ZTE U30 Air: A Surprisingly Stable and Affordable Small 5G Router

The price of a good 5G router can often be uncomfortably high, but recently, several price reductions and affordable new releases have made them more accessible. One of the best options for those who want to control their budget is the ZTE U20 Air. It’s not only unusually cheap with its price tag just under $160, it also belongs to the most sleek portable pocket routers with 5G that I’ve tested.

It is smaller in size and slimmer than most, with a light plastic chassis and a weight of only 163 grams – the lightest of those I’ve tested so far. Despite this, it has a battery as large as several other similar routers. Its 4,500 mAh battery provides an active operating time of approximately eleven hours. Not the best in class, but definitely not failing. The shape makes it very convenient to put the router in your pocket, deceptively similar to a smartphone.

However, the router does away with certain features that may add both grams and raise the price compared to the competition. It’s wifi 5 instead of wifi 6, and you can only run wifi on one frequency band at a time: the slower but long-range 2.4 GHz, or 5 GHz which is faster but has limited range. You switch between them with a button on the side.

Diodes inform everything important

You do not get an LCD screen with information, but only three diodes that can light up in different colors. One for battery status, one for wifi status and one for the mobile connection. That’s all. You make settings via a mobile app.

It goes easily as soon as you are connected to the router’s wifi. But frankly, there is not much of importance to set. Change wifi name and password, keep track of connected devices, update firmware, and make some basic security settings. There is no guest network, parental control, or similar.

Only one wifi to share with up to ten connected devices. That is lower than most competitors who have 16 or 32 connections as a limit. But most of us may not need more than two to maybe five gadgets connected at the same time. Often only one.

Sim like in an old mobile

Otherwise, everything is designed to just work. You can pop off the back cover and insert a sim card and then attach the loosely supplied battery – as on a classic old mobile. Turn on the router, wait a minute for all the diodes to light up white, and you have both plenty of battery and a smooth, fast connection. If you don’t get a 5G signal, it’s not a disaster, it works great even on 4G.

Measuring performance over mobile broadband is tricky, and all speed measurements should be taken with a large pinch of salt. There are a lot of factors that can affect how fast it goes, and often pure coincidences between one measurement and another. But I get between 300 and 420 Mbit/s and get short response times as long as I stay in inner cities. It goes almost as well, stable between 150 and 200 Mbit/s when I test out in the countryside with a clearly weaker 5G signal.

It is absolutely well approved, and with a clear view within eleven meters from the router, or a little shorter with a thin wall in between, it is no problem to connect to wifi and surf, stream and download data quickly. Connect to the router most easily with NFC, which connects you directly. Otherwise, you need to note the wifi password that is stated under the back cover. At least to log in for the first time and change the password in the app to your own.

Extra storage

ZTE U20 Air actually has a small function that I don’t quite understand the point of. If you connect it to a computer via the usb-c port, it comes up as a storage device, except that it also works as a mobile-connected mobile modem, like most other mobile routers. The storage is 24 GB, so not exactly huge.

Is it so that you can upload and share files on the small internal network? It doesn’t seem so – I can’t find any way to share it as a folder. But sure, a small extra USB stick is not wrong.

Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by this simple and stripped-down router. It shows that you do not need to spend fortunes to get a fast and stable hotspot for a handful of users, and I do not miss either screen or touch interface. Certainly, the U20 Air has limitations, but none that feel important.

Specifications
Product name: ZTE U30 Air
Tested: April 2025
Manufacturer: ZTE
Modem type: 4g, 5g (NR), nanosim
Wifi type: Wifi 5, 2.4 or 5 GHz
Wifi capacity: 300 + 897 Mbit/s
Number of simultaneous devices: 10
Security: Wpa2, wpa3
Connections: Usb-c 3 gen 1 (charging and internet sharing)
Measured speed, 5G to wifi: 412 Mbit/s
Range, wifi: About 11 meters at 5 GHz
Battery: 4,500 mAh, removable, about 10 hours of surfing
Admin interface: App, web
Other: Nfc for quick connection
Size: 14 x 7.3 x 1.2 mm
Weight: 163 grams
Price: $150