MTN F@stlink B970, first impression

D

dantex

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Hi there.

After much moaning and groaning, dealing with incompetent sales people, etc, I have finally gotten my hands on one of these units.

Picked it up for R2366 (no contract, no new sim) at the Morningside Service Center and so far all is working just fine. Autopage was selling for R3500!

You can open up a web session to manage the unit either via ethernet or wifi straight out of the box and if you connect via USB, you have yourself the same functionality as a data card. The unit has 2 x USB connectors to plug into a PC, the quickstart guide says the second is for 'added power if needed'.

Hooked up the PS3 via a secure wifi link and also added the wife's notebook with no issues. Now all MTN needs to do is improve their data link reliability during peak hours. The units obviously reconnects automatically after losing signal.

Download speeds are good, got sustained ~120KB download speeds on Saturday via wifi. Haven't tried gaming yet, will be doing so after buying my new beast, a Corei7 based rig, can't wait! Will be playing L4D and some TF2, hoping the pings are decent.

The unit has some pretty nifty functionality that I currently don't use (WLAN MAC filter, DMZ, Remote Management).

Will keep playing around obviously, let me know if you would like me to try anything, will report back as soon as I can.
 
i found that setup using either wifi on lan very easy. you just put in the 192.168.1.1 which then takes you through to the admin page, you create a connection and once connected you can just plug in the lan into another computer, there is little or no work to do.

i have tested the B970 on windows xp, vista, on mac osx 10.4, 10.5, ubuntu and gentoo linux. i was and still am very happy with the outcome.
 
Now just for affordable bandwidth and we're set to go !

At least allow us more than one bundle per month, or bigger bundles.
 
Yeah it's amazing to think that we're only really allowed to download/upload a combined ±68mb per day on MTN's Biggest bundle!! I mean seriously?!?! That's like JUST email and a few web pages!!
 
Oh by the way... there is an upgrade for the firmware on mtn's page:
http://www.mtn.co.za/Support/DeviceDownloads/Pages/default.aspx
You connect your router to your laptop via a network cable - then run the EXE file.
Not a whole lot different - cept that MTN is now branded all over the web interface... and everything's yellow... they also made it so you don't need to enter your APN settings manually (for dumb people)

I would say, if you don't mind your initial firmware - don't upgrade... it's just too yellow!!!

Now i'm wondering...

if you have the router connected via the supplied Power Supply - you get the enabled WIFI... but how does it sense that you're connected via a pc and the USB cable...and then automatically disable the wifi??

Is there a way to give it enough power via your laptop and a USB cable so that it actually enables the wifi?? Anyone know?
 
Let me share my experience with getting a new B970 contract.

We recently moved to the Sandton area from Centurion. When approaching Telkom for an ADSL line they just laughed at me, "sorry no lines available". They did offer me their 3G option but our area was not covered. So this is when I went to the MTN outlet in Centurion and found their F@stlink B970 router bundle.

This is where all my troubles started, I could find nobody who could give me any additional information. I was sent from one phone number to the next, no luck. My wife went to the outlet in Village Walk, asked if they had the device in stock and we were assured that they will have one by Monday (20/11). I then completed the application form together with a certified copy of my ID, proof of residence as well as 3 months bank statements. Only to arrive at the Village Walk outlet on Monday to have them refer us to the Morningside Service centre. So off we went to the Morningside Service Centre, we were very ably assisted by Bongani Makama and in under 45 minutes walked out of the service centre with my SIM card and my B970 router. (We were told that it would take 2 to 24 hours for the sim card to be activated!!).

Tuesday evening I tried to activate the device, no luck. The message I was recieving was "you need to register your device" etc. etc. So I phoned the support desk on (083) 1 808, to be told that my service has been suspended as I have gone over my credit limit!!! WHAT.... I haven't even used the darn thing and I've already gone over my limit... w.t.h. (go figure). I was then advised that I should go to the Morningside Service Centre to have them attend to the problem.

Now it's Wednesday, and I'm at the Service Centre in Morningside and being assisted by Dee. "Oh my" she said, they made a mistake when loading you on the system and had you on the wrong package (350MB vs. 1GB) and did some credits and reversing and that's why you have gone over your "credit" limit of R780.00. She spoke to the Credit Controller and they would try and sort it out, please wait another 2 to 24 hours.... and off I went...

Thursday, still no connection...

Friday morning, my wife takes the whole bundle back to Morningside Service Centre. Aaaahhh, your SIM card is faulty!! Here take this new one and wait for 2 to 24 hours....

Saturday morning I had some other commitments to attend to in Centurion and got back home after 1pm. Tried the connection and yes, "No Connection" and the same message. I even tried putting the SIM card in my Cell phone and got the "SIM card registration Failed" message on more than one occasion. So now I was ready to stick this B970 right up there... I tried to phone the Service Centre, but they closed at 1pm..

Sunday... I was at the ToyRun and returned home, still no connection. At about 4pm I walked past the device (now connected directly to the laptop) and saw some life... (Blue mode light flickering). I tried the connection and yes it worked..... This is after 6 days.....

I then connected it as a router device and managed to connect to the internet. No problems at all. So now I can start testing the device and put it through it's paces.

BUT the whole experience has left a rather bad taste in my mouth.(And to top it all off, i've signed a 24 month contract!!)

At this point in time I can connect my laptop via the wifi connecting to the router but not to the internet! So if someone can help or offer advise I would appreciate. (I could try the technical centre but they only work until 5pm and I may not be home in time to contact them)

And by the way, I sent an email to the Customer Queries email listed on the website ([email protected]) on Tuesday (18/11) requesting additional info on a new contract. She replied to me on the 20/11 copying Wendy Hlope and Deva Sineke with the message "Good day,please assist". To date I have not had a word (or email) from any one of them... This bodes well for customer service.

I'll keep you posted on any further developments, but for now I'd advise you not to go for this one...
 
sounds to me that all you needed to do with the "faulty sim" was to activate the DATA by dialing: *123*13# and *123*12#
 
Sounds like a stuff up all round, hope you get sorted soon.
If not, and you are willing to go back to Morningside, ask for a chap named Claudio, he might be able to assist.

vatikhaki said:
Let me share my experience with getting a new B970 contract.

We recently moved to the Sandton area from Centurion. When approaching Telkom for an ADSL line they just laughed at me, "sorry no lines available". They did offer me their 3G option but our area was not covered. So this is when I went to the MTN outlet in Centurion and found their F@stlink B970 router bundle.

This is where all my troubles started, I could find nobody who could give me any additional information. I was sent from one phone number to the next, no luck. My wife went to the outlet in Village Walk, asked if they had the device in stock and we were assured that they will have one by Monday (20/11). I then completed the application form together with a certified copy of my ID, proof of residence as well as 3 months bank statements. Only to arrive at the Village Walk outlet on Monday to have them refer us to the Morningside Service centre. So off we went to the Morningside Service Centre, we were very ably assisted by Bongani Makama and in under 45 minutes walked out of the service centre with my SIM card and my B970 router. (We were told that it would take 2 to 24 hours for the sim card to be activated!!).

Tuesday evening I tried to activate the device, no luck. The message I was recieving was "you need to register your device" etc. etc. So I phoned the support desk on (083) 1 808, to be told that my service has been suspended as I have gone over my credit limit!!! WHAT.... I haven't even used the darn thing and I've already gone over my limit... w.t.h. (go figure). I was then advised that I should go to the Morningside Service Centre to have them attend to the problem.

Now it's Wednesday, and I'm at the Service Centre in Morningside and being assisted by Dee. "Oh my" she said, they made a mistake when loading you on the system and had you on the wrong package (350MB vs. 1GB) and did some credits and reversing and that's why you have gone over your "credit" limit of R780.00. She spoke to the Credit Controller and they would try and sort it out, please wait another 2 to 24 hours.... and off I went...

Thursday, still no connection...

Friday morning, my wife takes the whole bundle back to Morningside Service Centre. Aaaahhh, your SIM card is faulty!! Here take this new one and wait for 2 to 24 hours....

Saturday morning I had some other commitments to attend to in Centurion and got back home after 1pm. Tried the connection and yes, "No Connection" and the same message. I even tried putting the SIM card in my Cell phone and got the "SIM card registration Failed" message on more than one occasion. So now I was ready to stick this B970 right up there... I tried to phone the Service Centre, but they closed at 1pm..

Sunday... I was at the ToyRun and returned home, still no connection. At about 4pm I walked past the device (now connected directly to the laptop) and saw some life... (Blue mode light flickering). I tried the connection and yes it worked..... This is after 6 days.....

I then connected it as a router device and managed to connect to the internet. No problems at all. So now I can start testing the device and put it through it's paces.

BUT the whole experience has left a rather bad taste in my mouth.(And to top it all off, i've signed a 24 month contract!!)

At this point in time I can connect my laptop via the wifi connecting to the router but not to the internet! So if someone can help or offer advise I would appreciate. (I could try the technical centre but they only work until 5pm and I may not be home in time to contact them)

And by the way, I sent an email to the Customer Queries email listed on the website ([email protected]) on Tuesday (18/11) requesting additional info on a new contract. She replied to me on the 20/11 copying Wendy Hlope and Deva Sineke with the message "Good day,please assist". To date I have not had a word (or email) from any one of them... This bodes well for customer service.

I'll keep you posted on any further developments, but for now I'd advise you not to go for this one...
Click to expand...
 
Yeah thanks, I'm sorted and all is working!

On Monday (1/12) I phoned the Technical helpdesk @ MTN (083) 1 555. Very friendly guy assisted me and after a 40 minute call all was sorted. (I did hold on for about 10 minutes before we started:(

In the end we had to remove the wireless network adapter (in Device Manager) and then re-boot. But it's working now.

I have run some tests on speedtest.net and will post some of those results here.

Cheers.
 
No, no ADSL, just four ethernet ports.

Still this device is half price of a 3G router and datacard.
 
Does anyone know if it has a connection for an external antenna?
 
Can you play games online with this device on the MTN network?
 
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