Anyone know how the B618 compares to the b535 or b525-65a (these seem reallygood but not sure where you can buy them now!)

I believe this is the datasheet for it but I cant seem to work it out!

https://www.4gltemall.com/downloads/dl/file/id/145/p...

B618-22d does not seem to have as much cover as the B525, limited bands without band 32 and ual CA and 2CA options are not good.

LTE: B1/3/7/8/20/38

Intra-band contiguous: CA_1C,CA_3C,CA_7C,CA_8B, CA_38C

Inter-band:
CA_1A-3A,CA_1A-20A,CA_3A-7A,CA_3A-20A,CA_7A-20A,CA_20A-38A

Thanks for posting that. Even with b535 though we’re still limited to 2ca and no b32+1 or 3 for example

I’m not aware of any routers in the market that do until you get to the 5g pro , their mobile 5g, and a high end 250+ huaiwei 4g and those are al harder to get gold off, at least except for 5g contract.

The B715-23c gets you 3CA but not 1/3/32 as a combination but has 1/3/20 as a combo and 3/20/32.

* Carrier Aggregation：

-- (4G)2CA: CA_1A-3A, CA_1A-7A, CA_1A-8A, CA_1A-20A, CA_1A-28A, CA_1A-38A, CA_1C, CA_3A-7A, CA_3A-8A, CA_3A-20A, CA_3A-28A, CA_3A-32A, CA_3A-38A, CA_3C, CA_7A-7A, CA_7A-8A, CA_7A-20A, CA_7A-28A, CA_7A-32A, CA_7C, CA_20A-32A, CA_20A-38A, CA_38C

-- (4G)3CA: CA_1A-3A-7A, CA_1A-3A-8A, CA_1A-3A-20A, CA_1A-3C, CA_1A-7A-20A, CA_1A-7C, CA_3A-7A-8A, CA_3A-7A-20A, CA_3A-7A-28A, CA_3A-7A-38A, CA_3A-20A-32A, CA_3C-7A, CA_3C-20A, CA_7A-20A-38A


But the combination will work for some masts, I already have 3 and 20, so does the mast get 1 or 32, seems the B715 will cope with both possibilities.

I note no 2CA upstream though? Which the B535 does have? (no idea if effective on three.. or vodafone)
Do you have any links to the specs? I was able to find the 5G CPE Pro details, but not for the other models discussed?

At the risk of some divergence... with mobile phones storming ahead with 5CA, and routers lagging, are there good budget options of phones that could be used as dedicated hotspots (for a small config - just tv/ipad/laptops)? Starting to wonder if any of the cheapo android handsets are anywhere in the radio game

Of course my iPhone XS does great, but what is the best device for modem only? nothing else would matter really. (plugged in to adaptor)?

Very few networks have the spectrum to enable uplink CA.

Some Huawei MiFi devices connected via a USB cable to a larger router might solve the question.

In my case that would not work as my phone only gets 4G if held up above the roofline, the router with a directional antenna gets a solid lock on 4G so router it is. I get 40mb download speeds and that is more than I need, I really only need faster downloads. Until I know which way Three go on the local mast I am sticking with the B525, if they go the Band 1 route then I will see what's around to give me 2 or 3 CA covering 1 3 and 20, if they go Band 32 then its 3 20 and 32 but band 20 is only 5mhz bandwidth so 2CA would not be much lower than 3CA and if the mast can only handle 2CA no difference at all. Hopefully when the time comes to need an upgrade the choices will be better.

The lack of information on masts and planned upgrades means you are best waiting until the upgrade is in place and tested before deciding the way to go.

In reply to a post by kommando:

In my case that would not work as my phone only gets 4G if held up above the roofline, the router with a directional antenna gets a solid lock on 4G so router it is.

In your case you would have external antenna, to the MiFi, then USB to the full router. Many MiFi devices have SMA connectors.