The Huawei WiFi AX3 WiFi router is an affordable upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 AX, though it’s only faster with Wi-Fi 6 devices.
The data sheet of the Huawei WiFi AX3 shows that this is an entry-level router, but as we go further we find areas where Huawei hasn’t gone with the latest and greatest AX options. To be fair, that would drive the price up significantly. Instead, Huawei aims to offer an affordable move on to Wi-Fi 6.
Test report: Huawei WiFi AX3
Australian websitehere
price$ 229
guarantee2 years
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7;s GadgetGuy here.
First impressions
Sleek design but with four antennas obvious – it’s not the most subtle router. But it’s not the gaudiest either, considering that some high-end WiFi routers look like a giant spider lying dead on its back.
Setup is straightforward – either via the Huawei AI Life app or configuration via a web browser.
We recommend the browser method. Go to the default IP address and configure the Wi-Fi name and password, as well as a password to access the router’s menus. There is an option to set up separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks to support issues with older IoT devices. If you’re not using Wi-Fi 6 devices, there is an option to turn it into a Wi-Fi 5 AC only network. The default IP address can be changed.
Using the Huawei AI Life smartphone app to configure the router requires a certain amount of personal information sharing. It asks for GPS (location) – deny that, but set the region to the correct time. There is no way to deny bluetooth and camera access as we cannot understand why it is necessary.
With four chunky antennas, the Huawei WiFi AX3 isn’t subtle.
Huawei WiFi AX3 specifications
Wireless Internet accessWLAN-AX
Tapes2.4 (574 Mbit / s) and 5 GHz (2402 Mbit / s)
Bandwidth management2 × 2 MU-MIMO (4-Stream)
WAN1 gigabit ethernet port
LAN3 gigabit ethernet port
processorGigahome Quad-Core 1.4 GHz CPU
securityTrustZone security, anti-brute force algorithms, WPA3, firewall, DMZ, PAP / CHAP, DMZ / DoS attack protection
Dimensions225 mm x 159.2 mm x 39.7 mm
Weight403 grams
Gigabit WAN and LAN ports can be found on the back, but no USB.
Increase in bandwidth for Huawei devices
Huawei WiFi AX3 has a few tricks to boost performance – but the catch 22 is that these only work with newer Huawei Mate and P40 phones that support Huawei’s proprietary 160GHz AX3 6Plus. This means that more data is transferred over short distances. The tradeoff is that performance degrades rapidly over distance. The default setting is 80 MHz for 5 GHz.
If the router doesn’t provide enough coverage throughout the house, it also supports mesh WiFi by adding other Huawei routers as mesh extenders.
Wi-Fi 6 directs traffic – any Wi-Fi 6 router
MU-MIMO “Multi-User – Multiple Input, Multiple Output” has been around for a few years, but Wi-Fi 6 is picking it up again. MIMO hops around multiple radio signals to improve connections. MU-MIMO adds a fast lane to the wireless network for newer devices. It’s not so much about a speed boost, it’s making sure that older WiFi devices don’t get in the way and slow things down.
Meanwhile, OFDMA “Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access” reduces latency. It allocates capacity to individual devices and enables transmission to deliver data to multiple devices at the same time.
With Target Wake Time, the router can schedule check-in times with devices to reduce network traffic and save power.
Huawei AX3 WiFi features
All the usual features like time limits and parental control filters. These ensure that young people do not spend too much time online or wander into the dark corners of the Internet. The speed limit on their devices ensures they don’t choke on broadband connection when downloading massive updates from Steam.
There’s also guest WiFi to give friends limited access, along with Huawei Share that works with Huawei devices. It uses NFC to connect devices to the Wi-Fi network.
The ‘H’ button on the top of the router makes it easy to connect Huawei WiFi devices. The router also supports WPS.
The surprising omission is the USB port. This means that a USB printer or USB storage device cannot be accessed over the network.
Huawei WiFi AX3 has a firewall, DoS attack protection and anti-brute force algorithms to keep uninvited guests away. TrustZone Security provides hardware isolation to make security breach efforts more difficult.
Given some people’s security concerns, it’s good to see the configuration through a web browser without installing the app. As with any product, read the privacy policy and terms and conditions.
The Huawei WiFi AX3 is designed to play well with other Huawei wireless devices.
MacBook Air M1 Wi-Fi 6 performance tests
The upgrade from a Wi-Fi 5 Google Nest Wi-Fi to the Wi-Fi 6 Huawei WiFi AX3 delivers a network speed increase of approx.2.2x with a Wi-Fi 6 Apple MacBook Air (M1 2020). This is despite the fact that Huawei’s M1 MacBook Air receives a weaker signal strength than Google.
Our test was to FTP a 2.5 GB disc image from a network storage drive connected via Gigabit Ethernet. In a 4 meter line of sight, the M1 MacBook Air reached 585 Mbps using the standard 80 MHz channel.
At 9 meters, in the next room, the speed decreased by 55%. Google’s speeds only decreased by 30%.
The further the distance, the smaller the advantage of the Huawei WiFi AX3 – only 1.35 times the speed of the Google Nest WiFi.
MacBook Pro Wi-Fi 5 performance tests
There is no noticeable improvement when using an older Wi-Fi 5 notebook with the Huawei WiFi AX3.
With a range of 4 meters in the same room, the MacBook clocked 107 Mbit / s. It used a 40MHz channel. Perhaps more noticeable is that Huawei recorded a 10% loss in speed compared to Google.
At 9 meters, in the next room, the speed decreased by 35%. Google also lost 35%.
At a greater distance, the Wi-Fi 5 MacBook Pro performed slightly better when connected to the Wi-Fi 5 Google router than the new Wi-Fi 6 Huawei WiFi AX3 router.
In summary, new Wi-Fi 6 devices should experience a speed boost, but the further the distance from the router, the less the improvement. It is not mandatory to upgrade from AC to AX until you have enough AX client devices to do this.
GadgetGuys recording
If you have some Wi-Fi 6 devices, upgrading to a Wi-Fi 6 router should give those devices more speed. If coverage is more important to you than speed, you might be better off spending your money on mesh WiFi coverage.
In addition, your opinion on the Huawei WiFi AX3 AX3000 4-stream depends on the glass-half-full or glass-half-empty approach.
The half-empty glass view lacks some high-end specifications such as Wi-Fi 6E and higher specified MU-MIMO. However, expect to pay 2-3 times more for a Netgear Nighthawk RAX200 Tri-Band AX11000, 12-Stream Router. Or the D-Link AX5400 Dual-Band, 8-Stream, both with mesh capability, at a lower price. And there are cheaper alternatives to AX mesh that you should also consider.
The glass-half-full view is that with the Huawei WiFi AX3 you get basic Wi-Fi 6 without breaking the bank.
Would i buy it?
If I lived in a small house where I would benefit from the significant speed increase at close range and where I would not need mesh WiFi. But we think that the Netgear AX11000 beast should be a must anyway!
A competent entry-level AX3000 4-stream router.
positive
Entry-level Wi-Fi 6 for small households
Affordable
Negatives
Only 2×2 MU-MIMO – 4 stream
Better and cheaper alternatives
