The Huawei E5186 LTE-A discussion thread

Hi

I have the Huawei LTE CPE Router (E5186s) and live in Benmore. I have a MacBook Pro, 2 iPhone 6's, Apple TV, HP Laptop and Explora that are all on the wireless LAN except the Explora. I often have the reset the router because the connection just drops. I have plenty data, the LTE signal in the area is brilliant, when I am connected, the connection is brilliant, but the constant dropping means the streaming audio/video is near impossible. I have had the router for less then a day and had the previous B593 LTE router which was a pleasure. The signal is always showing all 3 bars illuminated and the connection is cyan, which is a 4G connection. I understand that LTE-A isn't 100% in my area yet, but Im sure it will be soon.

Has anyone else had these issues? Is it because I am using a LTE-A router for a standard LTE connection that it keeps dropping the connection? I tried calling the 081 180 call centre but after 20 mins, decided to give up.
 
It happens, router can be early model, with bugs in firmware or chipset. Try other one from different network.
 
Last edited:
tyronewraight said:
Hi

I have the Huawei LTE CPE Router (E5186s) and live in Benmore. I have a MacBook Pro, 2 iPhone 6's, Apple TV, HP Laptop and Explora that are all on the wireless LAN except the Explora. I often have the reset the router because the connection just drops. I have plenty data, the LTE signal in the area is brilliant, when I am connected, the connection is brilliant, but the constant dropping means the streaming audio/video is near impossible. I have had the router for less then a day and had the previous B593 LTE router which was a pleasure. The signal is always showing all 3 bars illuminated and the connection is cyan, which is a 4G connection. I understand that LTE-A isn't 100% in my area yet, but Im sure it will be soon.

Has anyone else had these issues? Is it because I am using a LTE-A router for a standard LTE connection that it keeps dropping the connection? I tried calling the 081 180 call centre but after 20 mins, decided to give up.
Click to expand...

I Had the same issues - Try change the settings to allow data roaming (I dunno why this should work, but saw it on another thread, and seemed to help), set preferred mode to 4G Only, then select "Manual", and select TelkomSA 4G.
This seemed to work for me

Lee me know if it helps?
 
Hi All

For the past week my LTE has suddenly gone to S%$#, and is basically unuasble - anybody else been having that problem in the Melrose area?
 
Sorry to the guys having issues. We don't have many users posting from the Benmore and Melrose areas.

While upgrading to HomeOffice LTE 100GB today, I enquired about the E5186 again (I got a B593 with my contract as there was no stock on the E5186). Well, the E5186 is in stock now and Telkom is selling the E5186s-61a model. It can be had for R2,699 on prepaid with a 2+1GB data bundle; else, it is available on the HomeOffice LTE 50GB for R699pm x 24.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1439153811.036144.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1439153829.336818.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1439153841.312438.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1439153855.972324.jpg
 
Last edited:
So it seems I'm going to have to go with Afri to get a decent amount of data without taking out a 2 year contract. They only have the B539 available on their site for purchase though.

In terms of future proofing would it be better to stick with the B539 or to try and source the E5186 from a different vendor?
 
Azimuth said:
While upgrading to HomeOffice LTE 100GB today, I enquired about the E5186 again (I got a B593 with my contract as there was no stock on the E5186). Well, the E5186 is in stock now and Telkom is selling the E5186s-61a model. It can be had for R2,699 on prepaid with a 2+1GB data bundle; else, it is available on the HomeOffice LTE 50GB for R699pm x 24. It is not available on the HomeOffice LTE 100GB.
Click to expand...

Telkom's marketing is really all over the place at the moment - lots of conflicting information !
The E5186 should (in theory) be supplied with the HomeOffice LTE100GB package :

20150812 Telkom 24-100GB-R999 LTE deal.jpg

... but it seems you get different answers depending on who and where you ask. A lot of times you will be offered the B593.

There are also some funnies in the T's & C's for LTE-A, eg check clause 10 on the link above about 3G fallback from LTE-A :

20150812 Telkom LTE-A 3G fallback.JPG

(what happened to LTE fallback from LTE-A ?).


As an aside, although it's also a 24-month commitment (uggh!), these Telkom LTE/LTE-A deals compare really well with Telkom's current fibre offerings :

20150812 Telkom 24x40Mbps-100GB FTTH deal.jpg

The speeds achievable on LTE/LTE-A can be similar (if not better) than fibre and the prices are comparable without the hassle of a fixed-line installation. And that's if you even have fibre availability in the first place.
 
Last edited:
Yeah - each person gives different info. They really need a unified front and lots of training for their ants.

Edit: I've updated my post to remove the conflicting info.
 
Last edited:
Not sure if someone posted this before but my E5186 cannot read my 1TB hard drive USB Storage. I've tried 16GB flash disks which appear to work. Any suggestions? My NETGEAR Router which is a much older model can read my 1TB so can't understand why they did't allow support for that.
 
Meh, went to a Telkom store today and they wouldn't sell me the router. Either take it on contract or nothing.

Alternatives?
 
@WesleyR: strictly speaking, you are not eligible for LTE-A.

The LTE-Advanced promotion offer is currently available in Parkview and Parkhurst, Johannesburg to both residential and business consumers and the subscriber will not be able to roam on MTN’s network.
Click to expand...

The above is taken from the terms and conditions on the same page. The updated list of LTE-A areas is available here.

Telkom-LTE-A-network-expanded-19-May-2015.jpg


Unless one has LTE-A signal, you're better off getting the B593. The fallback to 3G and not LTE is a very contentious issue and Telkom/users have yet to shed light on this.

As a footnote, that's an incredible deal. I'm paying the same but just for 100GB per month, no extras.
 
Last edited:
Azimuth said:
@WesleyR: strictly speaking, you are not eligible for LTE-A.



The above is taken from the terms and conditions on the same page. The updated list of LTE-A areas is available here.

Telkom-LTE-A-network-expanded-19-May-2015.jpg


Unless one has LTE-A signal, you're better off getting the B593. The fallback to 3G and not LTE is a very contentious issue and Telkom/users have yet to shed light on this.

As a footnote, that's an incredible deal. I'm paying the same but just for 100GB per month, no extras.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to try see if they will give me the deal, if they do, bonus! Will ask the technician that came to our house what router he used to do the test.
 
Do your homework. I'd recommend sticking with the B593. The E5186 has all sorts of issues. While that is no doubt a great deal, the last thing you want is to be forced to 3G once the contract kicks in (officially LTE-A falls back to 3G, not LTE). Also VoIP is not yet supported. I've been using VoIP on my B593 for 2 years so this alone is a deal breaker for me.
 
Last edited:
@MtnUser do you let LTE-A signal? If not, can you use it on LTE?

Other issues revolve around disconnection and a severely limited management dashboard.
 
Azimuth said:
Do your homework. I'd recommend sticking with the B593. The E5186 has all sorts of issues. While that is no doubt a great deal, the last thing you want is to be forced to 3G once the contract kicks in (officially LTE-A falls back to 3G, not LTE). Also VoIP is not yet supported. I've been using VoIP on my B593 for 2 years so this alone is a deal breaker for me.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks Azimuth, much appreciated!
 
If anyone can update us on the fallback to 3G restriction, as well as VoIP, please post. :)
 
Azimuth said:
@MtnUser do you let LTE-A signal? If not, can you use it on LTE?

Other issues revolve around disconnection and a severely limited management dashboard.
Click to expand...

Currently I only have LTE. Highveld is supposed to have LTE-A but only 5% is covered. I once did connect on LTE-A and got 120Mb/s but never saw it again.

I got the device at the beginning of March before LTE-A was launched (Highveld) and was using it on LTE since I got it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X