5g Hub advice needed

[JoshBear]

Hi All,

I am in a postcode where the fastest broadband is limited to 55 Mbps and whilst this is fine for most things I would like a faster speed for a specific thing.

I have just seen that Three 5G has reached my area.  Can I use the 5G hub MC888 effectively with my PC where the sole use is to play Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 and soon 2024?   What sort of speeds should I expect from a 5g hub?   This game benefits from a fast connection hence my questions.    

Does anyone use the 5g Hub and 5G for gaming like this?

Thanks

Josh

[GadgetObsessed]

Hope it works well for you. Did you go for the indoor MC888 or the new outdoor hub:

https://www.three.co.uk/broadband/home-broadband/5g-outdoor-hub

I currently have a 5G router that I bought myself for £250 and it works well. However, placement seems really important - at least where I live at around 750m from the mast. The strongest signal that I cna get indoors is on the first floor in the corner of the hosue nearest the mast. There I get around 100mbps but in parts of the house the signal is much worse and I can get as low as 15mbps. The router tells me how strong the signal is and if I just hold it out of the window next to the point I am using it indoors then the signal gets significantly stronger. Stangely though this improves the upload speed but not the download speed - goes from 100mbps down and 40mps up to 100mpps down and 60mbps up.

I am considering either trying a decent 5g aerial (Poynting XPOL2 - about £185) or trying the new Three outdoor hub. However, the outdoor hub is a bit of faff. You have to mount the hub outside and run an ethernet cable t oit. (It takes its power from the ethernet cable.) The other end of this cable plugs into a power unit that also has another ethernet port for you to hard wire a wifi router to. It comes with an Eero 6 unit for the wifi and you can buy other Eeros from Amazon to build a mesh and extend the coverage. However, i have my own mesh and it isnt clear whether the new Thrree Outdoor Hub can be connected to this.

Costs vary considerably. I have paid £250 for my 5g hub but can use any SIM. I can get an unlimited 3 SIM for about £9 per month. Total cost over 2 years is about £360. Ic an change the SIM whenever I want and can keep the Hub.

Or I can get the Three Outdoor Hub with unlimited SIM for £24 per month - with a 50% discount for 12 months. Total of £500 for 24 months. If I stop the contract then I lose the hub.

[JoshBear]

Hi. Went for the Indoor as my house is listed and I would need the listed builders person from the council to give approval for an outside aerial 🙄. Had enough of that process for my sky dish and alarm box.

Regards

Josh

[JoshBear]

Quick update,

 My home broadband gives me 55 ish Mbps download, 8 Mbps upload and a ping around 15 to 20. Here is what the 5G hub is giving me on average. You can see the upload is slower. Not sure why. Of course I know speeds may vary so will try for a month and if not better than the home connection will cancel the contract.

Regards

Josh

[GadgetObsessed]

Unfortunately I cannot see the image that you uploaded. I found that the speed from Three 5g varied significantly around the house.

If you already have a Three 5g SIM in your phone I would recommend installing the following apps:

Signal Strength

Speedtest

Then go around the house checking where you get the best speed. (Making sure that you turn WiFi off on your phone first.) If you don't have a Three SIM in your phone then try take the SIM out of the router and putting it in your phone. If the SIM or your phone is locked then unfortunately you will have to move the router around the house. I don't know about the Three MC888 router but my TP Link router shows the signal strength. Then use Speed test on your phone connected to the router to check performance.

My strongest signal is shown as -98 dB with an SNR of about 20 and I get around 100 Mbps.

[JoshBear]

Hi

No idea what is wrong which the photo 🙄.  But the numbers are 295 download, 5.3 upload and a ping of 28.   Taken a number of readings using Speedtest and this is about the middle ground.  So far so good.   I will do as you say and look for the strongest signal area.

Thanks again

Josh

[JonathanB · Accepted solution]

Hi @JoshBear,

We moderate images, sorry for the delay, this can take a bit longer over evenings and weekends for them to be approved. Should be visible now. 🙂

Thanks,
Jonathan

[JoshBear]

Ah ok.  Thanks for letting me know 🙂

[GadgetObsessed]

I am in a similar situation to yourself with broadband limited to about 50mbps download and 10mbps upload. There is a new Three 5g mast nearby. Using a TPLink X50-5G router and a 3 SIM I get around 100mbps upload and 40 download. (Withe router in the part of the house that gets the best signal.) The speed is determined by signal quality which is dependent upon distance from the mast. If I go and stand right next to the mast I get about 250mbps down and 100 up.

Note that for games what can be most important is not overall internet throughout but ping time i.e. how long it takes to send and receive a short message. The ping time will tell you how responsive an internet based game will be to the controls you are using. One of the most common complaints that I see regarding 5g broadband is that the ping time is too high to be able to play fast action games well. That is much less likely to be an issue for a flight simulator than it is for a first person shooter. My ping with broadband is about 14ms and with the TPLink 5g router via 3 is about double that. Some people report pings in the hundred of milliseconds using 3 provided routers which would be noticeable.

I don't know if the TP link 5g router is any better in that respect than the MC888. Also Three have now launch an outdoor hub which should get a better signal than indoor hubs.

[JoshBear]

Thanks.  Appreciate the response.  I have pulled the trigger and ordered a hub on a monthly contract.   Will test and report back.  I am hoping it works with the Sim as I only play First person shooters on the xbox which connects through the house wifi.  

Regards

Josh