3G/HSPA/LTE Routers

SDM said:
The TP-Link USB cable works fine with my 3220 router and E1820 stick. The signal strength increased from 77% to 87% and the bonus is that two heat sources are now seperated :-) I have the router connecting the 3G stick on demand and have had up to 3 wireless devices active simultaneously. No disconnects or throughput problems.

I also plugged the extension into my pc and it also worked fine. I wanted to see what 87% translated into in db and saw -55 in the Cell C tool diagnostics.
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Thanks, will keep that in mind :)
 
SDM said:
The TP-Link USB cable works fine with my 3220 router and E1820 stick. The signal strength increased from 77% to 87% and the bonus is that two heat sources are now seperated :-) I have the router connecting the 3G stick on demand and have had up to 3 wireless devices active simultaneously. No disconnects or throughput problems.
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I have the exact opposite problem. No matter what USB extension I try, I stay connected for a while, but later when I get back the MR-3420 has disconnected and its status for 3G modem is "identifying". My TP-Link cable worked intermittently and also a shorter 80 cm cable (not sure about USB 2 spec though). So I plugged my E1820 straight into the router again and immediately the router "found" the modem and connected. The downside is I sacrifice about 8% of signal :(

It's not heat either, cause my router is under a fan to rule that out and I wasn't downloading anything. Without the USB extension I was connected all night.
 
ajax said:
I have the exact opposite problem. No matter what USB extension I try, I stay connected for a while, but later when I get back the MR-3420 has disconnected and its status for 3G modem is "identifying". My TP-Link cable worked intermittently and also a shorter 80 cm cable (not sure about USB 2 spec though). So I plugged my E1820 straight into the router again and immediately the router "found" the modem and connected. The downside is I sacrifice about 8% of signal :(

It's not heat either, cause my router is under a fan to rule that out and I wasn't downloading anything. Without the USB extension I was connected all night.
Click to expand...

Maybe it has something to do with the 3220 vs the 3420 although the chance is pretty slim.
 
Cell C wireless hotspot (D105)

hi - does anyone know what the spec's of the d105 is?

i see it is on their website.

performance feedback - anyone using it?
 
I'm using it.

Not sure of the specs. I just picked it up because it was readily available.
The one thing though is that its wireless-N draft so not all the N features are available. (whatever those may be)

Performance is decent. I see about a 15-20% degradation in speed as compared to when the modem is plugged directly into my pc. That's not too bad imo.
Range is not that great though, especially through walls. Its adequate for my needs, but I don't think it'll do too well through 4 or 5 walls (15-20m).

It's nice and small too so it's easy to take on the road.

One thing that did surprise me was that the router was not configured to work with Cell C out of the box. You have to manually enter the APN and number to dial. I thought that was a bit dumb considering most regular/casual users would not know where to find this info.

All in all not bad for R600.
 
Finally my 24month Iburst (sh##) contract has expired, so I can get rid of that overpriced useless provider who I never got over the 60kbps mark. Thankfully cellc has (probably with their marketing campaign) convinced me to sign up for the Whoosh. I popped a cellc sim with 100mb data into a MTN dongle last night and immediately got over 2Mbps happy days. I am looking at getting the 60 GB bundle sim card. Now this is what I want to do: I want to get only the sim card with the 60 GB. From CellC Then I want to buy a router which has one of these 3g dongles included, then I want to take my Iburst(sh##) aerial(probably would have to change the pig tail) connect it to the router as I am in quite a leafy area, as I saw with Iburst(sh##) I will need strong signal.
So I need advice on a router which has one of those 3g dongles included and one that can connect to an external antenna. I want to put it up in the house so I can power the 3 laptops and 1 desktop.
I can’t wait for all the wires to be gone. Iburst (sh##) 2 wires for the computer, desktop modem connected to an Antenna hanging from an old broom stick (for balance) on the side of the gutter on the roof, what a joke. And then take it all of if I want to watch the live timings for the F1 in the TV room Iburst (sh##).

PLEASE put me out of my misery is this possible, is there something like this on the market?
 
then I want to take my Iburst aerial (probably would have to change the pig tail) connect it to the router as I am in quite a leafy area, as I saw with Iburst(sh##) I will need strong signal.
Click to expand...

Read my post here, you can't use the iBurst aerial with Cell C.
 
Ok, Thanks for the info:
Any suggestions of which router and which antenna to get then?
 
Are there any options which has the USB modem included that can support the 21mbps. I'd like to scoop two flies with one klap, just get the data and get a router with the USB dongle incl.
 
pk101 said:
Are there any options which has the USB modem included that can support the 21mbps. I'd like to scoop two flies with one klap, just get the data and get a router with the USB dongle incl.
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The problem with solution is when you need to check your Cell C data balance as there is currently no web interface that currently allows this.
 
TP-Link MR3420 USSD and other issues

Yesterday I purchased a TP-Link MR3420 3G Wireless N Router. So far I am very happy with it, however there are some issues:
1.) No USSD Support
I emailed technical support regarding this last night. By this morning, I had this reply:
Thank you very much for your advice. This is ******* from TP-LINK technical support department.

We are studying this feature. Thanks again for your valuable feedback and your support to our TP-LINK product.

If you need any further help, please feel free to let me know.
To get technical support more quickly, please go to http://www.tp-link.com/support/faq.asp
Best regards

---------------------------------------------
*******
Technical Support Engineer
TP-LINK TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Click to expand...
I think that's very impressive, considering I got a reply within 12 hours! TP-Link seems to be very diligent with their products and they release regular firmware updates - in fact there's already been one this month! :)

2.) Can't seem to get it to work with a ZTE MF190 USB 3G modem
I got a Cell C branded ZTE MF190 speedstick today. Although the router claims to support it, I couldn't get the two talking to each other. I even tried uploading TP-Link's bin-file made for this modem, though they claim its already included in my current firmware. Regardless, it still doesn't work :(

3.) The router gets very hot
So hot that I almost can't touch it on top. Is this normal?
 
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I just received my TP-Link MR3220 (similar to yours) today and so far I'm very happy with it.

I agree on the fact that it does get warm but this seems to be the norm with routers. I'm however slightly disappointed about the lack of an on/off switch as I would prefer to switch it off a night. Checking data balance as you mentioned is quite a chore now but this is not the router's fault (Cell C needs to implement this on their website).

The first time I connected my E1820 it took about 8-10 minutes to recognize the unit (initial install?), since then it's been smooth sailing with about 30sec detection periods.

Anyway, I've only had the router for a day now so it's still to early to report the stability of the unit. As mentioned my only gripe currently is the lack of a power switch.
 
DarKWateR said:
The problem with solution is when you need to check your Cell C data balance as there is currently no web interface that currently allows this.
Click to expand...

yeah maybe we should start asking cell c for a web portal...
 
Madhawk said:
Cut the power cable near the router and place a lamp switch there. That's what I did with my router. When I go to bed i just switch it off.
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I was thinking about doing that even though I don't reallllly want to cut the cable (warranty?) but since my cables are tucked away behind a desk it's not really going to help much anyway :(
 
Now this might be a potentially noob question, but... I have a adsl router with wireless capability. Can I use the router? I was thinking that if there is a way to give the router a connection that I can enable the wireless and it should work. The question is though, is it possible to connect the router to my PC(with ethernet or usb) and pair it with my cellc connection, and then let the router transmit that? i dont know if it is possible to send the router any info except through the adsl phone line port?
 
DarKWateR said:
I was thinking about doing that even though I don't reallllly want to cut the cable (warranty?) but since my cables are tucked away behind a desk it's not really going to help much anyway :(
Click to expand...

Buy a R60 timer and plug it into that, then you don't need to switch anything :p
(will probably give up on that idea when you're playing a late night online game and it cuts you off)
 
morneg said:
Now this might be a potentially noob question, but... I have a adsl router with wireless capability. Can I use the router? I was thinking that if there is a way to give the router a connection that I can enable the wireless and it should work. The question is though, is it possible to connect the router to my PC(with ethernet or usb) and pair it with my cellc connection, and then let the router transmit that? i dont know if it is possible to send the router any info except through the adsl phone line port?
Click to expand...

Possible yes. You can enable internet connection sharing on your pc connected to cell c. Then enable the wireless etc on the router. Disable DHCP on the router and give it an ip address in the range that internet connection sharing allocates. Then plug in the pc to a LAN port on the router. Pain in the arse and your pc needs to be running. Get an mr3220 for R400, plug in the cell c and you're almost done.
 
So far I'm still fairly happy with TP-Link MR3220. The modem however gets quite hot when plugged in on the router. Wish the router had a power switch.
 
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