Tag: Vodafone B528

Huawei B528 VS Huawei B529 LTE Cube

Since more and more Huawei LTE cubes available in the market, more and more people accept the Huawei Cubes as consumer electronics. Actually, they are still the wireless routers essentially. Huawei assigns the 4G wireless gateway to a new design and combines the workmanship with router functions to make the Cube series product very special but attractive for home use. Huawei B528 and B529 cube are two latest LTE cube for Europe market. Since they are very newly released, many people may don’t know them or don’t know what’s the difference between the Huawei B528 and B529. We will have a review about the two LTE routers and give some buy recommendation for potential users.

Huawei B528 VS B529 Appearance and Interfaces

Frankly speaking, the Huawei B528 LTE Router and B529 Cube are both cool in the design. You may not think they are Huawei wireless 4G Router when you first look at them. The Huawei B528 is in black like a cake and the Huawei B529 looks like a humidifier in white. On the front of Huawei B528, there are indicators for Mode, LAN, WiFi, and Power while the Huawei B529 Cube changes the Mode to Signal. The power button is below the indicators. On the back of Huawei B528, only one Ethernet port is available for LAN. The Huawei B529 has one Gigabit Ethernet port for LAN with one VoIP port. The same feature is the power plug below the Ethernet port. And above the Ethernet port, there are two connectors for external antennas. The connector type is both TS-9. So if you have a Huawei B528 external antenna, you can use it with Huawei B529. What’s more, the two WiFi Cube both uses Micro SIM size and locate the SIM card slot at the bottom of the devices.

Huawei B529 VS B528 Specs and Variant model

Currently, the Huawei B529 is only available for T-mobile in Europe and get a new name as HomeNet Box. The specific model number is Huawei B529s-23a. Like the B529 Cube, the Huawei B528 is available for the network provider Vodafone and gets a new name Vodafone GigaCube with specific model number Huawei B528s-23a. Unlike the Huawei B618 Cube, they both have an only variant model now. But we are not sure whether there will be more variant models in near future.

 

From the appearance and interface, you may not get the core difference between the two routers. Let’s have a looks at the Vodafone B528 specs and Huawei B529s-23a specs in the tables below:

 

Model Huawei B528s-23a Huawei B529s-23a
Product type LTE WiFi Cube LTE WiFi Cube
Category LTE Cat.6 LTE Cat.6
Chipset HiSilicon Balong 722 HiSilicon LTE Cat6 Chipset
Data rates DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands LTE B1, B3, B7, B8, B20, B32, B38 Band 1/3/7/8/20/32/38
WLAN 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 2 x 2 MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO
Connector for external antenna Two, TS-9 jacks Two, TS-9 jacks
Buy Antenna Huawei B528 External Antenna Huawei B529 External antenna
App management Huawei Hilink APP Huawei Hilink APP
SIM type Micro SIM Micro SIM
Battery NO Yes, non-removable 3000mAh battery
Dimensions 105 mm x 90mm x 181 mm 120 x 120 x 125mm
Interfaces * 1 x power adapter port
* 1 x LAN port(RJ 45)* 1 x RJ11 (VoIP)* Two external LTE antenna ports (TS-9)
* One micro-SIM card slot		 * 1 x power adapter port
* 1 x LAN port(RJ 45)
* Two external LTE antenna ports (TS-9)
* One micro-SIM card slot
Datasheet Huawei B528 Datasheet Huawei B529 Datasheet
User Manual Huawei B528 Manual Huawei B529 Manual
Other features IPv4 /IPv6 dual stack  DHCP Server, DNS RELAY and NAT
Reviews Huawei B528s-23a Review Huawei B529 Review
Price/USD 399.00USD 299.00

 

Conclusion

The Huawei B528s-23a and HomeNet Box B529s-23a are both LTE Category 6 router, which could support peak download speed to 300mbps and upload speed. They could both support maximum users up to 64 devices. They support even same LTE frequency bands. The only difference is on the Huawei B529 has one more VoIP port than B528. So if you would buy one home router between the two, you would consider the interface first. If you don’t use the VoIP, just take the preferred appearance and make the decision. Per our test, the two routers could support fast internet connection in the real network.

Vodafone GigaCube (Huawei B528) In First Test

Last month, Vodafone has presented the GigaCube for a package of routers and mobile phone rates. The router is the Huawei B528, which is also without Vodafone branding. Only the outer packaging carries the design of the telecommunication service provider. The GigaCube itself has the manufacturer Huawei’s logo and there is no indication of Vodafone. Now we have the opportunity to have closer look at the GigaCube router.

Not suitable for mobile use

The Vodafone GigaCube is 105 x 105 x 181 millimeters in size. The body is not in small size, so you may not take it in hand like Huawei E5787 mobile WiFi hotspots. For this reason alone, the GigaCube is not suitable for mobile use, but it’s cool for the weekend house, the caravan, the hotel room or the apartment. In addition, there is no inserted battery or replacable battery in the Huawei B528 GigaCube. Instead, the unit is powered only by the included power supply.

As an alternative to WLAN, a notebook can also be connected to the router via a network cable. Such a cable is included with the GigaCube. The connector is located on the back of the device. There is also the socket with which the power supply is connected to the mobile hotspot. Under one flap there are also jacks, via which external antennas can be connected to the GigaCube. The connection for a VoIP telephone, which is also located on the back of the router, has been deactivated according to Vodafone specifications. We could not test this so far.

On the front, we can see not only the on/off switch and the WPS button, but also four light-emitting diodes. These indicate whether the B528 GigaCube is powered, whether the WLAN hotspot is available and whether the LAN port is being used. The fourth LED indicates whether the router is connected to the mobile network.

 

Easy Setup

The GigaCube can be configured via a connected computer, a smartphone or a tablet. The Internet address to configure the router is giga.cube, user need enter it in the Internet browser. The default password for the web front-end is located on the bottom of the router. Here is also the SSID and WLAN password specified. In addition, the SIM card (micro SIM format) slot is located on the underside.

 

After the SIM card is inserted directly and the GigaCube is switched on, the LED for the mobile radio reception is initially red. Reason: The SIM PIN must be entered via the web-based menu if the PIN search on the SIM card has not been switched off, which is at least partly the case with the operator cards defined for the GigaCube. After this, the initial setting can be made. A personalized SSID can be assigned, which can be connected with a special password.

On page 2, you can read about the function in the configuration menu, and to what extent, the GigaCube also allows the use of SIM cards from other networks. During the initial setup, the access data for the router menu can also be adjusted. In addition to own WLAN data for the hotspot on 2.4 GHz, the individualization for 5 GHz is also integrated. The settings can be changed subsequently. Furthermore, the user can decide whether to operate parallel to 2.4 and 5 GHz or only on one of these frequency ranges. In principle, the WLAN function can also be switched off completely if, for example, only a device via a network cable is connected to the router for the Internet access.

 

SIM free & Unlocked

We have also used a SIM card from other network provider such as O2, which has worked smoothly in the GigaCube. Say: The Vodafone GigaCube router was not equipped with a SIM lock or Netlock and it can be used with any operator cards. The access data for foreign networks may not be recognized automatically.

To do this, a new profile must only be created in the Connection Setup – Profile Management menu.

What Interesting is the possibility to set up a VPN directly on the Huawei B528 router. The WLAN channels can be selected manually. These are automatically assigned by default. The user interface is very similar to Huawei’s other mobile hotspots. The WLAN range is significantly higher than the Huawei E5776 mobile hotspot, which we had tested for comparison.

 

Fast Wireless Internet Connection

The GigaCube supports speeds of up to 300 MBit/s in the downstream via LTE, especially on the LTE-Advanced networks. Also Internet connections can be established with the router via UMTS/HSPA and GPRS/EDGE. In the first test, the Huawei B528 sold by Vodafone GigaCube left a good impression. The setup is intuitively possible (can be seen from the fact that the access data for the 5 GHz, WLAN area must be adjusted later) and the WiFi range is quite comparable to that of a FRITZ! Box 7490, which we had tested at the same Place.

 

The Vodafone GigaCube could serve as a DSL replacement, but less suitable for the more extensive file exchange and intensive streaming. Exciting is the possibility to use any SIM card. Thus, the Huawei B528 GigaCube can also be bought at the comparatively low price from www.4gltemall.com, for example on a holiday abroad, where the GigaCube tariff is not available, can also be used with a local SIM card. And there is newer model Huawei B618 LTE CPE Cube available now, which supports higher level LTE networks.

 

Vodafone GigaCube (Huawei B528) LTE Router Review

At the end of April 2017, Vodafone launched a new LTE CPE called “GigaCube”. Like Vodafone other 4G router, the new router GigaCube also comes from Huawei and the factory model number is B528. The Huawei B528 has a modern LTE modem with CAT6 with support of WLAN hotspot and Gigabit LAN. Today we will show what the router can do and its specifications.

Features and characteristics of Vodafone GigaCube
Manufacturer and type: Huawei B528s-23a
Chipset: HiSilicon Balong 722
LTE category: LTE CAT6 (300 MBit/s)
Download rate up to: 300 MBit
Upload rate up to: 50 MBit
Supported LTE bands 800, 900, 1500, 1800, 2100, 2600 (FDD),
and 2600 MHz(TDD)
Downwards compatible with: GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, DC-HSPA+
Support for LTE-Advanced: Yes
MIMO Support: Yes, 2×2 MIMO
Connection for external antenna: Yes
Network | LAN & WLAN
LAN Ports: 1 x GBit port
WLAN Standards: 802.11 b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
5 GHz WLAN Support: Yes
Encryption: WPS/WPA/WPA2
WLAN Hotspot Function: Yes, up to 64 users
Others
Telephony VOIP via RJ11 port (eg SIP)
Others
WAN port Yes
IPv6 Dual Stack Yes
Battery pack: No
Dimension: 105 x 90 x 181 mm at 366 g
USB: No
Memory Card Expansion: No
Release: April 2017
Price: From 1 € with Vodafone Cube tariff
available at: »Vodafone and www.4gltemall.com
Information
Quick start guide: » Download (PDF)
Detailed manual: not yet available

 

 

LTE CAT 6 modem

 

The Vodafone GigaCube router, also named Huawei B528s-23a, internally has a modern HiSilicon modem (Balong 722) which supports LTE category 6. In principle, the wireless connection can reach up to 300 MBit/s fast. In the upload, a maximum of 50 MBit/s can be achieved. The chip also supports the most important LTE bands for use in Europe. In detail, the LTE Bands includes band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 and 32. If the LTE reception is not given, the GigaCube router can also switch to GMS or UMTS/HSDPA. Abroad, Vodafone excludes the use anyway! So you must get the unlocked Vodafone GigaCube if you want to use it abroad.

WLAN function with the GigaCube router

 

The GigaCube also provide the WLAN module supporting up to WLAN ac, so that wireless LAN with gigabit speed is also possible. The hotspot can bring up to 64 devices on the Internet simultaneously. On this point, the B528 is really powerful than its predecessor Huawei E5180 and E5170.

 

Other characteristics

Fortunately, there are two antenna ports on the back of the GigaCube router. According to Vodafone, the focus is on use in the stationary and in remote areas. This means you can use the router both at home as a DSL replacement or just traveling as a mobile Internet connection. Mobile use is officially excluded. Thanks to the antenna connections, the reception strength ​​can also be improved in remote areas via external LTE antenna.  The B528 also does not have an information display, but only 4 Info-LEDs on the front. These give the user the most important back-ups, such as signal strength.

The only annoyance with the GigaCube router is that it was dispensed with even a battery. Thus, a permanent, stationary power supply is required. Also the GigaCube missed an SD card slot or USB port. Telephone is not possible by the way.

 

 

Conclusion

Based on the Huawei B528, Vodafone offers a powerful, modern router for its GigaCube. The model is practical and comes without much fault. Only the missing battery is annoying. We would do the performance test once we get the GigaCube in hand, keep close eye on www.4gltemall.com if you are interested in Vodafone GigaCube or Huawei B528 LTE Cube.