4G Router Recommendations...

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 17:51

No, but it has the pole mount bracket. And the SXT is VERY directional. It has a handy signal strength meter on the back. Just leave it 30-60 seconds in any orientation to let it work out the signal strength. You can also see RSSI live on a graph in Winbox which lets you orient it fir the best signal strength.

Take your time with the mounting. It’s worth it.

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 17:52

Th0nt said:
Sorry I got this one. If you look at the bottom it doesnt have that bracket/clip.

https://mikrotik.com/product/sxt_lte6_kit

Actually it does, it’s just moulded into the SXT casing.

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 18:43

WJA96 said:
No, but it has the pole mount bracket. And the SXT is VERY directional. It has a handy signal strength meter on the back. Just leave it 30-60 seconds in any orientation to let it work out the signal strength. You can also see RSSI live on a graph in Winbox which lets you orient it fir the best signal strength.

Take your time with the mounting. It’s worth it.

That is handy to know - I seen the vid of a guy using it plugged into a laptop walking around - the sig bars on the back are just as accurate as the software?

Oh and before I forget, regarding apps on the phones etc. is there any good method to pinpoint a rough area to concentrate on as I cannot tell which direction the mast is. My regular phone is on another provider (locked) and the sim for the router seems to get better signal in the opposite direction nearly?

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 19:28

The graph in software is much more responsive. The Opensignal app will give you a heading to your nearest cell tower.

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 19:53

Does it give any indication of distance or would you have to look up on a mast site for that?

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 20:09

OK I was able to put the same network sim into a spare phone which although was locked, the app was functioning to point in the direction I thought it was in. I measured the distance as crow fly's and its 3.7km but rolling hills mean no LoS.

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 20:18

You don’t need line of sight. But the antenna is directional, so point it in the right direction. That’s it.

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 20:44

Thanks for your help guys, appreciated. Do most of you plug in the modem to a regular router? I have a 5 port PoE switch, this I take it I can plug one port to the modem unit and then take a regular data cable to the router or pfsense box?

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 20:57

It depends what mode you use. It’s a full RouterOS L4 device so it will do any routing you could possibly want including DHCP, SI Firewall, VPN etc. etc.

So, if you’re happy to use it as a router then just plug it into the PoE switch and it will take control as DHCP server etc. 192.168.88.1 is you go-to IP address, or download Webfig and take a couple of months to work your way through the menu options

I use them like this with Unifi access points and it’s fast and efficient.

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 21:01

Holy moly - thats awesome, I can just add a hub to it (well switch these days) and position old routers as wifi access points then.

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 21:17

Wiring own cat cables is same right? I normally go wh-Or, Or, wh-Gr, Bl, wh-Bl, Gr, wh-Br, Br. The switch is a TL-SF1005P but not sure how much voltage the SXT needs.

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 22:06

That’s B type wiring (Fine with A or B) and the SXT will take almost any PoE voltage from 24V to 54V.

Caged · 5 Aug 2020 at 22:08

Just bear in mind that the SXT you purchased only has 100Mbps ethernet ports, so that will be the fastest you can go.

gpuerrilla · 5 Aug 2020 at 22:21

Ahh ok captain - still plenty for me!

The MR6400 has spiked up to about 60Mbps, but rare. On its good moments it steadies between 20 and 30.

WJA96 · 6 Aug 2020 at 06:52

I think what @Caged meant was if you use the SXT as your main router, all traffic would be limited to 100Mbps. Which could be an issue if you’re doing something inside your network that needs/improves with gigabit Ethernet.

That said, most people never get anywhere near stretching 100Mbps.

WJA96 · 6 Aug 2020 at 06:57

And one tip. Write down the 4G service provider network connection settings from the MR6400 because you know they work! They might not be the latest or the best, but you know they work. And the ones I’ve been supplied with or found on the interwebz are often total junk.

gpuerrilla · 6 Aug 2020 at 07:47

Thanks man.

WJA96 said:
I think what @Caged meant was if you use the SXT as your main router, all traffic would be limited to 100Mbps. Which could be an issue if you’re doing something inside your network that needs/improves with gigabit Ethernet.

That said, most people never get anywhere near stretching 100Mbps.

I was never too fussed about needing gigabit speeds since it was a thing. When you grew up on dial-up in the 90s at 3kbps you appreciate most things!

Seems a boo-boo that then on manufacturers end, if the device can do say 150 or 300 down, it doesnt matter as the choke point is data leaving the ethernet port @ 100? lol

WJA96 · 6 Aug 2020 at 08:09

The product started off as a CAT3 modem. Then, the same device got a CAT4 modem and now a CAT6 modem. They just use the same core device with a Mini-PCIe slot and you can even upgrade the CAT6 card yourself if you have an older CAT3 or CAT4 modem card model.

wAP is a newer form factor, and LHG is newer again. Some LHG and most wAP models have gigabit ports. But on the LHG 60GHz Wireless Wire devices they are theoretically capable of passing data over 2km at 2Gbps. But they only have a 1Gbps network port at each end....

And as CAT6 and CAT12 is about joining data channels together it’s quite possible that even with a CAT12 modem you wouldn’t exceed 100Mbps download, just because you are combining 4 x 20Mbps signals.

And even then Mikrotik are at it again with the new CAT18 Chateau they are launching with Latvia Telekom which has a theoretical maximum 4G speed of 1200Mbps and you’ve guessed it, it has 1Gbps network ports. I’m guessing they’ve tested it and never saw 1200Mbps...

Anyway - in Quickset, you can choose to have the SXT in bridge mode and it will just be a modem and pass data to your existing router if you like.

gpuerrilla · 6 Aug 2020 at 19:53

OK, I got up the ladder and found the rough testing spot. There are two graphs on the one on the bottom seems to be more complete RSSI or something. Anyway I had to stop as the wife got our youngest to sleep whos 1 and didnt want me drilling.

So top graph is -90dB (about 50% full), and the bottom one is -50dB about 4/5ths full. The unit on back gets 3 bars out of the 5, cant seem to get 4 bars.

WJA96 · 7 Aug 2020 at 02:13

So are you saying RSRQ is-90dBi and RSSI is -50dBi because if so those are not good numbers.

Have you ticked ALL the available bands?