g backup on a Netgear L2120 modem (just got my bargain smarty sim using 3). Got 5-7 mbs down and 3 up which is ok but a bit rubbish. Will let you know results (thankfully the non powered non industrial ones are sub £20). Good luck.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,806
So why do they sell phone sims and mobile data sims as separate items? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a provider that allows phone sims to be used in routers, tablets, etc.

Most places now are selling data sims with different configurations of data offerings to phone sims and moving other data offerings to tablet + data plan pay monthly and don't care too much about tethering or use in a router for any plan unless you abuse the **** out of it - in some cases you might find that using a phone sim (plan) in a router, rather than one of their data sims, results in lower priority for bandwidth at peak times but not sure who if any provider currently does that or not.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Posts
53
Ah okay, I never knew they made a distinction. It must be a new thing though. Anyway, I wasn't planning to use my phone SIM in the router, I was just testing it to check what kind of speed I'd be getting. Anyway, will order a proper data SIM so I can check as well.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2013
Posts
12,371
Location
La France
Most places now are selling data sims with different configurations of data offerings to phone sims and moving other data offerings to tablet + data plan pay monthly and don't care too much about tethering or use in a router for any plan unless you abuse the **** out of it - in some cases you might find that using a phone sim (plan) in a router, rather than one of their data sims, results in lower priority for bandwidth at peak times but not sure who if any provider currently does that or not.

This. When the router first registers on the network, it’ll transmits both IMEI and IMSI. The network will spot that a phone SIM has been paired with a non-phone and give it a lower QoS (Quality of Service) than it would for a phone with a recognised IMEI.

Of course, if the antenna in your router is rubbish, it will be reporting a low CQI (Channel Quality Indicator) score and high radio link pathloss to the network. The network isn’t going to waste precious downlink resources on a sketchy connection, so you’ll only be granted the narrowest of data pipes.

Fit a proper router/modem SIM and get yourself a directional antenna - look on Open Signal to find your nearest Three cell site and point the antenna at it, giving it the clearest line of sight possible.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
24 Jan 2013
Posts
53
I have just spoken to Three directly and they said there is no issue with using their Mobile Phone SIM in the Huawei router, they said that there's no filtering or throttle of allowance and the speeds I get would be the same between both types of SIM cards. I didn't ask why they have both options listed on their website though, I should have asked as that would have been interesting.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Nov 2017
Posts
74
Location
Yorkshire
The type of sim is irrelevant now since the ofcom ruling from last year.
Perhaps the router is latching onto a 3g signal instead. There are apps that work with your router allowing you to check.
 
Associate
Joined
30 Oct 2010
Posts
2,082
Location
Sunny Scotland
I've just bought a Huawei B525 router to use with a mobile data SIM for home broadband. I currently have a Pixel 2 mobile phone using a Three SIM card. I get very good data speeds from my phone, get around 30 to 55 Mbps from pretty much all areas of my house.

I put the exact same SIM card into the Huawei hub and the best speed I can get is 0.5Mbps. The hub is in the exact same location as my phone is when I get 30 to 55 Mbps so I don't believe it is a bad location (not outright anyway). I have tried different locations in the same room but still get the same issue.

I have just ordered some external antennas (that look like this):

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41gi2gj-CHL._SY355_.jpg

They have mixed reviews so I'm not very hopeful they will improve it much. Is there a better antenna that will work for this hub.

I've not tried moving the hub near the window (not sure if glass will be better for signal) but I can try that location if it works. Alternatively, if there is a clearly much better antenna, then happy to try that.

If I can get at least 15 to 20Mbps, then I'd be happy enough.

Any suggestions?

I don't think those are technically 'external' antennas. They are, but usually an external antenna is mounted on a pole or onto a wall outside and then fed into the house. Most will come with a max cable length of 5 meters. I have 2 LTE routers, one is outside in a weatherproof box and connected with an omni-directional antenna(will probably change this to a directional one soon) and powered via PoE(25 meter ethernet cable). I have a Three phone sim in this and i get around 40-55mbps down and ~20mbps up. This is my downloading router/sim and as long as i'm under 1TB each month then its all good.

I've then got 2 directional antennas that have 2 custom 25 meter 10mm antenna cable fed into the house(best place for me to get a signal). I have that connected into an EE 4GEE router and have EE's unlimited phone sim in that. I originally tried it in the router outside and it wouldn't connect on that. An EE PAYG sim works fine, but not the unlimited one for some reason. Luckily i had an EE 4GEE router kicking about from a past contract and it works fine. Now with a cable that length, it should hinder speed/ping, but i get a much better ping and speed this way. 80-100+mbps down and 40+mbps up. only around 1-2ms ping difference against the PoE outside. This is my gaming router.

One person i spoke to did have the theory that my big antenna cables were so big, that they could be acting as a huge antenna, haha. Maybe?

Might seem a bit of a cluster****, but we live just outside of a fiber area. BT gives us 4mbps down and an almost non-existent upload, before you say it, yes a total of 3 routers haha. but the BT one is getting cancelled shortly. Unless they build us our own cabinet , we'll have no chance of fiber, i very much doubt they will do that.

Have a look here https://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-antenna-outdoor.htm and even contact their support folks for advice. Super helpful and if you dont want to mount an antenna outside, im sure they will have an option for you.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Soldato
Joined
3 Jan 2006
Posts
24,945
Location
Chadderton, Oldham
I've got a Hauwei Gigacube router from Vodaphone and running 5G, I was thinking of a antenna so I don't have to place it in such an awkward position, is there any reasonably prices antennas for 5g?
 
Associate
Joined
3 Feb 2020
Posts
13
I've got a Hauwei Gigacube router from Vodaphone and running 5G, I was thinking of a antenna so I don't have to place it in such an awkward position, is there any reasonably prices antennas for 5g?

Hi Willhub, I can highly recommend an antenna from Panorama Antennas, they are a British company. I've used their flat panel antennas in many 4G/5G applications. They do some nice directional flat panel antennas that are fully weatherproof and not too expensive. Simply point in the general direction of your mobile phone mast and the results are great, better signal strength and higher speeds. :)

http://www.panorama-antennas.com

For 5G have a look at the WMM8G-7-38 MiMo Directional Antenna, it works really well. Pay particular attention to the exact model number as they can look very similar but work on different frequencies.

http://www.panorama-antennas.com/site/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_75&product_id=292

I believe your router has TS9 connections for the antenna inputs, so you'll need adaptors.

All the best, Dave.

P.S. There's 2 for sale on eBay for a good price, see them here... https://ebay.us/kV0x2n
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
4 Feb 2020
Posts
6
Sorry to gatecrash this topic, but had anyone turned their B525 to modem only mode, and if so, has instructions to do so please? Been looking around the admin settings on the router, but couldn't see anything obvious. Looking to switch to modem only mode so I can use Google WiFi points rather than the routers WiFi.
 
Associate
Joined
3 Feb 2020
Posts
13
Do you mean you want to switch off the WiFi of your B525?

Can you see this page? You can disable the WiFi on this page...

wifi-setup-86804.jpg
 
Associate
Joined
4 Feb 2020
Posts
6
Do you mean you want to switch off the WiFi of your B525?

Can you see this page? You can disable the WiFi on this page...

wifi-setup-86804.jpg

No, not just WiFi, as it will still act as a router via ethernet. Looking for the option for modem only mode, which other ISPs (ie Virgin, BT etc), offer on their routers.
 
Back
Top Bottom