MOFI 4500 vs Nighthawk M1 vs WE826-T2 with EM7565

[robonova]

I have a Nighthawk and I've seen it's max get about 70 down. I tried the MOFI 4500 and the BEST it could do was 20 down. Does a WE826-T2 with EM7565 get as fast or faster than the Nighthawk or does it not get any faster than the MOFI?

Thanks

[Didneywhorl]

Huge huge it depends. Which you can get what is theoretically possible with what is listed in each modems spec sheets.

The 7565 is a cat12 modem, the mofi 4500 uses a cat6 modem, the Nighthawk a cat16.

Technically speaking, the nighthawk is fastest.

The mofi and we826 both are the same base router that only offers 100Mbps LAN ports, so anything over cat6 is a waste of money. I've personally gotten only about 85Mbps out of mine with an mc7455 modem (same as mofi)

The bigger question is are you maxxing out possible signal strength and quality AND are you being held back by the carriers radios that are providing your service.

[robonova]

The bigger question is are you maxxing out possible signal strength and quality AND are you being held back by the carriers radios that are providing your service.

Thanks for your reply but I don't think I understand this statement. I understand the Nighthawk is technically fastest because of the cat 16 modem but with the MOFI my top speeds were only ~20 down whereas with the Nighthawk my top speeds are ~70 down. My question I guess is will a cat 12 modem get me Nighthawk speeds since the MOFI cat 6 didn't get above 20? Also the carrier aggregation sucked on the MOFI and i'm hoping the 7565 has better aggregation also.

[Didneywhorl]

No, the mofi was getting lesser speeds because the nighthawk has better antennas inside. The mofi, which again is a white labeled we826 with an mc7455 inside, is capable of atleast 85-90Mbps. I can get such speeds on mine. The problem your having is signal strength. Your Nighthawk has better antennas.

If you want more out of your mofi or we826, I would get better antennas and optimize placement for best signal. If you can get your mofi/we826 to get up to 85-90Mbps, then you have maxxed it out. The LAN and wifi capabilities of the mofi/we826 router itself doesnt go beyond 100Mbps (more like 85-90 in reality) and would be wasteful to get a more powerful modem for it.
The Nighthawk is a great unit, much more capable than the mofi/we826 , it just lacks some customizability due to its locked firmware, though there are ways around it.

[56387f]

Your Nighthawk has better antennas.

While it may be totally true (but MOFI has 2 kind of external antennas - the stock one and upgraded, paddle style) in order to compare apples to apples it would be interesting to check what bands/CA were used by MOFI and M1 during the test.

And if they were different then it can also explain the difference in results. While changing band lock/CA type on MOFI is not a big problem, that may become a real issue on M1 (US model) since a lot depends on the used firmware.