4G Broadband Router Options

NM30

NM30

NM30

Associate
Joined
8 Apr 2020
Posts
36
I’ve had an external 4G antenna installed which has the SIM inserted into it inside the antenna.

The router provided by the company is not great so looking for a better replacement.

can I purchase any type of router thats available to buy like the Asus RT-AC68U which im looking to get or do I need one specifically for 4G broadbands.
 
they’ve supplied a Mikrotik access point so its not even a router and its located just outside the living room and the wifi signal is poor.

can I just buy any router on the market?
 
The MikroTik will have a model number.

If it is just an access point then the router must be up the pole where you're inserting the SIM.

You don't want to be daisy-chaining routers unless you have no other choice.

Tell us exactly what you've got at the moment and you'll get an informed answer.
 
bremen1874 said:
The MikroTik will have a model number.

If it is just an access point then the router must be up the pole where you're inserting the SIM.

You don't want to be daisy-chaining routers unless you have no other choice.

Tell us exactly what you've got at the moment and you'll get an informed answer.
Click to expand...

its the Mikrotik hAP ac lite
 
WoodyUK said:
I presume they have a Modem somewhere separately and have run a cable down to the Mikrotik access point?

If that is the case then you can buy any router, ASUS ones are a good bet as I've personally used them and they have an Auto Wizard to detect the type of connection which is always useful for these types of situations.
Click to expand...

thats all they’ve done is run a single cable from the external antenna and its terminated at the other end into the access point.

how will I know if there’s a seperate modem?
 
If you just have the access point then the router functionality must be where the SIM is inserted. If there wasn't a router you wouldn't be able to have more than one device connected at a time.

You don't really want to add another router. Double NAT on top of CGNAT isn't something you'd choose to have.

You're going to want better wireless, not a better router. The wireless could be provided by a wireless router as long as it's configured as an access point.

Are you after a single wireless point or multiple spread around the house? How much are you willing to spend?
 
bremen1874 said:
If you just have the access point then the router functionality must be where the SIM is inserted. If there wasn't a router you wouldn't be able to have more than one device connected at a time.

You don't really want to add another router. Double NAT on top of CGNAT isn't something you'd choose to have.

You're going to want better wireless, not a better router. The wireless could be provided by a wireless router as long as it's configured as an access point.

Are you after a single wireless point or multiple spread around the house? How much are you willing to spend?
Click to expand...

this is the external antenna I’ve got an it does appear the modem is built into it.

https://www.senetic.co.uk/product/R...MIwJvRp7mQ6gIVDsayCh0HjgfQEAkYASABEgIuOvD_BwE
 
so what they’ve done basically is run a cable and plugged it in the ethernet port in the antenna and an access point in the house isn’t it.
 
The ‘antenna’ that’s plugged in outside with the SIM card in it is a VERY powerful router built into a dish antenna. That’s good.

The hAP AC lite has the same router software as the LHG and they’ve just configured it to run as an access point. Which is a pity, because it’s a great router with relatively poor wireless capability.

I’m going to suggest getting the people who installed it for you back and tell them you want to swap the hAP AC lite for a Ubiquiti FlexHD access point. They’ll make a face and tell you how expensive it is and you should pay £120-ish for them to swap the hAP Ac lite out for the Ubiquiti AP. Or they could add more hAP AC lites to your network, but they’d need a lot more cables. And that will be expensive.

What sort of speeds are you getting from the system at the moment?
 
NM30 said:
so what they’ve done basically is run a cable and plugged it in the ethernet port in the antenna and an access point in the house isn’t it.
Click to expand...

What they’ve done is actually a pretty high-end Wireless WAN system. The Mikrotik LHG is quite an extreme 4G antenna/router. Sadly, your user experience is ruined by them fitting the cheapest possible wireless LAN device as an access point.
 
WJA96 said:
The ‘antenna’ that’s plugged in outside with the SIM card in it is a VERY powerful router built into a dish antenna. That’s good.

The hAP AC lite has the same router software as the LHG and they’ve just configured it to run as an access point. Which is a pity, because it’s a great router with relatively poor wireless capability.

I’m going to suggest getting the people who installed it for you back and tell them you want to swap the hAP AC lite for a Ubiquiti FlexHD access point. They’ll make a face and tell you how expensive it is and you should pay £120-ish for them to swap the hAP Ac lite out for the Ubiquiti AP. Or they could add more hAP AC lites to your network, but they’d need a lot more cables. And that will be expensive.

What sort of speeds are you getting from the system at the moment?
Click to expand...

im getting speeds of between 40 - 70 depending on time of day which is a huge improvement on the 15 I had on a FTTC connection.

I might just buy that Ubiquity access point you mentioned or might get one or two of their ceiling mounted ones.
 
Yeah, it just seems a shame that they ruined a good 4G WWAN system with a cheap wireless solution.
 
WJA96 said:
Yeah, it just seems a shame that they ruined a good 4G WWAN system with a cheap wireless solution.
Click to expand...

do you know if I can daisy chain connections on the ceiling mounted Ubiquity access points or do they require their own PoE from a designated injector?
 
They need their own PoE injector and if you daisy chain them you lose half the bandwidth.
 
Actually, that’s not entirely correct because the in-wall access points support PoE pass through so you can daisychain in-wall access points with marginal loss of bandwidth.
 
Any of the in-wall access points should do it. AP-AC-IW, AP-AC-IW Pro, UAP-IW-HD and UAP-IW-6 (although that’s still not quite ready yet!)
 
Why would you want to daisy-chain them? It’s a very poor idea and for these you’d need at least one STRONG PoE injector.
 
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