The Zyxel NR5103 is the high speed 5G Router that is currently being offered by EE as their rebadged home and office 5G router.
As well as providing high speed 5G Internet using the embedded 5GF modem, along with high speed LAN and WiFi, the main advantage of the Zyxel NR5103 router is that is has 4 x external antenna adapters (TS9) which means that you can easily add an outdoor or directional 5G Antenna to help with the 5G signal reception. This external antenna connection is ideal when the router is located indoors where there is a poor signal and there is a much better outdoor signal. A High Gain Outdoor 5G Antenna can be installed and the cables run to the router. Having 4 x TS( connectors on the rear of the router also means that the use of a 4×4 MiMo 5G antenna is viable giving users more flexibility in the choice of external antennas including the use of popular 4×4 MIMO antennas. However, the Zyxel NR5103 5G router still uses TS9 connectors so many external antennas will require TS9 to SMA adapters.
Lightning-fast internet connectivity
The Zyxel NR5103 supports 5G NR DL speeds of 4.67 Gbps* and 4G LTE DL speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps*. Wide-spectrum bandwidth accelerates internet speed and reduces network latency for premium and time-sensitive mobile broadband services.
WiFi 6 (11ax) technology for superior performance and coverage with WiFi 6 and EasyMesh R2 certification
Compliant with the latest WiFi 6 (802.11ax) standard, the Zyxel NR5103 offers speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps with 4×4 UL/DL MU-MIMO. With the uplink MU-MIMO, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), and beamforming technologies, the NR5103 delivers premium speed for multi-streaming data access. Along with the WiFi 6 and EasyMesh R2 certification, the NR5103 empowers service providers to deliver an optimal WiFi experience without dead zones.
Strengthen your competitive edge with Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)
Deploying NR5103 as part of FWA allows you to extend your 4G/5G service coverage into subscribers’ homes and workplaces without extra wire infrastructure. This secures the TCOs and increases business revenue by supporting a larger number of subscribers with a premium fixed-grade connection.
SA/NSA dual-mode compliant
The Standalone (SA) and Non-Standalone (NSA) compliant architecture of NR5103 improves your operational efficiency during 5G migration, accelerating your 5G service rollouts.
Remote management and upgrade
Through the 4G/5G radio interface, the NR5103 supports TR-069, and remote GUI to be fully configurable. Firmware Over-The-Air (FOTA) support enables remote firmware upgrades and troubleshooting through events triggered by the operators.
Easy network setup and management with Zyxel Air
The NR5103 comes with a subscriber app – Zyxel Air. The intuitive user interface of Zyxel Air provides your customers with the necessary assistance from device setup to routine management, minimizing service calls while enhancing user satisfaction.
External Antenna Connectivity
The Zyxel NR5103 5G Router has the advantage of having 4 x TS( external antenna connectors on the rear of the router. This means that you can connect an external 5G Antenna which is ideal if your 5G router is installed indoors where there is a poor 5G network signal, but there is a much better 5G signal outdoors.
Because the NR5103 5G router has 4 x external antenna connectors you can use a high gain omni-directional or directional 4×4 MiMo 5G antenna to get the fastest 5G network connection speeds possible.
Many Outdoor 5G antennas will be supplied with SMA antenna connectors so you will need to check the antenna connectors when you purchase your 5G antenna and if needed also purchase 4 x TS9 to SMA adapters so you can connect your high gain 5G antenna to the Zyxel NR5103 5G router.
A good example of a 4×4 MiMo 5G Antenna is the Panorama DWMM4-6-60-5SP Omni-=Directional, outdoor MiMo 4×4 5G antenna which is pre-terminated with 4 x 5m long cables with SMA male connectors.
You can see from the picture below that the Zyxel 5G router has the 4 x TS9 antenna connections on the rear of the router together with a slider switch that lets you select between using the external antenna of switch back to using the internal antennas.