Locked wireless modem?

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › Locked wireless modem?

moosee

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#322949 9-Oct-2025 09:06

Hi all,

I have a Huawei B818-263 wireless modem on a Wireless Nation plan and am wanting to get another modem of the same but the owner says it is on the One NZ 4G network and will not work on Spark or Skinny. Is this because it is locked to One NZ similar to how mobile phones can be locked to certain providers? I am assuming if it won't work on Spark or Skinny it won't work on Wireless Nation either?

CamH

618 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 328

Subscriber

#3423336 9-Oct-2025 10:12

I don't think it's so much that the B818 is locked to One NZ, but it'll be that the wireless broadband plans from the other providers will be TAC locked (they SIMs will only work in their modems).

If you went out and purchased, let's say, a prepaid SIM on any provider from a dairy and put it in the B818, then it should work. The modem itself is not locked. But if you take that One NZ SIM (or Spark, or 2degrees) wireless broadband SIM and put it in a random router (let's say a D-Link 4G one for comparison's sake) - it simply wouldn't work. This is because the SIMs will only work in specific modems that the provider has tested and allowed to work on their network.

For One NZ, it's currently the Huawei B818 and a few of the TP-Link Deco 4G/5G routers.

For 2degrees, I believe it's the Nokia Fastmile and a few different models of TP-Link and a few different Huawei's (but not the same ones as One NZ)

I believe for Spark, they have their own branded one, which once again, is different to the other two.

tl;dr: The SIMs are locked, not the modems themselves.

rp1790

756 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 180

Lifetime subscriber

#3423342 9-Oct-2025 10:37

Not sure about Wireless Nation but I have a connection with Netspeed for my Motorhome. Thats not locked as I bought a 2nd hand Dec X80 and just popped the SIM in.

moosee

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#3423372 9-Oct-2025 12:42

CamH:

If you went out and purchased, let's say, a prepaid SIM on any provider from a dairy and put it in the B818, then it should work.

Yes that is what I thought but wasn't sure if I was assuming correctly. Thanks for confirming. :-)

moosee

28 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#3423373 9-Oct-2025 12:43

rp1790:

Not sure about Wireless Nation but I have a connection with Netspeed for my Motorhome. Thats not locked as I bought a 2nd hand Dec X80 and just popped the SIM in.

Thanks for that, was hoping that would be the case.