A bit of theory
What determines the data transfer rate from the base station (BS) to the subscriber? If we remove the interference, the distance between the subscriber and the BS, the load on the BS and the channel load from the BS itself to the point of access to the Internet, then only the channel width, modulation, data transmission frequency and the number of these channels remain.
Let's start with the frequency: LTE in Russia operates at 450, 800, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2300, 2500 and 2600 MHz. If we recall physics, then it clearly explained that lower frequencies have better penetrating ability and attenuate at a greater distance. Therefore, in the city, high frequencies are usually used with a denser arrangement of BSs, and outside the city, low frequencies are more often used, allowing you to set up towers less often. It also depends on what frequency is allocated to the operator in the current region.
Channel width: In Russia, the most common channel widths are 5, 10 and 20 MHz, although the width can be from 1.4 to 20 MHz.
Modulation: QPSK, 16QAM, 64 QAM and 256 QAM. It already depends on the telecom operator. I will not delve into the technical features, but the rule applies here: the higher the modulation in this rank, the higher the speed.
Number of channels: The receiving radio module can operate in the channel aggregation mode, if supported by the telecom operator. For example, the tower sends data at 1800 and 2600 MHz. The LTE Cat.4 radio will only be able to operate on one of these frequencies. A category 6 module will be able to work with both frequencies at once, summing the speed from two modules at once. A Category 12 device will work with three carriers at once: for example, two at 1800 MHz (1800 + 1800) and one at 2600 MHz. The real speed will not be x3, but will depend only on the workload of the BS and the bandwidth of the Internet channel of the base station itself. I have encountered cases when working with Cat.6, when working with one channel gave a speed of 40 Mbit / s, and with two channels 65-70 Mbit / s. Agree, not a bad increase!
Test idea
This is how I got the idea to test routers of different categories to find out the real picture that will open to an ordinary user. The problem is to take routers of the same series or only with different radio modules, since routers from different manufacturers will probably use different stuffing, which can affect the measurement results. Therefore, I came up with the idea to test only one manufacturer, but different routers.
The second step was the choice of the type of devices for tests: you can just take a router and connect an antenna to it through the cable assembly, but practice has shown that the user wants to get a combine, into which it is enough to insert a SIM card and turn on the device to the network. So I came up with the idea to test monoblocks, that is, a router and an antenna in one case.
The third step I decided on the manufacturer: Zyxel has the largest line of monoblocks with different LTE categories, so the choice was just obvious.
For the test, I took the following routers: LTE 7240, LTE 7460 and LTE 7480.
Testing technique
In order to evaluate the capabilities of routers, it was decided to conduct a little "synthetic" test and a real test. The synthetic test consisted in the fact that the speed measurements were carried out at a distance of about 200 meters from the base station in the alignment of the radiating antenna, which made it possible to obtain the best signal level. The connection was carried out to the Megafon towers, since they provided the maximum channel width for this place of 20 MHz. Well, I tested the routers in two regions, where according to the coverage map the operator promises speeds up to 150 and up to 300 Mbps, respectively. The real test was to put the router in my home where I tested the old routers. Communication conditions in this mode are much more complicated, since the distance to the tower is 8 km and there is no line of sight, and there are trees in the signal path. So, there were three tests in total:
- Distance to the tower ~ 200 m. Zone with a maximum declared speed of 150 Mbps. Testing time 12-13 hours.
- Distance to the tower ~ 200 m. Zone with a maximum declared speed of 300 Mbps. Testing time 12-13 hours.
- Distance to the tower ~ 8000 m. No line of sight. The zone with the maximum declared speed of 150 Mbps. Testing time 12-13 hours.
All tests were carried out with the same SIM card on weekdays. The time was chosen around 12-13 hours in order to avoid morning and evening peak loads on the BS. The tests were carried out several times on two different servers using the Speedtest service: Moscow Megafon and Moscow RETN. The speed varied slightly, as the servers have different load. It's time to start testing, but first, the external description and technical specifications for each router.
Zyxel LTE 7240-M403
A starter router from Zyxel's all-weather LTE line. It can be attached to the wall of the house with a special plate, or it can be fixed to the pipe with clamps. It does not have a mount with several degrees of freedom, so it is worth preparing the rod for external mounting and more accurate direction to the BS. With its small size, it has a good antenna and ease of installation: the sim card and Ethernet wire are inserted into the case, and a special cover seals it all. The router is endowed with a Wi-Fi module, which makes it possible not only to use Internet access via a wire, but also to decently cover the surrounding area with a wireless signal. The router has a built-in module with Cat.4 support and the maximum download speed achieved during the tests was 105 Mbps - an excellent result for such a device.But when tested in real conditions, when it was more than 8 km to the base station, it was possible to reach a maximum speed of 23.5 Mbps. Someone will say that this is not much, but often there are operators of fiber-optic lines who want from 500 to 1200 rubles of a monthly fee for 10 Mbps, and the connection will also cost 10-40 thousand rubles. Thus, mobile Internet is both cheaper and much easier to install and connect anywhere. In general, this router will allow you to work comfortably remotely, as well as enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the network. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.managed to reach a maximum speed of 23.5 Mbps. Someone will say that this is not much, but often there are operators of fiber-optic lines who want from 500 to 1200 rubles of a monthly fee for 10 Mbps, and the connection will also cost 10-40 thousand rubles. Thus, mobile Internet is both cheaper and much easier to install and connect anywhere. In general, this router will allow you to work comfortably remotely, as well as enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the network. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.managed to reach a maximum speed of 23.5 Mbps. Someone will say that this is not much, but often there are operators of fiber-optic lines who want from 500 to 1200 rubles of a monthly fee for 10 Mbps, and the connection will also cost 10-40 thousand rubles. Thus, mobile Internet is both cheaper and much easier to install and connect anywhere. In general, this router will allow you to work comfortably remotely, as well as enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the network. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.who want for 10 Mbit / s from 500 to 1200 rubles a monthly fee, and the connection will also cost 10-40 thousand rubles. Thus, the mobile Internet is both cheaper and much easier to install and connect anywhere. In general, this router will allow you to work comfortably remotely, as well as enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the network. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.who want for 10 Mbit / s from 500 to 1200 rubles of a monthly fee, and the connection will also cost 10-40 thousand rubles. Thus, mobile Internet is both cheaper and much easier to install and connect anywhere. In general, this router will allow you to work comfortably remotely, as well as enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the network. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.and also enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the net. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.as well as enjoy watching videos and quite fast surfing the net. If you already have a ready-made infrastructure with IP cameras or a video surveillance system, then it is enough to add such a router to remotely monitor your security system.
Zyxel LTE7460-M608
This device is a logical development of the legendary Zyxel LTE 6100 device, which opened the era of LTE monoblock routers. True, the previous model had an indoor unit, which was located indoors, and an antenna with a modem was outside. The device complies with LTE Cat.6 technology, which implies the aggregation of two carriers and an increase in the incoming speed, if supported by the base station. Installing a SIM card into a router is a non-trivial action, because the board with the injector is located deep inside the antenna and when mounted at a height there is every chance of dropping the SIM card. Therefore, I highly recommend installing the card below, and then mount the router at a height. Since this is the first all-in-one device to appear in the Zyxel line, it is not equipped with a Wi-Fi module, so Internet access can only be obtained by cable.This gives rise to the freedom to choose a Wi-Fi point that will be installed in the house. Also, Zyxel LTE7460 can be easily integrated into existing infrastructure and can work in bridge mode. As for the speed characteristics, the router in the tests was able to demonstrate a solid 137 Mbit / s for downloading - not every wired provider provides such a speed over the cable. The maximum upload speed in the same test was over 39 Mbps, which is close to the theoretical threshold of uploading from a client to the network. As for the real test at a long distance, the router also felt confident and allowed to download at speeds up to 31 Mbit / s, and send data at speeds of more than 7 Mbit / s. In the case of living outside the city and there is no possibility of connecting to wired networks, this speed is quite enough for the needs of the whole family - education,entertainment and work.
Zyxel LTE7480-M804
Finally, the turn came to the top model in the line of all-in-one routers in this test. Zyxel LTE7480 supports LTE Cat.12 technology and is capable of working with three carriers at once. Possible combinations of aggregation modes are presented in the table with performance characteristics, but I'll just say - it really works! The maximum speed reached during testing was over 172 Mbps! To understand the order of the numbers, it is about 21 MB / s. That is, a 3 Gigabyte movie at this speed will be downloaded in 142 seconds! During this time, even the kettle will not boil, and the film in good quality will already be on the computer disk. Here you need to understand that the speed will depend on the workload of the base station and the channel capacity that is connected to this BS. I think that at night, when subscribers load the network less,on the test rig, I could get even more speed. Now I will move from admiration to description and cons. The manufacturer listened to the users and made more comfortable installation, as well as the integration of the sim-card: now it is not located in the depth of the case, but at the end - under the protective cover. The mounting bracket allows you to install the router both on the wall of the house and on a remote rod and accurately align the antenna on the BS - the horizontal and vertical rotation angle is 180 degrees. The device is also equipped with a Wi-Fi module and in addition to transmitting data over a wire, it can provide mobile devices with the Internet over a wireless channel. During the test, it was noticeable that the outgoing speed was lower than that of other models, and I assume that this is due to two points: damp firmware or the dense arrangement of 4 antennas in a compact case:the dimensions of the Zyxel LTE7480 are the same as those of the Zyxel LTE7460, and the antennas are twice as large. I contacted the manufacturer, and they confirmed my assumptions - nevertheless, it is not easy to find such communication conditions as I had, with a distance of 8 km from the BS.
Summing up, you need to refer to the table of speed measurements. It follows from it that even being at the same point, you can get different speeds, since the servers can be loaded to a greater or lesser extent. In addition, the load on the base station is affected. The speed measurements also show that at a long distance, about 8.5 km, channel aggregation is unlikely to work (or my BS simply does not support aggregation) and the gain of the built-in antennas comes to the fore. If you are in close proximity or line of sight from the base station, then it makes sense to purchase devices with support for Cat.6 or Cat.12 technology. If you have the amount to buy a Zyxel LTE7460 router, then it makes sense to slightly increase your budget to take a Zyxel LTE7480 router with Cat.12 support and a built-in Wi-Fi module.If the BS is far away, but you have all the infrastructure in the house and only the Internet access point is missing, then you can take the middle device from the line. Those who are undemanding to the speed of Internet access and want to save money should look towards the Zyxel LTE 7240 - this starter model is compact, easy to install and capable of providing a comfortable level of surfing in the network.