£50 for the best 4G Router we've used! - Three 4G+ Hub Cat 18 Router. - Sercomm LTE2122GR
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2022
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In this video we try out the 3, 4G+ Hub Cat 18 Router manufactured by Sercomm LTE 2122GR.
We've been really impressed with it's performance but there are some important things to consider before buying one.
Smarty
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router-mods.co.uk/
Our viewers can get £10 discount on any modification or pre-modified router by using the code: ExploreVan.UK
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We purchased a Teltonika x12 dual modem router, it was slow, and blocked VPN, so had to send it back, so back to the old router.
interesting vlog, so i bought one from ebay. Initially only got 5 or 6 meg download using smarty in mobile phone but was amazed at getting between 50-60m download using the sercomm router. Have you considered just sticking the unmodified router on roof of van and putting a protective plastic cover over it (like really useful box!) saving modification cost and still using full internal mimo.
Hey, when I did testing I did try it just with the router on the roof and it performed well.
Most external antennas are more sensitive (have a higher gain) than the internal ones but as you say it would save the need for modification.
We used to do the same when hotspotting off a phone, so worth considering.
i got one of these routers and put my SMARTY SIM in and no signal, how far does it have to go in and should the gold contact be facing the front or back of router? the SIM works fine in a phone.
Thanks so much for the vid really helpful!
Just wondering do you know what the range of the device is (i.e., how far can you be from it but still connect)?
Also, do you see the speed drop if multiple devices are connected to it?
Many thanks!
Hi the WiFi range really depends on what is between you and the Router eg if the router is inside a van and you are outside it won't go far.
However inside a house it seems to travel pretty well over 3 floors.
Speed for each device is impacted if the devices are using bandwidth (eg using netflix etc), but just having them connected doesn't have a big impact.
I'm also on 3uk, but it's also worth considering the others too. EE has the highest amount of spectrum, over twice that of 3UK, and covers more bands. Consequently it provides a higher capacity and speed network in general, particularly in more urban suburban environments, where the 4x4 mimo use will be even more beneficial. Also worth noting is that 3uk are still using some of their 700mhz band for 4g, so better coverage.
Yeah totally agree - whilst we use 3 in our Main routers, we have Voxi (Vodafone) in our phones and a final back up Pay as you go, GiffGaff (O2) Sim for if we can't get coverage on the others and need to do something online.
We used to have EE via Virgin Mobile (though they have now changed) and for us it wasn't actually that good as we spend more time in Rural environments than Urban. For that we have found 3 to be very good for coverage if not speed.
@@ExploreVanUK surprised about EE, but depends on which band they use as their access band. I'm fairly certain 3uk use lte800 band20. Were ee to use band 1 or 3 then that could make big difference in perceived coverage. I would add that (be this a few yrs old now so might have changed), that voda and o2 share their sites. For the streetworks ones, which make up 33% of their sites, voda have higher antennas than o2 in the west of the UK (north of london) and o2 in the east of the country. This means depending where you are, voda will be better o2 even using same masts
You can see the band plan for the networks in this video at about 2 mins 43 secs.
Where we currently are (which happens to be pretty urban) we are getting 3UK on Band 1, Band 3, Band 20 and Band 28.
th-cam.com/video/s4nNAjV0oRM/w-d-xo.html
Three have been telling me since October this year (after 6 months of perfect operation and no problems), that there is additional congestion on the 4G mast in my area and they are completing work to upgrade it....
They told me this 3 times in a row.
And I keep getting disconnected from the internet. I just came off the phone with them and they told me that the Mast will be fixed on the 6th of January.
But I'm ready to leave, as it keeps popping me off during meetings! (intermittent).
@@ExploreVanUK You will be able to get B32 SDL on this router too, which brings immense speeds. My CAT20 Phone and iPad can both pull 300Mbps on 4G with B1, B3, B32 and 700/800mbps on 5G n78 + B3 + B32
how did you take the back off the router, Figured it out, you had to wedge something like a knife or guitar pick from the gap in the front face forcefully to create a gap between the plastics then run the knife or guitar pick around the edges popping all the plastic clamps
spot on
Would there be any issues when going into the EU you think? Or is it a software block for other networks and it would be fine as long as they allow it?
You need to enable roaming if its not already set to. But if this is, just like APN, a removed option this might not work.
Maybe you can reflash it with generic / non-provider firmware, but that might be a challenge if you're not too familar with firmware flashing
Great question, it would depend if roaming is enabled as default.
When we’re next out in Europe we’ll try it and report back.
what color lights should be on on broadband, because in my case they are green, apart from LTEstrenght, sometimes it is green and sometimes it is red, it is less than a meter from the TV, which is too close and therefore the WiFi works worse?
The LTE indicator changes colour depending on the signal strength - ours are usually all green
could you retest this router to ensure the mod from router mods makes all 4 antenna ports usable at the same time, I had a zte mc801a modded by them recently after watching your video, but out of the 8 sma ports running only the 1 main 4g antenna port works giving me SISO and no mimo at all.
4 sma ports are for 4g and the other 4 are for 5g.
I only wanted to use the 4g I had the the sercomm lte2122gr and was planning on getting it modded originally but decided i'll buy the zte mc801a since it had band locking and was lte22 and was the newer hub three were offering at the time for their home broadband, I figured it'd be better again for their 4g service but after getting the mod done by routermods i've discovered it's only using 1 antenna on the 4g main port and is giving me a unusable connection with three.
i've bought different pay as you go sims and tested my 02 sim as well in the zte and it behaves the same for all of them only the 1 antenna is working, i've tested 02 EE Vodafone Three
the other 4g ports are never used nor are the 5g ports,
With the unmodified sercomm router I had a stronger signal and better speeds with slightly lower pings, with the zte, i've tested it extensively removing and inserting the antennas in all ports and waiting for a change and restarting, different networks as well and retesting the same way.
in a retest could you open signal quality settings and disconnect each cable 1 at a time keeping the quality settings open and as you do the quality should get progressively worse.
I would like to see for SURE that the internal antennas that are replaced with SMA connectors are actually working all at the same time.
I was looking at the modded Huwaie b818 on router mods as well after discovering my modded zte is only using 1 sma port and it would seem the Huwaie B818 would be useless modded because it's antenna settings with auto internal external and mixed would behave like this always in 2x2
Auto - Detects if external antennas are connected if 1 antenna is connected regardless of the port it will run in mixed mode 1 internal 1 external
Internal - forces the router to use only the internal antennas regardless if external antennas are connected
External - forces the router to use the external antennas even if only 1 is connected
Mixed - Uses the external antenna connected to external 2 and 1 internal antenna
with the modded b818 your still only going to have 2x2 mimo
and with the sercomm there is no antenna settings its fully auto so it's hard to say that it's using all 4 of them at the same time without testing watching signal strength change each time 1 cable is removed.
I had it and the internal antennas in my area could only pick up dial up speeds so if the mod worked i'd love to get it again and get it modded but i'm stuck with the zte mc801a £275 for the router and £100 for router mods to mod and the postage costs on top of it, i'm out nearly £400 for the router and £125 for 2 iskra lpda antennas that can't be used £114 for the panaroma panel antenna that I used with the sercomm lte2122gr and another £125 for 2 other iskra lpda's I also bought ( I plan on selling the panel antenna)
Ether way i've now invested way to much money into this and because I believed the mod from router mods was going to give me ability to use 4 antennas with the zte mc801a, but it doesn't,
it might be worth getting this router back and getting it modded but only if it can be confirmed the mod ACTUALLY works with it, but it doesn't with my ZTE MC801A and after doing a bit of research on the B818 it seems pointless unless you where in a RV and had a omni directional antenna for passengers when on the move and a directional for when parked.
If the sercomm works with 4x4 it'd be great for me at home.
Anyway PLEASE DO A RETEST REMOVING THE ANTENNAS IN DIFFERENT PATTERNS 1 AT A TIME WITH SIGNAL STRENGTH OPENED *praying hands*
I beg you
Unfortunately this router doesn’t provide a Signal Quality displayed in the Management Page as it’s really basic.
Have you had a chat with them? I found them really helpful.
I’m not sure you would see the signal quality change as you expect, as it possibly won’t be showing the signal quality of each band aggregated together, it may just shows the primary band signal quality, which is why you are seeing what you are.
Hi mate,great video.I’ve just bought this router for my camper-Octavia.Do you know a 5v-12v converter cable that would power it please?running off my leisure battery but ideally I’d rather not have to use my 300w inverter at all.
Thanks so much in advance .
Hi, I wouldn’t use 5v to 12v converter personally. I’d use a 12v regulated supply direct to the leisure battery.
Something like this.
amzn.to/42gPlpb
@@ExploreVanUK Thank you so much,it’s a minefield out there of cables/sizes etc and I wouldn’t know the size of Jack for the sercomm router as it’s still in the post and also nothing on the net about the router at all.
I’m not 100% sure it will be an exact fit but it’s a pretty common size.
Worse case you may cut the jack off the mains Charger and swap them.
But fingers crossed it will fit out of the box.
I put an IDmobile sim card which uses the Three3 network in this modem and it wouldn't work. Using the IP modem login I could see in the internet configuration it said no IP network detected. On the frontage of the modem I had the signal for power (green) internet (red) wifi (green) signal (amber). You mentioned it would work with any sim card that uses Three3 in my case it didn't unless I missing something. I'm not top dog on these things so wondered if there was a work around? NB: is there a way to manually enter a IP address for IDmobile into the hub through its on software? If so do you know the IP address that IDmobile use? The sim card inserted was an all unlimited date, calls and text type. Thanks in advance for any help.
Unfortunately although on the 3 network ID Mobile use their own APN.
Where as Smarty being owned by 3 use the same as 3.
As the APN can’t be amended I don’t think you’ll get it to work with ID mobile.
Hi I use iD mobile on a Huawei B535-232. I have just boxed the router back up after about 6 months to send back to amazon for a refund. The b535 worked fine at about 14mbps for a couple of months and now i have to keep resetting it every 5 to ten minutes just to get it to work. This problem has been mentioned by many people that use to b535 on Huaweis support page, but the company seem uninterested in sorting the issue and it remains unresolved.
I know iD mobile use the three network so I wonder if this box would work with my SIM contract as it looks a fantastic box for my campervan internet. Thanks for the review 👍👍
Hi, we use with a SMARTY sim that is also an Virtual network using the three network, so I would expect ID mobile sim would also work.
@@ExploreVanUK perfect thank you
What Smarty sim contract do you use? Are you using a normal phone sim or did you have to get a specific home broadband sim ?
I’ve just ordered direct from Three on 2 year contract, if I can buy the Hub and get a rolling contract I would take that over
Hi - we use Smarty's unlimited deal at currently at £20 a month with no ties. But they also have 200GB for £17, 120GB for £12 or 30GB for £10. THese are phone sims but they do data only deals too but at the moment the phone ones are better.
Its not a contract, we don't like to be tied in just in case a better deal comes up.
@@ExploreVanUK yeah that’s awesome man. Same price as Three’s but with no commitment. I’ll have a think about that. Thanks
No worries. If you do try it out if you use this link you’ll get a £10 gift card, (we’ll get one too!)
referme.to/HLd0Bcx
@@ExploreVanUK 👍🏼
Also unlimited data,talk, text £12 a month if unemployed claiming benefits from Smarty.
Having my Sercomm router just arrive from three I'm less impressed at the lack of settings, it may be a CAT 18 but the benefits of having the ability to force what bands to use with or without carrier aggregation make its higher CAT rating pointless. No ability to change the antenna settings in the interface is also bad. I'll have a go at positioning it around the house in different spots with the app, but I can't even get 4G+ (which I can with the old Huawei B535-232). The Three app is also useless, I can connect to the network on my phone but the app refuses to find the router even after I connect to the SSID using the QRI code, then it just sits there saying "finding router" and does nothing.
Hi - yeah I mention these annoying limitations in the follow-up video after we had the router modified - here th-cam.com/video/Lb_SF9Ib1Sk/w-d-xo.html
To be fair I don't think you can lock the band on the B535-232 in the router's own interface, you have to use HuaCtrl or some Java script to do it.
Hey, three are currently offering this for £10 a month for 6 months, then £20 a month for the remaining 18 months, wouldn’t that be better than paying £20 for a smarty sim?
Yeah sounds like a good deal if that is for unlimited usage. The only thing to bear in mind would be that presumably you'd be entering into an 18 month contract, so if you found the 3 network didn't work well in the areas you wanted you would still be tied into your deal. Where as with a no ties deal with SMARTY or similar, if you find it doesn't suit you then you can change at any point.
Good router but I have to power cycle this thing every day, sometimes more than once a day and I have no idea why.
Hello, does this modem have the ability to lock the band or the tower?
No - I'm afraid it doesn't, check out our video on the Huawei 535-232 to see how you can on that one.
th-cam.com/video/tRIIWwU8kCQ/w-d-xo.html
If I have a three 4g mifi device with a SIM (where I pay monthly for unlimited data) could I buy an unlocked 4g + hub and use that same sim?
Yes, you should have no problem doing that. 👍
I have not bothered upgrading my old 4G router, as I find there are no network towers near me using 4G+. I find Vodafone and O2 the best networks near me. Three and EE do have 4G+ and 5G, but the signal is so weak and I'm better off staying on O2 or Vodafone. I tested the various networks using promotional pay-as-you-go Sims on my phone on various virtual mobile networks. Such as Lyca use EE, Lebara uses Vodafone, and Smarty uses Three. If anyone knows a cheap network that uses O2 let me know?
Always a great way to check performance before commuting to one of the networks. GiffGaff is O2
Very interested to see what happens once it’s been modified. Thanks for the info
Yeah I know, I’m a bit excited to see what it’s capable of!
Have they given an indication of price??
@@ExploreVanUK Depends on the antenna used. I have a Huawei B818. Also 2x2 external, and 4x4 internal. So far I haven't needed an extenna, on the occassional low coverage areas I just put it on my roof. So far I had to do that 3 times, 2 of them in the UK (where coverage/speeds seems to be rather limited). In mainland Europe, no issue so far. A decent antenna with 4x4 is pretty expensive and big (Poynting MIMO-3-17 for example)
Note: the B818's sold as part of the T-mobile 4G home here in the Netherlands are fully OEM, no simlock and APN configurable. Very usefull if you source a prepaid sim abroad with a big data allowance. I paid 100 euro for mine (used)
They have not done this model before so not yet.
You can see more info on other modifications at www.router-mods.co.uk
And you can get £10 off by using ExploreVan.UK offer code.
Yeah I’ll be going the 2 antenna route, rather than a combined 4x4 as we already use a Poynting MiMo-3-12 2x2
Something with higher gain than the internal antennas hopefully to expand the benefit of Carrier Aggregation into more rural areas.
So does this work as normal with a smarty sim ? Or is it locked 😢o only the three network
Yes it works with SMARTY (they use the Three network.)
Hey any idea why the my three 4G+ hub app won't load my router when I scan the bar code ?
Sorry I’m afraid not, ours worked straight away.
I don’t have coverage for a 3uk sim where I am. Can anyone suggest a similar pay-monthly alternative?
We also use Voxi (Vodafone) but note that anything but a 3 sim won’t work in this router.
I have this router, just installed an outdoor antenna, up on a mast, but the signal is not stronger. Does anyone know if there is a setting to force the router to ONLY use the external antennas? There doesnt seem to be a setting in GUI for this and I'm concerned that its still using the internal antennas even though there is an external connected. Any help really appreciated! Thanks
There isn’t a setting and as per the video unless you have had it modified you could well be no better or even worse off using external antenna as you are only able to connect to 2 of the antenna connections when there are 4 internal ones.
It will also depend if you are in an area where 4G+ / Carrier Aggregation is available.
Best option with the Unmodified unit is possibly to put the whole unit outside.
Check out the modified router here.
th-cam.com/video/Lb_SF9Ib1Sk/w-d-xo.html
@@ExploreVanUK Thanks for the info. I did see your next video on this topic. Maybe I will just find another router that can use the Three sim and utilise the outside antenna that I have just paid for and installed on a pole. Seems stupid for them to provide external antenna connections but not cover all the bands. I'm using a Poynting XPOL-1 V2 mounted above the roof. Could you suggest a router I can just plug that into and then use my existing Three sim?
Any 4G+ router will need two of those antennas to work to its full spec as they need a 4x4 antenna and that is only 2x2. Plus the only off the shelf 4G+ router I am aware of that comes with 4x4 connections as standard is the RUTX14 from Teltonika.
The external antenna on this or any other similar router will only ever improve a standard 4G signal where it is weak using the internal antenna.
NB the Xpol1 didn’t perform very well in our tests and I would recommend going with one of Poyntings more modern antennas.
th-cam.com/video/s4nNAjV0oRM/w-d-xo.html
@@ExploreVanUK Thank you so much for your reply, that all makes sense and wish I knew this before purchasing etc. However, I'm a Ham Radio enthusiast so Radio is my thing, with an electronics background. I don't suppose you could whip the cover off of your router and take a photo for me please? So I can see how the mod is done. My email is on my youtube about page :-) Cheers!
hi, Please help, how do I get my vodafone sim work on this thing?
Hi, I am afraid (as I mentioned in the video at 5:50) we weren't able to get the unit to work with a Vodafone Sim, as it appears to be locked to the 3 network.
Is the TEL socket usable?
No it’s disabled.
Do you know if it allows a VPN?
You can a run a VPN on your device but there is no option to preset the VPN in the router for all traffic, that I can see.
I’ve just set this router up and have it plugged into an external poynting puck antenna. I honestly have no idea if this is even working though or if it’s just using it’s own internal antennas. Does anyone know if there’s a way to check? Performance doesn’t seem to change if I unplug the external antennas.
Is the 3 hub networked locked to 3?
As you can’t change the APN effectively it is. We have used with both 3 and SMARTy SIMs successfully but it wouldn’t work with a Voxi one.
We’d suggest the Huawei B535-232 that you can see in our video here as an unlocked alternative.
th-cam.com/video/tRIIWwU8kCQ/w-d-xo.html
Have you tried smarty vs three. is there truly no difference in performance
Hi, We've not done a direct comparison but we have used 3s "Internet with Legs" 24GB SIM in the past. We didn't see any noticeable difference. SMARTY are very clear in their marketing that the service is not throttled. As both are owned by Hutchinson and both can use each others APNs interchangeably I suspect there is no difference in performance.
As I understand it the SMARTY brand (and VOXI for Vodafone) are just different brands to attract different markets rather than to provide a "Budget" offering.
Whilst Three customers in some case pay more, I suspect their cost to serve is generally higher (they ring call centres more and are generally more demanding on support, they also get the Three+ discount benefits that SMARTY customers don't get) so their average profitability could actually be lower than the average SMARTY customer.
smarty is three under another name
Where did you actually get this router from?
From eBay. 0:30 in the video
@@ExploreVanUK must have blacked out at that exact part of the video lol apologies
No worries 🤣
Got this tried connecting and says my password is wrong. It's a brand new router and legit the rq code won't even work
You could try resetting the router using the reset button as this would put the password back to the default one if it has been changed.
But my first point of call would be the supplier if it has been sold to you as brand new.
What is that sim??
Its a Smarty Sim - i.smarty.co.uk/p5atUN
This or zte mf286d? What will perform better?
Afraid I have not compared that model, but I would expect them to be similar out of the box. Theoreticall the Sercomm is Cat 18 and the ZTE only Cat12 but there will only be certain areas where that makes a difference.
If the ZTE enables you to set the APN I would choose it over the Sercomm.
This is a rubbish router good for the first week. It cuts out a lot cant even stream playstation games without a problem I've moved it around I have had nothing but headache with this hub and internet. Don't waste your money or time and get a decent broadband connection from another company.
Thats a shame - It's not the expereince we have had, its still going strong for us. What kind of signal strength do you get? Sounds like you are using it at home - I presume that it come up as available for your postcode here - www.three.co.uk/store/broadband/home-broadband
@@ExploreVanUK Red light all the time. Sometimes it's very fast but most of the times it's extremely slow. It is a shame because I really liked it and wanted it to work.
Shame, if you’ve got a red signal light sounds the signal in your area isn’t great.
Will find out tomorrow how good my signal is brother bringing around his expensive 5g router, have a Smarty unlimited sim.
Be happy with 50mbps on 4g the 5g signal probably be useless like most places in pathetic UK.
Three tell us the hub is unlocked, but after trying 3 different sims it definitely isn't, well not completely. If anyone else is looking at buying this hub and using a different network, be warned. Your experience chimes exactly with ours ExploreVanUK thanks for the video and the confirmation.
@@mickymouse6447 Hi CJ it's Three only, no other networks
@@seanhancockphotofilm8960 is it good for smarty Sims - (resold 3)
We use with a Smarty Sim without any problems.