Will I get lower latency with a 4g modem than USB tethering?

Hi there,

So yeah my question is would one get a lower latency on one's connection when using a 4g modem, like for instance the "TP-LINK Archer MR600 WiFi 4G+ Router" with a cabled connection to the computer compared to USB tethering your phone to the computer.

Provided it is the same network and the same location of course.

And if so, does anyone have recommendations on which 4G/4G+ router to buy?

Can't advise on latency, but after having tried a TP-Link TL-MR6400, a Huawei B535 and a Huawei B628, I settled on a Tenda 4G06.

On paper, it's not as good as the other products, but in actual use it achieves better speeds, and its bundled rabbit-ear antennae work better than any external directional or omni I've tried. The '06 also has the benefit of supporting VoLTE, so you can plug a wired phone into it and use any bundled minutes in your plan (e.g., the £16/month unlimited-everything from Three).

Everything being equal, it's not automatically going to give you lower latency. Depending on your current connection strength/stability you might be able to better position the router e.g. next to a window, to improve connection quality. Which may improve jitter and be a qualitative upgrade.

In reply to a post by lo22:

So yeah my question is would one get a lower latency on one's connection when using a 4g modem,

Maybe! USB was never designed for networking and puts load on the CPU that network cards (WiFi or Ethernet) do not.

If you have a mobile phone that can create a WiFi hot spot, this would be a quick way to tell before you spend money, as decent LTE or 5GNR routers are EXPENSIVE if you want 2019 era technology.

2019? Or should the if be "unless" you want?

Edited by pluralist (Fri 12-Aug-22 18:32:31)

In 2019 I had Android and Apple phones that could do 4 way aggregation on LTE. (4G), but the mobile networks are still supplying modems that can only do 1 band at at time. 2020 onwards is pretty much NR (5G) improvements, the LTE (4G) categories haven't moved much.

Cost is upto the individual

£700 for a top spec 5G unit, which competes with modern Android phones (which cost £300)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Mobile-Ro...

or a 4G only unit:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-MR1100-100EUS-Night...

Buyer beware.

I was just confused by your: "... as decent LTE or 5GNR routers are EXPENSIVE if you want 2019 era technology", as without further explanation there's no reason anyone would want 2019 technology . Hence my thinking you meant "unless".

Edited by pluralist (Fri 12-Aug-22 19:53:23)

In reply to a post by pluralist:

Hence my thinking you meant "unless".

True, would make more sense. I blame the heat. (And the ISP provided boxes for £40 to £70 are generally 2010/2012 technology at best).

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions!!

How about this one:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/tplink-archer-mr60...

It says it can do 4G+ would that not be an improvement over 4G? Or is 4G LTE the same as 4G+?

And can you really get a better reception with those small modems, than a big one with antennas? (And I know this question might sound a bit uninformed)

Btw I also saw this comment on YouTube:

I think you'll get less ping with a Nighthawk M5. The 5G generation is all about latency and jitter reduction. Even if you don't technically have 5G support, you might find some of the optimizations in the new generation of hardware (e.g. even just 802.11AX / Wifi 6 ) mean that gaming performance is improved. The M5 might completely obliterate your ADSL's latency. With a 5G client device (iPhone 12), I see latency as low as 15ms on 4G networks, where 4G devices have 20ms+.

So does that hold at all? Could it make sense to get a 5G modem even if there is bad 5G signal in your area, as it will have lower latency and jitter on 4G?