The Huawei B593 LTE discussion thread

Guys, I bought one of these babies from Takealot over the weekend to supplement by ADSL at home which is really slow during the day (I work from home). I'm using an Afrihost mobile sim, but over 3G only because there is no LTE in my area. The difference is unbelievable. I was using a Huawei B970b router previously which I could only ever get about 2.5Mbit/s download and 1Mbit/s upload on 3G with. With the B593 I'm getting average download speeds of about 14Mbit/s and upload speeds of about 2Mbit/s! That's using the 2 external antenna that came with the device.

Might not sound like a lot to you guys with LTE, but I can confirm this device makes the world of difference just on normal 3G. Well worth the R1700 from Takealot even if you have no LTE coverage in your area.
 
Great feedback @deweyzeph. Not many people use these for 3G. Personally my experience with 3G on the B593 hasn't been great but your experience is the exact opposite.
 
Azimuth said:
Great feedback @deweyzeph. Not many people use these for 3G. Personally my experience with 3G on the B593 hasn't been great but your experience is the exact opposite.
Click to expand...

I think that's because they were retailing for so much at one point. But at a price point of R1700 it makes no sense to buy any other router for 3G, plus you have the benefit of upgrading to LTE if/when it eventually comes to your area.
 
Hi Guys

I picked up a B593s-601 from Telkom this week. Everything seems to be going good, except Ive been unsuccessful trying to get a usb hdd to play nice.

Ive tested 3 different HDDs, formatted to both NTFS and Fat32 with no luck. When plugged in, the HDD activity light does come on, but does not show up under the settings on the router. Anyone successfully managed to get this working on this variant?

Thanks
 
XecutioneR said:
Hi Guys

I picked up a B593s-601 from Telkom this week. Everything seems to be going good, except Ive been unsuccessful trying to get a usb hdd to play nice.

Ive tested 3 different HDDs, formatted to both NTFS and Fat32 with no luck. When plugged in, the HDD activity light does come on, but does not show up under the settings on the router. Anyone successfully managed to get this working on this variant?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think the problem is that the USB hard drives draw too much power, and the USB socket in the router doesn't provide enough power to power the hard drive properly. My guess is you're only going to have any luck with a USB stick.
 
Hello, I have Vodafone B3000 which is basically a branded B593s-22. Firmware V200R001B236D30SP08C11 (latest)
I am trying to make port forwarding work, even though I enter the settings correctly in Security->Port Forwarding, the port is not being forwarded. I even selected DMZ and still nothing.
Because of this problem, I tried to debrand it and upgrade firmware to Huawei. I tried using the instructions, using firmware from this page
http://unlockmodemfree.biz/download-huawei-b593-wifi-router-firmware-update-software-update-free/
I start the upgrade tool and then power on the modem (without SIM card), then after a while I get one bar, then after a few minutes I get second bar flashing, and it won't progress any further...
Can someone help?
 
bomberb17 said:
I am trying to make port forwarding work, even though I enter the settings correctly in Security->Port Forwarding, the port is not being forwarded. I even selected DMZ and still nothing.
Click to expand...
Set your computer on static IP outside DHCP range.
 
bomberb17 said:
I start the upgrade tool and then power on the modem (without SIM card), then after a while I get one bar, then after a few minutes I get second bar flashing, and it won't progress any further...
Can someone help?
Click to expand...

Search for firmware-related posts on this thread by Conrads - he probably has the most experience with finding and loading firmware and using the B593 upgrade tool. Start round about here.
You could also try PMing him if you're really stuck.
 
XecutioneR said:
Hi Guys
Ive tested 3 different HDDs, formatted to both NTFS and Fat32 with no luck. When plugged in, the HDD activity light does come on, but does not show up under the settings on the router. Anyone successfully managed to get this working on this variant?
Click to expand...

Use a HDD with it's own power supply adapter.
 
Basic Telkom YouTube video on setting up the B593s-601

For those who need it, Telkom recently published quite a nice (albeit basic) guide to setting up the B593s-601.

See it here.
 
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herbertk said:
Has anybody used something like this on the B593 ?

http://www.otto.co.za/products/ante...-dual-patch-antenna-9-db-with-5-meter-cables/

or possibly this :
http://www.otto.co.za/products/ante...tional-dual-antenna-7-db-with-5-meter-cables/


EDIT :

Thinking of the Omni is I can leverage of more than one tower possibly, so if one is having issues I am not limited to it ? Or am I better of going with the directional ?
Click to expand...

Hi herbertk

There were some serious questions raised over both those antennas' suitability for use on LTE over on the Antenna installation and alignment thread, starting round about here. Those questions have never really been satisfactorily answered. Search this thread for posts by jeaninek about her experiences with that Chang-Hong patch antenna specifically, as well as the two Otto omnis she ended up with.

Depending on which version of the B593 you have, you will also need to be careful about antenna compatibility, specifically as regards automatic detection of the external antennas.
If you are using a B593u-12 or 'u-91, you are reliant on the B593 being able to detect the external antenna(s), because there is no "force external antenna" function like there is on the B593s-601. In turn, it has been shown that for the automatic antenna detection to work, the external antenna itself (or the connection to it) must exhibit a low DC resistance (DC short is OK). It seems that not all the Chang-Hong antennas from Otto have this characteristic.

Also search the Antenna installation and alignment thread for info on these and other issues.

Regardless of what product(s) you are contemplating, I would advise getting a demo to check for detection issues and general performance with your actual equipment. Seeing as you are in Sandton (?), this would be easy to do for products from both Otto Wireless and Poynting.
 
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jcheek said:
Hi herbertk

There were some serious questions raised over both those antennas' suitability for use on LTE over on the Antenna installation and alignment thread, starting round about here. Those questions have never really been satisfactorily answered. Search this thread for posts by jeaninek about her experiences with that Chang-Hong patch antenna specifically, as well as the two Otto omnis she ended up with.
Click to expand...
Should read: "suitability for use with B593"
 
jcheek said:
Hi herbertk

There were some serious questions raised over both those antennas' suitability for use on LTE over on the Antenna installation and alignment thread, starting round about here. Those questions have never really been satisfactorily answered. Search this thread for posts by jeaninek about her experiences with that Chang-Hong patch antenna specifically, as well as the two Otto omnis she ended up with.

Depending on which version of the B593 you have, you will also need to be careful about antenna compatibility, specifically as regards automatic detection of the external antennas.
If you are using a B593u-12 or 'u-91, you are reliant on the B593 being able to detect the external antenna(s), because there is no "force external antenna" function like there is on the B593s-601. In turn, it has been shown that for the automatic antenna detection to work, the external antenna itself (or the connection to it) must exhibit a low DC resistance (DC short is OK). It seems that not all the Chang-Hong antennas from Otto have this characteristic.

Also search the Antenna installation and alignment thread for info on these and other issues.

Regardless of what product(s) you are contemplating, I would advise getting a demo to check for detection issues and general performance with your actual equipment. Seeing as you are in Sandton (?), this would be easy to do for products from both Otto Wireless and Poynting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response gives me some good info to consider.
 
LTE just got waaaay more expensive with Telkom changing its prices and dropping "night-surfer". My 60GB+60GB cost me R1800 which now only buys me 50GB. Nice one Telkom :(
 
Doug_Dread said:
LTE just got waaaay more expensive with Telkom changing its prices and dropping "night-surfer". My 60GB+60GB cost me R1800 which now only buys me 50GB. Nice one Telkom :(
Click to expand...
Agree.
Even if you ignore the loss of the NightSurfer component - which is hard! - R1799/50GB versus R1800/60GB is a cool 20% tariff increase on where it was.
:mad: /cue CellC doggie ad here
 
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Bundu said:
does anybody know when CellC will have LTE in Gauteng?
Click to expand...
Support them, it is the only cellphone company which keeps prices down. Even you are on Telkom, MTN or Vodacom, you benefit from Cell C.
 
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