Opinions on Three's newest 5G Hub, Zyxel NR5103?

I'm considering upgrading my ancient LTE TP-Link, now that 5G-NR is in my area (I can see a decent indoor NR signal from my phone).

Any opinions on Three's newer "5G Hub"? I believe it's a 3-branded Zyxel NR5103.

BTW, I've just downloaded the user manual and it's 300+ pages long! I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Just note it's a NR5103E, which I think is only available via service providers. What the difference between a NR5103 and NR5103E is, I don't know.

I use mine in IP passthrough mode, so I can't give you a full rundown on how well it works as a Router/AP, but in terms of signal and 5G speed, it's brilliant, but very sensitive to placement if you're trying achieve the best signal/speed. On the whole if you get good 5G on your phone, expect similar.
It is WiFi 6 so should be good in terms of speed, but I haven't tried it at a distance as I only use it as a modem.

I've seen speeds of 700+ down, 100+ up, but that was in the middle of the night with no congestion.

Just note that the firmware is customised somewhat by 3 so it may not have all the features in the manual, but mine was unlocked, so you can use other sims, but you have to manually type in the APN for other networks.
Just be sure not to buy the EE branded version as it's extra locked down and missing a few useful features I believe.
There was a faulty batch that didn't work on 5G, I think that's been sorted now though!

Edited by Jonny4911 (Tue 06-Jun-23 15:49:57)

Solid box. At least in my experience.

There are threads over at ISPR forum running over 1700 replies if your in need of more detailed info. 👍

Thanks. Here are some differences I've gleaned from the manual. For the E variant:

Parental control enabled
Blue LED blinks if SIM invalid/missing
Deletes wi-fi EasyMesh
Deletes wi-fi MU-MIMO
Lower power at the upper wi-fi 5 GHz bands (618.02 mW down from 857.04)
Slightly higher power for wi-fi 2 GHz (95.72 mW up from 90.16)

Wonder if E is for “Europe” regulatory compliance?

In reply to a post by Jonny4911:

Just note it's a NR5103E, which I think is only available via service providers. What the difference between a NR5103 and NR5103E is, I don't know.

Here’s the ISPR mega thread on the NR5103…

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/new-three-5...

Summary of differences between the E and non-E variant here:

https://postimg.cc/wRcPJPTf

https://postimg.cc/n9ZSHkYv

Don't like 5G Hub far too big and heavy for put side of the windows frame shelve. Too wide!

Thanks for the pointers. I bit the bullet a week ago. After moving the hub around in different locations and disabling one troublesome band, I've got a nice steady 150/30 connection with 20ms pings to 9.9.9.9.

Looking at all the features the standard box has, it's a shame Three has zombified it so much, but it's hard to complain at £20/month (£2 extra over the SIM-only fee, making the box effectively £48).

Edited by richi (Wed 21-Jun-23 13:40:04)

Seem Smarty sim card not allowed in any 5G Hub from Three:


“Our Unlimited Voice Plans are for personal, non-commercial use only and can be used in SIM enabled mobile devices, tablets laptops and portable mobile WI-FI devices and the data is uncapped for this use. This SIM card should not be used as a permanent long-term alternative to home broadband. If we determine in our sole opinion that your use of the SMARTY Services is in breach of these Terms and Conditions and/or exceeds that reasonably expected of someone using the Service for legitimate personal, non-commercial use, then we may at our discretion terminate (in accordance with Section 9), or Suspend (in accordance with Section 8), or restrict your SMARTY Service. As an example, without limitation, we consider that if you regularly tether more than 8 devices that this is unlikely to be legitimate personal, non-commercial use.”

What has Smarty got to do with this, Smarty hasn't been mentioned anywhere in this thread?

I think Smarty and Three are the same Terms as sim not allow in 5G Hub

Three T&Cs

Responsible use - How you use the Three Services
6.4 You may only use Three Services and Third Party Extras:
(a) as set out in this Agreement; and
(b) for your own personal use. This means you must not
resell or commercially exploit any of Three Services,
Third Party Extras or our content.
6.5 You mustn't use Three Services, Third Party Extras, the SIM, the
eSIM Profile or Three phone number or allow anyone else to use
Three Services, the SIM, the eSIM Profile or Three phone number
for illegal or improper uses. For example:
(a) for fraudulent, criminal or other illegal activity;
(b) in any way which breaches another person's rights
including copyright or other intellectual property rights;
(c) to copy, store, modify, publish or distribute Three
Services or their content, except where we give you
permission;
(d) to download, send or upload content of an excessive
size, quantity or frequency, or Artificially Inflated
Traffic. We'll contact you if your use is excessive;
(e) in any way which breaches any security or other
safeguards or in any other way which harms or
interferes with the Three Network, the networks or
systems of others or Three Services and/or Third Party
Extras; or
(f) to use or provide to others any directory or details
about Three customers.

Edited by adslmax (Wed 21-Jun-23 15:30:05)

It may but that doesn't seem to be stated in the 3 terms you have posted - it may say it somewhere else but not there. I am pretty sure there are people on this forum using a 3 sim with a hub/router.

Wrong thread. Three's 5G Hub product comes with its own data-only SIM (well, it can make calls and send SMS, but you'll pay handsomely for it).

Another quick update, in case anyone's interested: Now seeing 150–200 Mb/s down and 35–40 up. I'm combining bands 3+n78—I could add band 32, but that doesn't seem to improve anything.

However, I was having trouble with the hub switching from the 5G/NR mast on one side of the house to a 4G/LTE mast on the other side. The NR mast is 1.4 km away and the LTE one is literally twice as far. Weird. Both used band 3, so fiddling with the bands wasn't going to fix this problem.

Careful placing of a big chunk of metal blocked the unwanted signal, without mucking up the wi-fi (I used an old grill pan, if you must know). Welcome to bodge central.

I am not big fan of NR5103E anymore. Seem hardware issues with 5G kept flick over to 4G and freeze have to do manual reboot the router to get back to 5G. Seem this router dislke people using 5G end just flick over to 4G all the times. This person found a fix with differrent router instead below from three forum


NT306
NT306
Regular

yesterday - last edited yesterday

Finally got rid of the Zyxel and replaced it with a ZTE MC801a.

Immediate connection to 5g with ZTE (Zytel kept trying to lock on to 5g but couldn't so back to 4g+ then tried 5g again, and I assume that the constant switching between them caused the frequent disconnections.

1 week with ZTE so far excellent

Meh, for £2/month, I'm happy with using a grill pan (especially as I'm outside the official area)