Huawei B525 4G Modem Router (Optus)

Not the best, not the worst – Very easy to set up and get going. Have had ongoing issues trying to change the generic password to a personal one. After finally managing to do so, I found that my smart tv would not recognise the new password and ultimately just reset the entire modem back to default, which is bothersome when connecting a new device with the generic password. I… Read more

find the modem does drop out quite frequently, probably once or twice a fortnight. Easily fixed by turning on and off at the switch, but who wants to do that all the time? Would probably buy a better router if I had the time or money. It’ll do for now though. One good point is it’s range - my phone connects as soon as I pull into my garage, my wifi is on the 3rd floor, so not bad at all.

Positives and Negatives – The device has positives and negative: Positive: - CAT 6 LTE (Up to 300Mbps, so it can take advantage of full bandwidth of 4G) - Ethernet - Easy Setup - External Antenna Support Negative: - No OpenVPN support - DNS settings hidden Overall, if you aren't an advanced user, this device should suit you. Show details

Huawei B525 vs Huawei B593 4G Home Wireless Broadband Modems - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – The Huawei B525 is the 4G modem being provided by Optus in 2019 for use with thier Home Wireless broadband plans. The upfront cost for this modem is $192 on a month to month plan or free on a 24 month plan. I had a good chance to test the B525 4G modem and compare it with the cheaper Huawei B593 4G modem which can be purchased from Optus for just… Read more

$149 (best kept secret). THE GOOD The B525 is a very fast 4G modem and when the (optional) external antennas are added (ebay $10) performance improved significantly. In my tests download speeds between 60Mbps and 96Mbps were achieved and this was without the optional external antennas. In comparison the Huawei B593 only achieved download speeds of 27Mbps to 37Mbps. (which also has external antenna connections). The reason for the difference is the B525 covers five 4G bands (800/900/1800/2100/2600) compared with the cheaper B593 covering only three 4G bands (1800/2600/2300). So the B525 offers much better coverage. But thats the end of the Good news for the B525. For the record, the B525 also has dual band Wifi (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) but 5GHz wifi on the B525 actually performs much worse in your average brick home. THE BAD Wifi performance on the B525 is terrible! The 96Mbps download speed translated into just 66Mbps when connected via wifi. Similarly 60Mbps dropped to about 36Mbps over the wifi. This was checked using a Samsung Galaxy S8 phone and holding it right next to the router. So we are talking about 1/3 or more loss of download speed when using the B525's wifi. In comparion the Huawei B593 achieved 10% better speeds via wifi compared with cable connection. Now thats quite a disparity in WiFi performance between the 2 Huawei modems. Go figure. But it gets worse for the B525! THE UGLY The Huawei B525 only has 2 buttons on the modem. POWER and WPS. Noting else. Thats right! No button to turn the wifi on and off. Now if you log into the B525 via wifi with your phone and turn off the wifi, you have effectively shut yourself out of the modem. Yep. The only way to rectify this is to do a Factory Reset. The B593 on the other hand does have the all important Wifi (WLAN) on/off switch on the modem. Now remember, both of these modems are sold by Optus for use with their Wireless broadband services. So choose very carefully. CONSIDER Spintel who resell Optus internet have moved right away from the Huawei modems and now supply the Netcomm NL1901ACV 4G modem with thier Home wireless broadband plans. The beauty of this modem is that its a hybroid modem that can be used both for 4G Home wireless broadband as well as NBN/VDSL/ADSL connections. So its a great one stone kill all option.