Question about 3G modems and simcards.

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Linctagon

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I am currently planning to get the 8ta internet 5 promo contract. I also want to purchase the Huawei E367 modem from 8ta directly. However, the sales person told me that I might as well buy the E173 (something like that) which is much cheaper but only does up to 7.2mbps. He said that even if I purchased the E367 I will still only get 7 down max. However, I bought the 2gig promo sim and I am currently using it on my Cell C ZTE stick that I got with their 5gb R3000 prepaid offer a year ago. I didn't have to make any alternations, I popped the sim in and it worked from the Cell C dash flawlessly.

Here is the issue. The 2gig promo and internet 5 promo use the exact same coverage (I live in Witbank) and on speedtest I got 10.41mbps down with the 8ta sim in the Cell C stick. How is it possible that I already get way above 7mbps speed on my 8ta sim in the Cell C stick but the person at the shop told me that I would only be able to get 7 on the 8ta branded E367 which is also a 21mbps capable stick just like the ZTE I am using right now?

Do they somehow lock the speeds on the 8ta branded stick at 7mbps depending on your area? Would there be any reason at all that I get above 7mbps with an 8ta sim already but if I buy the 8ta branded stick I will only get 7? Software? Dashboard settings?

I would very much appreciate it is someone with 3G knowledge could help me out with this question before I drive out to PTA to buy the E367 since they do not sell it in Witbank.

Also, if it is indeed correct what the 8ta person told me, would I be able to purchase a non branded stick from somewhere and use the 8ta sim in that? And if so could anyone please direct me to a seller that supplies these non branded (8ta, Vodacom, Cell C etc.) Sticks? Basically if the 8ta branded E367 is locked to 7mbps somehow I would rather just buy a clean E367 stick if it will work with the sim to get past that. Since I already get 10mbpss+ but the sales person told me that I couldn't do so on the 8ta branded stick.

Thank you very much for your time guys.
 
Basically the speed sticks that are more expensive offer far greater speeds, but depending on coverage usually speeds dont get higher than 7mbps so what the 8ta rep was telling you was coz he thought theres no point on getting a faster speed stick if the max you gonna get is under 7. The sim wil work in any speedstick ( most of them are huawei just branded) I use mtn, cell, 8ta all on the same stick.
 
Hi & welcome,
The salesperson was just generalizing, "alot of people" probably don't get over 7Mbps most of the time but it will depend on a few differant factors like distance from the tower,signal strength,number of users on the tower etc.
You don't need to buy a differant modem if your ZTE one works on 8ta.

The angle the saleperson is coming from is like my example here with a 42Mpbs capable modem on 8ta.
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Any specific reason why you don't just keep using your current modem?

In theory the salesman is wrong. However, by saying that you won't reach >7 Mbps speeds in practice he pointed out something that many of the users on all cellular networks experience. I have a 7.2 Mbps 3G card and rarely see anything more than 5 Mbps when the signal is very good.
 
Thanks for all the replies guy. Very much appreciated. I understand the context of what he said now. So I will be getting my new stick asap since for me there is a point to it since I jump between 4mbps and 11 from day to day.

Jyno, my ZTE stick has seen some heavy wear and the biggest issue is that the model is not fully supported by the 3G router I use and it drops setting every now and then and then I have to jump through hoops to get it working again with bin files and firmware rollbacks and upgrades. The E367 however is a supported device by default so I would much prefer not having the hassle.

Thanks again for being so helpful guys. Virtual Bells for you all.
 
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