Zyxel Nebula FWA510 5G Router Review

The Nebula FWA510 is the newest 5G router from Zyxel that was launched a number of months in the past. It replaces the favored NR5101 and has improved WiFi, and now has two 2.5GbE ports, permitting you to benefit from a 5G connection that exceeds gigabit speeds.

Zyxel Nebula FWA510 Function

• Helps NebulaFlex for working in standalone or Nebula cloud mode
• 5G NR with as much as 5 Gbps obtain charge
• Connection failover between ethernet and mobile WAN interface
• Presents WiFi speeds of as much as 3,600 Mbps on twin bands with the WiFi 6 (AX3600) commonplace
• Delivers a excessive velocity WiFi expertise to 64 wi-fi gadgets concurrently
• Excessive achieve 4×4 MIMO inbuilt 5G/LTE antenna + 4 x TS9 connectors for exterior antennas
• 2.5 GbE WAN/LAN port + 2.5 GbE LAN port
• Helps router and bridge mode
• Twin WAN Failover: Functionality Connection failover between each WAN interfaces

Zyxel Nebula FWA510 vs NR5101 vs NR5103E

The Zyxel FWA510 is sort of equivalent to the NR5103E, which is the 5G router that’s used for a lot of 5G router contracts from the likes of Three and EE.

The principle distinction is that the Zyxel FWA510 is that can be purchased SIM free and it really works with the Nebula cloud administration system.

The FWA510 is meant to interchange the NR5101 and has upgraded the WiFi to assist 2,4 Gbit/s (802.11ax) in addition to including 2.5GbE and switching from 2xSMA antenna connector to 4x TS9, providing you with a wider frequency vary. The USB has additionally been upgraded from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0.

Trying by way of the datasheet, it seems that the 5G modem has been upgraded, too:

• FWA510
  • 5G SA: DL 4.67 Gbps; UL 2.5 Gbps
  • 5G NSA: DL 3.74 Gbps; UL 1.46 Gbps
• NR5101
  • 5G SA: DL 4.2 Gbps; UL 900 Mbps
  • 5G NSA: DL 5 Gbps; UL 650 Mbps

Nonetheless, for some weird purpose, Zyxel has stripped a bunch of options, together with:

• Parental Management
• Coverage Route
• ALG
• Port Triggering
• Dynamic DNS
• Interface Grouping
• E-mail Notification

For customers that need Mobile Lock, you’d want to take a look at the NR7101, FWA710 out of doors routers from Zyxel.

Set Up & Native Internet Interface

The FWA510 makes use of a micro-SIM card, not nano, so you’ll probably want an adopter. At first, the router didn’t recognise the SIM, and after I switched it, it nonetheless didn’t recognise the SIM. I later realised that after you alter the SIM, you might want to reboot the router.

I used an iD SIM for this overview, which makes use of the Three cell community. The APN settings had been recognized routinely, and I may hook up with the Web utilizing the predefined WiFi credentials on the facet of the router.

You may then handle the router by way of the native 192.168.1.1 net UI utilizing the credentials which are additionally printed on the facet. You can too optionally use the Zyxel Air app for native administration.

The native UI is comparatively primary, and it has a lot of the performance you want, however as said above, some options are lacking that many customers need.

A few of the options embody:

• A number of SSIDs/conceal SSIDs
• Utility-level firewall
• NAT/NAPT firewall
• LAN MAC filtering
• DoS assault detection
• IP filtering
• WPA2 and WPA3
• WLAN MAC filtering
• URL filtering
• SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection)

The router can be used with an Ethernet WAN connection, permitting you to make use of the FWA510 with WAN failover functionality. My enterprise involves a grinding halt if I lose Web connectivity, and I believe WAN failover performance is a necessary characteristic for all companies these days, no matter how small the enterprise.

Zyxel Nebula Cloud Administration

You may then add the router to the Nebula cloud administration interface. I did this by way of the Nebula cell app and by scanning the QR code.

The Nebula integration isn’t fairly what I anticipated. You don’t have full management over the router by way of Nebula as you could have with all the opposite networking merchandise, similar to switches, entry factors and routers.

Specifically, the WiFi settings proceed to be managed on the router itself. You may allow distant administration, however all that does is give you a distant IP to log into. Due to this fact, you might want to match up WiFi settings if you’d like the whole lot to work seamlessly.

With a consumer linked to the WiFi on the router, Nebula exhibits no information for it underneath the dashboard, although it does present community utilization underneath the machine web page.

This makes me suppose that when used as a part of Nebula, Zyxel needs you to make use of it as a modem/router solely, with the Nebula entry factors dealing with the whole lot else. The FWA510 can have IP passthrough enabled, which might let you use one of many Nebula USG firewalls or the SCR 50AXE safe cloud-managed router as the principle router with out coping with double NAT.

5G Cellular Router Efficiency

The router has ports for an exterior antenna and just a little toggle to change between the 2, I used the built-in antennas. I then used iD/Three with this router and positioned it close to my workplace window with the purpose of bettering reception.

Residing in a coastal city up north, we don’t have the perfect 5G protection, however I used to be very impressed after I was capable of obtain 460Mbps down and 21Mbps up. Compared, my Nighthawk M6 Professional achieves round 200Mbps down and 20Mbps up. It’s a cell router, so the antenna design gained’t be fairly pretty much as good.

I then switched to my Voxi SIM card, which makes use of Vodafone. The router didn’t routinely recognise this, so I needed to manually add the APN settings.

Speeds had been much less spectacular, however that is per the speeds I get usually with Vodafone in my workplace. Downloads had been 125Mbps, whereas uploads had been extra spectacular with 67Mbps.

WiFi Efficiency

Zyxel promote this as supporting 2.4 Gbps for five GHz. Nonetheless, the WiFi settings are restricted to 80MHz channel width, which suggests shoppers are restricted to 1200Mbps.

The NR5101 used a 2×2 antenna design, whereas I assume the FWA510 is 4×4. Each routers assist 64 gadgets, however the FWA510 ought to provide superior WiFi efficiency when a number of concurrent customers are linked.

The WiFi efficiency is sweet for entry factors or routers which are restricted to 80MHz:

• Workplace /Shut Vary: 921Mbps
• Downstairs: 876Mbps
• Entrance Room (down a degree and throughout two rooms): 411Mbps

Value and Different Choices

The Zyxel Nebula FWA510 is out there for £371 from Amazon UK.

You may decide up unlocked variations of the Zyxel NR5103E on eBay for round £150.

In fact, the rationale why the NR5103E is as a result of it’s subsidised by the contracts with cell networks.

Zyxel additionally has the NR5101 indoor router, which is out there SIM-free for round £340. The FWA510 is meant to be the substitute for this and has superior {hardware} however lacks a number of the firmware options.

Then, there are two out of doors routers, which each clearly lack WiFi and have a single Ethernet port:

• Zyxel FWA710 for round £465
• Zyxel Nebula NR7101 for round £420

The AX3000-rated TP-Hyperlink Deco X50-5G has an RRP of £380 however is out there for round £320, or the AX6000-rated TP-Hyperlink Deco X80-5G is out there for £576.

The Tenda Router 5G NR LTE is out there for £330 with a WiFi score of AX1800.

Total

The Zyxel Nebula FWA510 is a little bit of a blended bag. For me, it has labored brilliantly, the 5G efficiency has been excellent, and the twin 2.5GbE ports will let you have multi-gig efficiency if you’re fortunate sufficient to have 5G that quick, and the WiFi velocity is sweet.

The native net UI is easy, and I’ve been a fan of the Nebula cloud administration for the previous few years. Not with the ability to totally handle it by way of Nebula was sudden, however in my situation, I’d most likely use it to deal with the Web connection and use a devoted router for DHCP and safety, which I assume most Nebula customers would do.

It’s unusual that Zyxel selected to take away options that had been current on the NR5101, which this router is meant to interchange.

The opposite drawback is the value and options in comparison with the Zyxel NR5103E. You may decide up an unlocked Zyxel NR5103E for round half the value, although it lacks the Nebula cloud administration.

Granted, if you’re a enterprise purchaser, selecting up unlocked 5G routers off eBay is probably going out of the query, which, subsequently, makes the FWA510 an excellent alternative.

For residence customers, I’d recommend that the Zyxel NR5103E is a extra logical buy.

For me, the Zyxel NR5103E makes much more sense to make use of at residence for WAN failover than the Nighthawk M6 Professional cell router I used to be beforehand utilizing.