ZTE MC801 VS Huawei 5G CPE Pro

 

 From the ZTE MC801 review and Huawei 5G CPE Pro review, you may get some knowledge about the two routers. They both have cool and modern design. Below the images will show the design difference. The Huawei 5G CPE Pro looks similar to its predecessor model Huawei B618 4G Router. ZTE MC801 Router adopts the runway-type streamline design, which won iF Design Award 2019. The design looks really cool.

 

On front of the routers, they both have some LED indicators to show the connection status. Huawei 5G CPE Pro show the 5G, 4G and WiFi status with a button for Hilink while ZTE 5G Router MC801 shows the status of Network, WiFi, SIM, and Power. On the back, the Huawei 5G CPE Pro (H112-372) has two LAN ports(one also for WAN), one power button, two connectors for external antenna. The ZTE 5G CPE has two LAN ports, one USB Type C port and one WPS button. Unlike the Huawei 5G CPE Pro and the predecessor models such as ZTE MF275R, there is no connector for external antenna. So if you are located at somewhere with weak signal, ZTE MC801 may not be a good option because it can’t provide the possibility to connect external 4G or 5G antennas.

 

The two 5G WiFi CPEs both use NANO SIM cards. And the SIM card slots are located at the bottom of the router with the reset button. At the side of the SIM Card slot, the model number, IMEI number, WLAN name/SSID, WiFi key and IP log in address are listed. The difference is that ZTE MC801 tells the two WLAN SSID names for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and ZTE MC801 tells the IP log in password (not admin as 4G WiFi routers). Huawei 5G CPE Pro don’t tell the IP log in password because it will be same as the WiFi connection password, which needs to be set up by the users. At the beginning, the WLAN network of the Huawei 5G CPE is open.

 

 We summarized the specifications for Huawei 5G CPE Pro and ZTE MC801 in the table for your reference.

 

 

Model	Huawei 5G CPE Pro	ZTE MC801
Product type	5G WiFi Router	5G WiFi Router
5G Network Mode	NSA/SA	NSA
Chipset	Balong 5000	Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 + IPQ8072 + SM8150
Standard	3GPP Release 15	3GPP Release 15
5G Peak Data rates	DL 2.33Gbps,UL 1.25Gbps	DL 2.22Gbps, UL 211Mbps
4G Peak Data rates	DL 1.6Gbps, UL 150Mbps	DL 2Gbps/UL 211Mbps
Variant model	H112-370 and H112-372	ZTE MC801A
Supported 5G LTE frequency bands	* Huawei H112-372: n41/n77/n78/n79 * Huawei H112-370: n78	ZTE MC801: n41/n77/n78/n79
Supported 4G LTE frequency bands	* Huawei H112-372:  B1/3/5/7/8/18/19/20/28/32/34/38/39/40/41/42/43 * Huawei H112-370: B1/3/5/7/8/18/19/20/28/32/34/38/39/40/41/42/43	ZTE MC801: 600MHz~3.8GHz
WLAN	802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax(WiFi 6), dual-band	802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax(WiFi 6), dual-band
Max supported users	?	128 users
MIMO	4 X 4 MIMO	4 X 4 MIMO
Antenna	Two, TS-9 connectors	N/A
Buy Antenna	Huawei 5G CPE Pro External Antenna	N/A
App management	Huawei SmartHome App	N/A
SIM Size	NANO SIM	NANO SIM
Battery	No	No
Dimensions	99 × 107 × 215mm	225 x 154.5 x 87 mm
Interfaces	* 1 x power adapter port * 1 x WAN / LAN GE port * 1 x LAN GE port * 1 x telephone port(RJ11)(depends) * Two external LTE antenna ports (TS-9 type) * One SIM card slot	* 1 x power adapter port * 2 x LAN GE port * 1 x USB type C port * One SIM card slot
Datasheet	Huawei 5G CPE Pro Datasheet(PDF)	ZTE MC801 Datasheet(PDF)
User Manual	Huawei 5G CPE Pro User Manual(PDF)	ZTE MC801 User Manual(PDF)
Other features	firewall, PIN protection, MAC address filtering, Wi-Fi encryption authentication, VPN tunnel / VPN penetration, IP penetration, IPv6 and IPv6 / IPv4 dual stack, multi-APN, WeBUI, administrator maintenance, HOTA, etc	MAC address filtering, Wi-Fi encryption authentication, VPN, IPv6 support, VoLTE, DMZ, SSID, Guest SSID, Port Forwarding, Watchdog Service, DHCP settings, network selection, APN settings etc.
Firmware download	Huawei 5G CPE Pro Firmware	ZTE MC801 Firmware
Review	Huawei 5G CPE Pro Review	ZTE MC801 Review
Price/USD	699.00USD	799.00USD

Summary 

From the table, we can see they have different chipsets which deceide they support different network mode: Huawei 5G CPE Pro support 5G NR dual mode: NSA/SA while ZTE MC801 supports only NSA mode. Huawei 5G CPE Pro has two variant models now, while ZTE MC801 has only one model now. Perhaps there will be more variant models available in near future.

 

Huawei 5G CPE Pro has two connectors like other Huawei 4G WiFi Routers, but ZTE MC801 doesn’t provide the connector for external antenna, which is not good for many users. Per our experience, many of 4G router users may need external antenna to get better signal and faster surfing speeds.

 

They both provide the WiFi 6 and this would be the mainstream for 5G wireless devices. Huawei 5G CPE Pro provide the APP management option by Huawei SmartHome APP, however, ZTE MC801 has no this option. According to our check, ZTE MC801 settings can only be done through a browser. And it provides PC and Mobile settings option, which means, users can do the setup through web browser from a cell phone.

 

The ZTE MC801 price is higher than that of Huawei 5G CPE Pro, perhaps because the Qualcomm chipset is more expensive than Huawei Balong chipset. One thing we have to mention is that the ZTE MC801 is much heavier than Huawei 5G CPE Pro. We suppose this is due to the complex heat radiation system in the router.

 

Regarding the real performance of surfing speeds, we will take future test in near future.