Optus Aircard 800s VS Huawei E5786

Optus is one of the important network providers in Australia and provides LTE networks in LTE Band 3, 7, 28 and 40. It has introduced the Huawei E5786 4G Mobile hotspots to its product range and now the new product Netgear Aircard 800s available for contract. For those people who are interested in the two mobile hotspots, they may want to know what the difference is between the Huawei E5786 and the Netgear AC800S, and which one is better to buy for global use. We will review the appearance, interfaces, specs, and other features as a reference for the questions.

Huawei E5786 VS Aircard 800s Appearance and interfaces

Huawei E5786 is the first LTE Cat.6 mobile hotspot from Huawei, and the specific model for Optus is Huawei E5786s-63a. Huawei E5786 has a 2.4 inch screen to show the network provider, signal, battery, data consumed, WiFi users, SSID and password, and etc…Like other Huawei 4G pocket WiFi routers, Huawei E5786s-63a has two TS-9 connectors for external LTE antennas. The back cover of Huawei E5786 could be removed to insert the SIM card or SD card. However, the battery of Huawei E5786 is built-in and can’t be removed for exchange. The power button is on the front besides the screen while the menu button is on the top edge side of the device.

Unlike the Huawei E5786, the Netgear Aircard 800s is configured with a touchscreen, where users can do simple setting through the screen. Like other Netgear 4G Pocket WiFi routers, Optus 4G WiFi modem 800s also has two TS-9 connectors for 4G external antennas. However, the back cover of Aircard 800s could be removed for changing the battery and inserting the SIM card, but there is no SD card slot for storage sharing. The Optus AC800S has a USB 3.0 interface.

 

Netgear AirCard 800s VS Huawei E5786 Specs and features

From the appearance, we can’t see much difference between the two mobile hotspots. The main difference is on the touchscreen. Then let’s have a look at the Huawei E5786 specs and Optus WiFi modem 800S specs for more details comparison:

Model Netgear Aircard 800S Huawei E5786s-63a
Product type LTE Mobile Hotspot LTE Mobile Hotspot
Category LTE Cat.9 LTE Cat.6
Chipset Qualcomm MDM9240  HiSilicon LTE Cat6 Chipset
Data rates DL 450Mbps/UL 50Mbps DL 300Mbps/UL 50Mbps
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands B1, B3, B7, B28, B40 B1, B3, B7, B8, B28, B40
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 15 users 10 users
MIMO 2 x 2 MIMO 2 X 2 MIMO
Connector for external antenna Two, TS-9 jacks Two, TS-9 jacks
Buy Antenna Optus AC800s External Antenna Huawei E5786 external Antenna
App management Netgear Aircard APP Huawei Hilink APP
SIM type Micro SIM Micro SIM
Battery 2930 mAh 3000mAh
Dimensions 110 x 68 x 16.1 mm 106.00 x 66.00 x 15.90mm
Ethernet Port No No
Datasheet download Netgear AC800S Datasheet Huawei E5786 Datasheet
User Manual Optus 4G modem 800S Manual Huawei E5786 Manual
Other features 3 band CA 2 band CA
Reviews Netgear Aircard 800s review Huawei E5786 Review
Price 199.00USD 199.00USD

 

Summary

The specs table above shows the Optus 4G WiFi modem 800s is more advanced based on Qualcomm chipset and the support of LTE Category 9, which could achieve download speed to 450Mbps and upload speed to 100Mbps. With the 3 band Carrier Aggregation, removable battery and touchscreen, Aircard 800s seems better than Huawei 4G LTE E5786 MiFi. And they both support similar LTE Frequency bands. What’s more, the price of Aircard 800s is same as Huawei E5786 price. So if you would buy one 4G mobile hotspot from the two, Netgear Aircard 810s is recommended with higher configuration and better experience.