Huawei B525 4G Router/modem - mini-review...

I've  been using the Huawei B525 for almost a month now, so I thought I'd post a 'first-impressions' review of it here.

First off, I consider this one ugly design.  I thought so before I got it, and one month down the road,  that opinion hasn't changed - I mean, what was Huawei thinking!  Having only two control buttons, these extend across the entire top of the case, even though in use, you must press near the centre to get them to 'click' - another horrible design decision imo.

But that's about its only negative.  Performance-wise, it is impressive, particularly when compared to the Huawei E5220.  Although I mentioned in a previous post that due to the poor reception in my neck of the woods, I would be buying an external antenna, so far this seems unnecessary.  The two (ugly) chunky rabbits-ears antennas that it comes with appear more than adequate for now.  Usually, the five-bar signal strength LED's on the unit show between 2 - 3 bars, when the router is placed right next to the window.  The E5220 on the other hand would get 1 - 2 bars, as seen from the browser - the unit itself had only a red-orange-green LED to indicate signal strength.  So, at least for now, spending €20-€25 on an antenna seems an unnecessary extravagance.

Although I've been using dual-band wireless cards for years, this is the first dual-band router that I've owned, so wasn't sure of the setup.  For instance, I wasn't expecting that two WiFi network signals would be available - I figured I'd still have a single network, through which the router would multiplex the 2.4 & 5Ghz bands.  Apparently not!  In fact, both networks cannot be selected simultaneously, either with Windows or Linux, which I find decidedly odd!  Used in conjunction with Intel 7260-AC wireless cards, this is precisely how I thought it would operate - both bands used simultaneously, to achieve bit-rates in the order of 700-800Mb/s.  So yeah, right now, I'm confused. 

[3 years down the road, I've just noticed that the dual-networks displayed, has mysteriously disappeared, now with just a single network present.  Also, now under the 'WiFi Basic Settings' for the B525, sub-option '5Ghz preferred', there is the explanation, "The 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals are combined and displayed as one. The faster 5 GHz network is preferred when their signal strength is equal. Turn off this switch to use them separately."  Apparently the B525 has auto-updated its firmware in the not too distant past.  This single-network makes a lot more sense.  Under Linux's  Network Manager->Connection Information, I've seen the 'Speed:' indication showing figures in the 500-625Mbps range (with a Intel 7260-AC wireless card) - which is another first!].

But impressed!  Even using single-bands, my local network transfer-rates have gone from 1.4MB/s to 8-9MB/s.  Surprisingly, even with the limited testing that I've done, transfer rates on the 5Ghz band are only marginally faster than rates on the 2.4Ghz band - I was expecting wonderous things from the 5Ghz band!  Moreover, while faster, the 5Ghz band seems hardly usable when using it to stream video, even at bitrates as low as 200KB/s - the video stuttering every couple of minutes.  Switching to the 2.4Ghz band, the stuttering stops.  Although the 8-9MB/s is typical, often it can be as low as 5MB/s, rising momentarily to between 12-14MB/s - impressive!

Internet-wise, things are equally impressive.  My download speed has gone from a once-in-a-blue-moon high of 1MB/s (average-high normally being 700kB/s) to a usual download rate of 1.5MB/s.  Testing online often sees speeds of 14-16Mb/s, which blows away my ISP's average of 7Mb/s, and just tops the national average here.  Upload speeds are equally impressive, being at least 2 - 4 times my old average.  I downloaded an ISO via torrent just after getting it, and the download speed never dropped below 2MB/s. Unheard-of performance for me, and kinda scary - those speeds could eat through my 60GB monthly allowance in no time, and the out-of-allowance transfer charges here are just crazy.  So yeah, I'm fairly happy with the performance. :)

The Huawei's firmware is also a lot better than that of the E5220, allowing much greater configurability.  You can for example, assign your computer a particular IP address by locking its network card's MAC to that address, something not possible with the E5220. Yikes!  Having just tried this, I find I was mistaken.  Shame, I found this option really useful with my old TP-Link router, its updated firmware being sourced from the OpenWrt project.  So, firmware-wise, maybe not much better than the E5220, pity.

One wrinkle that's become apparent is that the Linux wireless is performing under-par.  This involves the 7260-AC wireless cards, not the Huawei B525.  Within a day or so, the network in operation will fail, either disconnecting completely or becoming unresponsive.  I then have to switch to the other network (2.4Ghz or 5Ghz).  I've left Win7 running for days on my other PC and have never witnessed a dropped network, so the problem seems to be down to the Linux drivers that I'm using.  But I think I'll save that for another post.

Overall, cosmetics excepted, I'm very happy with the Huawei B525's performance.

Edit:

I've been playing with my old TP-Link modem's upgraded OpenWrt firmware, and I gotta say that in retrospect, the Huawei B525 firmware really is garbage in comparison, feature-wise at least.  I've only just realised that you cannot even set the TX power levels with this junk - that really is the pits!

I was warned recently about the dangers of emitted RF from these devices, by someone that is adversely effected by it.  My immediate response was "Why don't you just turn down the TX power that's being emitted!"  My first router had the option, the TP-Link had the option, the OpenWrt firmware has the option (on the devices it supports) - and all the time I presumed that all of the three Huawei modem/routers that I've owned had the option - they don't!  That's perverse.

The B525's user-interface (again, in retrospect) seems particularly condescending in what features it allows the user access to.  And this 'dumbed-down' approach appears a recurring theme as far as Huawei is concerned.  I've just spent the last 30+ minutes searching the Web for information on this and all I'm being presented with is Huawei articles with the word "Basic" as part of their titles - does Huawei think that all of its customers are capable of understanding only the most rudimentary of information on the devices they've purchased?

As someone who hasn't had any health problems because of Wifi, it doesn't effect me, but having spoken to someone that is adversely effected by it, you would think that Huawei would be covering their arses from a class-action lawsuit by at least providing effected users of their equipment with a means of mitigating the problem?  I would have thought that the 'ambulance-chaser' side of the legal profession would have been all over this by now.

Time I started thinking of getting a new non-Huawei modem, and maybe even a new ISP.  Three have within the last six months upgraded their 4G network here, so that I now have gone from having a 1-bar signal strength, to a constant 4-bars - on the face of it, great!  What sucks is the service they're providing.  From 2-6am in the morning, I can get a blistering-fast (for here) 15-18mbps download speed, but during normal waking hours the speed rarely goes above 1.5mbps - the 'contention-ratio' Three are employing must be huge!  Those 'normal' speeds are pathetic.