I just confirmed with Optus that I can use my Home Wireless Broadband SIM in a third party modem-router like from Asus, TP-Link etc. I hate Optus's Huawei B628-350 modem-router. Drops connection from time to time, never holds full bars of connection, just feels like poor performance overall. I have Optus SIM in my phone and the speeds are pretty good, fair to expect that I should see those speeds from my router as well? Would you kindly suggest if you know a good third party replacement?
Suggest Me Third Party Modem-Router to Use with Optus Home Wireless Broadband SIM
alikazi on 31/05/2023 - 14:18
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$200-300. Hadn't heard of Peplink before, it looks like industrial product so must be expensive as well. You used it as a modem-router with your SIM data plan?
Yes, i used it as modem-router. Yes they are expensive. About $2k for 5g version.
Huawei B818 is the best 4G modem Router available only available used these days.
Any Android phone.
I notice with my phone upgrading itself to the latest version of Android it now supports Ethernet tethering. You put the SIM in a phone and connect it though a USB-C to ethernet converter (with charging) to a switch, and you've got a LAN with wifi and an internet connection through the phone. And if its a 5G phone - you can get one cheap locked to Optus - it'll probably have a pretty fast modem in it.
In relation to this, many Asus routers e.g. the RT-AC68U will let you use your Android phone with wired USB tethering as the WAN connection, and away you go. You can also use the basic 4G USB dongles in the same manner like the Huawei E3357.
Ethernet tethering may be more limited to newer Android phones instead, mine doesn't have it available being a few years old.
I had a rented B628-350 when I was using Spintel (on the Optus network) unlimited 4G plan while NBN Contractor took 4 months to finish my FTTN->FTTP conversion. Its actually fine as a modem, you just need some tweaking. Use LTE Inspecteur to lock it onto the best band setting in your location, this may take some trial and error. In my experience, it kept on trying to lock onto B28, which while is great for ensuring your phone still gets good call coverage in doors, its not very good for stable internet, the band is very congested, especially in my area due to 5G being available. Switching it to either B7 for both Up/Down, or B1+B3 Aggregation gave a pretty stable connection.
The other thing is that it benefits from having a good router to pair with it in bridge mode. I used my old reliable Archer D9 that I've had since the ADSL2+ days, and that got rid of any remaining connection instability with multiple users and buffetbloats. In fact, speed aside, I didn't actually mind being on 4G for that 4 months, it was stable enough for even gaming.
The B818-263 (old optus routers) second hand on FB marketplace are the best 4g routers around for a decent price. Its a cat16 4g link so it will get you the best speed you are likley to get in most places on a 4g link. The newer optus 4g routers are garbage by comparison, they are more locked down & they have software/stability issues in my experience.
Never used the B628 myself, surprised its giving you such problems though given the success I have had with multiple B818s at multiple locations.
lm1200
how much data do you use each month? the optus 4g home internet is capped at 25/2 Mbps and possibly deprioritised compared to mobile 4g.
if you have another router, you could bridge the b628 and use it solely as a 4g modem and let another router do all the routing functions. that is what i do with my b818 modem.
Yes my speed is capped to 25 mbps but in times where I should see this speed, I sometimes dont. Sometimes it drops connection suddenly. I've ensured that wifi access is restricted to only the devices I am using at the moment so its not the issue of another device sucking off the bandwidth in the background. 25 mbps is still more than enough to stream at 2K, even if during congestion it would be around 8-15 mbps.
I'm not sure how to do what you've suggested. Is there a link or video you can share where I can understand this?
That sounds like the typical mobile network congestion, it takes trial and errors to find what works and what doesn't. If you have an Android phone, get the huaCtrl app, you can use it to control the modem like LTEInspecteur.
I can't seem to set google DNS on this optus b628 modem , very frustrating
Try this (definitely works on the B818, it may work on the B628 too?);
Go to the DHCP settings screen of the router using Chrome;
Press F12 to enter developer mode, and enter the following in the console;
$('#dhcp_dns').show();
- Tick the "Set DNS server manually" and enter your DNS setting.
Pls let us know if it works?
yeh thanks for suggesting that, i tried that before , it was able to unhide the DNS setting , but upon pressing the save/apply button, it doesnt take it : (
Seems like they have hard coded it
I have used peplink in the past and can recommend. however they can be expensive. Whats your budget?