Portable wifi router or a plug in 4g sim card router

[Trash_panda]

Hello,

Long story short is that im having to travel for work/hotel living but fortunately have a car so can load it up with some 'home comforts' such as the playstation.

Hotel WiFi is st and whilst ive not tried, its 5 up, 2 down at the most.

So I purchased a tp-link m7010, a 3 sim card with 120gb thinking here we go but alas, it generally manages the same as the hotel wifi unless I put it in one location and it gets 20/9 and good enough for gaming (in theory).

So I looked at the speed tests I get on my phones;
Ee 5g is 300/100
Ee 4g is 100/50
German lycra and another German provider are worse than the hotel as they piggy back off of something in Dublin.

At my German apartment, they gave me a 4g wifi router and so got me thinking, would a router be better or is it just ste 3 network coverage and id be better getting a ee data only sim card?

[geeks]

Get the EE SIM, a semi decent router is also cheap enough that will see you with what you need

[ecs]

I have the old version of this router:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-BE3600-Portabl...

It doesn't have built-in cellular data; however, it's designed to be connected to other networks via WiFi or Ethernet and then it allows you to connect all your own devices to the router. This is helpful as you can tether your phone to it or connect it to a public network (which may restrict how many devices you're allowed to have connected at one time) and then share that connection. The main reason I use it is it has Wireguard built in (and many other built in commercial VPNs) so I can ensure that anything connected to it is connected to the VPN.

They also sell a 5G modem which you can plug in, or a mini 5G router, but I find tethering my phone to it does the job when I've needed it.

[nvubu]

I've got one of these: https://www2.glocalme.com/en-US/portable-wifi/G4PR...

Will take a sim card or add data with the Glocalme account (although this is can be expensive)

[Trash_panda]

Tried the 3 sim in an old Samsung galaxy 22 ultra, in another part of the country and getting;
57 down, 0.82 up

Wifi on same phone
43 down, 20.5 up

S24 ultra
Wifi - pretty much the same
Ee 5g - 33 down, 2.69 up
4g - 40 down, 5 up

Did try the pebble again but was struggling to get above 10 down.

So looks like its the portable pebble thats slowing things down.

Will try an ee sim card i guess and a router

Not really willing to splash out close to 200 gbp for a 5g router for something ill only use for 6 weeks.

[Trash_panda]

ecs said:

I have the old version of this router:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-BE3600-Portabl...

It doesn't have built-in cellular data; however, it's designed to be connected to other networks via WiFi or Ethernet and then it allows you to connect all your own devices to the router. This is helpful as you can tether your phone to it or connect it to a public network (which may restrict how many devices you're allowed to have connected at one time) and then share that connection. The main reason I use it is it has Wireguard built in (and many other built in commercial VPNs) so I can ensure that anything connected to it is connected to the VPN.

They also sell a 5G modem which you can plug in, or a mini 5G router, but I find tethering my phone to it does the job when I've needed it.

Thanks but abit more than I was wanting to pay due to limited time use requirements

nvubu said:

I've got one of these: https://www2.glocalme.com/en-US/portable-wifi/G4PR...

Will take a sim card or add data with the Glocalme account (although this is can be expensive)

Looks like its a mobile phone of sorts, guess i need to compare the specs of that vs my old s22

[nvubu]

Trash_panda said:

nvubu said:

I've got one of these: https://www2.glocalme.com/en-US/portable-wifi/G4PR...

Will take a sim card or add data with the Glocalme account (although this is can be expensive)

Looks like its a mobile phone of sorts, guess i need to compare the specs of that vs my old s22

Yes it does look like a phone and it runs Android - not sure which version. I use it in Africa for international sports events I get involved in organising. I stick a local SIM card in it so all the out of country officials can have Internet via the hot spot. I can just leave it in my bag under the desk. 4G only.

It has some apps built in - Google maps, a translator, trip advisor and exchange rates - never used any of them, and I don't think you can add any more. There are other versions, but I wanted one with a SIM card to take advantage of local SIM costs - eg. last year Zambia had an unlimited 7 day SIM for 3.5USD.

[S6PNJ]

Trash_panda said:

Not really willing to splash out close to 200 gbp for a 5g router for something ill only use for 6 weeks.

There are a million and one different devices available - I only have direct knowledge of one - a ZTE MF286D Three give them out with their home 4/5G internet service so there are always plenty on auction sites. For circa £20/30 it will probably (possibly?) do what you need.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=ZTE+MF286D&... Link shows completed prices rather than units for sale

Edited by S6PNJ on Sunday 7th December 08:08

[Griffith4ever]

An unlocked Three 5g router costs circa £90 on ebay. used. I use two of them (well, one at time)

[Trash_panda]

Thanks for the information people, after reading the instructions for the pebble, it dawned on me that it might need a firmware update so did that and the speeds improved.

Admittedly the area I'm in now has better 3 coverage (it would seem) so tried it gaming last night and the ping would normally be in the 20s, was 45-50, same as what I get with the German router.

Ive ordered an ee sim card and a router so will try the router and 3 card next.

Oh, a non scientific test suggests that bf6 uses about 1gb an hour of gaming.