I purchased the MR200 just to give it a try and so far very pleased and am thinking of upgrading to the MR600. I use the Smarty unlimited data sim (now £20) which works well and is much more stable than broadband in my area.
My parents live in the countryside here in Scotland. Up to about two years ago they got their phone calls and Broadband from BT, and TBH it was worse than dire. They paid through the nose for a promised service, and it was simply rubbish. BB was non-existent, the quality of the phone calls were poor...…I finally put my foot down on the matter and bought them a 4G Router from TP Link - MR6500v Model - Best decision that I've ever made. They now get usable and decent speeds for internet browsing and streaming media, as well as unlimited phone calls using this particular model of router too. Bought a GiffGaff SIM for £20 per month to go with the router, they now get unlimited calls and texts and 80gb of data to use on their computer (more than enough to satisfy their needs.) It's a game changer if you live rurally and all your other internet options are poor or too expensive (or both.) -------- UPDATE Spring '22: Due to a severe change of circumstances, my parents are having to move house in a matter of months. With a lot of services and other stuff done online these days, as well as having to make endless phone calls, their 4G Router has more than paid for itself. In fact, it's been a blessing in disguise. They could have never done any of their online stuff successfully if they were still with BT using their telephone line. Likewise, their phone bills would have been through the roof, that past few months. At £20 per month for 80GB and Unlimited SMS and Calls, the router and Giff Gaff SIM have more than paid for themselves. _______ Goodbye BT. Expletively expensive it should be criminal. BT reminded me that MY contract with them was up for renewal in the next month...I did the same as my parents and bought a 4G router.....have never looked back. Cheaper, faster, user friendly, portable, and I can change or end my plans with Smarty whenever I want. No long term contracts here. Bye bye BT! Good riddance to bad rubbish!
I went with the same setup as you due to cost and I wasn't really sure if the whole thing would work in Rural Scotland. Tried all the providers sims but SMARTY was by far the fastest!! With the addition of a Ponyting MIMO external antenna my broadband speeds have gone from 8Mb Down and 0.75Mb up to 80Mb down and 27Mb up !! I'm well impressed but I did modify a sky dish to help with the dB signal numbers ;)
good vid, didn't know of Smarty, but they're covered by 3, which is great as they're one of the two which have good 4g coverage in this middle of nowhere village, i think ill be trying the TP link too as it seems to be the markets best value
Unfortunately my nearest transmitter (3) is 4.7km away and the signal I got on my MR600 was poor with 8mbps download speed. I've also discovered that 3 transmitters were not set for CA and although the situation has improved the rollout of CA may not cover everywhere.
After virgin media kept raising their prices and me paying nearly £50/mo just for broadband, I’m now running one of these routers off a Smarty SIM card. 23 devices, from laptops, Google homes and smart lights are all running beautifully. My MIL is now doing this, and I have friends who are borrowing my router to test to see if it will work for them. Honestly, my connection isn’t degraded compared to the fibre and it seems to be more stable. This is the best money saving task I have taken on in a long time.
This is just what I'm looking for, my sky Internet I about to end and I don't want to re subscribe and so had been looking at a tp link, nit the same model with a smarty sim but just wasn't sure and couldn't seem to find the answers I wanted. You vid seems to have covered it all. Roll on 31st May when I'm free lol
Thanks for the useful video! There were quite few informative videos on this topic, and this really informed my decision to purchase a Mifi option with a Smarty sim card. I'll be using your referral link for Smarty in the description, hope that helps :)
Great tech vid from someone in the know, I have a smarty unlimited for £16 p/m (amazing deal) with Huawei bs311 for my new rural home, if the signal isn't great get an external antenna, the other option was main suppliers 'Essential fibre' aka copper wire to fibre box max 12 Mbps so effectively ADSL2
I'm moving into a new build flat with balcony. Broadband providers don't recognise my address yet but I need to work from home. Thankfully to your help I checked and found a three cell mast down the road from my building. I got my smarty SIM and my to link router, fingers crossed
I got the huawei sim router from 3 for 17pm and get 140 download in Birmingham. Wouldn't dream of changing to another configuration. Regularly have about 25 things running off it like smart plugs plus Netflix satellite box etc etc etc and works flawlessly.
A good idea that I do, only difference is that I use 3 at £18 every thing unlimited and a huawei modem that runs a phone too. Forget open reach, you don't need them
This could be ideal for my situation. I want to get internet for a streaming camera in my garden but I have no electric. Any idea how I could solve this? Am thinking leisure battery and solar panel.
I recently bought this TP Link MR600 and still waiting for my SIM card,,can’t tell you how nervous I am if this is going to work lol,,I’m in Denmarks third largest city,,the main reason is to save money in the long run 🤞and only for my iPad and smart tv,,,thanks for info
Great video. I have smarty for my phone but Talktalk for broadband and sky for TV. Sky and Talk contracts are up in a few weeks and I think a good move is to purchase this router and use the £20 sim from smarty. I
your right about the speed, at home I use ADSL line which gives 11down 1up and it streams and runs the household devices fine. I think I'm lucky though, live close to exchange and speed has always been constant & stable - others who live further away seem to have problems with ADSL lines.
A Smarty unlimited sim works ever so well as a internet provider. However don't bother buying this or any other router. I just use an old 4g mobile phone and use tethering & hotspot to connect to the internet; this way I conect to not one not two not even three, but FOUR devices all at one time. A desktop windows 11, a wireless printer, a 43 inch TV and a laptop! All for just £20 per month....! 😄
My Plusnet fibre broadband connection provides a pathetic 14mb but our Vodafone mobiles get 35mb. Smarty (Three 3) is only about 4mb so how much would an external antenna improve this?
Finally got round to buying this today, 3 hrs later I had returned it, 4 mps was the best I got , I'm sure i did everything right but it seems its not to be for me
Smarty is just Three, if you already have a Three contract you can get unlimited phone,text and data for £16 a month... The routers cost about the same, so the question is do you have decent 4G coverage? If so it's a good option and you can get mobile battery powered devices too for the car... Be ready to fit external arials if the signals not good enough...
Quick one hopefully (and hope you see this on an older video). Just ordered the router and a smarty data sim, but do I need to activate the sim in a phone first, and then move it to the router before powering on for the first time to make setup easier?
This is just from my memory, but I think the SIM will be ready to use, or just activating via the Smarty Website is all you need to do. You shouldn't need to put it in a phone at all.
Have unlimited Data/ Talk/ Texts from Smarty for £12 per month, really fast 5g speeds it's perfect. Cancelled my well overpriced Virgin media slower broadband at £50+ a month a few days ago. Virgin takes the p#ss keep putting prices up. Will be buying another same £12 per month Smarty sim for my mobile soon, brother getting one too. Oh reason I'm getting cheaper is claiming Employment Support Allowance Disability so if your unemployed makes sure you're on Smarty Social Sim Plan saving £8 per month.
I warn u they don't work on party chats on consoles it will u cut u out u need a travel wireless hub jus leave the charger in and use that for ur hub if that helps anyone who needs Internet
Wondering if there are settings I could change to speed up my connection? I compare an mr400 vs a Netgear ac810 and the latter was quicker in the same room. Not what I was expecting…a little disappointing.
I use 2 internet connection sky fibre 60mb for 2 xboxs and all my ring CCTV and all smart devices and pc and My son uses three 4g WiFi for his room as he downloads alot
My Broadband/landline contract just come to an end and not very clued up with tech. Just checked out Smarty unlimited sim, they seem to have two for £20. One Data Only and the other Voice Unlimited, are they both the same, as in unlimited data for internet use but one also allows voice calls via the Router box with a phone plugged in??
Hi, I'm new to all of this, but will I be able to pop off to ASDA and use a pay-as-you-go mobile phone sim card in this router to avoid contracts? Thanks in advance.
If you connect the twin cables of an external antenna to the antennae sockets on the router do you loose Wifi or is the Wifi antennae separate and internal ?
I was thinking of something like this a got a MIFI device with a Smarty SIM. Unfortunately it gave me awful speeds - about 5mb/s. I tried a £10 for 30gb SIM to try out.
Hi looking into this as a temporary solution as I'm getting rid of my broadband supplier for 60 days and then coming back as a new customer 😉. So I have an existing network consisting of my modem in modem mode and a pf sense router /fire wall with ruckus aps. Can I set this 4g router up into modem mode to replace my existing modem and still allow pf sense to carry out my routing ? Cheers
There isn't a modem only mode as far as I'm aware with this router, but you could look at disable the firewall services and therefore pass all traffic unfiltered to your pfsense.
I do have a small update. I'm still using this and getting 30MB Down/10MB Up with Smarty. What I've done though is switch to using a Mesh Wifi network, instead of the Wifi on the router itself - this is purely down to the setup/scenario I'm using it in. Overall the router is sound/solid and does what it's meant to as per the speeds above.
Hi Gavin, i have a smarty sim card unlimited but wanted to know if the TP-LINK Archer MR600 router works with a switch connected to other pcs? like a LAN please advise
Thanks for this, you mention that you need an already activated SIM card, does this mean that it needs to be activated in a phone first or will the provider activate it ? I line I the U.K.
Disappointed not to see at least a screenshot of the admin interface or device. And it's always megaBITs, not megabytes when you're talking about bandwidth! Factor of 8 difference! But thanks for the product suggestion
@@LucidComputerSolutions Thanks, I bought one yesterday, the antenna is extendable but you have to extend both not just one, they are for 4g signals, it seems there is an internal patch antenna for the WiFi signals but I'd have to double check. What I did find out was these external ones are being replaced for better 4g connections by various users and cable length is better kept under 5m.
@@rayhsetwo8594 My setup is the Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 external antenna (moved it around outside until I found the best location) wall and I went from 31mb/s on 4g+ to 98mb/s
I live 16 miles from the centre of Birmingham. But my nearest fibre cabinet is far enough away to give me only 10/0.6 at my vodafone router, through the copper wire landline. Been looking at 4G as an alternative broadband service and the MR600 V2 4G router. The nearest 3 mast is 4.7km away (no major obstructions as it very flat ) and there is a vodafone mast about 1.5km away. I get 20/15 on my phone's vodafone 4G inside the house. What sort of 4G speeds could I expect with the MR600 4G router ?
@@LucidComputerSolutions I understand Smarty is 3. I tried a 3 data SIM and the signal was awful with speeds around 8/4mbps. I going to try a vodafone data SIM.
Hi I stumbled across your video as I'm researching temporary internet options for moving (and as a back up as I WFH), but I'm now considering this as a permanent solution. I assume even with the same SIM the Archer router would give better speed and coverage than the portable TP-Link M7350 I was originally considering?
If you are using a Smarty sim with the MR600 then you are wasting your money & better off going for the MR400 as Smarty doesn't support carrier aggregation you will get the same speed using either .
@@intergrale4x4 I don't use Smarty anymore since just before Christmas . I'm now using a Huawei 5G Router on 3. I was with Smarty for 18 months & 4g+ was not an option at that time. It appears that 3 have open up the 800mhz band to enable the use of the 3 bands for carrier aggregation over the Smarty network earlier this year . This was not an option when I had my MR600. I had both the MR400 & MR600 running side by side using 2 x Smarty sims & they both returned the same speeds 95% of the time with the MR400 topping the MR600 which it shouldn't have done !!
@@CiBi1968 Lucky You with 5G !! :) 4G LTE gets me 80Mb down at much cheapness with Smarty!! Interesting info about the carrier aggregation over the Smarty Thanks for that !! Rural Scotland has been totally let down by Openreach so I plan to help others if I can !! ;)
@@intergrale4x4 Can't complain with 250 - 450 mbps for £16 a month 😉👍 Bought my own Huawei CPE pro 2 router, cheaper in the long run. & have kept my old MR400 for back-up
@@LucidComputerSolutions tried it in three different locations (it's my caravan router). In fairness to smarty, it might be the router, so I've sent it back and might get one of these instead.
I use Lebara And they use the vodafone network and I get unlimited calls. Unlimited text and unlimited data for £2250. Just my opinion but I think they're better than smarty mobile. Because they used 3 network and where I live through does not work..
I purchased the MR200 just to give it a try and so far very pleased and am thinking of upgrading to the MR600. I use the Smarty unlimited data sim (now £20) which works well and is much more stable than broadband in my area.
My parents live in the countryside here in Scotland. Up to about two years ago they got their phone calls and Broadband from BT, and TBH it was worse than dire. They paid through the nose for a promised service, and it was simply rubbish. BB was non-existent, the quality of the phone calls were poor...…I finally put my foot down on the matter and bought them a 4G Router from TP Link - MR6500v Model - Best decision that I've ever made. They now get usable and decent speeds for internet browsing and streaming media, as well as unlimited phone calls using this particular model of router too. Bought a GiffGaff SIM for £20 per month to go with the router, they now get unlimited calls and texts and 80gb of data to use on their computer (more than enough to satisfy their needs.)
It's a game changer if you live rurally and all your other internet options are poor or too expensive (or both.)
--------
UPDATE Spring '22: Due to a severe change of circumstances, my parents are having to move house in a matter of months. With a lot of services and other stuff done online these days, as well as having to make endless phone calls, their 4G Router has more than paid for itself. In fact, it's been a blessing in disguise. They could have never done any of their online stuff successfully if they were still with BT using their telephone line. Likewise, their phone bills would have been through the roof, that past few months. At £20 per month for 80GB and Unlimited SMS and Calls, the router and Giff Gaff SIM have more than paid for themselves.
_______
Goodbye BT. Expletively expensive it should be criminal. BT reminded me that MY contract with them was up for renewal in the next month...I did the same as my parents and bought a 4G router.....have never looked back.
Cheaper, faster, user friendly, portable, and I can change or end my plans with Smarty whenever I want. No long term contracts here.
Bye bye BT! Good riddance to bad rubbish!
How much is the price for the router and where you bought it ?
I went with the same setup as you due to cost and I wasn't really sure if the whole thing would work in Rural Scotland. Tried all the providers sims but SMARTY was by far the fastest!! With the addition of a Ponyting MIMO external antenna my broadband speeds have gone from 8Mb Down and 0.75Mb up to 80Mb down and 27Mb up !! I'm well impressed but I did modify a sky dish to help with the dB signal numbers ;)
Good stuff!
good vid, didn't know of Smarty, but they're covered by 3, which is great as they're one of the two which have good 4g coverage in this middle of nowhere village, i think ill be trying the TP link too as it seems to be the markets best value
Unfortunately my nearest transmitter (3) is 4.7km away and the signal I got on my MR600 was poor with 8mbps download speed. I've also discovered that 3 transmitters were not set for CA and although the situation has improved the rollout of CA may not cover everywhere.
After virgin media kept raising their prices and me paying nearly £50/mo just for broadband, I’m now running one of these routers off a Smarty SIM card. 23 devices, from laptops, Google homes and smart lights are all running beautifully.
My MIL is now doing this, and I have friends who are borrowing my router to test to see if it will work for them.
Honestly, my connection isn’t degraded compared to the fibre and it seems to be more stable.
This is the best money saving task I have taken on in a long time.
That's great to hear, and I fully agree with you.
This is just what I'm looking for, my sky Internet I about to end and I don't want to re subscribe and so had been looking at a tp link, nit the same model with a smarty sim but just wasn't sure and couldn't seem to find the answers I wanted.
You vid seems to have covered it all.
Roll on 31st May when I'm free lol
Thanks for the useful video! There were quite few informative videos on this topic, and this really informed my decision to purchase a Mifi option with a Smarty sim card. I'll be using your referral link for Smarty in the description, hope that helps :)
Great tech vid from someone in the know, I have a smarty unlimited for £16 p/m (amazing deal) with Huawei bs311 for my new rural home, if the signal isn't great get an external antenna, the other option was main suppliers 'Essential fibre' aka copper wire to fibre box max 12 Mbps so effectively ADSL2
I'm moving into a new build flat with balcony. Broadband providers don't recognise my address yet but I need to work from home. Thankfully to your help I checked and found a three cell mast down the road from my building. I got my smarty SIM and my to link router, fingers crossed
Good luck!
Hi how did you get on? I've just ordered one of these with smarty sim for my 1 bed flat🤞
I got the huawei sim router from 3 for 17pm and get 140 download in Birmingham. Wouldn't dream of changing to another configuration. Regularly have about 25 things running off it like smart plugs plus Netflix satellite box etc etc etc and works flawlessly.
Interesting, can you let me know the model number of your router please?
@@LucidComputerSolutions huawei 4g router 3 pro
Do you sometimes watch a sneaky porno on it when the mrs is in bed or out . If so how’s the Wi-Fi handing it ?
A good idea that I do, only difference is that I use 3 at £18 every thing unlimited and a huawei modem that runs a phone too. Forget open reach, you don't need them
This could be ideal for my situation. I want to get internet for a streaming camera in my garden but I have no electric. Any idea how I could solve this? Am thinking leisure battery and solar panel.
A lot of unlimited data plans severely limit the speed which is important to know after certain data limits
I recently bought this TP Link MR600 and still waiting for my SIM card,,can’t tell you how nervous I am if this is going to work lol,,I’m in Denmarks third largest city,,the main reason is to save money in the long run 🤞and only for my iPad and smart tv,,,thanks for info
Great video. I have smarty for my phone but Talktalk for broadband and sky for TV. Sky and Talk contracts are up in a few weeks and I think a good move is to purchase this router and use the £20 sim from smarty. I
your right about the speed, at home I use ADSL line which gives 11down 1up and it streams and runs the household devices fine.
I think I'm lucky though, live close to exchange and speed has always been constant & stable - others who live further away seem to have problems with ADSL lines.
Hi
Great video
I live in the country, in essex so I never get a good signal
🇬🇧😊
A Smarty unlimited sim works ever so well as a internet provider. However don't bother buying this or any other router. I just use an old 4g mobile phone and use tethering & hotspot to connect to the internet; this way I conect to not one not two not even three, but FOUR devices all at one time. A desktop windows 11, a wireless printer, a 43 inch TV and a laptop! All for just £20 per month....! 😄
I would bother with the router, the Wifi coverage throughout my home is greater than that of a mobile phone.
Used your smarty link, hope you get your credit :-)
Thanks for that!
My Plusnet fibre broadband connection provides a pathetic 14mb but our Vodafone mobiles get 35mb. Smarty (Three 3) is only about 4mb so how much would an external antenna improve this?
Finally got round to buying this today, 3 hrs later I had returned it, 4 mps was the best I got , I'm sure i did everything right but it seems its not to be for me
I bought the very same router and it was dead on arrival so we ended up with a Huweia B525 4 and 5G router instead.
Smarty is just Three, if you already have a Three contract you can get unlimited phone,text and data for £16 a month...
The routers cost about the same, so the question is do you have decent 4G coverage? If so it's a good option and you can get mobile battery powered devices too for the car...
Be ready to fit external arials if the signals not good enough...
Yeah Smarty is just three but you pay monthly instead of being tied to a contract
Really helpful video, thank you! 👍
Glad it was helpful!
Quick one hopefully (and hope you see this on an older video). Just ordered the router and a smarty data sim, but do I need to activate the sim in a phone first, and then move it to the router before powering on for the first time to make setup easier?
This is just from my memory, but I think the SIM will be ready to use, or just activating via the Smarty Website is all you need to do. You shouldn't need to put it in a phone at all.
Have unlimited Data/ Talk/ Texts from Smarty for £12 per month, really fast 5g speeds it's perfect.
Cancelled my well overpriced Virgin media slower broadband at £50+ a month a few days ago.
Virgin takes the p#ss keep putting prices up.
Will be buying another same £12 per month Smarty sim for my mobile soon, brother getting one too.
Oh reason I'm getting cheaper is claiming Employment Support Allowance Disability so if your unemployed makes sure you're on Smarty Social Sim Plan saving £8 per month.
£12 a month? How did you get such a bargain?
Smarty have officially launched 5G
Yeeeeeessssssss! Just need a good 5G router now...
I warn u they don't work on party chats on consoles it will u cut u out u need a travel wireless hub jus leave the charger in and use that for ur hub if that helps anyone who needs Internet
That's a shame, I do love a good party chat.
Wondering if there are settings I could change to speed up my connection? I compare an mr400 vs a Netgear ac810 and the latter was quicker in the same room. Not what I was expecting…a little disappointing.
If you remove the 2 antenna on the router and fit an external antenna how does that effect the Wi-fi inside your property
I've not tried this with this router, I may test this if I get chance.
Makes no difference as the WiFi antennas are inside the router. The rabbit ears are for communication with the cellular base station.
I use 2 internet connection sky fibre 60mb for 2 xboxs and all my ring CCTV and all smart devices and pc and My son uses three 4g WiFi for his room as he downloads alot
Yes that's a good idea - this solution could simply be in addition to your existing Fibre connection to give someone their own Internet connection.
Thank you. Really useful video 😊
Glad it was helpful!
This tp-link router...can it be mobile router that can be used in any motorhome. Thank you
My Broadband/landline contract just come to an end and not very clued up with tech. Just checked out Smarty unlimited sim, they seem to have two for £20. One Data Only and the other Voice Unlimited, are they both the same, as in unlimited data for internet use but one also allows voice calls via the Router box with a phone plugged in??
A Data SIM only, is the one I personally purchased.
Thank You for clarifying it`s the DATA sim, much appreciated.
Hi, I'm new to all of this, but will I be able to pop off to ASDA and use a pay-as-you-go mobile phone sim card in this router to avoid contracts? Thanks in advance.
Yes, Asda Mobile SIM cards work in this router (as I have tested that myself)
Thank you!@@LucidComputerSolutions
If you connect the twin cables of an external antenna to the antennae sockets on the router do you loose Wifi or is the Wifi antennae separate and internal ?
I don't know this for a fact - but I suspect the antenna's do both the 4G and wifi.
I was thinking of something like this a got a MIFI device with a Smarty SIM. Unfortunately it gave me awful speeds - about 5mb/s. I tried a £10 for 30gb SIM to try out.
Was it signal which was the issue or your Mifi device?
can u add an external anthenna to this? remove those anthenna on router and plug in external?
I see there's a WAN Port on it; does it mean that I can plug-in my regular broadband cable onto Port 4 and avail routing my broadband my service too?
You could, but bear in mind you'll have a 'double router' scenario then, which should be avoided, you only really want one router.
Hi can you do port forwarding on it as with the SIM cards when using for gaming your only getting NAT type 3 games gaming hard
I've not successfully done port forwarding using a 4G solution as yet.
Hi, you did this video a year ago. Is there a newer version of this router? I've looked and it's just confusing! Thank you
There more than likely is - however as I've not personally tested one out, I'm not in a position to recommend something yet.
Hi looking into this as a temporary solution as I'm getting rid of my broadband supplier for 60 days and then coming back as a new customer 😉. So I have an existing network consisting of my modem in modem mode and a pf sense router /fire wall with ruckus aps. Can I set this 4g router up into modem mode to replace my existing modem and still allow pf sense to carry out my routing ? Cheers
There isn't a modem only mode as far as I'm aware with this router, but you could look at disable the firewall services and therefore pass all traffic unfiltered to your pfsense.
Mine worked great for a week then the connection kept dropping and the router cut out from connection so have keep Turning it on and off every day
You can schedule to reboot automatically every day...
@@LucidComputerSolutions I think I sussed it the signal was weak moved to a better location in the house
have you noticed that when you connect a few devices Smarty will throttle the bandwidth?
I've not directly come across that, but what I will say is, I do sometimes notice a slow down in the evenings, which might what you're getting at.
Any update on the router as I'm thinking about buying one with a smarty sim card.
I do have a small update. I'm still using this and getting 30MB Down/10MB Up with Smarty. What I've done though is switch to using a Mesh Wifi network, instead of the Wifi on the router itself - this is purely down to the setup/scenario I'm using it in. Overall the router is sound/solid and does what it's meant to as per the speeds above.
Hi Gavin, i have a smarty sim card unlimited but wanted to know if the TP-LINK Archer MR600 router works with a switch connected to other pcs? like a LAN please advise
Yes you can connect a network switch to any of the LAN ports on the MR600.
Thanks for this, you mention that you need an already activated SIM card, does this mean that it needs to be activated in a phone first or will the provider activate it ?
I line I the U.K.
If using Smarty, you activate it via their website, no phone required.
i know I'm kinda randomly asking but do anyone know a good website to watch newly released movies online ?
@Benjamin Ahmed Definitely, I've been using flixzone for years myself =)
@Benjamin Ahmed Thanks, signed up and it seems like a nice service =) Appreciate it !
@Xzavier Louis Happy to help =)
Disappointed not to see at least a screenshot of the admin interface or device. And it's always megaBITs, not megabytes when you're talking about bandwidth! Factor of 8 difference! But thanks for the product suggestion
Megabits, megabytes, mega bowl - let's not get hung up over details.
How do you pay as a monthly basis? Or should I say how do you top up
It's rolling monthly, you pay via storing card payment details within your Smarty account.
Can the antenna for the 4g signal be extended to an external antenna? I'd like to use one to put on a boat mast to optimize range.
There is an antenna connection on it for external use, however I don't know if it's for Wifi only.
@@LucidComputerSolutions Thanks, I bought one yesterday, the antenna is extendable but you have to extend both not just one, they are for 4g signals, it seems there is an internal patch antenna for the WiFi signals but I'd have to double check. What I did find out was these external ones are being replaced for better 4g connections by various users and cable length is better kept under 5m.
@@rayhsetwo8594 My setup is the Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 external antenna (moved it around outside until I found the best location) wall and I went from 31mb/s on 4g+ to 98mb/s
@@germjack significant boost for sure, thanks for that,👍
I live 16 miles from the centre of Birmingham. But my nearest fibre cabinet is far enough away to give me only 10/0.6 at my vodafone router, through the copper wire landline. Been looking at 4G as an alternative broadband service and the MR600 V2 4G router. The nearest 3 mast is 4.7km away (no major obstructions as it very flat ) and there is a vodafone mast about 1.5km away. I get 20/15 on my phone's vodafone 4G inside the house. What sort of 4G speeds could I expect with the MR600 4G router ?
It all depends on signal - there is no way I can say a set speed. If I use mine at home, I average 20MB, if I take it work, it may average 25MB etc.
@@LucidComputerSolutions I understand Smarty is 3. I tried a 3 data SIM and the signal was awful with speeds around 8/4mbps. I going to try a vodafone data SIM.
@@julianhull9110 Make use of the online coverage checkers! That's what I did, to determine which network was best at my location.
@@LucidComputerSolutions yes I have done. My nearest mast is vodafone so Im hopeful of a good signal.
Could you tell me what kind of wifi range it has, I'm going to use one in my caravan.
Why stretch the WiFi look at MiFi and take the router with you anywhere...
@@daveofyorkshire301 Tbh I don't need it on the move etc, it's up and running now and does a good job.
Hi, does 30 Mbps work for 4K movie streaming, please?
It's a stable 30Mbps, yes.
DO you have to have a data only sim or can it a normal unlimited sim?
I think it has to be a data SIM, as I tried my phone SIM in it (a long time ago) and it didn't work.
Excellent video! 👍
Thank you very much!
But can you do port forwarding with smarty?
Good question, I'll test at some point.
Hi I stumbled across your video as I'm researching temporary internet options for moving (and as a back up as I WFH), but I'm now considering this as a permanent solution.
I assume even with the same SIM the Archer router would give better speed and coverage than the portable TP-Link M7350 I was originally considering?
If it's a permanent solution, then you would be better off with a 'proper router' such as the MR600.
You say countryside but I live in central Bradford and could only get copper no fibre
Countryside and Bradford it is then.
is the range better than a normal broadband router
I would say it does offer better coverage than something from an Internet Service Provider, but it's not mind blowing.
If you are using a Smarty sim with the MR600 then you are wasting your money & better off going for the MR400 as Smarty doesn't support carrier aggregation you will get the same speed using either .
Friend Is also using Smarty and is getting a 4G+ connection which as far as I can gather is "carrier aggregation" connection
@@intergrale4x4 I don't use Smarty anymore since just before Christmas . I'm now using a Huawei 5G Router on 3. I was with Smarty for 18 months & 4g+ was not an option at that time. It appears that 3 have open up the 800mhz band to enable the use of the 3 bands for carrier aggregation over the Smarty network earlier this year . This was not an option when I had my MR600.
I had both the MR400 & MR600 running side by side using 2 x Smarty sims & they both returned the same speeds 95% of the time with the MR400 topping the MR600 which it shouldn't have done !!
@@CiBi1968 Lucky You with 5G !! :) 4G LTE gets me 80Mb down at much cheapness with Smarty!! Interesting info about the carrier aggregation over the Smarty Thanks for that !! Rural Scotland has been totally let down by Openreach so I plan to help others if I can !! ;)
@@intergrale4x4 Can't complain with 250 - 450 mbps for £16 a month 😉👍 Bought my own Huawei CPE pro 2 router, cheaper in the long run. & have kept my old MR400 for back-up
When i tried to use a smarty sim in this router I got a "no sim" error. Did you have issues configuring this too?
No I didn't, it worked right away. I'd check you've inserted it the right way round, and that you've activated the SIM as well.
Megabits , great video though 👌
You say tomato, I say tomato. Thank you for watching!
Does this work in spain
Not with a Smarty SIM in it.
Spatify?
Spotify?
👍👍👍
Next time be brief
OK
Smarty is rubbish. I hought a zte mf971v router and smarty unlimited data sim. It only works in 3g mode. 4g will not work at all.
Hopeless.
Could that just be done to coverage in your area though?
@@LucidComputerSolutions tried it in three different locations (it's my caravan router).
In fairness to smarty, it might be the router, so I've sent it back and might get one of these instead.
I use Lebara And they use the vodafone network and I get unlimited calls. Unlimited text and unlimited data for £2250. Just my opinion but I think they're better than smarty mobile. Because they used 3 network and where I live through does not work..
The choice is down to signal in your area. For example, where I'm based, Vodafone coverage is poor, but EE coverage is excellent.