Help with Band Locking on ZLT X100 Pro (Bands 8 + 1 + 3) MTN Fixed LTE(Afrihost)

[NkosiSibu]

Hi everyone,


I’m using a ZLT X100 Pro (Tozed Kangwei) router on MTN LTE and I’d like to lock it to specific bands (Band 8 + 1 + 3) to improve speed and stability.


I’ve chosen these bands because:

• These are the bands that aggregate best on my router and seem to give the best performance in my location.
• Band 8 (900 MHz): Provides good coverage indoors and in rural areas.
• Band 1 (2100 MHz): Offers decent speed and capacity in areas with moderate network congestion.
• Band 3 (1800 MHz): Gives high-speed throughput where coverage is strong.
• Even if one band drops, the remaining two are usually enough to maintain a stable connection.

So far, I’ve accessed the web interface at 192.168.0.1, but I don’t see any option for manual band selection. I also checked the device info, and it seems the router supports multiple LTE bands, but I can’t find a way to lock them.


Has anyone successfully locked bands on this model (ZLT X100 Pro)?

• Is it possible through the web interface or hidden settings?
• Or do I need to use AT commands over USB?
• If AT commands, could someone share the correct syntax for this router/chipset?

Any guidance, step-by-step help, or tools would be really appreciated.


Thanks in advance!

 

[Afrigirl]

Hi everyone,


I’m using a ZLT X100 Pro (Tozed Kangwei) router on MTN LTE and I’d like to lock it to specific bands (Band 8 + 1 + 3) to improve speed and stability.


I’ve chosen these bands because:

• These are the bands that aggregate best on my router and seem to give the best performance in my location.
• Band 8 (900 MHz): Provides good coverage indoors and in rural areas.
• Band 1 (2100 MHz): Offers decent speed and capacity in areas with moderate network congestion.
• Band 3 (1800 MHz): Gives high-speed throughput where coverage is strong.
• Even if one band drops, the remaining two are usually enough to maintain a stable connection.

So far, I’ve accessed the web interface at 192.168.0.1, but I don’t see any option for manual band selection. I also checked the device info, and it seems the router supports multiple LTE bands, but I can’t find a way to lock them.


Has anyone successfully locked bands on this model (ZLT X100 Pro)?

• Is it possible through the web interface or hidden settings?
• Or do I need to use AT commands over USB?
• If AT commands, could someone share the correct syntax for this router/chipset?

Any guidance, step-by-step help, or tools would be really appreciated.


Thanks in advance!

Hi.

On the Web Interface, do you see the option for 5G Wifi Advanced settings?

 

[NkosiSibu]

Yes, I can see the advanced 5G settings in the router interface.
However, to clarify, I’m not referring to Wi-Fi bands (such as 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz).


The bands I mean are the cellular frequency bands (e.g., LTE Band 8 / Band 1 / Band 3) that the router uses to connect to the mobile tower for internet access. Locking those LTE bands helps me get better speed and stability because certain bands aggregate better in my area.

 

[Afrigirl]

Yes, I can see the advanced 5G settings in the router interface.
However, to clarify, I’m not referring to Wi-Fi bands (such as 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz).


The bands I mean are the cellular frequency bands (e.g., LTE Band 8 / Band 1 / Band 3) that the router uses to connect to the mobile tower for internet access. Locking those LTE bands helps me get better speed and stability because certain bands aggregate better in my area.

Thanks.

I have contacted their support team to obtain the instructions for the web interface or the necessary commands.

 

[NkosiSibu]

Thanks, I really appreciate that.


That’s exactly what I’m trying to achieve: being able to lock the router onto the specific LTE bands that work best in my area. If support can provide the steps for either the web interface or the AT command method, that would be super helpful.


Looking forward to their feedback.

 

[NkosiSibu]

Thanks.

I have contacted their support team to obtain the instructions for the web interface or the necessary commands.

Hi, still no response on this?

 

[Afrigirl]

Hi, still no response on this?

Hi.

"According to our support policy, all after-sales service is managed by our customers who provide the devices. We recommend contacting your original seller/service provider for the appropriate assistance.Regards"

Yes, unfortunately, they won't be able to help.
I will check with our team if anyone has the same device, so we can check.

 

[NkosiSibu]

Hi.

"According to our support policy, all after-sales service is managed by our customers who provide the devices. We recommend contacting your original seller/service provider for the appropriate assistance.Regards"

Yes, unfortunately, they won't be able to help.
I will check with our team if anyone has the same device, so we can check.

Appreciated

 

[Voldemort]

hmm, I haven't been on that dashboard in some time, but i do believe there is an option on the dashboard for either "Band lock" or " Network settings" under which you can lock those FDD bands specifically. If that doesn't work, then you have your answer; pop it back to auto.

192.168.8.1

 

[NkosiSibu]

hmm, I haven't been on that dashboard in some time, but i do believe there is an option on the dashboard for either "Band lock" or " Network settings" under which you can lock those FDD bands specifically. If that doesn't work, then you have your answer; pop it back to auto.

192.168.8.1

No way to lock bands manually on the web interface.

 

[Voldemort]

No way to lock bands manually on the web interface.

Eisch, my apologies!

I've gone through a number of these routers when I was testing them out for specific nuances, and one of them allowed me to do so, I just don't recall which one - as you've mentioned it's not this one then. Thanks for the heads up and sorry about that.

 

[NkosiSibu]

Eisch, my apologies!

I've gone through a number of these routers when I was testing them out for specific nuances, and one of them allowed me to do so, I just don't recall which one - as you've mentioned it's not this one then. Thanks for the heads up and sorry about that.

No worries! Seems I've hit a dead end though.

 

[Afrigirl]

No worries! Seems I've hit a dead end though.

Hi.

Are you not able to check with the provider you brought it from?
Unfortunately, we dont have the device to replicate the issue.

 

[NkosiSibu]

Hi.

Are you not able to check with the provider you brought it from?
Unfortunately, we don't have the device to replicate the issue.

Got it from MTN. But no one seems to understand what I am talking about there.

 

[NkosiSibu]

Update:


Thanks to everyone who’s been following and offering input


I’ve done more testing with the ZLT X100 Pro on MTN (Afrihost Fixed LTE SIM), and here’s what I’ve found so far:

• Moving my router to the back window connected me to a different tower (EnodeB 2106) instead of my original (12560).
• On 2106, the router aggregates Bands 8 + 1 + 3 with a total of 50 MHz spectrum (10 + 20 + 20).
• Even though the SINR is not great (around 4 dB), I now get much better speeds — ~44 Mbps down, 21 Mbps up, ping 35–48 ms.
• This is a big improvement over 12560, which was only giving me 10 MHz on Band 3 and lower throughput.

The challenge remains: there is no option in the ZLT web interface to manually lock bands. I’ve confirmed this now. The router decides automatically, and while it often picks the right bands, I’d prefer to keep it locked to Band 8+1+3 for stability.


I reached out to MTN (since the device is from them), but so far, support has no clue what I’m asking.

---

If anyone has managed to lock bands on the ZLT X100 Pro (via AT commands, API access, or custom firmware), please let me know.
For now, the router performs really well when it sticks to 8+1+3, but I’d like more control.

 

[ajax]

It looks like your remaining option then is to improve the signal from the EnodeB 2106 tower

 

[Voldemort]

It looks like your remaining option then is to improve the signal from the EnodeB 2106 tower

Which you can't, no external antenna option on the X100..

The RSRP is already at -75Dbm too, an antenna could elevate noise, thereby dropping the SINR even further. As it is, I'm wondering if that SINR is causing you to lag or buffer?

 

[NkosiSibu]

Which you can't, no external antenna option on the X100..

The RSRP is already at -75Dbm too, an antenna could elevate noise, thereby dropping the SINR even further. As it is, I'm wondering if that SINR is causing you to lag or buffer?

Yeah, my RSRP on 2106 sits around –75 dBm, so the signal itself is fine. The real issue is the SINR (–4 dB), which I think is what’s causing the odd lag spike even though speeds look good.


Since the ZLT X100 Pro has no external antenna ports, I’m pretty much stuck with router placement. At this point it feels like a trade-off: better speeds on 2106 with 8+1+3, but the low SINR might keep ping a bit unstable.

 

[PrinceVictor]

I’ve been battling with this since I got my MTN router last year. Though I’m not in SA, I’m in Nigeria, this is the only forum that I have seen someone looking for solutions to the same problem I am having. Over here MTN.NG operates on bands LTE 3,7,20,28 and 5G NSA 78. My area hasn’t gotten 5G yet so I am stuck with LTE. I have been suffering with low speeds in peak day time, which I think is due to congestion. It frees up at night from 12am to 7am where I get 40-80mbps. Of recent I noticed MTN did an upgrade to the cell tower very close to me, literally in the same compound. But the issue now is that the router sticks to band 3, it doesn’t aggregate other bands when it is connected with to band 3. And I get high ms of 150ms on band 3 and low speeds of 2mbps. But when the router aggregate band 7+7 I get 20mbps on peak day up to 60mbps even. But it does Stay on that band 7 it reverts back to band 3. Now the song trick to get it to stick to band seven is trying to place the router in a bad spot where I now get -94dbm which isn’t that great as it affects my games depite the speed. I have spoken to customer care and they act like they don’t know what I speak about . I attached an image with my speed test results. The ones over 100mbps are 5G band 78. 20-80s are band 7+7. While less than 10 is band 3,28. Other photos include my router interface. So bro have you found a solution? Cause I am positive what works for you will definitely work for me