Do you mind to share how is the ZTE MC888S signal strength at your location?

My location is -80dBm LTE and -97 dBm 5G with below performance.




With this kind of speed, I can't do my online study, lab, exam and video conference.

this was taken at my parents' house in klang. Full 5 bars 5G signal.
~350Mbps DL 80Mbps UL.

at my home jitra (before I ditched the MC888s), 3 bars only.
~400Mbps DL 60Mbps UL.

both 5G telco tower just ~1km behind house.

The router placed just beside window.

But to me, no use blazing fast speed but unstable internet uptime aka frequent auto reboot. 

i suggest you buy either Nokia Fast Mile 3 5G router (RM600) or like mine, GTeniq IQ20X55 ver2 (RM800). Both available at shopee. Ensure you get the router that has Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 series. Don't try your luck with MediaTek. NEVER TOUCH UniSOC IVY 510 Makalu (MC888s) anymore! 

Qualcomm SD X50 series chipset = very fast speed, no more frequent auto reboot. 

Well, UNISOC IVY 510 manufactured with 12nm, but X50 is manufactured with 10nm while X55 is with 7nm. I think it will run a bit hotter, hence which is why I added a fan to the bare and small heatplate.

I will run the test for a week and see the result on the stability. If good, then I will consider to dremel 80mm or 120mm hole on the original case to fit a usb fan to cool it instead of the current test using cardboard. I will consider to swap the thermal pad as well since I bought some which was originally intended to be use to service the router.

i suggest you buy either Nokia Fast Mile 3 5G router (RM600) or like mine, GTeniq IQ20X55 ver2 (RM800). Both available at shopee. Ensure you get the router that has Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 series. Don't try your luck with MediaTek. NEVER TOUCH UniSOC IVY 510 Makalu (MC888s) anymore! 

Qualcomm SD X50 series chipset = very fast speed, no more frequent auto reboot. 

I beg to defer your "conclusion" on MediaTek 5G modem.  Was using Yeacomm NR330 for a year now, nothing other than fantastic stability and speed. 

Has never shutdown or reboot for... months now, stand next to the modem (on 1st floor windows) I get 800 mbps DL, and 125-150 mbps UL.  At my home ground floor still get 200-300mbps, so don't talk rubbish about MediaTek chipset

But the catch is, being the early adopter on 5G modem back in mid 2023, there is a premium price to pay for Yeacomm, at RM800-900.

sorry didn't really knew MediaTek could perform well other than SD X55.

All my research before this had led to my conclusion that X55 is the most stable & most performing router chipset. 

I beg to defer your "conclusion" on MediaTek 5G modem.  Was using Yeacomm NR330 for a year now, nothing other than fantastic stability and speed. 

Has never shutdown or reboot for... months now, stand next to the modem (on 1st floor windows) I get 800 mbps DL, and 125-150 mbps UL.  At my home ground floor still get 200-300mbps, so don't talk rubbish about MediaTek chipset

But the catch is, being the early adopter on 5G modem back in mid 2023, there is a premium price to pay for Yeacomm, at RM800-900.

Best above 800mbps, 90% of the time above 600mbps.  I don't do speedtest from the 5G modem these days, as I am at ground floor like 95% of the time, I bought a Xiaomi AX3000 router connect via wifi (as wifi extender, cabling is not possible for me) to my Yeacomm which I get 250-300mbps.  And my speedtest have been on the Xiaomi AX3000 most of the time.

My house is a 3 storey terrace corner lot, so need two Xiaomi router, one AX3000 on ground floor, another AX1800 on 2nd floor, in order to get wifi signal for the full house including toilets

I see... thanks for sharing. Are you using their free modem as well? My celcom contract still had like 5 or 6 months... thinking wanna change to UM or Yes. I did trial my own UM in office (since the tower is literally in front of my office, less than 50m) and it does 300+ consistently. If YES is better then might consider it as well. Currently paying RM149 for Celcom.

Nope, as I bought my Yeacomm in June 2023, way before the free modem - telco bundle.

So I have :

1st floor :  Yeacomm 5G modem, share out internet thru WiFi both 2.4ghz and 5ghz.

Grnd floor : Xiaomi AX3000 router, wifi extender to my Yeacomm 5ghz, diff SSID from Yeacomm. Only one 5ghz SSID.

2nd flr : Xiaomi AX1800 router, wifi extender to my Yeacomm 5ghz, same SSID as my Grnd floor Xiaomi. Only one 5ghz SSID.

Hence all my family's mobile phones, PC, TV box take internet from the Xioomi SSID actually.  Do Ms Teams call, Whatsapp video call all are good.  Watching F1, TVB or Korea dramas, from my TV box all good.

As for all my smart devices which take on 2.4ghz, are actually connected to Yeacomm 2.4 ghz, which is strong enough to cover the whole house but at low speed.  Good enough for smart devices like lighting switches, robot, air purifier, fridge.  No CCTV yet

I see... guess I will be stuck with UM for 2 years then... Im not really a sucker for fast speed since my usage even with kids is not that high really. Tonight will do a few speedtest to see how much my connection is throttled if any. I do feel loading youtube, iqiyi, bein sport and other is slightly more consistent with UM than Unifi. The only app that would not work right now is HBO Go on my Sony TV for whatever reason. Could be blocking by UM. When I hotspot my XoX lines to my TV, HBO Go load instantly.

As you are more or less stuck with a 2 years contract (due to the free device), you may consider 2 alternative strategy to improve the line :

1. Invest in a separate 5G modem that is known to have strong signal and high speed.  Just close one eye, bite the bullet to pay something around RM800.
2. Find the best spot at home which has the best signal and speed from the ZTE modem, even if that is not ideal to share out the line.  Pull a LAN cable to a stable router that share out good internet speed.  Do note that the 5G modem is not to be placed right next to metal / steel.  Keep some distance.

I think what you have been testing and trying on the ZTE are already the good base, if the active cooling works, the next step is to do the point 2 above.  Even if that is let's say in your storeroom or toilet, just do it loh

I just purchased Gteniq IQ02X55 ver2 5G router at Shopee (price after discount about RM805).
Been running for few days and I am so satisfied with it.

Now NO MORE frequent auto reboot compared to my old ZTE MC888s free router by umobile.

been getting consistent ~450Mbps DL ~50Mbps UL with 17ms ping.
5G tower is just ~1km from my home in Jitra Kedah.
Can lock bands too.
This is just using the internal antennas (2x WiFi, 4x 5G). Gteniq can use outdoor parabolic antennas as well, but with the good signal strength I'm getting (-85 dBm LTE, -90 dBm 5G), I think no need for outdoor antennas.

As i understand, this Gteniq 5G router is using Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 chipset, which is the same as my wife's ZTE MU5120 portable 5G MiFi router.
Very stable, cpu & wifi temperature under its WebUI shows below 50 deg C during operation.

But I do have UniFi fiber line as main internet.

the 5G serve as backup and to offload 50% IoT devices riding on my main ASUS AX82U router.

so does this modem make 5G home internet feel like fiber or still far from it?

planning to get 1.. Gteniq.. still funding... hahaha

my issue with ZTE
if close sliding door , the signal unstable
speed wise, non peak time open big sliding door, can get 400Mbps

Hi,
I am using a variant of it, NR5103V2.
Over last week, it was madness with many DC's. Prior to that, it's been very stabled and my last forced reboot was 35 days...

And it seems to be stable again. I guess something funny was going on!

Hi,
I am using a variant of it, NR5103V2.
Over last week, it was madness with many DC's. Prior to that, it's been very stabled and my last forced reboot was 35 days...

And it seems to be stable again. I guess something funny was going on!