Mi Router 3G: Review

A router have become a staple in people homes and you most likely have one as well. Either dedicated or through your ISP with a modem / router combo

Written by Tomas Lyngen

Published: 07 Jul 2021

A router is a device to get wireless (WiFi) connection to the network. Many Internet Service Providers (ISP) provide modem / router combos, so you get connection that way

My ISP does the same, but it gets decently hot and struggles when there's a lot of devices. So I got a seperat router to ease the ISP modems load. Which gives me better and more stable internet

Mi Router 3G

The Mi Router 3G, is the highest model of the Mi Router 3 series and is a China exclusive model, but it still works in other regions

Web interface

One drawback of this being a Chinese market only model, is that the web interface only comes in Chinese and unless you can read Chinese, it can be hard to fully understand what everything is

Luckily, there exist an alternative to the web interface

Mi WiFi

The mobile app for Mi Routers support English language and offer most that the web interface does

Here you'll be able to check how much devices are consuming the network, adjust QoS, Update the Router, control when devices are allowed to use the internet and at what speed, and more

The only feature I missed in the app, that the online interface have. Is the option to change band for WiFi network. Normally this is not something you need to change, but as the router is China standard and bands can be different around the world. My Nintendo Switch didn't want to connect to the WiFi, before I changed the band. After changing the band, no more issues

Ports

On the router you'll find 2 ethernet ports, 1 internet ethernet port (blue), one USB 3 port and power input

With the ports, there's also a reset hole. If you want to factory reset the router

Underside

Under the router, you'll find ventilation holes. Unfortunately there's no wall mount holes on this router

Charger

As this is a China only model, it only comes with the US non-ground type charger which is also used in China (China ground is different than US)

Input: 110-240V 50/60Hz 0.6A Output: 12V 5A

Coverage

The router manage to cover my entire 66sqm apartment, plus balcony and front of the entrance. I have full bar in the entire apartment, even in the areas with most walls in between

Average of -44dBm when I measured around my apartment, which is a good rating. Worst was in the toilet, which is covered the the tickets walls of all the rooms

Regular maintenance

A good way to prevent possible issues, is schedule regularly reboots of the router during a time you don't use the internet / network

I've mine set to reboot daily at 3am, as everyone is sleeping at that time and even if they weren't, the internet is back within a few minutes. If you're streaming a movie, you're already buffered a bit forward and most likely won't even notice it was gone

Enabling scheduled reboot

1) Open the Mi WiFI-app 2) Go to Toolbox > More Tools > Schedule reboot 3) Click the Pluss (+) Symbol in the bottom 4) Add when you want the reboot to happen (once/daily/specific days) and what time 5) Press OK and make sure it's enabled (blue dot = enabled / grey dot = disabled)

Now the router will restart at the times you've scheduled

Conclusion

It's a great router and I have no problem recommending it

The sequel Mi Router 4 series was already out when I bought mine, but specification wise the Mi Router 3G was an better option

Considering WiFi 6 (802.11ax) is becoming more and more common, and this router only supports WiFi 5 (802.11ac). Depending on your need, I'd consider getting a WiFi 6 supported router, but for most a WiFi 5 router will be good enough still for many years to come