Huawei B618 LTE Router VS Huawei B528 LTE CPE

More and more Huawei LTE advanced routers are available for many network providers in the market. Among them, Huawei B618 LTE router and B528 routers may be the most attractive models. They don’t have the appearance of common LTE routers, but they look cool in the cube shape in white color. Somebody may ask, what’s the difference between Huawei B528 and B618 LTE-A router? Which one is better? If buying from one of them, which one to buy? After reading this article, we suppose you will find the answer.

Appearance

Huawei B618 and B528 LTE CPE are both available in 2017 and firstly presented the Europe market. The popular models for them are Huawei B618s-22d and Huawei B528s-23a. The Huawei B618s-22d LTE router is now available for Telekom in Europe. The Huawei B528s-23a was introduced by Vodafone to its product range. It’s also named Vodafone GigaCube or Vodafone B528s. Another network provider A1 also gets the B528s-23a CPE for its contract plan, and named it “A1 Net Cube Plus”. So the B528 may have Vodafone logo or A1 logo on the device. And the firmware may be customized by the network providers.

The Huawei B618 is in square cube shape while Huawei B528 is in a cylinder cube. But they both look cool and the touch feel is good when handing them even though the body material is made of plastic. On the front of the Huawei B628s-22d, there are 8 indicators for the connection status and WPS button is in the indicators. Huawei B528s-23a has 4 indicators with the power button and WPS button. The power button of Huawei B618 is at the back with two gigabit LAN ports(one for LAN & WAN) and one USB port, above which, two connectors are covered a small cap. The Huawei B528s-23a has only one Gigabit LAN (RJ45) port and one VoIP port.

At the bottom of the Huawei B618 and B528, the SIM card slot is located with the device information label, where the product name, IMEI number, S/N number, SSID and WiFi key, certifications are listed. In addition, the reset button is also available at the side of the SIM card slot.

Technical Specs

Regarding the technical features, you can have a clear review of the specs:

 

Model Huawei B618s-22d Huawei B528s-23a
Product type LTE WiFi Router LTE WiFi Router
Category LTE Cat.9/ Cat.11 LTE Cat.6
Chipset HiSilicon Balong 750 HiSilicon Balong 722
Data rates DL 600Mbps/UL 100Mbps DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands LTE B1, B3, B7, B8, B20, B38 LTE B1, B3, B7, B8, B20, B32, B38
WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz
Max support users 64 users 64 users
MIMO 4 X 4 MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO
Connector for external antenna Two, TS-9 jacks Two, TS-9 jacks
App management Huawei Hilink APP Huawei Hilink APP
SIM type Micro SIM Micro SIM
Battery NO NO
Dimensions 95mm × 95mm × 208mm 105 mm x 90mm x 181 mm
Interfaces * 1 x LAN port(45)
* 1 x LAN/WAN port (45)
* 1 x telephone port(RJ11)
* 1 x USB 2.0 port
* 1 x Gigabit LAN (RJ45)
* 1 x RJ11 (VoIP)
Other features DHCP Server, DNS RELAY and NAT, VoLTE, IPv4 /IPv6 dual stack IPv4 /IPv6 dual stack
Price 449.00USD 399.00USD

Summary

From the specs table, we can see that the Huawei B618s-22d is more advanced than Huawei B528s-23a. It could support faster download speed than that of B528 based on more LTE technologies. And more interfaces are available in Huawei B628s-22d for more connection possibility. Huawei B528s-23a has fewer interfaces and the speed is not as fast as Huawei B618, but for most users, the speed is still fantastic. And Huawei B528s-23a supports LTE band 32, which is not available in Huawei B618s-22d. Huawei B618s-22d LTE router has advanced features; consequently, the price of Huawei B618s-22d is higher than that of Huawei B528s-23a. So you are looking for an LTE advanced router with a budget price, Huawei B528s-23s seems more suitable for you. But if you need a future-proof router and would accept the high price, it’s no doubt that Huawei B618s-22d router is the best one for you.

Huawei Presents B618 LTE Cat11 Router

The fourth mobile LTE radio generation is becoming more and more powerful, with LTE Advanced Pro and 4.5G, respectively, currently experiencing a new leap in speed. Some 4G smartphones and mobile hotspots already support LTE category 11 or higher, while LTE Cat6 with 300 MBit/s in LTE router models was the highest of the feelings. A few weeks ago, Huawei presents a new 4G LTE Router with Ethernet port and SIM card slot, the model number is Huawei B618, which supports LTE of category 11 with up to 600 MBit/s in the downlink and 50 MBit/s in the uplink.

Huawei B618 B618S B618s-22d (1)

Huawei B618 Appearance

 

The Huawei B618 router visually resembles the design of the Huawei E5180 cube and can therefore be designated as its successor. The device is square and quite “high” built, on the front there are various LEDs as well as a WPS button. On the back there is a power button, two RJ-45 Gigabit LAN ports (one of which can also function as a WAN port), as well as a USB 2.0 port. There is also an RJ-11 connection for an analog telephone or fax machine as well as the connection for the external power supply. Under one cover are two connectors for an external antenna. There is no battery for mobile use.

Huawei B618 B618S B618s-22d (2)

Huawei B618 WiFi Router Technical Specifications

The modem in the Huawei B618 works with LTE Cat11 and achieves data rates of up to 600 MBit/s in the downlink as well as 50 MBit/s in the uplink. Which LTE Advanced Pro / 4.5G features are supported exactly is still unknown, but in any case, Triple Carrier Aggregation is on board. This allows the Huawei B618 to bundle three different frequency ranges with a maximum of 20 MHz each. To get to 600 MBit/s is enough but not the same, as the 256QAM modulation controls the modem in the downlink. Alternatively, the support for 4 × 4 MIMO would be conceivable whether the B618 can do this, but is currently not clearly identified.

 

The WLAN module allows connection to up to 64 devices at the same time in the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz band. The maximum data rate is 867 Mbps (802.11 ac), the WLAN antennas are fixed in the Huawei B618 and cannot be exchanged.

 Huawei B618 B618S B618s-22d (3)

Until now, the Huawei B618 only appears in Poland at Play (February 2017), where it is marketed in conjunction with the “4G LTE ULTRA” offer. As mobile radio networks continue to grow, however, it is likely that the Huawei B618 LTE router will also find their way to other countries and to other providers, which is often the case with Huawei LTE router models, however, user should pay close attention to the supported features and frequency bands, as Huawei can often optimize the routers for the respective provider and remove individual functions such as the telephone function. The B618 router available model number Huawei B618s-22d in Poland at Play seems to be unbranded and it may be suitable for the other market in Europe as it supports all important LTE band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20.