Huawei E5180 Archives – 4G LTE Mall

Huawei B529s-23a 4G LTE Cat.6 Router Presented

Huawei had presented a new 4G LTE Category 6 router for network provider T-mobile Austria and named the router “HomeNet Box”. The HomeNet Box is the factory model Huawei B529s-23a.

Huawei B529s-23a (HomeNet Box)

The appearance of HomeNet Box looks cool in black color, just like its predecessor Huawei E5180 Cube and E5170 cube. The design and functions are very similar to Huawei E5170, but the HomeNet Box is with high specifications. The Huawei E5170 can be divided to two parts but Huawei B529s-23a HomeNet Box is a whole part and can’t be divided.

Huawei B529s-23a (HomeNet Box)

The Huawei B529s-23a router is equipped with an RJ45 port for connection via a traditional LAN cable. The built-in battery of 3000mAh can make the Huawei B529 router work as as a mobile internet center for multiple devices at the same time. What’s more, there are two connectors for external antennas available in the body. The connectors are at the back of the device and above the Ethernet port. A small cap just covers the two connectors. The connector type is TS-9. To ensure the fastest possible data transfer, just open the cap and connect an external LTE antenna to the Huawei B529s-23a. We had tested one 4G LTE Indoor antenna for Huawei B529s-23a for users who lives at the areas of weak signal:

http://www.4gltemall.com/4g-antenna-two-ts-9-connector.html

4G LTE Indoor Antenna (2 x TS-9 Connectors) for Huawei/ZTE 4G LTE Modems/dongles/mobile hotspots

The great advantage of the router is its appearance, which makes it suitable for modern interiors. LED illumination informs the user of the connection status. There are four indicators to tell the Mode, LAN, WiFi and Power status. Power button is just below the indicators. Like other Huawei LTE Routers, you can control all of your device functions with Huawei HiLink, available from the Google Play store. And you can also log into the web interface to configure the router per your preference such as DHCP Server, DNS RELAY and NAT, along with security services.

Huawei B529s-23a (HomeNet Box)

The Huawei B529s-23a router supports 4G LTE frequency bands B1/3/7/8/20/32/38. In addition, it is also backward with 3G UMTS and 2G GSM networks. With the support of LTE Cat.6, the Huawei B529s-23a delivers up to 300Mbit/s data rates and up to 50Mbit/s data rates. At the same time, up to 32 devices can connect with the B529s-23 router for surfing. The HomeNet Box uses Micro SIM card, if you get a NANO SIM, you’d better use it with an adapter. The latest WiFi standard 802.11 ac is available in the Huawei HomeNet Box on dual-band(2.4GHz and 5GHz).

Huawei B529s-23a (HomeNet Box)

In conclusion, the Huawei B529s-23a is a cool router with powerful functions including the support of LTE Cat.6, built-in battery and latest WiFi features. Actually, with the development of LTE technology, more and more network providers upgraded their networks and of course to provide new devices to support higher networks. Here now, the Huawei B525 and Huawei B618 are latest routers with similar or higher specifications. If you want to know more LTE devices, you may follow us.

Huawei B529s-23a (HomeNet Box)

Huawei E5180 4G LTE Cube Review

The Huawei E5180 is a 4G router with a nice look. Working with a 4G sim card, the Huawei E5180 could provide wireless network for home or office, and it can easily replace an ADSL box when you have a deplorable throughput.

The Huawei E5180 is an unlocked 4G router that user can use with any 4G SIM card in European and African countries. Like all these 4G routers, simply put the SIM card in, start it, connect to the web interface with the information displayed under the router and you start a connection in minutes.

Comparing with the 3G router such as Huawei B683, it is more powerful but comparing with the other 4G routers, it may not be the best. Based on the functions, Huawei E5180 works perfectly if you do not have an internet to use. The only important point to note with these devices is that it is necessary to find the ideal location to have a good flow. We had tested it on many devices that they provide different data rates at different location. You may find the best one to use the Huawei E5180 router.

Technical Specifications

Dimensions: 70mm wide, 110mm height, 70mm depth

Weight: 250 grams

Supported LTE category 4

Supported frequencies FDD 800/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz and TDD 2600MHz

1 RJ45 female (fast Ethernet), 1 RJ11 female, WIFI N 300Mbps

2 CRC-9 ports to connect an external antenna available on the left side

SIM Card Type: micro sim

Some more info

You have two LED indicators on the front. The top one lets you know the quality of the received signal.

blue: signal is strong
yellow: Signal is weak
red: No signal

To use the router quickly, just insert the micro sim card into the router, plug it in and wait a few moments. Using the RJ45 cable, connect the router to your PC. You can also connect wifi to your router by looking underneath it! A label includes the SSID (name of the wifi network of the router) and WIFI KEY (the password to access this network). In a web browser, type the address http://192.168.1.1/ You will then access the interface to configure the router. The username and password are both admin.

External Antenna

If you want to have the best possible reception especially if you are very far from the cell tower, you can connect an external antenna to this E5180 router. The ideal antenna is obviously an outdoor LTE antenna, which has two connectors and when installing the antenna, make sure it pointing to the 4G cell tower, the cable entering your roof and going down into the room. We had one tested outdoor external LTE antenna, which can work well with the Huawei E5180 to get much better signal and surfing speed.

Conclusion

The Huawei E5180 4G router does the job perfectly. Capturing much better 4G than a mobile phone, it allows you to replace a box at the ASDL. The download speed on LTE reachs 150Mbps and upload speed to 50mbps. And the price of Huawei E5180 is not expensive since it’s available for long time in the market. Even though there are many 4G routers in the market, the functions of Huawei E5180 are enough for most cases.

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 E5180s-22 4G WiFi Router for Bouygues 4G Box

The French network provider Bouygues Télécom offers a 4G data plan for areas with poor ADSL coverage. The plan details has been using available especially in the areas eligible for this offer. The 4G data was offered to improve Internet reception for ADSL subscribers in poorly covered areas.

To do this, the operator proposes a 4G “Box” with a SIM card and an “unlimited” monthly data plan. The 4G Box is actually the Huawei E5180 LTE Cube, which is a 4G Wireless Router and working with the 4G SIM card. To look at it more closely, the LTE router provide WiFi signal with an Ethernet connection.

Basically, the 4G router is praiseworthy for underserved users, especially with an unlimited monthly data offer. However, this offer is accompanied by many restrictions that greatly reduce the notion of unlimited internet BOX, although it is important for users to provide better internet experience.

First, you have to be eligible for the offer. The offer only includes data, excluding the Voice and of course the TV. The Huawei E5180 LTE router is not mobile, so user can’t take it outdoor for holiday or weekend activities. Bouygues reserves the possibility of limiting the bit rates in video download to 2 Mbps if necessary.

The 4G+ is not available. The “BOX” Huawei router (LTE Cube E5180), was widely distributed by operators as part of data offer, especially by Orange at one time. The E5180 router only supports the 4G category 4, so is limited to a theoretical rate of 150 Mbt/s for download and 50 Mbt/s for upload. It’s not bad to compensate for a very bad ADSL speed, but damage for a so-called “widely” 4G+.

The Huawei E5180 supports WiFi 802.11 b/g/n but is limited to 2.4 GHz. The 5GHz is not available. If the model is Huawei E5180s-22, the supported bands are 4G LTE Band 1/3/7/20/38 (FDD 800/1800/2100/2600 MHz), and it supports up to 32 wireless users simultaneously. An RJ45 port and an RJ-11 port are available for WAN/LAN connection and telephone.

However, the solution of the LTE link via 4G Mifi routers is a good alternative for underserved areas in ADSL connection but correctly covered in 4G, the required condition is an adequate antenna infrastructure and backhaul Fiber capable of absorbing many connections with a large flow, a LTE router serving one or more PCs not the equivalent of a smartphone.

Actually, there is new LTE router available which is similar to Huawei E5180, and with higher specification, which could supports LTE-A network and faster downstream connection. The new model is Huawei B618, which is a LTE cat.11 router, you could check more details about if on www.4gltemall.com .

Huawei E5180 Cube for Congstar Homespot Test

At the IFA, congstar presented its first mobile phone tariff at the beginning of September, which also officially foresees the use of Telekom’s LTE network. However, the offer can only be used in a certain place, for example, to have a broadband internet connection in the caravan, at the campsite or in the student residence.

In the contract, congstar presented a WLAN Cube, also a suitable router manufactured by Huawei, which converts the LTE Internet access into a WLAN signal, which then makes it possible to provide internet for smartphones, tablets and notebooks with a wireless Internet access supply. A device can also be connected directly to the WLAN Cube using an Ethernet cable.

We have s the opportunity to test the homespot rate of congstar together with the WLAN Cube since last week. The SIM card must be inserted into the router slot. The WLAN Cube is then supplied with power via the included power supply unit. The PIN of the SIM card must then be entered. This works via the configuration menu of the router, which can be reached at address 192.168.8.1 via a connected smartphone, tablet or notebook. For future use, the SIM PIN can be stored so that it does not have to be entered again.

Congstar Homespot from Huawei E5180

The WLAN access data and the homespot model are to be found on the underside of the router, which in the original is called Huawei E5180. After initial commissioning, the SSID as well as the password can be customized. In addition, users have the option of switching from the automatic selection of the WLAN channel to manual selection. The WLAN Cube is supported only by the much heavily overloaded 2.4 GHz range. If you want to use a 5 GHz router, you have to check other models such as the latest Huawei B525 and Huawei E5186 wireless gateway. If you want to use your own router instead of the congstar WLAN Cube, you have to make sure that it has the LTE standard and the frequency ranges used around 800, 1800 and 2600 MHz.

However, the test also showed that congstar Homespot is not only working with 4G network. If LTE is not available at the desired location, the cube would work on 3G or 2G network automatically. We have switched the WLAN Cube, however, experimentally via the configuration menu to the GSM-only mode. Afterwards we were shown a strong signal.

In addition to the signal strength of the received mobile network, the configuration menu for the Huawei E5180 router also shows the current connection time and the transferred data volume. The WLAN status and information about the connected users are also available.

congstar as well as the manufacturer Huawei officially speak the E5180 Cube of a WLAN range of up to 250 meters. We have not achieved this value in practice. However, the signal is quite comparable to that of a classic DSL router like an AVM FRITZ! Box 7490. A mobile hotspot is much weaker. If, for example, a Huawei E5776 is only sufficient for supplying a small apartment or a hotel room, the congstar WLAN Cube can quite well cover a one-family house with wireless Internet access.

Speed Test Good

We have continuous operated the wireless hotspot over several days. Internet access was always reliably available. A restart of the router was not required to stay on reception. The two lights on the outside of the device, which on the one hand display WLAN availability and, at the very least, the current strength of the received LTE signal, is practical.

Over several days, we have examined the data transfer rates offered by congstar’s internet access. The provider itself provides up to 20 MBit/s in the downstream. This value was also achieved in the test, whereby the LTE signal strength also plays a role here. If only a medium reception level is displayed on the router, the data throughput also drops.

On average, we reached between 20 and 21 MBit/s in the downstream and 5 to 6.5 MBit/s in the upstream. The response times were between 17 and 25 ms. The congstar homespot therefore provided similar performance data, such as a VDSL-25 connection in the fixed network. Even the somewhat higher latencies compared to the fixed net do not make themselves noticeable with normal surfing, with the use of e-mails, fairs, etc. It may not be the case for gamers, who need the lowest possible ping times.

It should be borne in mind that our performance tests have only been carried out at the location in Hessian Spessart, which is registered as the usage address for the congstar Homespot. We also carried out measurements on different days and at different times of the day. The results were quite similar, with Telekom’s LTE-800 radio cell, which is available here, with a unrestricted data SIM generally providing data rates between 40 and 50 MBit/s in the downstream.

However, our results are not comparable to data rates and ping times at other sites. Depending on the number of users and the user behavior, depending on the network configuration and capacity, there can be significant differences. Above all, in cities it is quite possible that the well-developed LTE network of the Telekom has some overloading phenomena.

In summary, the Huawei E5180 congstar homespot is good for wireless supply at a house, but missing the 5GHz WiFi band. The Ethernet port is also good for desktop and the internet speed is also good for most cases. If you would like to know more Huawei 4G router, welcome to check here: https://www.4gltemall.com/4g-wireless-router/huawei-4g-lte-wifi-router.html

Huawei E5180 LTE WiFi Router Overview

You may be familiar with the Huawei LTE routers; Unlike other 4G Routers, Huawei E5180 is in a special but nice appearance. The device is called the LTE CPE E5180. It works well with all the network operators in Europe and Asia. And there is an Ethernet-connector in the Huawei E5180, and it is possible to connect VoIP-device easily.

Huawei E5180 4G LTE CPE Specifications
GSM Standards	GPRS, EDGE
Data transmission 3G	HSDPA, HSPA+, HSUPA
4G Data Transfer	LTE to 150 Mbit/s
Receiving / sending SMS	Yes
LTE Standards	FDD: Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 (2600/2100/1800/900/800 MHz), TDD: Band 38 (2600 MHz)
Compatible with 4G LTE operators	All Main Network Operators in Europe and Asia
Standard	802.11 b/g/n
type antenna	internal
The range of Wi-Fi frequencies	2.4 GHz
Number of connected Wi-Fi devices	32
Data protection	AES encryption, TKIP, WEP, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
Ethernet Ports	1 × LAN
The firewall (firewall)	Yes
IP filter	Yes
DMZ	Yes
UPnP	Yes
NAT	Yes
DHCP-server	Yes
Support for IPv6	Yes
VoIP-adapter	There, SIP
The number of RJ-11 ports	1
Compatibility	Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, Mac OS X 10.7, 10.8, 10.9
Food	Adapter
dimensions	70 × 70 × 110 mm
The weight	250 g

Design, size, controls

At the beginning, I said that the most interesting thing in the router – it is the appearance, vaguely reminiscent of various things, for example, AirPort Time Capsule. The E5180 is in rectangular Hull form, with greatly smoothed edges. The upper part slightly recessed, and above it stands a large pedestal of frosted white. It has some functional and aesthetic burden: in the first case is a button and the second it is a light blue color. Button has a soft press and the average speed for using is very nice. A short press activates the backlight off, or, and long-term (more than three seconds) – Enables or disables the device itself. The ususal operation is quite convenient.

On one side of the Webcube body, two indicators are located. One on the above is responsible for the mobile network, and the second, just below is for the Wi-Fi network. The second is in blue, and the top is red (in 4G) or blue (in 2G/3G). The glow does not hit in the eye during the day but is quite noticeable at night.

On the reverse side, there are the standard Ethernet-connector and a RJ-11 port for connecting VoIP phones. At the bottom, there is a connector for power plug.

At the bottom of E5180 glued sticker with information about the key access to Wi-Fi network by default, given username and password, as well as the IP-address. In any case, I will write them here in case the sticker is removed or broken.

IP: 192.168.8.1
User: admin
Password: admin
SSID: Huawei-E5180-2DD0
Wi-Fi Key: L8J2A871E01 (likely to be different in different devices)

Blow the stick, there is a slot for microSIM-card. The slot is covered by a small plastic flap.

Above the lower platform rises a little rim of padded material similar to rubber. Overall, Huawei E5180 looks great in any interior. The only thing missing is a big angle LED screen. For example, the side indicator is not always clear whether the router is enabled or not, and it is unclear what kind of signal – 3G or 4G to be connected.

Using the E5180 Wi-Fi-router

First, you need to install the SIM card into slot with support for Internet. Next, connect the power cord to the device and plug the adapter into a power outlet. The duration of the initialization is about 30 seconds, not fast. To connect to the E5180, you need to find a WiFi SSID named Huawei-E5180-2DD0 and enter the key / password printed on the underside of the unit. In principle, now you can already use the internet.

After connected to wireless network, the signal reception quality is about the same as a portable router MR-100-2, that is not the best. If you are unsatisfied with the signal, an external antenna should be necessary now, so that the signal gains a little higher. We should also say that you cannot connect an external antenna. Usually, the network mode “jumps” from 3G to 4G and back. However, it is more dependent on how well the operator can “give” network, not on the E5180 router.

With regard to the WiFi coverage range, according to the manufacturer, it is about 250 meters along the line of sight. In practice, I can say that the E5180 is more powerful than Asus RT-N10P (bought only to test the functionality of Wi-Fi in the house). Huawei E5180 router distributes the Internet without problems in the apartment, even with the obstacles in front of him – two reinforced concrete walls.

The official site says that Huawei E5180 router can connect up to 32 devices. I did not have so much devices to real test, but a couple of laptops, three smartphones and a few other gadgets worked tolerably well in the network.

HUAWEI E5180 LTE CPE

For Huawei E5180 setup, you will need a special application and a smartphone or computer. If in the PC, everything is available on the IP 192.168.8.1 with login and password «admin». Below the screenshot of the WEB-version is for settings.

HUAWEI E5180

To configure settings using a smartphone or tablet, there is a free “Huawei HiLink” APP on Google Play. It is very simple and visually displays information about the network and router settings.

Conclusion

On the positive side, Huawei E5180 4G Router provides a cool, ergonomic design, and the operation on this router is very simple and easy. Another advantage is that the E5180 cube could work with all main European and Asia telecom operators in the fourth-generation network, and it’s easy setup. The only shortcomings should be the absence of the 5 GHz band for WiFi and missing of external antenna connector. For most users, the Huawei E5180 is good enough for common daily use.

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.

Huawei E5180 4G LTE Router Review

Huawei is always the leading the main stream of 4G LTE technology. Now we get a new Huawei 4G LTE router with new technology and design. From the appearance, we can see Huawei had paid much attention on the design of this new router. The router parts are in a white square cabinet with integrated LED lighting. Like Huawei B593, Huawei E5180 is also a LTE category 4 gateway, which could support peak download speed to 150Mbps. And up to 32 wireless users could access internet via E5180.

Huawei E5180 Specifications:

Features	Data
Manufacturer & Model:	Huawei E5180
Technologies:	LTE (4G), UMTS (3G) GSM (2G)
Frequencies:	* LTE: 800/1800/2600 * UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100* GSM: 850/900/1800/1900
Maximum speed:	* LTE: 150 Mbit/s down, 50Mbit/s up* UMTS: 42.2 Mbit/s down, 5.76 Mbit/s up (when using DC-HSPA+)* GSM: 384 kbit/s (when using EDGE )
WIFI	802.11b/g/n, up to 32 devices, up to 4 SSIDs
Software:	Firmware Version: 21.270.21.00.1080
Others:	Ethernet LAN connection 100 MBit/s, RJ-11 telephone connection, MicroSIM

Huawei E5180 Appearance and Operation

The Huawei E5180 is packed in a small box including the power adapter and short LAN cable. Usually, the LTE routers are significantly large. At first glance, Huawei E5180 looks very small and light. The workmanship is good, only the port for the MicroSIM card to complain about, because this makes it impossible to use a NANO sim card with adapter. The LED lighting on top of the Huawei E5180 is a beautiful design element and overall very successful. With a short press on the Huawei logo you can see the lights on and off, alternatively you can control the LED via the web interface. A long press to switch the entire router could power on or off.

The operation of Huawei E5180 is very simple. Normally, it is sufficient to simply insert the SIM card, then the device should automatically connect to the Internet. The wireless network is encrypted from the factory, the password is required for network connection, and it’s printed on the label at the bottom of the E5180. The operation and configuration of Huawei E5180 could be finished via a web interface in the browser. To access the web interface, you have to land the address 192.168.8.1, and then enter your username and password. The web interface is well structured and easy to use, also the speed is OK, the load times of each menu are very short. On the home page all important for the connection information is displayed, including about the signal strength, the consumed amount of data separated into uplink and downlink as well as the time spent online.

Huawei E5180 Network mode and Telephone

Huawei E5180 can use all of the current cellular standards. It can work well in LTE, UMTS and GSM networks. On LTE network, E5180 could support peak download speed to 150Mbps. The wireless module in Huawei E5180 works exclusively in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the area around 5 GHz is not supported. The test showed that my MacBook Air has connected to a maximum of 144 Mbit/s to the router, despite a distance of only 2 meters between the two devices. And a maximum of 32 devices can be connected simultaneously.

The RJ-11 connector for an Analog phone is on the back of Huawei E5180, and it is available only for voice calls over the GSM or UMTS network, for VoIP, there is the web interface requiring no settings. In the test, with a simple analog phone call, the quality is good. Once a call is received on the SIM card, the connected phone is ringing reliably.

Conclusion

Huawei E5180 is without any doubt one of the best LTE routers on the market. If you are looking for a good-looking router, Huawei E5180 would be a perfect option. However, there is No LTE Cat6, no 5 GHz WLAN, no Gigabit LAN, no connectors for external antennas, no DECT and no USB – these are the biggest criticism points to the router.