Comparison ZTE MF96 vs ZTE AC30

Wi-Fi connection speeds, more precisely, Wi-Fi standards supported by a modem with the appropriate capabilities (see "Type", "Connection").

— Wi-Fi 3 (802.11g). A further development of the Wi-Fi 1 (802.11b) standard, developed primarily for increasing connection bandwidth (2.4 GHz) and introduced in 2003. 802.11g hardware is fully backwards compatible with 802.11b, so even the simplest of today's Wi-Fi devices support both of these standards.

— Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n). The Wi-Fi standard, which is a further development of the formats described above — in particular, by supplementing them with support of MIMO technology (distribution of input and output between several antennas). Introduced in 2009. The main operating frequency is 2.4 GHz, but there are devices supplemented with a 5 GHz band.

— Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). Built on top of 802.11n, introduced late 2013. The main improvements were the increase in the number of streams at the second frequency (5 GHz) and the introduction of more advanced MIMO and modulation standards, which increased the throughput accordingly.

The largest number of devices that can be simultaneously connected to the modem via Wi-Fi (see "Connection").

The presence of this limitation is due to the fact that processing network requests from several devices at once requires a fairly large amount of computing resources, and there are not so many of them in miniature electronics like wireless modems. However, even inexpensive models can support about 5 – 6 devices, which is more than enough for most cases; and in more advanced modems, this number can reach 10.

The greatest distance at which the modem's built-in router is capable of providing communication via the Wi-Fi interface (see "Connection").

It should be taken into account that in fact the range strongly depends on a number of factors that are not related to the main specs of the modem: the presence of interference and obstacles in the signal path, the specs of the Wi-Fi module of the connected device, the battery charge in this device or the modem itself, etc. Therefore, the actual range indicators can be noticeably lower than the claimed ones: for example, when working through a wall, they are noticeably reduced. However, this spec quite clearly describes the overall range of the device, and comparisons of different models on it are quite acceptable.

Also note that it does not always make sense to purchase a device with a maximum range — although a long range provides additional convenience, it requires high transmitter power, which significantly increases the size and price of the modem. Therefore, when choosing, it is worth proceeding primarily from the intended scenarios of use. For example, if you need a 3G connection to access the Internet on the road from your tablet, a range of several metres will be enough. But for installation in a large private house, it makes sense to look for a model with increased effective range.

The generation(s) of mobile networks supported by the modem.

Note that this spec is rather conditional and generalized, since one generation usually includes several data transmission technologies (see below), and the set of these technologies may vary in different mobile networks and in different modems. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate the compatibility of a device with a specific cellular network using this parameter only approximately. Nevertheless, generation data may well come in handy at the preliminary selection stage: they allow you to at least select the generation you are interested in and then search further among models that are compatible with it.

As for specific generations, today they are as follows:

— 2g. Communication standards of the second generation implemented through mobile networks of the GSM standard. Support GPRS and EDGE transmission technologies. Due to low bandwidth, today they are considered obsolete and are gradually being replaced by the next generations of communication. However, this process is uneven, and in some countries 2G is still the main mobile standard (although everything is moving towards changing this situation). Also note that even the introduction of newer standards does not mean the replacement of GSM — many operators keep this technology as a spare and intended for the simplest mobile phone models. Actually, the second generation in its pure form is pr...actically never found in cellular modems — it complements more advanced standards.

— 3G. Communication technologies of the third generation. Includes W-CDMA, HSUPA, HSDPA, and HSPA+ technologies, and in CDMA networks, EV-DO Rev.A and Rev.B. Significantly outperforms second-generation standards in terms of both pure throughput and additional features. And the data transfer speed itself can be comparable to that of a fixed wired Internet connection, which allows you not only to comfortably browse the web, but also use video calls, listen to streaming audio, etc. However, in fact, the quality of communication depends both on the specific technologies used, on the signal level, and the workload of base stations, etc.

— 4G. The fourth generation of communication, the most advanced to date. It includes WiMAX and LTE technologies, which significantly exceed not only 3G standards in terms of data transfer speed, but also the usual fixed wired Internet connection via Ethernet. However such a connection is not cheap.

The 4G (LTE) mobile connection speed supported by the modem.

All modern LTE equipment is assigned one or another category (Cat.3, Cat.4, Cat.6, Cat.7, Cat.9, Cat.12, Cat.13, Cat.16, Cat.18, Cat.19, Cat.20, Cat.22), on which the transmission speed directly depends. This paragraph specifies both this category and specific speed indicators, moreover, in two parameters — for reception and for transmission. The transmission speed is always much lower, but given the specifics of mobile Internet access, this is usually not critical.

Note that equipment with different speed categories will be quite compatible with each other, however, the throughput will be limited by the capabilities of the slower device. It is also worth saying that this paragraph indicates the theoretical maximum; practical amounts can be noticeably lower (depending on the quality of the network coverage and the features of specific electronics). However, a modem with a higher speed category will perform faster in fact.

Data transfer technologies supported by the modem.

— GPRS. The oldest communication technology in use today. It was developed as a standard for GSM cellular networks, allowing data to be transmitted in parallel with voice communications and text messages, as well as charging network access by the amount of data transmitted, and not by connection time (as in the previous CSD standard). At the time of its creation, it was very progressive, but now it is considered completely obsolete and is used only in cases where more advanced standards cannot be used.

— EDGE. A technology created as a modification of the GPRS described above, which would increase the channel throughput and improve communication reliability. Otherwise, this standard is completely similar to GPRS in terms of its main practical features.

— W-CDMA. One of the early third generation ( 3G) communication standards. Used in UMTS networks. One of the main advantages of such networks is the ability to build networks based on the existing GSM infrastructure. Therefore, UMTS, and specifically W-CDMA, is being used by many mobile operators in the early stages of their transition from 2G to 3G.

— HSUPA. Third generation (3G) communication technology, an evolution of W-CDMA described above. The name...stands for "High-Speed Uplink Packet Access" — high-speed packet data transmission in the "from the subscriber" direction. This, in fact, describes the purpose of this technology: it increases the speed of data transfer from the modem to the base station, which can be useful for some specific tasks — for example, video communications.

— HSDPA. Further, after HSUPA, improvement of the W-CDMA standard (see above). It belongs to third generation (3G) networks, but is considered an “extended” standard, which is why HSUPA-enabled networks can be referred to as 3.5G, 3G+, etc. The name itself — "High-Speed Downlink Packet Access" — translates as "high-speed packet data transmission from the base station to the device."

— HSPA+. Today's most advanced third-generation communication standard based on UMTS networks (W-CDMA). Thanks to a number of improvements, it allows to achieve higher speeds than the options described above, approaching fourth-generation networks in terms of capabilities; therefore, sometimes conventionally referred to as 3.75G.

— WiMAX. Initially, WiMAX was created in two versions — "mobile" and "stationary"; the vast majority of modern cellular modems use the second option. It belongs to the fourth generation standards — 4G (whereas "mobile" was a competitor to 3G technologies, although sometimes it is also referred to as a 4th generation connection for marketing purposes). Some time ago, WiMAX was actively promoted as an alternative to wired broadband Internet connection (in particular, as the best option for areas, where it is difficult to reach the cable). However, now this standard is gradually losing popularity — in particular, in connection with the development and promotion of a more advanced LTE (which also does not have a division into "mobile" and "stationary" varieties).

— LTE (up to 173 Mbps). The fourth generation cellular communication standard, the most popular 4G technology today — in particular, due to the fact that it is a further development of W-CDMA/UMTS and can be implemented by improving existing networks (both UMTS and CDMA2000). Another reason for the popularity is the same convenience for both stationary and mobile equipment. On the other hand, when choosing a modem of this standard, you should keep in mind that LTE bands and channels may differ in different countries, so the support of this technology does not guarantee compatibility with a particular network. It should also be taken into account that in some countries LTE networks are only at the deployment stage, and in some they are not available at all.

— EV-DO (Rev.A). EV-DO is a third-generation (3G) data transmission technology used in CDMA mobile networks (not to be confused with W-CDMA, built on another basic standard — UMTS). Note that in some countries this type of 3G network became widespread much earlier than W-CDMA and its modifications, and for a number of technical reasons it is mainly used for data transmission — that is, for the operation of 3G modems. As for Rev.A, this is the second and most common version of the EV-DO standard.

— EV-DO (Rev. B). The third version of EV-DO technology, the development and improvement of Rev.A; see above for details. Here we note that this standard is also often used as a 3G data connection; its coverage area is not as extensive as the previous version, but still covers most major cities and their surroundings. It is also worth considering that in order to use all the features of Rev.B, you need a modem that supports this version, and not all modern EV-DO devices can do this.

When evaluating the capabilities of a modem, note that the speed values given for each technology are the maximum, which in fact is achievable only under perfect conditions. The actual values of the speed, usually, are lower than the potential ones; they may depend both on the specs of the network, signal strength and other technical issues, and on the policy of the operator and the conditions of a particular tariff.

The presence of a slot for memory card in the design of the modem. Memory cards are very popular in modern electronics as removable storage media; in wireless modems, there are two main options for working with them. The first one provides use as an external card reader, for exchanging information between the card and the device to which the modem is connected via USB (see below); Simply put, installing a card turns the modem into a "flash drive" with removable storage. And in models with Wi-Fi (see "Type"), it may also be possible to work as a server that provides access to the contents of the memory card to all wireless devices connected to the modem. As for the types of cards, the most common support for the microSD standard is that they are small enough to be easily combined with compact wireless modem cases. Note that even within the same standard of memory cards there are several varieties, and before buying it's worth to clarify which of them the device is compatible with.

The presence of a slot for an R-UIM card in the modem design. The purpose of such cards is similar to the SIM cards described above, but they are used in networks based on CDMA (and, accordingly, in modems with EV-DO support, see "Transmission Technologies"). Note that, unlike devices for GSM and UMTS networks, for CDMA modems a slot for this type of card is not a mandatory element of equipment — many such devices are tied to the network by changing the firmware, which is why operators of such communication may not use R-UIM at all. Therefore, although in general the use of cards is simpler and more convenient for the user than flashing, however, the choice of the presence or absence of an R-UIM slot depends on the requirements of the network with which the modem is planned to be used.

The presence of a display in the design of the modem. Even the simplest screens used in modern modems are very versatile and capable of displaying almost any service information about the operation of the device (and sometimes not only purely service information). Due to this, this feature provides much more opportunities to inform the user than various indicators. At the same time, we note that this feature is found only in Wi-Fi modems (see above) designed for stand-alone use. This is due to the fact that in models that are connected to another device via USB, the screen of the external device is used for displaying this information, and it simply does not make sense to equip the modem with its own display.