Best 5G LTE Router

jamie-warez · 28 May 2022 at 22:50

Hi Friends, i am currently using a cpe pro2 router on three uk 5g network, it's working good but locked down with threes firmware.
I would like to purchase an unlocked OEM device, but not sure what one to buy

can anyone recommend the best 5G LTE Router with external antenna ports to use on threes 5g home broadband network.

WJA96 · 29 May 2022 at 16:15

My preferred option for 5G is the Mikrotik Chateau 5G. And it works straight out of the box with all UK service providers incl. Three.

Rroff · 29 May 2022 at 16:41

Annoyingly 5G routers are all kind of expensive - even against the exact same router without 5G they are like 2-3x the cost and often only a small price difference between your bog standard consumer variant and the enterprise/pro model.

jamie-warez · 29 May 2022 at 19:29

WJA96 said:
My preferred option for 5G is the Mikrotik Chateau 5G. And it works straight out of the box with all UK service providers incl. Three.

Thanks, Buddy is the Mikrotik Chateau 5G easy to use it looks like a nice piece of kit....

WJA96 · 29 May 2022 at 20:02

Yes, it’s designed for ISPs to supply to customers so you can set it up in a few minutes.

And it runs RouterOS 7 so if you want ALL the options they’re all there. Somewhere

If you want to do something slightly more complicated then it’s quite a lot more complicated to get your head around. But generally for home use everything you want is right there on the front page.

jamie-warez · 29 May 2022 at 20:31

WJA96 said:
Yes, it’s designed for ISPs to supply to customers so you can set it up in a few minutes.

And it runs RouterOS 7 so if you want ALL the options they’re all there. Somewhere

If you want to do something slightly more complicated then it’s quite a lot more complicated to get your head around. But generally for home use everything you want is right there on the front page.

Thanks bud looks like I will be buying this one, just need to find it in stock...Thanks again

jamie-warez · 29 May 2022 at 20:41

Has anyone used https://www.getic.com/ for LTE routers, it's the only company that has Mikrotik Chateau 5G in stock
I am afraid in case it's an import model or something or locked to An EU service...

jamie-warez · 29 May 2022 at 21:06

Just ordered from getic.com used PayPal so should be good, good price also cheaper than others will let you know how I get on once i have the unit in my hands looking forward to using it with my external antenna in the loft

WJA96 · 29 May 2022 at 22:33

Getic is the new name for EuroDK, so yes, they are a huge distributor for Mikrotik and Ubiquiti in Europe, based in Latvia. They did have a UK presence where you could pay in sterling into a UK bank but that stopped with Brexit so not so easy if you need to send something back, but hopefully you won't. If, when you get it, it has somewhat dodgy 5G signal strength lights then apparently that's OK according to the factory. We received a shipment of 20 of the 5G Chateau units and about half of them the 1st and sometimes the second 5G signal lamp (out of 4) didn't illuminate. We complained and were told that was OK, and yes, we could have a refund but any new ones would 99% have the same fault. So we kept them.

jamie-warez · 29 May 2022 at 22:58

Thanks for the info i used EuroDK before when i was in Denmark so know them great to see then still around with new presence.

jamie-warez · 30 May 2022 at 11:38

WJA96 said:
Yes, it’s designed for ISPs to supply to customers so you can set it up in a few minutes.

And it runs RouterOS 7 so if you want ALL the options they’re all there. Somewhere

If you want to do something slightly more complicated then it’s quite a lot more complicated to get your head around. But generally for home use everything you want is right there on the front page.

Can I ask if you are in the uk and what network you are using so I know what to expect once I get the device got an email today saying it was with dhl and can expect delivery on the 1st of jun

WJA96 · 30 May 2022 at 12:23

Yes, UK. I have units deployed on EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 and all work straight away with a SIM card inserted. I’ve posted in the 5G thread where I was getting 350Mbps in the West Bromwich Premier Inn with internal antennae only.

It’s also very quick with 4G Carrier Aggregation as it’s CAT20 modem. I’ve seen over 200Mbps up and down on 4G.

Anything you want to know please just ask.

Caged · 30 May 2022 at 12:49

It would be nice to see (and presumably fairly easy?) MikroTik put the CAT18 modem in the LHG LTE18 into their other LTE products as well.

WJA96 · 30 May 2022 at 13:40

Caged said:
It would be nice to see (and presumably fairly easy?) MikroTik put the CAT18 modem in the LHG LTE18 into their other LTE products as well.

At the last online MUM I asked about that and I was told they had no plans to sell the CAT12, CAT18 or CAT20 modems for other devices with microPCIe slots primarily because you need antennae to go with the carrier aggregation and it would need a comprehensive kit to upgrade a CAT3 device to a CAT12 or CAT18 device and they then admitted that all the CAT3 gear was equipped with CAT6 antennae as standard since CAT6 gear became available. It has the extra antennae but only a CAT3 card in the slot.

jamie-warez · 30 May 2022 at 13:41

WJA96 said:
Yes, UK. I have units deployed on EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 and all work straight away with a SIM card inserted. I’ve posted in the 5G thread where I was getting 350Mbps in the West Bromwich Premier Inn with internal antennae only.

It’s also very quick with 4G Carrier Aggregation as it’s CAT20 modem. I’ve seen over 200Mbps up and down on 4G.

Anything you want to know please just ask.

Thanks for the response my friend, I am looking forward to testing the speed différance from my CPE pro2 already got external antenna ready to go should be getting better speeds...

WJA96 · 30 May 2022 at 14:04

jamie-warez said:
Thanks for the response my friend, I am looking forward to testing the speed différance from my CPE pro2 already got external antenna ready to go should be getting better speeds...

Why would you assume that you will get better speeds? An external antenna in a reasonable signal strength area will get you very little extra speed over a well-positioned internal device.

The antennae on the Chateau 5G are rated at 5dB(I) which is already quite a bit of gain and the real upgrade would be to run the extra pair of antennae connectors from the motherboard to the prepared holes on the back of the case to add two more antennae for diversity purposes. Going from two cross-polarised antennae to four will theoretically give you a 6-10-fold increase in gain. I’ve not tried it myself, but there are videos on YouTube of people adding the extra connectors.

jamie-warez · 31 May 2022 at 19:48

Got the router today it was working good until i moved it to its permanent place now I get no Wi-Fi or Ethernet only flashing green Ethernet led when connected to ethernet i have performed the reset but it still won't enable the Wi-Fi to connect. i was working fine until i moved the router

WJA96 · 31 May 2022 at 21:29

jamie-warez said:
Got the router today it was working good until i moved it to its permanent place now I get no Wi-Fi or Ethernet only flashing green Ethernet led when connected to ethernet i have performed the reset but it still won't enable the Wi-Fi to connect. i was working fine until i moved the router

I‘m a bit confused. What reset did you do? There are three different levels of reset - you need the first one.

Unplug the power, hold down the reset button, plug in the power then as soon as the light starts flashing in the front let the reset button go. Don’t keep holding it down as that puts it into CAP mode and if you keep holding it down eventually it will go into NetInstall mode.

jamie-warez · 31 May 2022 at 21:44

Loos like its in CAP or NetInstall mode then as all i am getting is the Ethernet light flashing green with no Wi-Fi light. And the router gives no IP address via Ethernet
Could Cap or NetInstall mode cause this problem. and how do i disable it doing the reset, it just boots to the same problem?

WJA96 · 31 May 2022 at 22:01

Just boot it from no power with the reset button down until it just flashes then let the button go.