The MTN 5G Router: My Honest Review After Daily Driving It

The Remote Work Savior

If you work remotely, you already know how quickly bad internet can ruin your day. I reached my breaking point when my old connection had me waiting hours for downloads that should have taken minutes, so I finally decided to try MTN's 5G router.

I've been using it for work, gaming, streaming, massive downloads and moving large creative files around, and the difference has been ridiculous. But there are a few catches you should know about before buying one, especially when it comes to the battery, coverage and what MTN means by "unlimited."

One important thing before we start: MTN sells its device simply as the 5G Broadband Router, and the exact router model you receive can vary depending on availability. So some settings, battery behaviour and even the hardware itself may be slightly different from mine.

The Ugly: Battery Life

Let's get my biggest complaint out of the way first: I don't trust the internal battery.

It's useful enough to keep the router alive through a short power cut, but if you're buying this specifically because you need internet during long outages, I would absolutely have a backup power source ready.

My workaround has been a 5V-to-12V step-up cable connected to a power bank. When the router needs power, I can plug it into the bank and keep everything running without needing an inverter or waiting for electricity to come back.

If you try this, make sure the cable matches the voltage, connector and power requirements of the specific router you received. Don't just plug a random 12V cable into it and hope for the best.

The "Unlimited" Data Question

Whenever I talk about this router, this is usually the first question I get:

Is the MTN plan actually unlimited?

Yes, but there is a very important catch.

MTN's current Gold Unlimited Plan costs ₦40,000 for 30 days and is advertised at speeds of up to 50Mbps. You don't run out of data after hitting a fixed allocation, but MTN applies a usage threshold after 400GB.

Once you cross that 400GB mark within the month, your speed is reduced to 5Mbps for the rest of the validity period.

So yes, the data is technically unlimited.

The speed isn't.

And 5Mbps after getting used to a fast connection is painful. Browsing and messaging still work, and you can obviously still use the internet, but large game downloads, high-resolution streaming and moving huge files become a completely different experience.

MTN also has a faster Diamond Unlimited plan with a higher usage threshold, so check the current MTN router plans before subscribing because these plans can change.

Real-World Performance

This is where the router completely won me over.

The hardware and MTN's 5G network are capable of going much faster than the 50Mbps limit on the Gold plan. Under uncapped conditions, I've seen this router push into the 400–500Mbps range on 5G, which is hilarious compared with the connection I was using before.

That doesn't mean you should buy the ₦40,000 Gold plan expecting 500Mbps every day. MTN officially rates that specific plan at up to 50Mbps. The higher numbers show what the router and 5G connection can do when there isn't a 50Mbps plan limit in the way.

And even then, your results can be completely different from mine.

5G is extremely dependent on location, signal quality, congestion and where you place the router. Moving it from one side of a room to another can make a surprisingly big difference, and in an area with poor 5G coverage you may spend most of your time falling back to 4G.

I've also had the connection disappear for a second occasionally before immediately coming back. It hasn't been frequent enough to ruin the experience for me, but I wouldn't pretend the network has been flawless.

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The Router Setting I Changed Immediately

One of the first things I changed was separating the router's 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands instead of letting both sit under one network name.

And just to clear up something that can get confusing: 5GHz Wi-Fi and MTN 5G are not the same thing. MTN 5G is the mobile network bringing internet into the router. 5GHz is the Wi-Fi frequency the router uses to connect to devices inside your house.

The two Wi-Fi bands have different strengths:

• 2.4GHz: Slower, but usually travels farther and handles walls better. I use this for devices that don't need maximum speed or are farther away from the router.
• 5GHz: Faster at short range, but loses strength more quickly through walls. This is where I'd put a gaming PC, console, phone or anything doing large transfers when it's close enough to the router.

Some routers handle automatic band steering perfectly well, so separating them isn't mandatory. I did it because I wanted control over exactly which band my important devices were using instead of letting the router decide for me.

I renamed mine so I could immediately tell them apart and manually connected my faster devices to 5GHz.

If your PC is close enough to the router, though, I'd go one step further and just use Ethernet. It removes Wi-Fi interference from the equation completely and is what I'd choose for gaming, large downloads or anything where I care about the most stable connection possible.

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Coverage Matters More Than the Router

This is probably the biggest thing I'd tell someone before buying one.

Check MTN's 5G coverage where you actually live.

A fantastic 5G router with weak 5G signal is still going to give you a bad experience. The massive speeds I've seen aren't something I would promise another person just because they bought the same box.

Where the signal is strong, this thing can be absurdly fast. Where 5G is weak or unavailable, you're effectively buying an expensive router to use MTN's 4G network.

I'd test MTN 5G in your area first if possible, and once you get the router, experiment with placement. Near a window or higher up can sometimes perform much better than hiding it underneath a desk.

Would I Still Recommend It?

Yes.

The battery could be better, the occasional connection drop is annoying and I really don't like how easy it is to hear "unlimited" without realising that the ₦40,000 plan drops to 5Mbps after 400GB.

But knowing all of that, I'd still buy it again.

Going from struggling with basic downloads to having a connection fast enough for huge game updates, streaming, remote work and everything else I throw at it genuinely changed how I use my setup.

Just don't buy it expecting the router alone to magically give you 500Mbps.

Make sure the coverage is good, understand the plan you're paying for, and if you're a heavy user like me, keep an eye on that 400GB threshold.