Vodafone 5G Mobile Hotspot Review [ZTE MU5001] – A bargain worth keeping an eye on

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The ZTE MU5001 5G mobile hotspot with WiFi 6 was launched last year and has since been renamed 5G mobile hotspot hardware by Vodafone.

Vodafone deal

If you were to buy the ZTE MU5001 separately from Amazon, it would cost you over £300. A recent deal from Vodafone allows you to buy this router on a one-month contract with no upfront cost.

At the time, the contract I got was 42pcm unlimited data, but I cancelled it within the first month, and then I could use any SIM I wanted. Some buyers have managed to make it cheaper.

Dealing with Vodafone customer support over the phone is a nightmare. In hindsight, I would have asked for a PAC code and switched to a new provider, automatically canceling my contract.

The device is unlocked so I can switch between Vodafone, Three and EE.

The deal I managed to get has expired and the hotspot is currently out of stock. Vodafone says it starts at £15 a month and £80 upfront, but it could be a 24-month contract.

You can buy a Vodafone 4G mobile hotspot for £0 upfront and £37 a month on a one-month contract. Unfortunately, this hotspot doesn’t have an Ethernet port, so if you want to use it for home internet, it’s not much use.

Specifications/Features

• Modem: 5G Snapdragon X55 + QCA6391
• WiFi: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2×2 MIMO, dual-band (WiFi 6)
• Battery: 4500mAh battery, working time 8 hours
• Display: 2.4″ touch screen 320*240
• Devices: Up to 32
• port:

set up

Since I’m so used to the phone and its pre-installed unusable battery, I didn’t expect it to arrive without the built-in battery. So, embarrassingly, I spent about an hour wondering why the device wouldn’t charge or boot properly.

It’s worth noting that not only is it pointed out that you need to have the battery installed, it’s always needed to be plugged in, even if you plan to turn it on and plug it in permanently. It is generally not advisable to leave battery powered devices plugged in permanently. One option is to connect it to a smart plug and turn it off for a few hours a day.

Once the device is powered up, setup using the touchscreen is fairly straightforward. The hotspot automatically recognizes the SIM card, no need to enter APN settings.

You can customize your WiFi name and password and various other basic settings. However, I did find the touchscreen difficult to use. I find it easier to use the default SSID and password, then log into the router settings via a browser and customize everything that way.

custom made

After logging into the router administrator, you can easily change all major settings. I find it easier to customize the WiFi name and password this way.

You can also unlock hidden menu options that let you customize your router settings even more. This requires you to paste some JavaScript into the console via the developer tools.

you can find the code and More about GitHub.

• Open the browser and enter “192.168.0.1” on the ZTE MU5001 interface
• Log in
• Press F12 to open the developer tools
• and copy/paste the code from the JavaScript text

Performance

My office doesn’t have access to 5G, so most of my testing was done on 4G.I also compared my Pixel 6 phone to Netgear NBK752 Orbi 5G WiFi 6 Mesh System

• three
  • Mobile Speed: 71Mbps DL, 30Mbps UL, 75ms ping
  • Netgear: 74Mbps DL, 40Mbps UL, 64ms ping
  • Vodafone 5G Hotspot: 80Mbps DL, 37Mbps UL, 59ms ping
• Vodafone
  • Mobile Speed: 121 Mbps DL, 28Mbps UL, 36ms ping
  • Netgear: 154Mbps DL, 34Mbps UL, 26ms ping
  • Vodafone 5G Hotspot: 153Mbps DL, 28Mbps UL, 41ms ping
• EE
  • Mobile Speed: 60Mbps DL, 11Mbps UL, 24ms ping
  • Netgear: 73Mbps DL, 25Mbps, 26ms ping
  • Vodafone 5G Hotspot: 74Mbps DL, 28Mbps UL, 34ms ping

Then took it out and tested it with a 3 that could get a 5G signal, and I achieved 272Mbps download, 31.1Mbps upload, and 62ms ping.

With this review, I didn’t test the external antenna as I found that the Poynting XPOL-1 V2 5G I used with Netgear didn’t offer any benefit.

However, I did notice that a user on HotUKDeals stated that they use Poynting XPOL-2 V3 5G Allow them to go from 4G (5Mbps to 15Mbps) to 5G and reach 120-130Mbps. This antenna is quite expensive, over £150.

Overall, the results are excellent for such a small unit. I would have expected it to perform significantly worse than the pricier Netgear NBK752, assuming its smaller form factor would mean worse reception, but the performance difference was minimal.

While the ping is a bit high for gaming, the overall performance is more than adequate for home internet.

Price and Alternatives

If you are buying a SIM-free 5G router:

The ZTE MU5001 is available from Amazon for £309

D-Link DWR-2101 5G WiFi 6 Mobile Hotspot £349

Huawei E6878-370 5G Portable Mobile Wi-Fi Pro £395

Netgear MR5200 5G WiFi 6 Mobile Router £779.99

comprehensive

The ZTE MU5001 is a great hotspot, even if you buy it at a retail store. It’s cheaper than competing brands and performs well.

The Vodafone deal is an amazing one. You’d be hard-pressed to buy a basic 4G hotspot at this price, and performance varies widely, whether it’s mobile data or WiFi 6.

One of the standout features of this router compared to cheap alternatives is the inclusion of Ethernet. This makes this hotspot a viable option for your home internet, not just when traveling. I’m not giving up my Virgin Fiber for a while, but I’ll use it as a backup if/when Virgin goes down.

Last updated on March 31, 2022 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API