Three 4G HomeFi

[Tippon]

I’ve got to wait until the end of next month to get rid of TalkTalk. I was getting 16Mb on a 40Mb connection with Vodafone, and I’m now getting about 10 with TT on a good day. Their minimum guaranteed speed is 11Mb.

I get at least 35Mb on my 3 phone usually, so switching is very tempting.

 

[JayCeeDee]

Dave Rice wrote:

I see from a blackboard outside Argos that EE have joined the fun, but at at the right price.

That piqued my interest as Sky Mobile messed me around with a discount recently, so I checked online to see what packages EE were doing.

Imagine my surprise to get a call from EE broadband today, “following up on my enquiry”!! Thinking about it I entered my landline number in their web form to see what speed I could get!! Will think twice before doing that again.

[blacklion1725]

my eldest just pulled the trigger on this – the deal (for existing Three customers) asked for a Three mobile to get the deal – he used mine but there was no verification and he went on and did it all with his own details for £16/month instead of £21 (and tax-deductable as he’s self employed. So if anyone is tempted, looks like any “Three” number can be used to get the deal which tome suggests they are not that fussed who gets it. Will update once he has it up and running.

Click on “Mobile Broadband” at the top right on this link if you are interested:

Link

 

 

[Dave Rice]

Cheers, that made my mind up.

I went for the B535 with dual band AC WiFi ( 2 x MIMO) and 4 x Gigabit Ethernet. It’s also a Cat 7 LTE device so capable of faster upload (100mpbs) and download (300mbps), but a bit academic. It also has 2 external antenna sockets.

It gives me plenty of time to plan replacing TT. It will be interesting to see if it can be put in “modem” mode.

[blacklion1725]

No problem Dave – I assume the Three/Huawei router uses a dongle for the SIM? – if so do you reckon that dongle could be used with your own mobile-capable router? I have the Asus RT-AC-87U which I love and would be loathe to lose – it is mobile capable via the USB port (and a dongle). I suppose I can always try my boys one once he has it but he is a train ride away!

 

EDIT: just read your “modem mode” comment which could be plan B, and “Access Point Mode” on my router could be Plan C.

[Dave Rice]

It’s an internal sim slot. I have the same sim in a Huawei USB dongle in the back of a Draytek router at a customers.

As an internet connection it works fine but the dongle has it’s own IP address and it’s this that appears as the external IP address  of the site. This makes port forwarding impossible. Not a huge problem in my case as the Draytek has a permanent VPN to the Draytek in their HQ so I can access the network from the HQ.

I understand that this is a function of the protocol used to access USB dongles from routers.

If the B535 doesn’t have a modem mode, one solution would be to connect your router to it via Ethernet with a permanent IP address and put that address in a DMZ. The B535 would have the dynamic DNS agent on it to deal with the external IP address issue. I’ve not tested this yet but in theory it works. I’m not sure how the Synology’s would deal with it though.

[blacklion1725]

Cheers Dave – I’ve a little while to run on my Vodafone BB deal (which to be fair has been rock solid). By then there might be some more options. Nosing on my Asus router I think the “APvMode” won’t do as it would kill a lot of the router functions (which defeats the point). By the time I’m looking I guess there’ll be more options. A mobile router in “modem” would be the best option for me, just replaces the Openreach modem that I’m (still!) using. Thanks for the info.

[Dave Rice]

If funds allow I intend trying various devices because I’d like to keep my Draytek. Even if I could get around the USB dongle IP issue it’s physically in the wrong place for 4G reception.

I’ve seen a Netgear LB2120 that has IP pass through (what I mean by “modem mode”) but it’s £130.

[blacklion1725]

Hmmm that looks nice – I’m hoping by the time I (maybe) do it the 5G situation will be more clear. Suppose the advantage of “modem mode” is that you can swap that bit out as mobile technology advances and keep your home network undisturbed behind it. This is a very interesting topic and I wonder the impact it may have on conventional broadband.

 

[PlaneMan]

blacklion1725 wrote:

This is a very interesting topic and I wonder the impact it may have on conventional broadband.

Hopefully make the likes of Virgin Media seriously think about their customers. Though I doubt it.

I’ll save £180 over 12 months. I was with Virgin Media for broadband for a very long time, since the NTL days.  Every time my contract was up I had to fight them hard to get a fair price. I was stuck with them as ADSL was feeble.

When my 12 months with Vodafone is coming to and end I can see what deals are available and have ammo for negotiations.

 

[blacklion1725]

PM  very possibly mate – prices “harmonise” so they can all still tuck in. It definitely seems to be an interesting option though – and given the infrastructure overheads are (probably?) less I live in hope 🙂

 

[Dave Rice]

It’s here. Just setting it up alongside me, 27D 17U.

Moved it upstairs into a windows so it’s got more chance of seeing the mast (which peeps up over the railway embankment 900 metres away).

That’ll do me. Might get some cheap “rabbit ears” antenna to see if it improves but that will be icing on the cake. That was on the laptop, my Moto 6 is slightly slower.

Wifi wise, 1 floor away and both 2.4 & 5 are -65db, which is fine, however the Ubiquiti is significantly better at -38 for 2.4 and -55 for 5. I don’t think you’re average 3 bed semi will have any issues.

The unit looks neat, it wouldn’t be out of place in most homes. It’s slightly smaller than a BT HomeHub and has the same orientation and socket placement. The Power and WPS buttons are top and centre.

If you’re happy with the default SSID and PW there is no setup required but you are encouraged to change these and the admin password.

Now to get to grips with what it can do!

EDIT – the Smart Home mobile app is worth installing. It gives you a real time 4G signal strength indicator amongst other things.

EDIT 2 – the firmware is the same as the B311 so no modem mode. It has all the tools you’ll need to run a network at home and most small businesses. DDNS, DHCP IP Allocation, Port Forwarding and DMZ, it’s all there.

I have a spare Draytek so I’m going to test my theories on using the DMZ, which I can do without interfering with the rest of the family. I only want the Draytek for VPN & VLANs, which I could live without and use the Synology for the inwards VPN server (or even a PiVPN). However it’s also useful to test customer network theories.

For now I’m going to configure a PiVPN with PiHole and get it on the B535 because the adverts are driving me nuts!

I may have some decisions to make as to how I treat the business side of my network, but 4G is a keeper – no doubt about that.

[blacklion1725]

Thanks Dave – that’s really useful. My lad has his but not set up as he has not fully moved yet (leases overlap). He’ll be in a tiny central London studio flat so if it works “OK” I think it will be OK everywhere – I’ll report back once he’s set up. Thinking down the road assume there shouldn’t be an issue using the SIM in an unlocked modem like the one you linked? Thanks again.

[PlaneMan]

BL, unless there’s some odd firmware type thing it’ll just work with any unlocked 3G/4G  ‘device’, or 5G if you have the £££ too spare.

One tip for anyone considering this is keep hold of old SIM card nano/micro/mini ‘adaptors’ (The different sized push outs that normally come with a SIM now)  . My Vodafone SIM came as a nano only, my router takes a micro SIM so delving through older phone boxes was required.

 

[Drezha]

I ordered a Three SIM this week for our upcoming trip to the US (Three are the only ones that appear to support roaming in the US), I may look at ordering the service then as I’ll have a Three number to get the cheaper rate.

However, my Virgin deal doesn’t end until March (checked today). With the upcoming house move, I believe they supply the area, so they’ll want to transfer across, which I’d prefer not to do but we’ll see what they say. I can probably wait until then to switch to be honest.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Tippon]

How does this work with regards to stopping landline based broadband? Usually the new supplier takes over the transfer and stops it for you, but is it the same in this case?

I’m tempted to switch now while there are definitely good deals, and have both running for the last month or so of my Talktalk contract.

[Dave Rice]

It’s just a mobile phone contract so there’s no landline to take over. Just cancel your TT when it’s up.

[Dave Rice]

OK, first gotcha found when setting up a PiHole for it, as far as I can see you cannot change the DNS server in the DHCP settings.

Not a problem as I just got the PiHole to take over the DHCP duties and turned it off on the router.

[Drezha]

Dave Rice wrote:

OK, first gotcha found when setting up a PiHole for it, as far as I can see you cannot change the DNS server in the DHCP settings. Not a problem as I just got the PiHole to take over the DHCP duties and turned it off on the router.

I was looking at doing that to my network when I get home, as then the Pi Hole should be able to use the domain names for it’s graphing. In fairness, that’s just a nice to have though (but it does help idenitify issues – my iPhone was freaking out last weekend over night for whatever reason, I think it was to do with the iOS update it was trying to download and update to).

Is this the Pi Hole on the NAS running the DHCP? I assume that the NAS could run the DHCP server itself (as that allows for the DNS to be set on it as well).

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Dave Rice]

No, I have two networks at the moment!

This is the 4G network using the Three supplied Huawei B535 and it’s just being used for day to day internet access by laptops, phones and the TV. The B535 is a bit basic but TBH has just about everything you’d need and a Pi can fill the gaps in to a certain extent.

My “business” network is still on TalkTalk FTTC and that’s where the NAS sits. But you’re quite right, the Synology could also fill those gaps in even better. This is what I’ll be doing over the next few months, migrating bits over, starting with the WiFi.

But for now I had to get a PiHole up and running on the Huawei, the ads are just ridiculous. That exposed the lack of DNS server options on the B535, but if you’re up to sorting out a PiHole that isn’t going to phase you.

[Author]

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