5 simple and quick settings for the home screen on a Huawei smartphone

What’s good about Dual-core

I haven’t updated my laptop yet, why – it’s written here
, but Huawei WIFI AX3 Dual-core has already settled in my apartment.

Huawei WIFI AX3 Dual-core

Why did I choose a dual-core model, although all AX3 reviewers unanimously recommend a more expensive one with a 4-core processor? I don’t need NFC in a router at all, so I don’t see the point in overpaying for it. And the AC1200 class router I had before used a single-core 660 MHz MIPS processor, without having any problems servicing my modest home network fleet (up to 12 devices). And here Huawei already offers two cores with a frequency of 1.2 GHz… After “smoking” the descriptions on the Internet, I found only one really important difference between the routers: the dual-core AX3 is capable of serving up to 20 WI-FI devices simultaneously (4 devices in the 2.4 GHz and 16 devices in the 5 GHz range, and simultaneously, according to the Wi-Fi 6 standard, and not sequentially, as in previous standards — the limitation is not so fundamental there), and the AX3 black-core can already serve up to 128 devices, thanks to the larger amount of RAM memory and a more powerful processor. But since, due to financial capabilities, I cannot yet move to a castle in Monaco, I do not need 128 Wi-Fi devices at home. And for a modest 3k apartment, the capabilities of the AX3 Dual-core are enough.

Packaging

 In the box, in addition to the router itself, there is a modest but decent set of supplies: a power supply (12V/1A), an Ethernet power cord, a short multilingual manual and a warranty card.

Delivery set

Since the router does not have a hot temper, the manufacturer limited itself to ventilation holes on the sides — they are quite enough.

Ventilation holes on the sides of the bottom of the case

Another advantage of this solution is that dust does not get into the holes and inside the router, unlike those routers where the ventilation holes are located on top of the case.

Profile

On the back of the AX3 there are power and reset buttons, a power connector, and only 4 gigabit Ethernet ports, one of which is WAN, that is, only 3 ports are available for the local network. Minimalism, but this just suits me: my router has only 2 network cables connected to the LAN ports — from the home server and the gigabit switch. And all other devices connected via a wired network connect to the switch, in turn.

Rear view

Many reviewers of routers cry from review to review about how bad it is that the router does not have USB ports. But I think it’s good that it’s not. Having experience in operating MFPs and external drives connected via USB ports on a router, I can only rate this experience as negative. In particular, problems arose when the MFP scanner operated with this connection. Well, the hard drive, even connected to the USB 3.0 port of the router, reduced the data exchange speed by 3-5 times (up to 30-50MB/s depending on the router model and drive) compared to directly connecting the drive to the PC or by 2-3 times compared to the speed of access via a local network to the same disk connected to a PC. Such a significant drop in speed practically makes it impossible to get “real-time work” from the disk and noticeably slows down access to files located on it and launching applications from the disk. Therefore, I connect external USB drives to my PC and simply share them over the network. Well, the MFP is also connected directly to the local network — and no problems.

The router has only one indicator light, located on the front edge, it is non-flickering and glows red or green with a dull, matte light, depending on the state of the device. For the home — exactly what you need; the operation of the router does not resemble a disco. In general, I liked the design of the router. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the functionality and settings of the device.

Set up!

Any equipment manufacturer knows that for the home device segment, which this router is aimed at, the user menu should be as simple and understandable as possible. I would add — and optimally configured by default. And this is where problems often arise, and the AX3 is no exception. If simplicity and clarity are more or less normal, the menu has Russian (if you did not order a router in China, but bought a localized version), then with the optimal configuration things are not so good.

Control interface

After turning on, the router guides the user through the initial settings initialization menu. After completing this procedure, the user receives the desired Internet connection, a working wired local network and… one (more precisely, a single) Wi-Fi network. The catch lies in the latter. The fact is that in this single network, the router itself determines which subnet – 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz the device should be connected to. And when moving around the apartment — we sit down, you went to the kitchen, and 4 walls “appeared” between you and the router — the router sees that communication in the 2.4 GHz band is more effective and forcibly transfers the device from the faster 5 GHz band to segment 2 .4 GHz. This is where the problem arises: with such a transition, the user’s mobile gaming “falls off,” the YouTube or IPTV broadcast is interrupted, the working corporate VPN is “cut off,” etc. This has an extremely negative effect on home router users who are inexperienced in the intricacies of wireless networks (of whom the vast majority) .

Therefore, after purchasing this router, first of all, separate the wireless networks in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, giving them different names. This will save you from problems with the stability of your wireless connection to both the Internet and local network resources.

It is highly desirable to separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks

It is clear that the developers of the router are aware of possible problems with Wi-Fi 6 network adapters from Intel and offer a solution to the problem, albeit a suboptimal one.

Something might go wrong

However, I did not have any problems with the adapter from Intel.

In fact, there were no problems with the adapter from Intel

In the “Device” menu section, you can view both active and inactive network devices connected to the router. At the same time, for all network clients it is possible to limit the network access speed limit, and for wireless clients it is also possible to disable Internet access. And it’s good that there are restrictions, I tell you. After all, for example, children from their PCs, due to ignorance/inability, can easily clog the entire external (usually only 100 Mbit and even less in rural areas) channel to the provider with their torrents.

You can limit the speed limit of network devices for receiving and uploading

In “Additional functions” you can view information about current network settings, check and install updates, configure network parameters (IP range, domain name, VPN features, activate support for IPTV, UPnP and Mesh network technology (option Communication) and enable IPv6 addressing (in relation to home devices, few people actually need this).

The router information is quite stingy

Detailed wireless network settings are concentrated in the “Wi-Fi Settings” section. By default, in the 2.4 GHz band, the router occupies a 40 MHz band, which is quite unexpected; I changed its width to 20 MHz in order to less interfere with neighboring networks, of which there are a dime a dozen in the 2.4 GHz band.

Why couldn’t all Wi-Fi settings be collected in one section “My Wi-Fi network”? Unclear.

What was quite surprising was the ability to select individual networks of “ancient” standards, for example, 802.11g or 802.11a, and the inability to select “only” new networks such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac and even 802.11n. Well, why, pray tell, did the router need to activate all these legacy functions and constantly monitor the radio for the presence of outdated devices, if there have been none on my network for a long time? There was no such nonsense in the old router.

When modesty of choice does not decorate

“Wi-Fi access control” allows you to configure black and white lists, and “Guest Wi-Fi network” allows you to enable a guest network plus limit its speed and operating time, if necessary. Here again, there is an inconvenience — my old router even allowed me to create several guest networks separately in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz range. I created one in the 2.4 GHz band (as it is more widely supported) — for visiting guests/friends/children’s friends this was more than enough. Here the router fences off two guest networks with the same name in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, needlessly clogging up the airwaves. The guest network is isolated from the local one, and this cannot be changed (although it’s not really necessary, but still).

Two more settings here are intended to enable repeater mode, if the router is used in such a role, as well as to set the Wi-Fi operation timer.

In the “Security” section, the firewall is activated without specifying the detailed settings, port forwarding and event triggering are configured (in the “NAT Services” section), a DMZ host is allocated for direct access from the Internet, and parental controls are configured: allowed access time to the Internet and website filtering.

Poorly defined security settings are hidden behind a firewall

In the last subsection “System”, you can change the device access password, set the time zone and synchronize the system time, indicate the need to switch to summer/winter time, you can make a backup copy of the settings or restore from such a copy, reset the router settings to factory Plus, there is an option to activate self-diagnosis of the device, and the procedure will require manual user intervention, and you can also save a diagnostic data file. There is also a slider for activating automatic installation of important updates. In general, it would be more logical to see this item in the “Update Management” subsection, rather than in the “For Developers” item, but oh well.

It turns out that important updates will not be allowed to be installed in the “Manage updates” section, it should be

In general, the performance of the router did not raise any complaints. The 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network is perfectly accessible throughout the entire apartment, even in the problematic kitchen through 4 walls. In the 5 GHz range, the signal “behind the walls” is, although weaker than that of the previous router, but this does not affect the quality of communication, and I received the desired increase in speed. In order not to be unfounded, I will give a clear example: transferring the same file over a wireless network using an AC1200 adapter (866 Mbit/s 802.11ac 2×2) and an AC3000 adapter (2400 Mbit/s 802.11ax 2×2). There is one solid reinforced concrete wall between the router and the network adapter. This will allow you to roughly estimate the practical network throughput.

Transferring a file over a Wi-Fi network with an AC1200 adapter on an old router

Transferring the same file over a Wi-Fi network with an AC3000 adapter on an AX3 router

As you can see, the data transfer speed has increased by about 3 times, which can be called a very good result. The long-awaited time has come when there is no longer a need to drill walls in the house for a gigabit Ethernet LAN and bother with “invisible” laying of cables around the apartment. 802.11ax finally gives you a taste of what it’s like to launch and run applications in “real time” over a wireless network.

Thanks to a more powerful processor, compared to the old router, the operation of the 802.11n network in the 2.4 GHz range has also improved. Thus, opening a preview of a catalog with many images/photos over Wi-Fi is now noticeably faster than on the old router. Such pleasant little things cannot but please.

At the same time, Wi-Fi operation is not without oddities. I have already talked about the automatic creation by AX3 of 2 guest networks at once (logically for the router this is one network, but physically — two completely different networks). However, “that’s not all”; in addition to them, the router creates 2 more hidden wireless networks (one each in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands). A true champion in air pollution!

Stealth is everything

I assumed that hidden networks are needed to build a Mesh system, but these networks are always created, even when the “Communication” option is disabled. We can only guess who might need these networks, other than the Chinese intelligence services.

Total

As a result, it is quite difficult to unambiguously characterize the Huawei WIFI AX3 Dual-core router. On the one hand, this is one of the most affordable routers with WIFI 6, and this is its huge advantage. Gigabit Ethernet ports, good and stable (after changing the default settings) Wi-Fi connection, a simple menu clearly aimed at the home user, nice design — all this makes the router a good choice for a city apartment. Plus, Mesh support allows you to “furnish” even a large country house with routers.

At the same time, the current functionality of the device is not up to par. The user menu clearly needs logical improvement and expansion of customization options, and with wireless networks in general there is an incomprehensible mess going on (in fact, the router creates as many as 6 wireless networks, of which I really only need 3, and another 3 are absolutely not needed, but it’s impossible to get rid of them with the current firmware of the device).

But still, in general, the router leaves a good impression, it is quite possible to use it, in the hope of future firmware updates. True, since the purchase of the device, not a single “update” has arrived. Therefore, it is difficult to say how justified this hope is.