Cell locking on Zyxel 5103e

[nsmhd]

Hi all,

I’ve been using Three’s 5G Home Broadband service for a few weeks now with the provider Zyxel NR5103e.

Using an external antenna (XPOL-V2 4x4 5G) I can pick up an excellent 4&5G signal.

The issue is I’m in the middle of two masts that both do 5G and the one I’m connecting to and is slightly closer (1.13 kM vs 1.41KM) only has ~300mbps backhaul via Microwave link so not only can you not get the full 5G speeds but in the evenings it gets congested which causes latency to go from 30-50ms to 400ms + and the usual issues that come from that.

I tried moving my external antenna in the opposite direction facing the other mast which I know is fibre fed and can support the max 5G speeds but the router won’t lock onto it and just connected to the other mast still.

it would be great to get cell locking which would enable us to choose which mast to connect to for situations like this.

Anyone know of another way to get the router to prefer a different mast?

Fingers crossed Three upgrade the backhaul of the mast I’m connecting to as I do get an excellent signal from it and it has the two n78 carries and B1+3+20+28+32 LTE bands.

Many thanks,

Nathan

[crypt0ninja]

Yeah seems to be enabled on some Swedish providers NR5103E.

Its a very much needed feature for a lot of us!

[UnrealMachine35]

Cell locking would be amazing to be able to do with this router

[Dazzar]

I was trying to lock on to B1 3 and N78 but it refused to work at all, 

[crypt0ninja]

I have a strong feeling yours may be faulty @Dazzar...

May be worth calling up to request a replacement, clearly stating that your other devices are picking up 5G just fine so the NR5103E should too.

[nsmhd]

I can get mine to band lock onto n78+ any LTE (except B32 on its own with n78 as it’s SDL download only) just all connects to the one mast though.

I find band 3,32+n78 works well and provides the best upload speed as it aggregates band3 15Mhz and a 100mhz upload channel. 

I do find when testing different configs it can get confused/buggy so best rebooting the router if you run into issues. 

[Dazzar]

I will give that a go when the wife is not watching YouTube 

[nsmhd]

I wrote a blog about my experience with Three 5G home broadband which goes into much more detail with images of my setup etc https://fttppro.co.uk/three-5g-home-broadband-review-2023/

[crypt0ninja]

Hi @nsmhd,

I'm in a similar situation which cell locking would resolve. Band locking helps to an extent but cell locking options are definitely needed and would complement the existing band locking options and allow users to lock onto specific connections.

I have already discussed this with @JonathanB as Zyxel's own NR5101 has cell locking functionality so cant see any reason why it shouldn't be possible to get it enabled via firmware update for the NR5103E.

I assume (big assumption lol) that the options can be enabled when Three compile their branded version of Zyxel's NR5103E firmware.

Hopefully @JonathanB can provide us with an update if he's managed to discuss it with his contacts.

Cheers

[nsmhd]

Cheers @crypt0ninja yes hopefully they will be able to push it out via a firmware update and I would be more than happy to be in a test group.

I have attempted band locking with varies configs but it just wants to connect to the same mast either with the internal or external antenna.

I did login via SSH and see if their was a cli option for cell locking but was not able to find one. 

[crypt0ninja]

Yeah I'm using the same external as you and as its omni it picks up signal from all directions. Atm I have to stick to a B28+N78 combo, even though my mast has b1, b3 etc if I add them into the mix it sometimes randomly switches to a mast/cell with terrible signal stats.

A directional antenna with a narrow signal beam would help block out the unwanted signal from the mast you don't want but cell locking is needed in the case of omni directional antennas to avoid this issue (the internal antennas and the xpol-1-v2-5g-41 that we use).

Cell locking is very helpful for both stabilising connections and also troubleshooting issues with cells so would be great if they can enable it via firmware update for us.

Hint Hint @JonathanB 😂