ZTE H1600 modem-router review

There are hundreds of compatible networking devices when it comes to NBN connections. If you want one that’s built to work with all NBN technology types—future-proofing yourself if you’re moving house—you want a modem-router. Routers will work with most NBN technologies, but Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) and Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB) homes need a modem-router to get online.

It’s understandable, then, that modem-routers are a popular pick among NBN providers. Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all offer different bundled modem-routers. And for the ZTE H1600, it’s available for purchase from Exetel, Origin Broadband and Superloop, which also technically makes it easier to shift between those providers from a support perspective.

Let’s dive into how the H1600 fares in real-world conditions.

You’ll struggle to find the ZTE H1600 at a retailer, but you can grab it for around $150 as an NBN plan add-on from Exetel, Origin Broadband and Superloop. I bought my H1600 with an NBN 100/20 plan from Exetel for $151, alongside the mesh-compatible ZTE H3601 extender for $100.

The good news was I didn’t need the extender for my apartment, even in areas that typically suffer from WiFi black spots. But more on that later. In terms of cost, you can find the NBN provider-popular TP-Link VX230v modem-router for slightly cheaper but expect to pay more for alternatives like the NetComm NF20MESH.

One of the best perks of picking an NBN plan that includes a router or modem-router (or paying extra for one) is it should come preconfigured. That was the case for me with the ZTE H1600 I ordered from Exetel, and it even came with a little brochure warning me against resetting the device.

All I had to do to get online with my Exetel plan was power cycle my Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) NBN connection box, then power on the H1600. It’s great to see a modem-router with a slimline, antennae-less design that’s built to sit in a vertical configuration, too. Admittedly, you could argue it’s exclusively built for vertical standing—horizontal is achievable but not quite organic—and if, like me, you use Ethernet cables, they may feel like they’re pulling backwards on the H1600’s stability.

Still, no extra steps required to get online is a big win. It is worth flagging that I did download the ZTELink companion app, but it didn’t appear to be compatible with the H1600. The real pain of no companion app, though, is the web portal interface for the H1600 is a mess. I’m used to digging into router and modem-router settings to tweak my preferences, but I found the H1600’s layout to be illogical and limiting. The latter point was exacerbated by the restricted credentials, which didn’t give me access to all the settings. For context, most networking devices I’ve reviewed typically include administrator credentials by default, rather than user-restricted ones like the H1600.

By default, the ZTE H1600 has band steering disabled, so you start with separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Dig into the settings, though, and band steering can be enabled (even with the limited user profile), which is what I used for speed testing.

All of my internet speed tests are conducted with an Exetel NBN 100/20 FTTC apartment connection, using Ethernet for the first test then a Google Pixel 7 Pro for the WiFi tests (via WiFi 6). These tests were done in the evening. Lower numbers are best for latency (measured in milliseconds), while larger numbers are better for download and upload speeds (both measured in megabits-per-second). Use the top line of results in the tables as an idea of best-case speeds at that time of day, then every line below as comparative.

For a baseline comparison, first up is the results from my go-to Synology RT6600ax router.

Immediately after performing those tests, I switched over to the H1600 and measured the results below.

These are some seriously impressive results, more so given the Synology RT6600ax retails for close to four times the price of the ZTE H1600. Ignore the failed results for my garage tests, as that’s there to catch out most networking devices due to WiFi having to punch through an internal wall, a building's external wall and a very thick concrete floor.

The only other bad result is the slow speeds from 25+ metres across the road, which the RT6600ax comfortably tackled but the H1600 struggled with. That blip aside, every other H1600 speed test is impressive, with extremely consistent latency (even across the road), near-universally consistent download speeds and set-a-clock-to-it upload speeds.

Those impressive speed-test results fall apart when it comes to WiFi consistency. Lots of everyday apps only had partial functionality across wireless devices, including a Google Pixel 7 Pro, Google Pixel 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and a Steam Deck. For example, Facebook worked normally, but GIFs refused to load. Discord and WhatsApp were connected, but I couldn’t send images.

The Steam Deck would download game updates and show that people were online, but it timed out on system updates within game and desktop modes. Plex took minutes to load on the Tab S7 or it failed to load at all. Turning on a VPN fixed the issues—even if you can’t easily use a VPN on the Steam Deck—and reverting to the Synology router (multiple times) had zero issues.

It was clear the problem was with the ZTE H1600, but even with my above-average networking knowledge, I couldn’t fix it. Sure, the terrible user interface didn’t help, but the restricted user credentials also meant key configuration options were missing from the H1600’s web portal. After multiple emails to Exetel tech support and a phone call, the issue was eventually fixed.

The problem is, an important component of our product reviews is everyday use cases, and it’s not reasonable to expect most people to be able to identify that particular problem, let alone speak to tech support in a way that would speedily address it. What’s worse is the latency problems that persisted after the WiFi fix.

I did online gaming tests in Hell Let Loose where I had micro lag stutters, but even those annoyances were comparatively bearable next to the 10-second-long lag spikes in the Delta Force: Hawk Ops play test. While Hawk Ops doesn’t benefit from Australian servers, none of the people I was playing with had those issues, and they went away when I switched back to my main Synology router. It didn’t help that there were other short lag spikes, and my voice was ‘roboting’ in Discord (a sign of poor network performance) and, worse, sporadically dropping out.

Initially, I thought my WiFi issues with the ZTE H1600 may have been a hardware fault, but there was the VPN workaround and an eventual Exetel tech support fix. I could’ve been more lenient post-fix had the online gaming and VoIP tests not spectacularly failed, across multiple games and days. As it stands, despite its affordable price, full-spectrum NBN technology support and impressive speed test results, the H1600 is too unreliable to recommend.