₦airaland Forum

Unfaized:
No we were just having a convo. He said Airtel had to stop giving out the G5FA model because it was very notorious for the network downtimes compared to the other models.

He didn't come to do Airtel. He came to install mtn. The mtn issue is probably their mast or something. I have contacted them and they said they'll give me feedback that it's been worked on.

I’ve always said that the ZTE G5FA is rubbish. It’s just big for nothing.

Nollie254:
When you got toyor advanced settings or the admin panel usually accessed by running a particular script there's PCC bands those are for uplink and are normally the primary bands or cells then the SCC bands those are secondary bands and are specific for downlink also the Uplink and Downlink MCS tell a lot QAM264 and just QAM are for information the higher value means all bands are aggregated and the lower value means a single band is used for example QAM264 means 3 or higher bands are aggregated QAM 64 means 2 and QAM means 1 normally the router arranges those bands from primary to secondary so if you see 1+3+8 that means 1 is the primary 3 and 8 are secondary

PCC is the primary band and handles both downlink and uplink. The SCCs are there just to complement.

MCS and QAM don’t show you aggregation, they show the signal quality/speed. It’s the band information that shows the aggregation and you can’t easily know which SCC handles UL or DL from the router interface.

Most aggregation prioritize DL over UL anyway because that’s usually where most of the data is used.

If you set your device’s PCC to a band and cell that’s faulty, no matter the SCC you combine with it, you won’t be able to browse. You can try it out. It simply means the PCC is still the primary handler of both UL and DL.

Nollie254:
The base station only routes traffic to specific bands but your router dictates that coz it sends the base station requests or information on specific bands it supports for uploading and downloading that includes the carrier aggregation specs to base station coz for sure all bands are capable for both uploading and downloading but not with equal strength or bandwidth for instance your G5FA sends the base station information that it can only aggregate 2bands for download and 1band for upload so the base station assigns it bands based on that request which means u limited to 2bands for downloading and 1band for uploading compared to other routers which can take advantage of 4 to 5 bands for download and 2bands for upload that means having more traffic routes compared to few and so much more data can flow through those routes resulting in higher stable speeds even during peak time your G5FA doesn't aggregate all the 3bands shown you will sill one indicated as Disabled

From my observation, it does aggregate all three during peak period as well. I do see this from the cell information.

So, how can you check which band(s) handle DL and which handles UL on the router?

Nollie254:
It is not the base station managing that there are specific bands for uploads and downloads some bands can't handle upload bandwidth and traffic hence they're purely left for downloading that's why you will notice a particular band giving poor upload speeds but better download speeds and vice verse this is due to bandwidth stream and on the G5FA the Modem S1 5g chip is spec'd for 2CC aggregation of upto 200MHz and download aggregation of 1CC of upto 100MHz this is way lower than others like ZTE G5F 5CC UP/3CC Down, ZLT X17m & x17u 4CC UP/2Cc Down with mediatek T750 chip then Huawei With 4CC UP/2CC Down

Well, I don’t know of those specs but no matter what it’s still the base station that controls which cells to use for UL/DL and which to aggregate and how depending on the device’s capability (including. the bands selected on the device).

I’m aware some cells do better in upload and others in download. As far as I’m concerned, the aggregation sometimes cause imbalances like you mentioned. But with B3/+B1/+B8 on the G5FA, the download and upload were good but the latency and Jitter is better on the Huawei (my observation and in my location).

Currently using Huawei and I’ve been on B7 (locked) which has refused to aggregate and I still get around 50mbps for both UL and DL with good latency and jitter.

Congestion also matters. A band with plenty users on it will not give its best when aggregated either as PCC or SCC (whether as UL or DL). The true test of the capabilities of the bands is during the night when most people are asleep.

Nollie254:
The debate on ODU is interesting and we need to be informed on these devices so an interesting discovery today is that The current ZTE G5FA model on aggregates Two Bands for upload and 1 band for download that's weak and lame I'd advise those buying odu now to go for zlt x17u if the the G5F or the Huawei model ain't available I their region or state coz you will have speed issues with the G5FA when the aggregated bands are poor hence that explains why a lot of people with G5FA suffer signal loss time to time ZTE G5FA is inferior to all ODU's available right now!

How are you so sure of how many of the bands are used for upload or download? I think the base station manages that and not the device itself.

But I agree with you that the G5FA is not so great, poor power management and unnecessarily bulky. It seems to prioritize B3 over B7.

olujosh301:
Do you have/currently use the Huawei?

I came to that conclusion because I have the Huawei, zte g5f and the zlt x17u.

Lol... Only few can relate.

michlins:
you're working for a company and keeping yourself abreast of what the company is doing is the basic stuff you can do for yourself. You're developing yourself and not the company.

If you tell them what's happening with your network, their most powerful weapon is "reboot your phone"

A lot of times these telecoms release product they’ve not educated their staff on because they’re rushing to the market.

You should also know that these customer service agents have a guide to how they respond to customers. They simply tell you what they are trained to tell you even those who know more.

Na Guehi cause this thing.

ekukeku:
How much is plate number wey people still dey fake it

Because the ones issued by FRSC fade quickly, some go ahead to repaint. Such are termed fake by FRSC.

We know the “fake number plate” is mostly an avenue to extort.

Nobody produces substandard plates than the FRSC itself.

Unfaized:
Damn it's so crazy. And this only started since May subscription. My experience has been so bad.

That’s why you can even lock bands. Because the band you lock today might misbehave tomorrow. Best you can do is to restart a couple of times when your network goes bad.

You can also draw the attention of Airtel. You may be lucky and they’ll send their engineers to your location to test and sort the issue(s).

Some pastors will be like:

If a snake can even come in to praise the Lord, why shouldn’t you?

Unfaized:
Can you believe I couldn't browse all through yesterday and midnight due to terrible connection, only to switch from auto to 4G only and it's blazing now.

Like how does Airtel do this? Yesterday I had to switch from 4G only to auto due to bad connection 🤦🏾‍♂️

Cell issues. Some cells are having issues in your location alternately.

The cell your device gives priority to when you select Auto may be different to when you select 4G only.

Auto will likely make your device want to aggregate, selecting the primary cell that allows the best aggregation.

If the primary cell is faulty, you won’t be able to browse irrespective of the how many cells were aggregated.

4G only will connect to a single cell — often the best available one.

Tover:
Band 3 wont give u good speed .. i only use band3 when i want to upload large files on my youtube page , band 3 is only good for uploading because it has more upload speed

Wrong. It’s actually location dependent. Although Band 7 is generally the best (20MHz), in some areas, Band 3 is better.

I also think DL/UL speeds depend on the mostly used band in your location. The mostly used band will mostly have a lower DL speed.

There was a time the Band 7 in my location became terrible. Band 3 (+8 and sometimes +8+1) saved me during the period with good speeds because I got very strong reception.

Band 7 is back now and it doesn’t even aggregate but it’s way smoother and stable and 48+mbps. Band 3 still aggregates and gives me higher speeds but not as smooth as the B7 solo.

These were all with the same 5G band with good reception.

99thEnemy:
Airtel has started blocking the use of VPNs too

Not true.

Why was my post hidden

Novaspammer:
Please help me I cant browse for the last 8 days now I keep getting 0.12kb/sec and AAirtel seems not to care, network type is Auto and I have used every single network type nothing is working and here is my current apn :: Airtel Nigeria internet.ng.airtel.com NONE Edit Delete and moreover the ODU i am using is not hacked just with an external airtel sim instead of the internal airtel sim and i have been using it for over 8 month or 6 month now no issue but this month is more than worst pelease help my sub ends in maybe 7 days and I want to know maybe i should sub again or just give them like a 2 month break. thanks everyone. I have set the device still no chnages



System Time 2026-04-28 03:44:44
Network Mode 5G(NSA)
Signal Strength
Operator Airtel NG
RSRP -92/-78
RSSI -79/-67
RSRQ -11.0/-11
SINR 20.5/26
PCI 185/1000
EARFCN 3256/627264
eNodeB/gNodeB ID 31171/-
EUTRAN/NR Cell ID 079C30D/-
CQI 13/14
Uplink MCS 27/21
Downlink MCS 23/-
Bandwidth 20/100
ECGI/NCGI 621207979789/62120000000000
Current Band 7/78
Rank Type 3/4
TAC 414/-
Current statistical traffic 4.17 MB
Monthly Traffic 18.77 GB
Explanation:
Display 4G information before the slash, 5G information after the slash, 4G information / 5G information
Network Parameter
RSRP: Reference Signal Received Power
RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator
RSRQ: LTE Reference Signal Received Quality
SINR: Signal and Interference Plus Noise Ratio
PCI: Physical Cell ID
Frequency: The currently residing network frequency
eNodeB/gNodeB ID: 4G/5G base station ID
LTE/NR Cell ID: the ID of the currently camped cell
CQI: channel quality information indication
MCS: modulation and coding strategy
Bandwidth: the bandwidth of the mobile network
ECGI: E-UTRAN cell global identifier
Current frequency band: the currently residing network frequency band
Rank type: the number of rank flows in the latest network scheduling
Co

Which ODU are you using?

It’s that “controlled movement” that’s the issue. Do whatever you want but don’t infringe on people’s fundamental right as enshrined in the constitution. Movement should NOT be restricted.

Tolu181:
fake speed

Use speedtest app

Lol. Fast is more accurate.

NSEstudent:
His own is different from the other guy whose ODU sim works somewhere else but not at home.

Orishirishi

I’m confused sef. It could be the SIM then.

henryutd:
This is the same device when you choose either 4g or 5GNSA.
The sim is still inside

I was wondering if the physical SIM is a 4G SIM. But since you said the issue started before the swap then it is be something else.

Then you said it works well in another location. It’s really confusing.

henryutd:
My sim is active. It's my ODU that is giving me problems. I have changed the esim to physical SIM. The ODU can't connect to 4g nor the 5GNSA network. It's only connecting the 3g network and it started after 2 weeks of purchase. It didn't connect till the sub expired. The physical SIM is active and can check balance. I have strong Airtel coverage in my area because my phone sim is Airtel and it's working perfectly well.
Just the ODU device.

Did the issue start after swapping to physical SIM or you swapped because of the issue?

My advice is if you’re using band lock and experiencing issues, better to remove the lock. Seems the Band 7 is terrible for now while the Band 1 is much better.

Of course it might be location dependent but I’ve not had any serious downtime recently.

CuteMaro:
As far as I know, it's mtn that has Fiber network that requires estate cable installation. Mtn Fiberx is great from reviews.

Airtel is ODU router only and it's 'wireless.' This is the one giving challenges.

Airtel has Fiber to the home too. Just that they service mostly estates.

hardeycute:
my ODU unit is not coming up, please have anyone experienced such issue?

Probably the power unit (UPS) has issues.

Gidah:
What settings does the IDU/ODU need in just using the default setting installer did nothing changed and im using the ZLT W154R IDU ,would appreciate if theres anything i can do to increase d signal strenght

Find a way to shift the IDU closer to the place where there's an obstruction (wall). It should reduce signal loss. You can also use a wifi extender instead.

Peterlove11:
I have used the 3.....in terms of raw speed, the ZTE edges the rest(it's performance noticeably improves and become apparent after a restart). In terms of online responsiveness and ping, the Huawei is the best. If you play online games alot, go for the Huawei. It has the best ping.
You must also understand that the gaming latency and ping is dependent on alot of factors e.g network quality, closeness to server etc. So I won't put my entire decision based on latency alone.
Infact interms of gaming I prefer MTN. The network serves me better in my location

ZTE prioritises SINR while Huawei prioritises the overall network quality.

Nollie254:
Which router is this zte or Huawei

Huawei.

Nollie254:
Those with Huawei and ZTE Routers what is the maximum number of band those routers can aggregate for instance my ZLT can aggregate a maximum of 4LTE bands I would love to know if ZTE and Huawei achieve the claimed 5 LTE band aggregation

Maximum I've seen is four and doesn't mean it's better than two or one sef.

Tover:
Mac address filter is the best, but if na person way know how routers work like me .. na to put your phone to Mac address rotation lol... Your router won't be able to blacklist my phone lol

Then I will use whitelist. Shikena.