As the title says, ZTE sent us the U50 to have a look at - and it's worth a look... ZTE U50: amzn.to/4e1oAu0 Scancom EE Sim (unlimited to December 2025): amzn.to/3MytuTg
Nice bit of kit , for me the no lights will be fine , probably have it in a cupboard anyway , be interested to see how long the battery lasts , nice honest review 👍
Haven’t yet been on a site where 5G’s been available, but should be tomorrow. If the other two ZTE units we have are anything to go by, though, I expect no issues…
@@VandromedasTravels how does all 3 models compare to each other in terms of download speed and reception ? im thinking about getting one of them but haven't found any tests on the internet.
We got 259Mb/s on Friday night, and the cell was busy - loads of folks on the site at the NEC. Lil and Mike reported back they'd had amzingly stable firestick working...
I had this device in july it was fast one minute and slow a minute later. I think zte selling it at 169 they are giving everyone on a budget a chance to experience 5g
Hello, I have one of these. Removing the battery will allow it to work until you start downloading something. For normal browsing, even youtube it will work without a battery added to it. If you want to download anything, it will shut down as the port cannot take enough charge to keep it alive.
FYI: If you let it run on a wall charger without the battery inserted, it unfortunately reboots itself every 2-5 minutes. Very sad. I was super excited to use it without the battery at home, but it only works correctly and without those reboots when the battery is inserted. It would be an awesome function, but I've been shown otherwise. Other than that it's an awesome device and you get great 5G speed for the price!
@@VandromedasTravels hi there, i haven't found a firmware version, just a software version: BD_LIVUKU50V1.0.0B05. Just encountered that the device, after in use for about 1hr, is shutting down and rebooting again.. (of course with th battery in use) 🤔
I seem to have the same problem, works the majority of the time without battery but will do a quick reboot every now and again. Not a big deal to just keep the battery in though as I do want to use it on the battery sometimes.
bit of double sided gorilla tape stick it on top of the box then go and charge people for being a 5g mobile hot spot 🤣🤣🤣 Might get another complaint from the chap who didn’t like the rear view camera on it though 🤣🤣🤣
Because everything ties in to a single SSID, and if I'm out, Gill can still do everything she needs to do, without having to log the firestick, for instance, into a different phone (hers) because mine's with me - same applies to the Ecoflow units (which are all internet connected), satnavs, internet connected cameras for online backups that happen automatically - all sorts of stuff that isn't agile enough to swap networks easily. We use a LOT of data, and everything has to work simply - one network to handle it all, and no forgetting to log in to whichever phone happens to be there at the time. Every mobile router we have has the same SSID and passwords, such that whichever one is enabled at the time, all the devices that need to connect, just do - can't do that with the phones, because they're always on, and you can't necessarily set the SSIDs on them.
Is dirt cheap because essentially it's a piece of crap. If you're going to get a router that you want on the go at least get a dual SIM one what's the proper antennas and a decent gui with some actual settings you can change.
Horses for courses, I’d say. Each use case has different needs, and, have to say, under normal circumstances, we haven’t seen a lot of difference between external and internal aerials. Might just be us, but have to call it as we see it.
@JusstyteN I've never heard bottle pronounced boa tbh. Its just how accents work. The further removed from a particular accent your own is the harder it is to understand. Accents across the anglosphere were born from a mixture of what British accents were in the 16, 17 and 1800s. I can understand 95% of accents spoken in English from across the anglosphere but I do sometimes struggle with really strong Scottish, Irish, deep south (US), I find the longer I speak to or listen to the speaker the more I can understand. Let's also try to remember who's using there own language and who's using someone else's 😂
Nice bit of kit , for me the no lights will be fine , probably have it in a cupboard anyway , be interested to see how long the battery lasts , nice honest review 👍
G: thank you. No lights suits me too, can’t sleep if I can see any coloured lights x
Excellent review, thank you. Have you actually had it working successfully on a 5G network? Thanks!
Haven’t yet been on a site where 5G’s been available, but should be tomorrow. If the other two ZTE units we have are anything to go by, though, I expect no issues…
@@VandromedasTravels How'd it go with the 5G?
@@VandromedasTravels how does all 3 models compare to each other in terms of download speed and reception ? im thinking about getting one of them but haven't found any tests on the internet.
We got 259Mb/s on Friday night, and the cell was busy - loads of folks on the site at the NEC. Lil and Mike reported back they'd had amzingly stable firestick working...
Thanks for the scncom recommendation, unfortunately no deals as good as yours, mostly £20 per month at the moment.
Got to catch them at the right time, methinks… I must try to work the schedule out.
@@VandromedasTravels Luckily a bit of searching on Amazon got me a good deal, £12 a month, happy with that.
Cracking... way better than normal contracts.
Interesting the U50 is not listed on the ZTE website!
I think it has different names in different markets...
Does it have an eSIM option?
Nope.
I had this device in july it was fast one minute and slow a minute later. I think zte selling it at 169 they are giving everyone on a budget a chance to experience 5g
That’s 5G for you… depends very much on cell saturation and contention. But yes, within most folks’ grasp.
@@VandromedasTravels started using a smarty getting speeds over 160 down but not sure about streaming on a firestick or the laptop.
@@paulmurphy2144 Should be OK - we've had no problems...
Indeed - we loaned the U50 to Mike and Lil on Friday night - saw speeds of 259Mb/s to the firestick. Well impressed.
@@VandromedasTravels I'm on Virgin media now much better stability
Does the router turn on by itself after connecting to the power supply or do I need to press a button?
Have to press the button...
Can I know the model of this battery? Thank you.
It's the ZTE U50
Is this truly operational without a battery, capable of functioning continuously for 24 hours without the need for external power?
Hello, I have one of these. Removing the battery will allow it to work until you start downloading something. For normal browsing, even youtube it will work without a battery added to it. If you want to download anything, it will shut down as the port cannot take enough charge to keep it alive.
Depends on how you power it - I've had no issues running from a PD enabled charge port.
Can you use it connected as usb modem rather than as Wi-Fi?
I believe you can, yes.
@@VandromedasTravels is there any chance you could try and confirm it works, pretty please !!
Did, and it does.
FYI:
If you let it run on a wall charger without the battery inserted, it unfortunately reboots itself every 2-5 minutes. Very sad. I was super excited to use it without the battery at home, but it only works correctly and without those reboots when the battery is inserted. It would be an awesome function, but I've been shown otherwise. Other than that it's an awesome device and you get great 5G speed for the price!
Ours hasn't rebooted - which firmware are you on?
@@VandromedasTravels hi there, i haven't found a firmware version, just a software version: BD_LIVUKU50V1.0.0B05.
Just encountered that the device, after in use for about 1hr, is shutting down and rebooting again.. (of course with th battery in use) 🤔
Get onto support - looks like it's not working properly - had zero issues with ours...
Thank you...brought it back and bought another item (not a mobile hotspot) from the same manufacturer.@@VandromedasTravels
I seem to have the same problem, works the majority of the time without battery but will do a quick reboot every now and again. Not a big deal to just keep the battery in though as I do want to use it on the battery sometimes.
But will it fit on the scoot 🤔😉🤣
Stay Safe 😜👍🥰
Only one way to find out… can certainly power it!
One way to find out... Wonder if I can fashion a mount... be daft to put it in the top box, but ON the top box might work!
bit of double sided gorilla tape stick it on top of the box then go and charge people for being a 5g mobile hot spot 🤣🤣🤣
Might get another complaint from the chap who didn’t like the rear view camera on it though 🤣🤣🤣
There's that - and not a bad idea!!! Gill can take her iPad with her when we're in Lincoln, and can check prices!!
Why not just use your phone.
Because everything ties in to a single SSID, and if I'm out, Gill can still do everything she needs to do, without having to log the firestick, for instance, into a different phone (hers) because mine's with me - same applies to the Ecoflow units (which are all internet connected), satnavs, internet connected cameras for online backups that happen automatically - all sorts of stuff that isn't agile enough to swap networks easily.
We use a LOT of data, and everything has to work simply - one network to handle it all, and no forgetting to log in to whichever phone happens to be there at the time.
Every mobile router we have has the same SSID and passwords, such that whichever one is enabled at the time, all the devices that need to connect, just do - can't do that with the phones, because they're always on, and you can't necessarily set the SSIDs on them.
Is dirt cheap because essentially it's a piece of crap. If you're going to get a router that you want on the go at least get a dual SIM one what's the proper antennas and a decent gui with some actual settings you can change.
Horses for courses, I’d say. Each use case has different needs, and, have to say, under normal circumstances, we haven’t seen a lot of difference between external and internal aerials. Might just be us, but have to call it as we see it.
wtf is this langage hes talking? some english words and some are just not
It's caaled pitmatic, how, theknaas. The needs te lissen haarder, how.
@@VandromedasTravels huh?
I'm from a different region of the UK to this guy and I can understand every word. Heavy Scottish accent is the only one I struggle to understand
@@ricardosmythe2548 i dont understand most british people due to weird wording, since when bottle is pronounced boa
@JusstyteN I've never heard bottle pronounced boa tbh. Its just how accents work. The further removed from a particular accent your own is the harder it is to understand. Accents across the anglosphere were born from a mixture of what British accents were in the 16, 17 and 1800s. I can understand 95% of accents spoken in English from across the anglosphere but I do sometimes struggle with really strong Scottish, Irish, deep south (US), I find the longer I speak to or listen to the speaker the more I can understand. Let's also try to remember who's using there own language and who's using someone else's 😂