B525 vs b535

Ive seen lots of different posts about these two routers, with some people mentioning that the b535 performs worse than the b525 (on three anyway?).

Wasnt sure if this was just three being over subscribed in areas or if the b535 should be avoided?

Was tempted by a tp link but I believe they arent quite as good at carrier aggregation combinations and band fixing etc.

Grateful for advice

525 don’t support carrier aggregation of band 1 and 3 so you’d be better with 535 for many areas.

Thanks - ive seen some b535 comes with the bunny ears antenna - do they do much or not worth having?

I have managed to get my router into my loft, and I find that bunny ears are as effective as an external antenna in the same location (which might be stating the obvious). Without the bunny ears I find my signal is much worse.

This is with a TP-Link MR600 which comes with bunny ears. It gives me 4G+ on bands 3+20.

I am about to receive a B535 to test. I already have bunny ears that I will use from my B593 for testing.

FWIW the MR600 doesn’t do carrier aggregation with bands 1+3 and I don’t think the B535 does either (though I can’t lay my hands on the thread where this was stated).

B535 does do bands 1+3.

In reply to a post by gary333:

B535 does do bands 1+3.

Yes, fair play. It was this post where everyone discussed carrier aggregation for various Huawei routers, on page 3 - CA info

I guess I'll find out soon

Hey

Wondered when you are planning to do the test of the b535? I want to get one ordered so the earlier I know if the MR600 is the one to go for vs the b535 the better

Cheers!

In reply to a post by barker04:

Hey

Wondered when you are planning to do the test of the b535? I want to get one ordered so the earlier I know if the MR600 is the one to go for vs the b535 the better

Cheers!

There is no question, the B535 is far superior

In reply to a post by barker04:

Hey

Wondered when you are planning to do the test of the b535? I want to get one ordered so the earlier I know if the MR600 is the one to go for vs the b535 the better

Cheers!

The B535 arrived today and I'm working tomorrow, so proper testing will have to wait for the weekend. It's a B535-235 which is a different model number to the more usual B535-232. Someone has asked about the differences in another thread.

I have had the chance to replace the MR600 with the B535 and it appears to get similar signal strength, 4G+, and speeds off the bat with bunny ears. The family are now watching Sewing Bee on iPlayer!!!

I'll definitely post over the weekend once I've learnt more

In reply to a post by DGR1:

In reply to a post by barker04:

Hey

Wondered when you are planning to do the test of the b535? I want to get one ordered so the earlier I know if the MR600 is the one to go for vs the b535 the better

Cheers!

The B535 arrived today and I'm working tomorrow, so proper testing will have to wait for the weekend. It's a B535-235 which is a different model number to the more usual B535-232. Someone has asked about the differences in another thread.

I have had the chance to replace the MR600 with the B535 and it appears to get similar signal strength, 4G+, and speeds off the bat with bunny ears. The family are now watching Sewing Bee on iPlayer!!!

I'll definitely post over the weekend once I've learnt more

It's certainly worth trying without the ears too for comparison. For example many people with B525's reported the ears actually reduced signal. The internal antennas were quite good and crucially properly spaced to allow signal propagation

Very interested to see the review - Quick query , is it possible to do band selection on the MR600 , ie fix to band 3 vs band 20?

I think it is. I was planning to purchase it and made sure to do plenty of research before doing so. I came across a few threads with many unhappy customers saying there were no options to force band selection. It seems they now have beta firmware to appease those unhappy customers. MR600 v1 only by the looks of it.

https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/20...

Thats very interesting.

Does anyone know what bands the MR600 supports for CA as i cant find a list?

Look at that link. The first post has an image of possible combinations with the MR600

https://static-community.tp-link.com/other/30/4/2020...

Yes, the MR600 gives me 4G+ on bands 3 and 20 on Three. Max speed is about 60 down and 30 up, more typically 40 down and 20 up.

Would be good to see a review of the two if you have chance at some point this weekend?

Interested to know comparison to B535 and how :

1) Speeds compare
2) How stability / signal strength compares
3) How UI compares
4) If you are running the new firmware to allow band fixing? As I want to do this
5) Which you would recommend

In reply to a post by barker04:

Would be good to see a review of the two if you have chance at some point this weekend?

Interested to know comparison to B535 and how :

1) Speeds compare
2) How stability / signal strength compares
3) How UI compares
4) If you are running the new firmware to allow band fixing? As I want to do this
5) Which you would recommend

Rather than hijacking this thread, I created a new MR600 vs B535 one for you - link to comparison thread