MR600 - not compatible with Three UK 4G+
Hi TP Link community,
My new MR600 doesn't connect to my ISP, Three UK, on 4G+. My phone and tablet both connect to Three UK on 4G+ using carrier aggregation of bands 1 + 3. The MR600 only connects at 4G on either band 1 or band 3, but never both. Signal is good and there's only one base station of note.
This MR600 works correctly with the ISP EE, using bands 3 + 7 for 4G+ connection. But since it is advertised in the UK as being a "4G+ router", it needs to work with all major networks.
Please would TP Link provide an updated ISP file or firmware that fixes this? Else I will need to return the device. Since Three UK only used B3 and B20 before 2017 and only introduced carrier aggregation in 2019, I'm hoping that TPLink's ISP config file is just outdated.
Thanks in advance for your help!
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When I was using the MR200 and also a MikroTik LTE LHG combined dish / router I only got band 3.
I set my MR600 for 4G only, so it might have excluded other bands that also carry 3G?
I live on the Isle of Wight, so very rural, maybe they decided on a different approach down here
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@Selyah interested in your speed gain with the microTik antenna. Seems very good value at about £18.00 (if I've looked up the right unit) compared to the more expensive brands often recommended but @ ~ £75 +
How close are you to the mast/s...
Does the signal hunt between masts (omnidirectional) or tend to stay on one (the best) mast?
I'm close to just one mast and getting about 40 down and 18up with just a router with 'rabbit ears' in the loft, wondering if it's worth getting an external antenna (or even a better antenna still inside the loft)
Richard.
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Hi Richard, I know its stupidly cheap compared to others I purchased, I spoke to Broadband buyer and they told me to trust them, it does work.
Today when I put the MR600 in the loft I ran the Poynting xpol1 - also an omni, and I got 35mb down and 20 up.
Then I connected up the mANT 50 and i was upto 50+ down and 32 up instantly.
You can see the reason why when you look at the RSRP / RSRQ numbers and also the noise between the two.
This might also be due to the 2x MikroTik 1m cables i bought at the same time.
Both antenna were attached to the same pole, and pointing the same direction and then moved clockwise to check singal change.
Even omni antennas have positional differences.
I have 3 masts around me, and moved to an omni from a directional MikroTik after constant issues with the closest mast congestions at peak times.
The closest mast is 2 miles and line of sight, then 2 more at 4 miles. When I Check with my phone and a signal app, I can see I am always connecting primarily to the closest.
But now at peak times / maintenance if the signal drops on that mast, the router will switch over to the other masts without me having to manual shift the antenna.
I am a homebased IT consultant who needs constant uptime and video cnfrence capability, so I have invested lots of time and effort into finding the best solution.
So far i have tested 8 routers and 6 antennas, I believe I now have the optimum setup for my house and area.
I have looked into bonding and dual sim's, but in reality the technology inst at that point for most of us, I might just move to a second router / antenna and sim just for my office.
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just to show my point, these are 2 traces from ookla, the first with the MR200 and the Xpol 1.
The second is the MR600 and the MikroTik mANT.
Not only is the speed and ping significantly better, but the trace curve and stabilty is much better due to the reception and noise ratio.
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Nope, its a -5dB antenna, frequency range 699-2690 MHz
mANT LTE 50 (MTAO-LTE-5D-SQ)
Go to wifi-stock.co.uk, its £14.34 and you can also buy 2x sma cables from there for less than £10, also MikroTik.
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@Selyah thank you for the link and info on the antenna and cables. much appreciated. At that price well worth a try!
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Sorry to jump in, but I am another who has also been experiencing the same CA connectivity issues since purchasing the MR600 back in October and have just stumbled upon this thread.
Ironically, Three UK have had a technical fault in our area, so that has been masking the problem.
With the work now having been carried out, suspicions were raised when mobile devices connected to the same MNO as the MR600 were establishing 4G+ connections at speeds of over 140Mbps while the TP-Link MR600 struggled to maintain a stable 20Mbps during peak hours.
I have tried the stock antennas and external antennas mounted outside on the roof with a clear LoS to the local mast across the road. I even experimented with signal conditioning filters to minimise any possible interference. Still, the MR600 failed to perform.
It is therefore deeply frustrating that I find on a forum post from a fellow customer that the device is incompatible with Three UK's particular CA configuration.
I have been purchasing TP-Link networking products for nearly 10 years, and was quite happy to see a Cat6 4G+ device that I could integrate in my new mobile broadband home network.
My sole reason for purchasing the MR600 was due to its advertised Cat6 4G+ abilities. Nowhere was it clearly mentioned that it is not fully compatible with Three UK's network, which just happens to be the major network in the UK for unlimited mobile data. It would be fair play to include some form of warning about this issue to allow the consumer to make an informed choice before committing to a purchase.
I hope the issue can be resolved in some way. I am daunted by the vision of having to sell the router at a loss and go in search of a non-TP-Link device.
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@enRiched92
Same here in austria, bought the router to improve my network speed with LTE+ just to find out that B1+B3 is not supported by it.
I checked every user manual and technical specification if there was any incompatibility with this combination, but I didn't find find anything.
So now I wasted 150€ for nothing...
It is UNACCEPTABLE that this information is not written on the box or in any technical specification. Why do I have to search through endless forum comments to get to that information??? If a product has a limitation of a feature that is proudly advertised, it has to be noted anywhere... I want my money back!!!
If there is no firmwareupdate or similar to fix this, I swear to god I will never ever buy anything from TPLink anymore and keep all my business partners and friends from doing so!
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