Rain Recommended LTE/LTE-A Routers

Weird thing just happened now when I connected the Router back on. I had now internet until I went into the rain website and logged into my account
 
I am going to sound a bit of a noob i have B535 router from telkom running on a Rain 4G on Avg i get about 30mbps playing on the router i see it give me the option on running 1800mhz or 2300mhz and 2100mhz is there any benefit to maybe trying one of these as well as for the telkom uncapped LTE?
753376
 
ZimmY said:
I am going to sound a bit of a noob i have B535 router from telkom running on a Rain 4G on Avg i get about 30mbps playing on the router i see it give me the option on running 1800mhz or 2300mhz and 2100mhz is there any benefit to maybe trying one of these as well as for the telkom uncapped LTE?
View attachment 753376
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Telkom supports those 3 bands. Rain only supports 1 of those bands shown. You would need to use a band tool to force 2500MHz Band 38/41
 
cavedog said:
Telkom supports those 3 bands. Rain only supports 1 of those bands shown. You would need to use a band tool to force 2500MHz Band 38/41
Click to expand...
Do you have to run the band tool every time the router is rebooted? We were on level 4 reboot yesterday, now it's level 2
 
For my RAIN SIM, is this router ideal for it, good connection and faster download and/or streaming:
TP-Link TL-MR6400 Archer MR6400 (300MBPS) 4G LTE Router Sim
 
I just got this router, is this ideal for my RAIN 4G LTE SIM? Kindly advise.
TP-link Archer MR600 AC1200 4G LTE Router Sim, CAT6 GBE Router
 
hliggidy said:
I just got this router, is this ideal for my RAIN 4G LTE SIM? Kindly advise.
TP-link Archer MR600 AC1200 4G LTE Router Sim, CAT6 GBE Router
Click to expand...
It supports all the needed bands AFAICS so you should be good.

4G: FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20/B28 (2100/1800/850/2600/900/800/700 MHz)
TDD-LTE: B38/B40/B41 (2600/2300/2500 MHz)
3G: DC-HSPA+/HSPA/UMTS: B1/B5/B8 (2100/850/900 MHz)
 
I need some help plse.
I have a Rain sim in a TP-Link M7200. The specs says it connects to both B3 and B38 but I have no idea what antennae. The nearest tower is less than 200m from me with no major obstacles in between. The only gadgets connected is my phone, my son's phone, our PC and Android box.

Still I have crappy download speeds. Would it help to force the router to one or the other band and if it would how can I do that.
 
Does anyone know Belotech. They advertise as Cat 6 with CA between b3 and b38 and is apparently supported by Askey who is supported by Asus
 
CataclysmZA said:
This thread serves as the semi-official list of routers that rain and/or rain-fixed networks support. Some things you need to take into account:

  • rain currently runs on the B3 1800MHz and B38 2600MHz bands qualifying as LTE. Your router/mobile phone needs to support one of these
  • most consumer routers available in South Africa at the moment cannot aggregate bands B3 and B38 (which would mean it supports the Cat5 standard to meet LTE-A reference standard)
  • There are a handful of MiFi devices and phones that do support carrier aggregation (confirmed working on a Samsung Galaxy S8)
  • rain-fixed networks support only a handful of routers for now
  • 4x4 MIMO works on the C38 band, giving you faster throughput
  • External antennas are recommended in most cases unless you're close to the tower
Peak Time Throttling:

rain's options currently are limited to post-paid data at R50 per gigabyte, and a R250 per month bundle which gives you uncapped internet between 11PM at night and 6PM in the evening. The network currently is shaped for all users, even rain-fixed, between 6PM and 11PM (Netflix time). This is expected to change, so there's nothing you're doing wrong if you run into this issue. It'll likely change as rain develops their network profile and user data history to see how they can improve the peak time shaping to suit all uses, including 4K streaming for Netflix and YouTube.

Router Choices:

Currently, and at launch, rain works well with Huawei's two most popular routers:

  • Huawei B315
  • Huawei B618
rain's choice of ZTE routers is a little odd, being that they're in limited stock and do not receive timely firmware updates. As a side note, checking the device support pages for all these routers does not reveal whether they are patched to close the Krack security loophole. The TP-Link MR200 is also a supported router on the rain mobile and rain-fixed networks, and may be the better choice for experienced/power users who want more control.

There is also the positively ugly B2338, which is more expensive but might support carrier aggregation in the future on bands B38/40/41/42/43. The B2338 might be an option for those of you who don't want to invest in an external antenna - you can just sommer plak this thing outside on a mount and run an Ethernet cable into a wired network in your home. There also is the B2388-168, which might be capable of carrier aggregation over bands B3 and 38, but this is unconfirmed.

Alternatively:

Huawei's E5885 is a MiFi with an enormous battery bank, support for Cat6, AND includes a 100Mbps Ethernet port. Hook it up to any router or wired network, and it will act as a DHCP server for that network. This can be turned off (presumably). Afrihost sells these with local warranty support. It does not support rain-fixed networks, nor is there an accessible SMA plug for an antenna.

For Power Users:

Most consumer LTE routers will work on rain's mobile network (not rain-fixed), and for the power users out there you might be interested in routers which support the installation of alternative firmware like OpenWRT/LEDE. Keep in mind that projects like LEDE are not supported by the OEM, and the ways to get these alternative firmwares installed almost always require some technical know-how and skills.

Also open for consideration is the Tomato project, which supports the following routers. Advanced Tomato is an extension of the Tomato project which aims to enhance and rewrite the WebGUI. You will need to use USB modems, however.

USB Modem Support:

When it comes to USB-based devices, however, things are much easier. OpenWRT/LEDE, Tomato, and DD-WRT generally have support for 4G LTE dongles over USB, and there are some Cat5 and Cat6 dongles available on the market, as evidenced by this exhaustive list of supported modems on DD-WRT. Support for most of these modems is still a work in progress, but the majority of them do work.

Modems that support Cat5 and Cat6 include:

  • Vodafone Huawei E5786, E5788
  • Netgear AC790S, AC791S/L, AC810S, AC815S
  • Sierra Wireless EM7430, EM7455, EM7455, MC7430, MC7455
  • Dell 5811e
As a reminder, if a modem or router supports at least Cat5 LTE, it will perform carrier aggregation as expected over two supported bands. Most consumer routers which have USB LTE support won't support all of the available chipsets out there, so there is a risk to going this route without testing things beforehand.

Ideal Network Configuration:

There are several ways of going about this, and you'll have to pick which one suits you best.

A) Use a supported 4G LTE router with/without external antennas
B) Use a supported 4G LTE router with/without external antennas connected to a second router which handles multiple WAN connections for switching to ADSL
C) Use a supported 4G LTE router with/without external antennas connected to a second router which handles multiple WAN connections for load balancing
D) Use a 4G LTE router with/without external antennas running third-party firmware
E) Use a router running third-party firmware to connect a 4G LTE USB dongle (antenna support depending)
F) Use a router running first-party firmware to connect a 4G LTE USB dongle (antenna support depending)
G) Use a Huawei E5885 connected via Ethernet to a second router or wired switch
Click to expand...
Does anyone kniw Belotech. They advertise as a SA brand supported by Askey. Selling a Cat 6 modem/router for R 999
 
Misanthrope said:
Does anyone know Belotech. They advertise as Cat 6 with CA between b3 and b38 and is apparently supported by Askey who is supported by Asus
Click to expand...

Never heard of them but I highly doubt a cat6 LTE router will do CA B1+B38.
 
So I have this weird problem with my B315s-22 router.

For the longest time, since I got it, I got throughput consistently of 100Mbps down/10Mbps up. Router settings were never changed, it ran on auto settings and I saw no reason to change it since the speeds were basically perfect.

Recently however, around mid December, it seems to use a different band, producing speeds of max 30-40Mbps, which is still fast but it's now 1:1, upload and download are the same speed. I've played around with band settings, using the tool thing @cavedog posted somewhere. No difference in speed whatsoever.

I tried the sim in my Xiaomi Redmi 4A, which gets the full 100Mbps/10Mbps like the router used to. I would use my phone as a perma hotspot, but that'll kill the battery.

Is there anyone else who experienced this on the B315s-22? If not, anyone know what could fix this?
I've tried resetting the router to factory, uninstalling and reinstalling software updates.. nothing changed this.

edit:
the tower is right outside my window, I can look right up at it so it's not signal strength..
 
Hey guys. I've got a TP-Link Archer MR200. I usually get speeds between 8Mbps - 16Mbps during the day and sometimes during the night I get 24Mbps (upload speed is usually between 2-4Mbps lower than what the download speed is).

Here is my experience so far with a rain and mr200 combo:

- My ping is usually 35ms but can occasionally go up to 50ms

- Just as a reference to people who are unfamiliar with the conversion, 8Mbps (megabits per second) = 1MBps (megabyte per second)

- I live in a rural area and if I am correct the nearest rain towers to me are in Durban, which would put me at a distance of about 25km away from it. I am not using an external antenna at the moment.

- The router was initially placed on my pc desk in my room however after about 3 months the signal began to deteriorate (3mbps download, upload was literally nonexistent) I have since moved it behind the kitchen window which I think faces towards the general direction of Durban. This is where I took the speed data at the beginning from.

- I had used my phone to determine location and direction for the new router placement after that issue. The back of my phone needed to face what I think is Durban in order for most stable signal and highest speeds. sometimes even the slightest deviation from that direction or location would cause a big loss in signal outside the house. I live in a tin house, wooden walls and within the house the signal refused to say Hi other than at the kitchen window.

- Some things that I have noticed is that when the speeds drop below 8mbps popping the sim out and then back in again may just help bring the speed back up to 8mbps+ anyone can advise whats actually happening when this is done?

I see it was stated that there's no MR200 owners to provide more feedback regarding its performance on the rain network (I use telkom on it as well during peak) so I will try and give feedback on any questions you may have regarding this router

Anyone have an idea if adding an external antenna will help increase speeds significantly? and if so then which antenna would you suggest for this router? I had been looking at this one on takealot:

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
www.takealot.com www.takealot.com

Also is there a way to force bands on this router? what is the apn settings which you guys use? if default please still state what they are.
 
heya @Sachen I've got two of these routers, and live on an outskirt where normally you'd have 0 signal unless you climbed the roof. I haven't messed around with band or apn settings outside of defaults but using a Poynting LTE antenna (the more rectangular one) gave me average speeds of 35-50mbps in the day and 60+ at night, upload being significantly worse at 5-10mbps on average. I normally only recommend these kinds for outskirt users since I have no info if using omni-directional antennae in busy areas would yield better results (if any). But as of today, seeing as the 24 hour package limits the threshold to 10mbps, I'd advice users wanting to use that package to try cantenna solutions for just reaching the threshold if possible, but I'm no expert on basebands and the like. Hardware wise I like the MR200, seems Huawei gives more power user settings but this is enough for me in the short term.
 
Seems to be the cheapest Cat7 router, I wonder if this will be better than the Huawei B618, B818 and B535.


www.technomobi.co.za

Alcatel MW70 Cat 7

Alcatel | MW70 Technical Specs: OS Windows 10, 8/7, Vista, XP Mac OS X (10.6.X-10.11.X-) PROCESSOR Qualcomm MDM9240-1 DISPLAY LED lights (Signal, Wi-Fi, SMS, Battery) DESIGN Dimension: 92 x 62.5 x 13.3mm Weight: 85g
www.technomobi.co.za www.technomobi.co.za
 
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