Huawei B525 VS Huawei B529 HomeNet Box

With the popularity of 4G LTE networks, more and more customers are changing their home routers from ADSL to 4G LTE Gateways. Since Huawei router gateway has a good reputation, many end-users are interested in Huawei home router WiFi. However, some of them are unfamiliar with Huawei 4G LTE routers, which may cause them in trouble when trying to buy a Huawei 4G Router, especially the Huawei routers’ names are very similar, for example, the Huawei B525 and B529. From the model number, you can’t identify what’s the difference between the two routers and which one is better. In this article, you will find the answer.

Huawei B525 VS B529 Appearance and Interfaces

From the model number, you may not know the key difference, but once you get the two router in hand, you may find the two name-similar router are very different. The Huawei B525 is a traditional stationary router. On the front, there are few indicators for the internet connection, power, network mode, signal and WiFi. On the back, there are 4 LAN ports (One of them is for WAN/LAN), one RJ45 telephone and one USB 2.0 port. However, the Huawei B529 HomeNet box looks not like a router; it’s in a shape of a cube and looks like a piece of cake, really. The available specific model is Huawei B529s-23a for T-mobile. On the front, there is T-mobile logo with LED indicators of Mode, LAN, WiFi, and Power. Below the LED indicators, the power button and light button. On the back, there is only one Ethernet LAN port for PC with the power plug port. On the upper part, there are two connectors for an external antenna. The connector type is TS-9.

The design of Huawei B529 is very special and we have to mention. In the middle of the Huawei B529, there is a light line which divides the router into two parts. However, unlike its predecessor T-mobile HomeNet box Huawei E5170, the two parts of Huawei B529 cannot be divided. The highlight of Huawei B529 is the built-in battery of 3000mAh, which could let the Huawei B529 working on the go for working around 8-10 hours. The two routers have the similar feature is that the SIM card slot is at the bottom, and they both use micro SIM card size.

 

Huawei B529 VS B525 Specs and Variant Models

To support various LTE frequency bands in different areas, Huawei B525 4g cat6 router has two variant models: Huawei B525s-23a and B525s-65a. Huawei B529 has only one variant model B529s-23a, which is only available for T-mobile. From the appearance, you may not get the key difference and which one is better. Below the table will list the Huawei B525 specs and Huawei B529 specs, and other features. You may reference the two Huawei routers.

 

Model Huawei B525s-23a/B525s-65a Huawei B529s-23a
Product type LTE WiFi Router LTE WiFi Router
Category LTE Cat.6 LTE Cat.6
Chipset HiSilicon LTE Cat6 Chipset HiSilicon LTE Cat6 Chipset
Data rates DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands B525s-23a: Band 1/3/7/8/20/32/38
B525s-65a: Band 1/3/4/5/7/8/20/19/26/28/32/38/40/41
Band 1/3/7/8/20/32/38
WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz
Max support users 64 users 64 users
MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO
Connector for external antenna Two, SMA-female jacks, buy Huawei B525 Router antenna Two, TS-9 jacks, buy Huawei B529s-23a external antenna
App management Huawei Hilink APP Huawei Hilink APP
SIM type Micro SIM Micro SIM
Battery NO Yes, non-removable 3000mAh battery
Dimensions 163 mm x 52 mm x 226 mm 120 x 120 x 125mm
Interfaces * 1 x power adapter port
* 3 x LAN port(45)
* 1 x LAN/WAN port (45)
* 1 x telephone port(RJ11)
* Two external LTE antenna ports (SMA)
* One micro-SIM card slot
* 1 x USB 2.0 port
* 1 x power adapter port
* 1 x LAN port(45)
* Two external LTE antenna ports (TS-9)
* One micro-SIM card slot
Datasheet Huawei B525 Datasheet Huawei B529 Datasheet
User Manual Huawei B525 Manual Huawei B529 Manual
Other features NAT, DHCP, VPN, SMS, VoIP, CS Voice, Firewall, DMZ, UPnP, ALG,  IPv4 /IPv6 dual stack  DHCP Server, DNS RELAY and NAT
Reviews Huawei B525 Review Huawei B529 Review
Price/USD 299.00USD 299.00

Conclusion

The Huawei B525 4G fix router and Huawei B529 cube are same level Huawei 4G routers supporting LTE Category 6, which could achieve download speed up to 300mbps. The main difference is on the interface ports and variant models for different LTE frequency bands. Huawei B525 has more Ethernet ports and a telephone port for more terminals. And the Huawei B525s-65a covers all the LTE bands on Huawei B529S-23a. So if you don’t focus on the built-in battery in Huawei B529 Router, the Huawei B525 would be the right one for your home or office. The advantage of Huawei B529 is the non-removable battery, which can make users to take the router outdoor or using it on the go. If you don’t need the Ethernet port or telephone port in Huawei B525, Huawei B529 Router would be the right one for you.

Huawei B525 VS Huawei B315 4G Router

As time goes, Huawei is always presenting new 4G WiFi routers to the public. Most of the end-users may know the old router model but may be unfamiliar with the new LTE router. Many people may know the Huawei Router B315, but may not know the latest Huawei B525 router, which is similar to the Huawei E5186 Specs. If they would buy a Huawei 4G WiFi router, you may ask what the difference between Huawei B525 and B315 LTE CPE is, and which one is better between the Huawei B315 and B525?

Huawei B525 VS B315 Appearance and Interfaces

Huawei Router B315 and B525 are both in the shape of a traditional home router. They look similar from the appearance. On the front, there are few LED indicators for power, mode, WiFi, LAN, and signal. The Huawei logo is in the middle of the front face. On the back, there are 4 LAN ports(One for LAN/WAN), One RJ11 for telephone, One USB 2.0 port for data sharing and Reset hole listed on a line. However, Huawei B315 has many variant models; the interfaces may vary on some variant models. There are two SMA-female connectors for external antenna, if you would buy Huawei B315s antenna, remember the connector should be SMA-male. The connectors are covered by a small cap.

The power and WPS buttons of the two routers are located at the top edge side. The SIM card slot of Huawei B525 router is located at the bottom of the device, where the label is also there with some important information such as model number, IMEI & S/N number, SSID, WiFi key, WPS pin, FCC ID, Manufacturer, and Made-in-China. The label of Huawei B315 is also at the bottom, however, the SIM card slot is on the side of the body. The Huawei B525 uses Micro-SIM size while the B315s uses standard SIM size.

Huawei B525 VS B315 Specifications

From the appearance, you may not get the key point about the difference between the two router because they are very similar in the appearance. Then we have to check the specs of Huawei B525 router and B315 LTE CPE for reference:

 

Model Huawei B525 Huawei B315s
Product type LTE WiFi Router with Ethernet port LTE WiFi Router with Ethernet port
Category LTE Cat.6 LTE Cat.4
Chipset HiSilicon LTE Cat6 Chipset Hisilicon Balong
Data rates DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps DL 150Mbps/UL 50Mbps
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands B525s-23a: Band  1/3/7/8/20/32/38
B525s-65a: Band  1/3/4/5/7/8/20/19/26/28/32/38/40/41
* Huawei B315s-22: 4G LTE B1/B3/B7/B8/B20/B38
* Huawei B315s-607: 4G Band 1/3/7/8/28/40
* Huawei B315s-936: 4G Band 1/3/40/41
* Huawei B315s-608: 4G Band 1/3/5/7/28
WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz 802.11b/g/n, 2.4GHz
Max supported users 64 users 32 users
MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO n/a
Connector for external antenna Two, SMA-female jacks Two, SMA-female jacks
Buy Antenna Huawei B525 external antenna Huawei B315 external antenna
App management Huawei Hilink APP Huawei Hilink APP
SIM Size Micro SIM Standard SIM
Battery NO No
Dimensions 163 x 52 x 226 mm 186.0mm x 139.0mm x 46.0mm
Interfaces * 3 x LAN port(45)
* 1 x LAN/WAN port (45)
* 2 x telephone port(RJ11)
* Two external LTE antenna ports (SMA-J1.5)
* One micro-SIM card slot
* 1 x USB 2.0 port
* 1 x power adapter port
* 3 x LAN port(RJ45)
* 1 x LAN/WAN port (45)
* 1 x telephone port(RJ11)(depends)
* Two external LTE antenna ports (SMA-J1.5)
* One SIM card slot
* 1 x USB 2.0 port(depends)
Datasheet Huawei B525 Datasheet(PDF) Huawei B315 Datasheet(PDF)
User Manual Huawei B525 User Manual(PDF) Huawei B315 Manual(PDF)
Other features  Firewall, CS Voice, VoIP, TR069 Remote Management, HTTP Online Upgrade, QoS, USB Share, UPnP, IPV6, DLNA, Fax, Print, VPN VoIP, DHCP, NAT, IPv6/IPv4 dual stack, Firewall, Port forwarding, DMZ, ALG, Remote management
Firmware download Huawei B525 firmware Huawei B315s Firmware
Driver Huawei B525 driver Huawei B315s driver
Reviews Huawei B525 Review Huawei B315 Review
Price 259.00USD 169.00USD

Conclusion

 

From the specs of the two routers in the table, we can see the Huawei 4G Router B525 supports LTE Category 6 networks with carrier aggregation, so it could achieve download speed up to 300Mbps, which is almost the double of that of B315 Router. This should be the key difference between the two routers. As we can see, the Huawei B525 has only two variant models: Huawei B525s-23a and B525s-65a. Huawei B315 has more variant models such as B315s-936, B315s-22, B315s-607 and B315s-608 etc.. The variant models support different LTE frequency bands for various network carriers worldwide. So if you will use the Huawei router with rare LTE frequency bands, you may not get support from Huawei B525 currently. However, if the Huawei B525 could support the LTE bands from your network providers, buy a Huawei B525 router would be right. Of course, the advanced Huawei B525 with CA would be with a higher price than B315, but not too much. And the LTE-A router Huawei B525 would definitely provide faster speed than B315 with same network conditions.

Huawei B525s-23a 4G LTE Cat6 Router Review

The manufacturer HUAWEI has launched the router B525-23a in 2017, and now the latest 4G router B525 is already available for some network providers in Europe, Middle East and Asia, which is to replace the same excellent predecessor router Huawei E5186s-22a.

Huawei B525 B525s-23a

The dimensions of Huawei B525 router are 22.6cm long, 16.3cm high and 5.3cm thick. Its weight is 370 grams. These features mean it’s not a portable pocket WiFi router. It supports the 4G+ LTE category 6 on the bands:  1/3/7/8/20/32/38 (800/900/1500/1800/2100/2600MHz, TDD 2600MHz). No 700MHz(Band 28), so check first whether this router is right for your areas before you pick up, i.e. your network providers broadcasts on the above bands, which will make sure you can use this new router normally without any problem.

Huawei B525 B525s-23a

The proposed WIFI is a/b/g/n/ac on dual bands 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and supports up to 64 devices connected over 250m range. (Warning: these are the data of the manufacturer in optimal conditions; the range of the wifi depends on the thickness of the walls and other parameters.) At the back of the wireless router, there are 4 ports for LAN, of which 1 port is for LAN/WAN. An external 4G/LTE antenna can be connected via the 2 SMA ports. We recommend below two antennas for Huawei B525 for indoor and outdoor use:

Huawei B525 B525s-23a interfaces

An RJ11 port allows you to connect a phone on it to make calls via the inserted SIM card. (Provided you do not force the router only on the 4G so that it can switch to other voice frequencies and that your SIM package is not only in data) A USB 2.0 port connects a hard drive or printer. The SIM card must be in the MICRO SIM format.

It has a multilingual interface that you manage from your computer to configure your network quickly and easily (DHCP, VOIP, FIREWALL, consumption management etc) but is also compatible with the mobile application Huawei Mobile WiFi for a configuration via smartphones or Pads.

Huawei B525 B525s-23a label

 

The Huawei B525s-23a Router 4G has an on/off button which is to turn it off when you do not use it. Likewise, a WPS button (to connect wifi easily) and 5 LEDs will allow you to know the intensity of your 4G reception. This HUAWEI B525s-23a is the latest flagship of the brand’s 4G routing modems. At a relatively affordable price (compared to smatphones for example), you will be able to get rid of a deficient ADSL network and multiply your connection speed.

 Huawei B525 B525s-23a power and WPS button

Regarding what’s the real difference between Huawei B525 router and Huawei E5186 router, we will check later. Actually, they are too similar technically, we don’t know why the new B525 is presented when the Huawei E5186s-22a is good enough for current LTE cat6 networks.