4G Router Recommendations...

Associate
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HI all

For the past few years I've been using the Huawei B310 and also the B315 4G routers. I've had excellent results with them. They seem to be very good at working with a weak 4G signal and have the option of connecting an external/outdoor antenna. They also provide good wifi coverage in the house.

Now these are a few years old I was wondering if there's anything much better on the market? I'm really looking for a router I can connect an external antenna to. I'm not interested in 5G, just 3G/4G.

Can anyone recommend anything?

Thanks, Dave.
 
Soldato
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Similar boat to you Dave only I have a tp-link MR6400. Work lent me it before the covid happened, but I need it now to work from home.

I have been checking and there doesn't seem to be much pace with regards to brands making these compared to regular broadband methods. My BIL paid (uncharacteristically for him) a private firm to install and they put up a mikrotik dish which are around £150. He lives on the same lane as me, rural no fiber available. Benefit of this is the router is outside so no need for aerial but you would need a switch/access point inside to share this over the household.

I like the Huawei and similar £70 jobbies but when you consider costs for external SMA aerial your getting close to the mikrotik which seems to be the superior option for what is being outlayed. Will see what others post but the one that tempted me was the zyxel LTE3302-M432 as it can do bridge mode so I can link to a pfsense box I made.
 
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I'm in a rural location in the South of France. My nearest mast is 5km away over a hill, so I use a flat panel directional antenna with my Huawei B310. I've hit speeds of over 40Mbps but generally it's around 25Mbps which is fine for me. I guess the reduction from 40 to 25 is due to the number of people connected to the mast.

I tried a number of different antennas, many didn't improve the connection at all, I think the internal antenna of the Huawei B310 / B315 actually works very well. In the end I settled with a flat panel antenna from Panorama Antennas, it works really well.

http://www.panorama-antennas.com/site/index.php?route=product/product&path=25&product_id=292
 

RSR

RSR

Soldato
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Thanks RSR, have you had any experience of using them?

I don't of those spectic units but I use a MikroTik LtAP as my backup connection, routerOS is a bit of a learning curve though.

@WJA96 I believe uses a SXT, so he should be able to give you his thoughts on it.
 
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Soldato
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Am I correct in thinking that those two units don't incorporate WiFi? You can only connect to them via Ethernet, so you could connect them to a WiFi access point via Ethernet and then connect other devices via WiFi?

That is correct. You get a fully featured router, but the access point needs to be added separately.
 
Soldato
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And yes, I've installed and operated both the LHG LTE CAT6 and the SXT LTE CAT6 and they do a great job, especially in poor signal strength conditions. It's worth noting that the LHG isn't a small thing (only a little smaller than a Sky dish) whereas the SXT is pretty tiny in comparison.

Although people talk about the steep learning curve, in reality there is a think called QuickSet and you pick LTE Router and it does almost everything else for you. You do need to know your LTE providers connection details to enter them to get it up and running.

If you're in a strong signal indoors area then I can heartily recommend the TP-Link 4G routers. They all work straight out of the box and there is a CAT6 version if your SIM/Provider supports that.
 
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I can see a mast from my house, its only about 1.5 miles away. I found that Huawei routers and the MikroTik SXT router would only give me 4 out of 5 bars of signal and an ok'ish speed. But i've always gone back to a Teltonika router as i'll get the full 5 bars of signal from those routers with a better ping and speed. Same with another network with a mast further away. Huawei and MikroTik 3 bars, teltonika 4 bars. If you already get full signal on the Huawei, then none of this will matter haha.
 
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Huawei and MikroTik 3 bars, teltonika 4 bars.

Interesting, what exact models were you testing? In particular which Teltonika? Did you use any external antennas?

Of course 4 bars signal on one brand/model might not equate to 4 bars on a different brand/model.

Back to back speed tests, repeated a number of times, using same mast and SIM card would be more interesting.
 
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Soldato
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Teltonika are very good. Ultimately, there are so many variables it’s very hard to say what vendor and model of device will be best in any given scenario.

On the 3 bars/4 bars discussion, I think they will be roughly equivalent as, as far as I know, all the 4G/LTE router chipsets use a common scale between -100dBi and 0 dBi for RSSI (received signal strength) but how they calculate that RSSI based on Received Signal Power (RSRP), Received Signal Quality (RSRQ) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR or SINR) are not always the same, but I would think they would be the same within manufacturer’s ranges and for devices using the same chipsets.

And even antenna gain is no guarantee of ‘better’ because it can just drive up the SNR and make the signal quality worse. On paper, the Mikrotik LHG has a massively better antenna gain (14bBi) than the SXT (9dBi) and yet they the generally perform the same in most scenarios.

Teltonika may get better results because they use omni antennae, so they are quite insensitive to positioning. The Mikrotiks are highly directional and need very careful positioning or they can just not work at all. On the LHG, even 5 degrees left or right of ‘best’ can be catastrophic.

Just about the only thing that will, absolutely, definitely get you more throughput is channel bonding, so you want CAT6 over CAT 3 or 4 and CAT12 if you can get that. If, for a given signal, a single chain (CAT3 or 4) gets you 30Mbps, then a bonded CAT6 device will get you up to double that and a CAT12 device up to double that again. So a CAT6 device with poor RSSI may be faster than a CAT4 device with better RSSI.
 
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you want CAT6 over CAT 3 or 4 and CAT12 if you can get that. If, for a given signal, a single chain (CAT3 or 4) gets you 30Mbps, then a bonded CAT6 device will get you up to double that and a CAT12 device up to double that again.

Thanks for the detailed info. Do you know if most 4G network providers support 'channel bonding' to make full use of a CAT6 device?

Also, am I correct in thinking the Huawei B525 is a CAT6 device?
 
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Caporegime
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I like the Teltonika devices because of the RMS feature. Have had good luck with a Mikrotik LtAP as well, this was in a situation where I had VPN access to the site via another path so remote management wasn't needed, the form factor of the Mikrotik was also better for the installation.
 
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If I have time tonight, I'll set up the mikrotik stx (cat6), the teltonika rut240(cat4) and my ee home hub router(cat 6 or 7, can't remember). Will do 3 speed tests and see what the outcome is. Obviously it won't be gospel because speeds can greatly fluctuate. But it should give a rough guestimation.
 
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Thanks, that would be interesting to see. :)

What antennas do you use on the Teltonika RUT240? Just the satndard ones that are supplied with it?

Nah, I've got an external set up, actually, I've got 2 LTE set ups haha.

So originally, I was going to get a repeater from stelladoradus. But once I found out I would be needing 2 repeater's to work as a MIMO connection for full speed, I was put off. But I asked if they would send me the antennas and cables and they agreed. So I've got 2 directional panel antennas attached to(surprisingly) 2 30 meter cables, that's what my EE router is connected to.

I've then got the teltonika router outside in a box that's powered via PoE connected to an Omni directional antenna.

No chance for the speed tests tonight and I think it's raining tomorrow. But I'll get them done as soon as possible.
 
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