URGENT HELP: 4G router question

I"m not that familiar with routers, but would this be something akin to what you are looking for?
TL-MR3420 - Welcome to TP-LINK

Found it on Amazon too:
Amazon.com: TP-LINK TL-MR3420 Wireless N300 3G/4G Router, 2.4Ghz 300Mbps, Compatible with UMTS/HSPA/EVDO USB Modem, 2x 5dBi antennas: Electronics

Hope that helps a little


Edit: also moved here to the computer forum so all the "wise guys" can help

Oh, sorry
I tried lol
I tried to download the user guide for that device to check it out, but my anti-virus pegged it as dangerous. (?)

Do you need a Vodafone brand-only router or can it be a different brand?

Mikestony said:

Oh, sorry
I tried lol
I tried to download the user guide for that device to check it out, but my anti-virus pegged it as dangerous. (?)

Do you need a Vodafone brand-only router or can it be a different brand?

Click to expand...

The PDF document is OK, I viewed it in Firefox. TP-Link's website is in here in China. Maybe your AV was being over cautious? Their WiFi router products are very popular here, they are low-cost but generally seem to be OK in my experience.

This product is actually a WiFi DSL router, where you can plug-in a USB 3G/4G cellular modem as an alternative to using your home DSL connection.

Question. If you connect to a server that's not close to you (say at least a few hundred km, and in another country), what speed do you get? I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-2mbps. So unless you're simultaneously downloading files on a few computers/phones at oonce, what are you gaining by going from 3G to 4G? Your download will be as fast as the slowest part of the link. (Think of driving on a superhighway. Even if your car handles well at 200kph, if there's an accident a few km down the road, you're going to crawl as slowly as the guy pedaling a bicycle. That 3G or 4G speed is measured from your provider to you. From a server half-way around the world to your provider, the data may be coming down at 500kbps. So you get one packet at 4G speed, a huge hole during which time nothing happens, then another really fast packet. The throughput - the speed at which the entire file gets transferred - may be only 500kbps. Which will be the same speed you'll get on a 2G connection.

About the only advantages you get from a router that's faster than the nternet itself are 1) you can have 50 people downloading at "full" speed (the speed of the internet) at the same time and 2) communications from one computer to another that are both connected to the same router will be a lot faster.

But running a 5GB/s router on today's internet will still get you downloads that rarely exceed 1mbps. As long as the total download bandwidth you're going to use (internet speed times the number of devices using the router at a single time) exceeds the average internet speed, you're going about as fast as you can go. Payig for more speed is ike trying to drink from a 6" fire hose. There's lots of water available, but you can't use most of it.