5G sim plan vs. Huawei H112-372

[MagicMan90]

Dear Vodafone / Community,

I would really appreciate some knowledgeable opinion / answer on the technical side, as I already had unpleasant discussion with one of your operatives, quite rude and not helpful at all.

I have started 5G Sim Plan, Unlimited, not so long ago. It was for the intention of putting said SIM into Huawei H112-372 - 5G router model. No lying in here, I wanted to use it as a mobile broadband for home with good speeds on it (have checked the area coverage and both indoors and outdoors are strong).

This seems to be working only after restart of the device, speed are picking up, only to slow down after a few hours / a day to lower than minimal available broadband I think. This is getting bit frustrating and I was hoping for some explanation as to why is it happening?

Yes, I know that I have input SIM card to "non attested" Vodafone router (exact same model given away by you guys), but that's cause you are charging horrendous rates for 5G Broadband and yes I know it is generally frowned upon, but there is nothing that would say mobile internet will perform poorly if SIM is slotted into anything else but Vodafone device. Would it be the same case if I have slotted it into 5G mobile phone?

If someone can please explain this and whether I can have proper speeds, if not, I will just terminate contract early as this is not entirely true what Unlimited (as fast speeds as possible) 5G SIM only plan offered.

I wanted to check on APNs, however looking at router settings it is finding Vodafone APN lists anyway so not sure if that's the case.

Once again, I would appreciate some technical insight, whatever it might be - if there's no way of configuring exact same device to work properly with a SIM card, I might get a 5G phone to set it up, either way I will need to make sure the speeds are keeping up to what they should (signal at least suggest they should).

Thank you kindly.

[Farai]

Hey @MagicMan90 👋 Unfortunately we aren't able to provide any technical insight in this situation, as phone SIM plans are designed for use in mobile phones and not routers. If you're having issues in a 5G area, with a 5G phone, drop us a message here on our Social Channels and my colleagues will help you take a closer look into this. 

[MagicMan90]

Hey @Farai, thanks for your reply. What kind/type of SIM cards are you providing for 5G broadband/routers in that case if you don't mind me asking?

I'll be sure to try the current SIM on 5G phone shortly and see the difference. Thanks again.

Kind Regards

[Evie]

Hey there @MagicMan90 - We offer some great Data Only SIMs designed for your tablet, data dongle or MiFi device here 😊 

Okay, let us know how you get on! Also, to make sure the service in your area is fully operating have a look at our network status checker.

[MagicMan90]

Thanks Evie - I'm assuming there wouldn't be any option/possibility of swapping/changing/transferring contracts from my current 5G SIM Only Plan to 5G Data Only Plan? More than happy to bear any potential additional costs if possible - this seems like I picked the wrong SIM / Plan in this case, as I was wondering on getting SIM Only back then but didn't ask enough.

Thank you for letting me know.

[Beth]

@MagicMan90, I'd recommend you contact one of the sales team over on 191 from a Vodafone phone or 03333 040 191 from any other standard UK phone (standard call charges apply). Alternatively, contact our live chat team here, and they'll be able to advise how we get you moved over to a data only plan with us 🙂

[iddn]

Hi @Beth,

I am in a similar position to the original poster. I am using an Unlimited Max pay-monthly SIM card in a self-bought 5G router. Everything was fine until a few days ago (> 200Mbps down) but now it's only around 100Mpbs (if I'm lucky).

Has something changed? Do I need to change my contract to be a Data-only one?
If it helps, here is the current outer output:

CELL_ID 137044498
RSRQ -13.0dB
RSRP -87dBm
RSSI -57dBm
SINR 3dB

When I was getting a 5G connection there were separate 5G_RSRQ, etc entries too. Now there's nothing. Nothing has changed from my end. I have rebooted the router many times. So it seems that I have been kicked off the 5g network? I do not have access to a 5G phone to test the SIM with.

[Tash]

Please can you let us know the full postcode where you're using the router @iddn along with its make and model? I'll then be able to take a closer look into any changes with our 5G network that may have occurred over the last few days or so.  If you'd prefer not to share this on the thread, you can add the postcode to your profile where only our team and yourself will be able to view this. 

[iddn]

Hi Tash,

I was talking to the people via the chat and they managed to sort it out for me.

Thanks anyway!

[MagicMan90]

Hi iddn, can you please share what was the issue and what sorted it? I am stuck a bit as apparently Vodafone cannot change/replace my SIM Card from mobile to Data Only without terminating the contract which sets me up for a longer period of terribly low speeds. 

Thank you.