Huawei Cube E5180 Archives

Difference Between Huawei B618 and E5180 LTE Cube

You may use the Huawei E5180 LTE Cube at home for wireless internet connection. It’s a good wireless router in cool shape like a cube. With the development of LTE networks, the end-users and the network providers have a higher demand for the user equipment. Here comes the new LTE router Huawei B618, which seems to be upgraded from the Huawei E5180 cube and in this article, we will see what’s the difference between the Huawei B618 and E5180, and what functions have been improved from the old one to the new one.

Appearance

Following the Cube shape design of Huawei E5180, Huawei B618 is also in white color but has a larger body and higher if stands on a desk. Perhaps because the B618 has more interfaces for multi-functions, the B618 weights much more than E5180. On the front of Huawei E5180, there is only one signal indicator and one WiFi indicator, but on the B618, there are three signal indicators, and the power, status, LAN, WiFi, mode indicators & WPS button are listed.

On the back, Huawei E5180s-22 has one LAN port, one telephone port and one power plug port. The E5180s-610 only has one LAN ports, no telephone port. Two connectors for the external antenna are listed at another side of the body. Huawei B618 has two LAN ports(one is also for WAN), one USB 2.0 port, one telephone port and power plug port. What’s more, the B618 router also has the power button and two connectors for external antenna, which are covered by a small cap.

On the top side, Huawei E5180 has the Huawei logo but it’s empty on the Huawei B618 top side. They both have one label on the bottom, which indicates the model number, SSID, WiFi key/password, power rating, IMEI and S/N number, and other certification logos. The Huawei B618 has extra WPS Pin on the label. And they both have the SIM card slot at the bottom and uses a Micro SIM card.

Technical Specifications

As an LTE Category 4 router, Huawei E5180 can support peak download speed up to 150Mbps and upload speed to 50mbps. The new Huawei B618 LTE Cat11 router could achieve almost 4 times the speed from E5180, i.e download speed to 600mbps. Huawei E5180 can support maximum 32 users to access the internet while Huawei B618 can support 64 WiFi users, which is double of that from E5180.

The WLAN standard of Huawei E5180 is IEEE 802.11 b/g/n on single band 2.4GHz. The Huawei B618s-22d can support the latest 802.11 ac besides a/b/g/n on dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz).

Management

The two routers could both be managed from the web interface in the browser, but Huawei also provides the APP to manage the routers from Smartphones or Pads.

It’s no doubt that the Huawei B618 with higher specs is much better than E5180, but frankly speaking, the Huawei E5180 cube is enough for most users at home or office. If you don’t have too many requirements for the router, Huawei E5180 is budget one to recommend. Huawei B618 is also good to recommend because it’s future-proof and would provide fantastic surfing experience under LTE-advanced networks.

Huawei 4G WiFi Cube E5180 Review

The telecom company “3” has introduced the Huawei E5180 4G mobile broadband router into the company’s product line, and now we have the new smart 4G router available.

The first thing you notice is the size. The entire dimensions of Huawei E5180 are 110 x 70 x 70 mm, not much bigger than a coffee mug, and on top, the router has a beautiful soft blue LED light that indicates that the router is turned on.

If the blue light is annoying, the E5180 4G WiFi Cube can be disconnected from the options menu, or simply by pressing down on the top of the router. Possibility to switch off the light is a welcome feature, since the blue light can be irritating.

Compared to some larger mobile broadband routers, it seems Huawei E5180 is elegant. On the front, there are two small blue LED light that indicates when the router has the connection to the mobile network and when there is Wi-Fi connection.

On the back of the Huawei E5180 Cube, there is an Ethernet port, a PSTN (phone) port and a plug for the power supply. The external power supply is white with white cord, and fits well with the small little beautiful router. You can install the SIM card at the bottom of the router. Also a flat Ethernet cable is included in the sales package, and this is also white.

Technically, there is a Category 4 LTE modem supporting speeds up to 150 Mbit/s in 4G LTE and DC-HSPA+ up to 42 Mbit/s over 3G. The Huawei WiFi 4G Cube router supports the 4G FD-LTE on 800, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz. During our test, the Cube E5180 router showed the fine reception on 3’s 4G network.

Wi-Fi connection is at 2.4 GHz, and the router supports 802.11 b/g/n standards. N standard runs with MIMO 2 × 2, and according to the sales package, the Huawei Cube E5180 could cover up to 250 meters – this part could not quite be confirmed, but the range of Wi-Fi signal was quite acceptable. The Huawei WiFi Cube E5180 supports up to 32 connected Wi-Fi devices simultaneously.

The router has only Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, and it is not possible to choose whether the router must use Wi-Fi B, G or N standard. The router uses all three standards, and it can not change.

However, it is possible that user can make four separate SSIDs (separate Wi-Fi network), but you can’t setup more advanced things such as bandwidth-limitation of the additional SSIDs. You can set up a SIP account if you wish to use the router PSTN jack to connect a landline phone on the router, and use it for Voice over IP telephone.

There is no possibility of connecting external antenna to this 4G WiFi Cube, so you must use the Huawei E5180 far from the nearest cell tower. The rate has been acceptable throughout the test.

Small, light and elegant

Two words can summarize Huawei E5180 could be “very good”. The Huawei 4G WiFi Cube is not designed to be an all-round solution like many of the other mobile broadband routers on the market. The E5180 router is designed to be small and elegant, and so easy to install that you basically only need to insert a SIM card. The router is nice and easy to use in everyday life. Huawei E5180 is an exciting 4G LTE router that fits perfectly in the frame. Good performance, easy to get started and fine speed. Huawei E5180 does really well.

A1 Net Cube Huawei E5180 Cube Test

Huawei E5180 Router, also better known as A1 Net Cube, has a completely new design like a cube. Today, let us have a look at the most beautiful LTE router on the market. First of all, this is from the Chinese Manufacturer Huawei. Whether the LTE cube E5180 with the beautiful appearance also has other advantages, we will have a review in this test.

I have rarely seen such a router: Most such devices would not necessarily have such a beauty shape. The box is kept in a very simple and pleasant design. The decorative LED is at the top. The LED top could aslo turn on and off the E5180 cube by pressing the Huawei logo. This simple design element makes this router very user-friendly. By a long press on the Huawei logo, user can turn off the cube.

In the package, we will find a LAN cable, power supply and a Quick Start Guide. The Huawei E5180 Wi-Fi router itself still has the following features: Two LED indicators on the front – they inform us of the WLAN and the network status.

On the back we find a network WAN port, the power connection and a telephone connection port. No more LAN or USB ports can be found. And there is no external antenna connector. The micro-SIM card is inserted into a slot at the bottom of the E5180 cube. There we also find the reset button.

The operation of Huawei Cube E5180 is very simple: Simply insert the SIM card and get started. The settings for the network will automatically configure normally. We find the SSID and wireless password on the bottom of the router. Connect your device to the SSID and then you can surf freely.

The A1 Net Cube Huawei E5180 Router uses all major network standards: GSM, UMTS (HSDPA Dual Cell) and LTE. However, LTE Carrier Aggregation, also called LTE Cat6, is not supported. But this should not be a problem because LTE Cat4 bandwidths of up to 150 Mbit/s support; for most users that is fast enough. In practice, I have achieved the download speed up to 85Mbit/s and upload speed to about 43 Mbit/s.

One of the most important purchasing criteria for a router is the network capability. The Huawei E5180 offers the current standards with the 802.11b/g/n, but only in the 2.4 GHz range, the area around 5 GHz is not supported. The wireless coverage range is 250 meters according to Huawei, in practice I had good reception in my whole house (old building). Up to 32 clients could access the WiFi network for surfing. A small disadvantage is the speed: The Ethernet LAN connection only allows a maximum of 100 Mbit/s.

A1 Net Cube Huawei E5180 Technical data at a glance

LTE: Cat 4 until max. download up to 150 Mbit/s, up to max. 50 Mbit/s upload
UMTS: DC-HSPA+, up to max. 42.2 Mbit/s for down, up to max. 5.76 Mbit/s upload
GSM: EDGE, GPRS
connections: 1x Ethernet LAN connection 100 MBit/s, 1x RJ-11 for telephone
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4 GHz for up to 32 Equipment and 4 SSIDs; 250 meter range

The web interface looks very tidy and clear. On the home page, the most important information such as the link status and network strength are displayed. In addition, SMS can be sent and interface settings are made around the network. The connection type can be changed by a few clicks, you can switch the network in 2G, 3G or 4G. Basically, the built-in router antenna seems to do a good job, with the A1 Net Cube I had better reception than at the same location with the phone.

The Huawei E5180 Cube router can also configure via App. Through the Huawei Mobile WiFi app, SMS can be sent, to make network settings and statistics can be accessed. The Chinese manufacturer Huawei saves us much time for unnecessary and complicated barriers to entry. Thus the Huawei E5180 router is recommended quite clear for those of us who do not want to stay long with the service or the study of manuals themselves.

Those who want more LAN ports, a USB port, gigabit LAN or advanced networking configuration options, the A1 Net Cube may not meet your requirements. Another Huawei E5186 4G LTE router is recommended.