HUAWEI B311 2020, CAT 4, 4G/ LTE 150 Mbps Mobile Wi-Fi
HUAWEI B311 2020, CAT 4, 4G/ LTE 150 Mbps Mobile Wi-Fi Router, Unlocked to All Networks- Genuine UK Warranty STOCK (Non Network Logo)- White
Wireless Router
The Huawei B311 Wireless Router provides you with access to the Internet through mobile networks, and Ethernet networks. By connecting to the B311 using Wi-Fi or a network cable, you can get access to high-speed Internet services.
| Weight: | 2.91 kg |
| Dimensions: | 18.1 x 12.6 x 3.6 cm; 2.91 Kilograms |
| Brand: | HUAWEI |
| Model: | B311-221 |
| Colour: | White |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Livewire Telecom Limited |
| Dimensions: | 18.1 x 12.6 x 3.6 cm; 2.91 Kilograms |
I am able to get 5G even though we are on the edge sometimes getting down load speeds of 350mbs more often over 100mbs that’s living on a farm using a SIM card
Purchased this to set up mobile broadband in a remote area only serviced by EE. It works well so far and no problems.
Would recommend as a cost effective way of getting internet in rural areas.
No fuss. Just powered it up, changed the admin password and the internal IP address to suit my network, and just dropped it right in to replace a 4G modem, also from Huawei. Nice!
I’m impressed, no drop outs and has full bars through out the van on all our devices even sat outside.
I will be bringing it home with me to test here too before I buy another for the house and cancel my broadband contract with a rubbish and expensive provide
I’m using this with a good value unlimited data SIM which uses the EE network (1P internet). 5G speed is good, better than on mobile phones, in a poor signal strength area.
I have previously used Huwawei’s 4G modems. They have sockets to which an external antenna can be attached to boost signal strength. This model does not. The antenna I purchased works well with 4G and was marketed as “5G ready”. It seems a shame that it cannot be attached to this modem.
As a medium internet user, I bought an unlimited data card. It was a little tricky inverting the SIM card at first, but eventually it was sorted out.
This router was easy to use and living in a 2 bed flat it works very well.
My internet bill per month is 16 using this router with a SIM card.
I would give this router a score of 8 out of 10.
Great value for money.
I bought this to replace a ZTE 5G CPE MC801A device that was constantly disconnecting. Although the speeds are slightly slower than the ZTE the connection has been rock solid so far.
I bought this router and now pay 18pcm (no contract, so I can move to a different SIM whenever I choose). The old router’s signal wasn’t strong enough to reliable run my cctv; this one is! Two tellys + tablets + three echo dots on all the time and no buffering! One needs to check mobile coverage but this is one of my best purchases ever! I cannot recommend highly enough.
Brilliant router easy to install and use, currently being used where the phone lines keep going down every other week, once we are set up with an unlimited data bundle will cancel the Internet through my provider and just use this
Set up with a ‘Smarty’ SIM – internal arial good enough but want to use an external arial for my application (inside a metal shed, all signals blocked) – the one I bought to go along with it does nothing so this only works if I keep the door open!
This is an excellent bit of kit.
We bought it to get a decent signal at our caravan which was patchy or non existent at best of times.
I pay a small monthly fee to EE for broadband signal and installed the SIM card provided by them and off we went. It was a little tricky to find how to install the sim card but we got there in the end and after that its been plain sailing and all the members of the family are very pleased to have WiFi at the caravan at last.
Highly recommended.
I ordered this router to replace a mobile phone wifi hotspot. It arrived the next morning and began functioning as soon as I inserted the SIM card and turned it on. It seems to provide decent coverage although I haven’t given it a great challenge in terms of wall thicknesses and disruptive signals.
I bought one of these after a house move, when (courtesy of Covid) we were outlooking several weeks’ delay to get a Virgin connection installed. I signed up to a rolling data plan with Smarty, popped the SIM in, connected my old router to the box via Ethernet and had my whole LAN up and running as normal with minimal configuration in very short order. Mobile signal strength is obviously important, so position may be key, and there were points where the signal I was getting wasn’t fantastic – but I was mostly able to stream Amazon Prime video and to get good, low ping values for online gaming with no problem. I cancelled the SIM plan before the end of the first month. WiFi strength was fine, but I should add that overall it was sufficiantly robust for me to consider sticking with it as a permanent solution. Overall, I reckon it didn’t cost me much more than a normal ISP subscription – and a significant part of that was the initial outlay on the box.
This thing is amazing and I have now made the switch to mobile broadband. However, the WiFi performance on this thing is not that good, I had to connect another router to handle my network.
I recently moved to an area that doesn’t have fibre, and the max speed I could get was 14Mps so I did my research and noticed that mobile broadband would be the better option for my household.
In my area I get very good 4G speeds, and constantly get over 100Mps! The speeds varys during the day, but I never get less than 70Mps and have speeds reach up to 180Mps!
However to reach those speeds, I had to buy a separate router as the Huawei can’t handle lots of devices.
If you live in a area that has good 4G speeds or have 5G then I would definitely recommend to make the switch, as I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the greedy UK ISPs.
The CPE Pro 2, unlike the CPE Pro, does not have CMA ports to plug your own antenna. 5G is extremely sensitive to placement, just 20 centimeters in my window are the difference between 30 and 12 Mbps up and 12ms vs 20ms latency. This means having the option for better antennas can make a huge difference, and it’s disappointing Huawei took this out.
I run a Ubiquiti UniFi switch and AP network, so I have zero interest in the Huawei’s built-in WiFi. I’ve had bad experiences with a previous 4G LTE router (Netgear LB1121) that did weird things with unsolicited ARP that would cause it to disable the rest of the network, so I put the Huawei in a VLAN, but even then it was still able to take portions of my network down, those using Devolo Magic2 LAN powerline bridges. It turns out the Huawei spews Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) packets that force reconfiguration of the network. Perhaps they were trying to be “helpful” in a misconfigured consumer network, but the end result is that even in a VPN this is unusable. My solution was to plug it into the Ethernet port of an OpenBSD router to isolate it. I was going to do that to establish a WireGuard VPN tunnel anyway to get around Three’s Carrier Grade NAT. It’s possible the Huawei doesn’t play these tricks in Bridge Mode, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Apart from that, the Huawei is a fast wireless router that offers a respite from the sad state of the UK”s abysmal fixed broadband infrastructure. Just keep in mind you don’t have much control over the routing features and it does some really weird stuff that doesn’t play nice outside consumer network setups.
If your SIM is provided directly by the network (i.e. O2 / Three / EE / Vodafone), it appears that it will automatically detect the settings, so it’s as simple as putting a new SIM card in, reboot it and the new SIM will be detected and off you go. This is also true for some “mobile virtual network operators” (MVNO’s) that I tried – such as Smarty (Three) and Lebara (Vodafone).
However, for some MVNO’s, particularly the ones using O2’s network, you may need to enter the settings manually. In my experience, this is true for Lycamobile and GiffGaff at least. The APN settings I needed were easy enough to find online.
So if you are looking for a mains powered 4G router to provide you with internet via a SIM card, I recommend this one.
Best to check 4G coverage in your area first though, as you will want to go with the network that is best in your location. Once you’ve decided whether O2 / Three / EE / Vodafone is best for you, search Google for “List of United Kingdom mobile virtual network operators” and it should direct you to a Wikipedia page where you can see all the MVNO’s available and sort them by host network – there are much better deals to be had from an MVNO if you only want data.
I had been using the Huawei 5G CPE Pro for about 7 months before upgrading to the “Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2” for the main reason being that it supported WiFi 6. For those that don’t know, WiFi is a massive update and improvement over the past generations. I won’t go on about it as the review would be too long, but I’d recommend anyone with a small business or working from home to seriously look into WiFi 6 and setting it up correctly.
Now onto the actual device. The speeds I got were fantastic, when plugged into Hyperoptic connection at my friend’s place we were able to setup a WiFi network which allowed my mobile phone to have a download speed of 900mbps, the fastest I had ever seen my phone achieve.
But of course the main reason I got this was for the use of 5G. Thankfully my location in SE1 , London is covered well by Three. PLEASE NOTE, that speeds will obviously vary if your ISP doesn’t have great coverage in your area. For me I average about 10ms ping, 450mbps download and about 100mbps upload (I’ve attached a screen shot of a test I’ve just done)
My phone which is also on a Three contract doesn’t come nearly close to that speed by itself (about 280mbps download) which while still fast, just shows how well this router works.
CPE Pro2 is not fully boosting, as 5G is not yet working in my area, but it will in future. So I’m expecting upper speeds. CPE Pro2 was a future investment, as there are cheaper 4G mobile routers, but when 5G comes, the investment is lost, as you can’t upgrade it. Despite all the BS about Huawei, they know what they do, and they are really good on that.
To enjoy the experience I’m getting, I also bought the router Huawei AX3 quadcore 3600mb Wi-Fi6 Plus (you will be surprised with the price compared to other brands). So I turned my CPE Wi-Fi off, linked it via ethernet to the router. CPE grabs signal, AX3 manages and provides it. NVidia shield tv and NAS hardwired to the router, running Netflix and Plex server and other streaming services, and there is still juice for phones.
Fantastic, bye bye Sky.
The equipments are managed via App so its a plus. Both CPE Pro2 and router seem modern and good looking. Love the blue led in CPE.
Note: Speeds are good enough to videostream but it won’t be enough for online gamers that need all the juice, unless you are in a 5G area already, of course). Google on mobile providers antennas in your location when deciding which sim to order.
I’m getting better speeds and a more stable reliable connection than I’ve previously experienced with Virgin Media, BT etc and you are free to just not pay for it when you don’t need it or can’t afford to on a one month rolling contract. You can easily set it up anywhere. It’s a minimalistically designed, sleek little thing. Obviously made of light plastic but as one of the cheapest devices of its type on the market, I am certainly not complaining. I’d be lost without it.
I took a risk and took my laptop and desktop computer down to the caravan and set it up with the Huawei box. It worked a treat. I appreciate the signal strength may vary by provider but in the main I had a signal strength in the middle bar of 3 bars most of the time and it occasionally moved up to the third bar or down to the fist bar but I was able to do everything on the internet I needed for work, my internet phone worked fine and all the time I was streaming films to my tv. I never lost the connection once.
I also bought a cheap landline phone which I’ve plugged in to the box using a suitable adapter so our tin shed has a ‘virtual landline’.
Great little bit of kit that I wish I had discovered sooner. As an aside I’m using a sim card for a smaller company that uses the network of a main provider. I’m on a monthly contract that I can pause or stop at any time so I don’t need to pay for when the caravan is mothballed for the winter and it’s cheaper than if I’d gone with the main provider..
I probably don’t need one but there is an option to improve reception by adding either an additional internal antenna to the back of the Huawei box or add one that can be sited outdoors and wired in to the Huawei box.
Oh and I should have said set up was a piece of cake.
I actually originally had issues with putting the sim card in. I had been drugged at the dentist though and may have been a bit wacky. I’m usually good with techy stuff, but didn’t see the metal bit for the sim card slot. So make sure to slide it in underneath! It’s been great other than me not putting the sim card in properly. Wifi strength is great on this floor, but a bit weak downstairs. We’re usually on our computers up here only though. Am thankful it worked so well, was worried it was a bit of a risk. But it isn’t, works amazingly well for a couple and still does gaming.