Huawei B315 4G LTE Router Review

The Huawei B315 is a new LTE router available in Germany since summer 2015. The device has a wide range of functions and has a modern equipment with Gigabit LAN, fast wireless, telephone and of course a good cellular modem. With a comparative price without contract, the Huawei B315 is also relatively cheap to have.

Compact body with many connections

The Huawei B315 is packed in a simple cardboard box and is available in either black or white color. In addition to the router, a power supply with a 1.5 m long connecting cable and a short Ethernet cable (about 0.5 m) is included, and there is of course a printed quick-start guide. If you look at the router in more detail on, it is noticeable that it is trapezoidal in shape: Below the router is a bit thicker and thus has a secure stand on level ground, on the above the width narrows rapidly. All antennas were installed inside, thus there are no ugly antenna stub. On the front, Huawei has installed five LED indicators for the operational status. In addition, a small and discreet manufacturer logo adorns the front. All major ports are placed on the back. There are four RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports, one RJ11 phone connector, a USB 2.0 port and a reset button.  Besides the reset button is the connector for the power supply and two SMA connectors for an external antenna can be found under a cover. The SIM card is set on the side of B315 router, the shaft itself is protected by a cover and is very easily accessible.

 

The establishment and operation of the Huawei B315 proved very easy. The router works with any SIM card and recognizes the provider automatically. Of course, you can access data later but also adjust manually. After inserting the SIM card, user must connect to the Huawei B315 either via a LAN cable or wirelessly via WLAN. The wireless network is encrypted, and the corresponding password and wireless network name can be found at the bottom of the router.  Both the password and the wireless network name should be changed later to further increase security. If the SIM card has no PIN code, the router will be connected just in a few seconds after plugging the power adapter to the Internet. Otherwise, you must first through the web interface, which is called with the IP address 192.168.1.254, enter the PIN code. All in all, the start made extremely simple and requires no extensive computer knowledge, so the Huawei B315 is recommended for beginners.

Huawei B315 LTE CPE

 

LTE with up to 150 Mbit/s

The Huawei B315 has an integrated cellular modem for 4G/LTE, 3G/UMTS and 2G/GSM, so for all major technologies in Europe. The supported frequency bands allow use with any providers in many other countries in Asia and Middle East. The Huawei B315 router not only supports the important frequency ranges around 800, 1800, and 2600 MHz, but also the 900 and 2100 MHz. The maximum speed could reach up to 150 Mbit/s downstream and 50 Mbit/s upstream ( LTE category 4 ) on LTE network. If only the UMTS network is available or no LTE network available, up to 42.2 Mbit/s downstream and 5.76 Mbit/s upload speeds are possible in the UMTS network with the data accelerator DC-HSPA+ used. As mentioned above, the Huawei B315 also permits connection of an external antenna. In the test with a LTE MIMO antenna, the speed and the stability of the compound could be increased significantly with the internal antenna.

Home network with Gigabit LAN

Besides a fast Internet connection, the Huawei B315 LTE router also offers comprehensive functions for home networking. Thus, up to four devices to be connected via cable to the router. The maximum data transmission (speed) is then up to 1 gigabit, so around 1000 Mbit/s. About WLAN up to 32 devices are also possible at the same, but then the maximum data rate is 300 Mbit/s, well below the level via cable.

The USB 2.0 port on the back is not intended for connecting a computer, but can be used for connecting storage devices such as an external hard drive or a USB memory stick. Important to know: The memory should be formatted to FAT32, which often spread external hard drives; NTFS format is not recognized by Huawei B315. In addition, the USB port is suitable for the integration of a printer in the network, this only needs to support the Samba protocol. An HD video on a USB stick connected to the Huawei B315 could be streamed easily to a TV, jerkiness or delays did not exist and the router performance was so good that several devices could be surfing the Internet simultaneously.

Huawei B315 Antenna

Huawei B315 Antenna

Telephone over cellular

The Huawei B315 can be used as needed for telephone. So you can plug in at the back only an analog telephone with RJ11 connector. The DECT function for connecting wireless phones has been waived by manufacturer Huawei, so that one is forced to use the RJ11 connector. Another drawback: The telephone is only over cellular and Voice over IP (VoIP) is not supported. Many data-rates offer no telephone function or only with very expensive minute rates, so that the phone function on Huawei B315 for most users is likely to be useless.

 

Conclusion: LTE router with good facilities

Looking at the whole package, the Huawei B315 has a compelling features, easy setup and good performance. In the test, besides the classic functions, the Huawei B315 is well suited for families and households with multiple users. However, If you prefer to LTE router with the latest technology, you may check Huawei E5186 4G Router.

 

Huawei B315 4G LTE CPE Review

With the Huawei LTE CPE B310, a new 4G Router Huawei B315 is also now available with LTE Category 4 technology. We had introduced Huawei B310 router and today, we will have a review about Huawei B315 LTE CPE.

Huawei B315 LTE CPE Specifications:

Feature

Data

Manufacturer & Model: Huawei B315s-22
Technologies: LTE (4G), UMTS (3G) GSM (2G)
Frequencies: * LTE FDD: 800/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz* LTE TDD: 2600 MHz UMTS: 900/2100  MHz* GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
Maximum speeds: * LTE: 150 Mbit/s downlink, 50Mbit/s uplink* UMTS: 42.2 Mbit/s downlink, 5.76 Mbit/s uplink (when using DC-HSPA+)* GSM: 384 kbit/s (when using EDGE )
WIFI 802.11b/g/n, support up to 32 devices
Firmware: 21.300.07.00.00
Others: 4x RJ-45 for Gigabit Ethernet, RJ-11 for telephone connection

 

The Huawei B315 is packed in a simple cardboard box with power adapter, Ethernet cable and Quick Start Guide. The router itself is made entirely of matte-white plastic and having dimensions of 186 x 139 x 46 mm. Huawei B315 weights about 275 grams excluding the power adapter. LTE CPE B315 is designed trapezoidal, below it is significantly thicker than the top. Thus, the router could stand safely on the ground.

On the front, you can see the five LED indicators for power, wireless network connection status, Ethernet and reception signal. In addition, a small Huawei logo is below the LED indicators. On the top of the Huawei B315, there is power and WPS button. On the right side, the SIM card slot is covered by a cap. The CPE B315 use standard Mini SIM 2FF form factor, Micro and Nano SIM must go with adapter. All the other ports are listed on the back of the router. There are two connectors for external antennas, four RJ45 ports for Gigabit LAN connect, one RJ11 port for telephone and a USB 2.0 port for SD sharing.

 

Unlike the flagship model Huawei E5186, Huawei B315 could support peak download speed to 150mbps and upload speed to 50Mbps. The LTE Category 6 is not supported by B315. On UMTS network with DC-HSPA+ technology, B315 could achieve downlink speed to 42.2Mbps and uplink to 5.76mbps. And the B315 is also backward compatible with GSM and EDGE.

Huawei B315 has four Gigabit Ethernet ports, so user can enjoy the LTE speed at any time. Up to 32 devices could connect B315 at the same time and theoretically up to 300Mbps via 802.11b/g/n. Unfortunately, the router transmits only at the frequency range of 2.4GHz. According to Huawei, the wireless coverage is up to 250 meters, which is very good for an LTE router.

 

User can connect an analogue telephone via the RJ-11 connector, and easily make calls via the SIM card in the GSM or UMTS network. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is not supported on Huawei B315. And the VoIP is possible in the Web interface, but you can’t find a corresponding menu item for configuration.

The configuration and control of Huawei B315 could be done through a browser web interface (IP: 192.168.8.1). In addition to set options on various topics, there is also the possibility to view statistics on data usage and online time or to deposit appropriate limits. There is also the ability to share data across the network through a connected USB stick or a USB hard drive. If desired, a configuration via Smartphone or Tablet App is possible.

 

The Huawei B315s-22 is a new LTE router for stationary use. The design is attractive and the interfaces are up to date. In daily use, the device has very good reception with convincing wireless coverage range. If you want to get a router with higher speed connection, then Huawei E5186 4G Router may be a good option.