Backup 4G router
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Soldato
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Isn't just a case of picking up a MiFi device (£40 ish) where you can connect up to a minimum of X devices you require wireless connectivity and get a data only SIM from a network operator that provides the best coverage in your area?
Or am I missing something?
Or am I missing something?
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TP-Link MR6400 is only slightly above your budget though downsides of only 100MBit ports and no carrier aggregation/4G+ features - but very fire and forget with good stock antennas. The MR600 has a more modern feature set but twice the price.
Just looking for recommendations on MiFi device really.
Just the router. Sim is seperate
Get a decent one first time around. Seen a mr600 on auction site for £75 buy it now. I’d go for that personally
Are you missing the point of this topic? There is very poor mobile reception in my area.
Associate
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A 4g router may give you a better connection from the end device to the router. But if you have poor mobile reception already will you benefit with this vs using hotspot? I suppose this is what you have to ask yourself.
Tbf this is the first time you've mentioned bad reception. Due to that, I think use of/correct setup of a directional antenna will be of more impact than choosing any specific router, although it's possible that some routers may not come with external antenna capability.
Should have mentioned earlier - have better reception in the front downstairs front room for some reason than the rest of the house. So, my thinking is to place a 4g Router there to provide emergency backup internet to some (not all) devices.
Agreed on bad reception point. I am seeking advice on good 4G router with antenna for this.
Do you want to point out where you said that? A £50 mobile router is going to perform worse than an average smartphone.
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Apologies - did not earlier but see post 13 above. Cannot leave the smartphone in one place where there is good signal, hence router route or maybe Hotspot for more flexibility in future
If you have signal you are happy somewhere internally, I wouldn't bother with a directional antenna, especially as this is going to be a backup link. Just ensure that it's good in different weather/times of the day, as if you're in the edge of acceptable performance already it could push this over the edge.
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I would consider the duration of outage you are trying to cover for here. If you're expecting to fail over to 4G for several days then yes it makes sense to have a separate router, but if you're filling a few hour gap while your FTTC has an issue then I'd look at a router that could be a wireless client to my hotspotted phone, or can have the phone connected to it via USB.
FTTP. Had the misfortune to have lost internet twice for 3-5 days! At the mercy of Openreach rather than the ISP!
Soldato
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I did this a few months back. I tried a variety of equipment.
My ordinary router is an ASUS, which has a failover. It can either use the USB or an Ethernet port. It's not really that important, though, because you can just manually unplug your current modem and plug in a 4g router in its place.
Having tried a few, I particularly like the Zyxel because they had a reasonable amount of configuration, and you could set the IP on the LAN side to 192.168.0.1 which didn't clash with my normal routers settings of 192.168.1.1.
You can get a zyxel router, used, for that sort of money. TP-Link offer some alternatives, but I didn't try one of those.
There is little point in buying a fast router if you are in a poor reception area. A cheap one will perform just as well as one costing twice the price.
As to which service you buy, the best I found was 3. Their SIMs are available in the jungle, and they just plug in and work. Others, you have to put them in a phone first to register the SIM before it works.
I am still not entirely sure of all the rules for the SIM, but I think it has to be used once every six months, or it stops working altogether and in addition, most of them also lose their data allowance within a month if it is not used.
My ordinary router is an ASUS, which has a failover. It can either use the USB or an Ethernet port. It's not really that important, though, because you can just manually unplug your current modem and plug in a 4g router in its place.
Having tried a few, I particularly like the Zyxel because they had a reasonable amount of configuration, and you could set the IP on the LAN side to 192.168.0.1 which didn't clash with my normal routers settings of 192.168.1.1.
You can get a zyxel router, used, for that sort of money. TP-Link offer some alternatives, but I didn't try one of those.
There is little point in buying a fast router if you are in a poor reception area. A cheap one will perform just as well as one costing twice the price.
As to which service you buy, the best I found was 3. Their SIMs are available in the jungle, and they just plug in and work. Others, you have to put them in a phone first to register the SIM before it works.
I am still not entirely sure of all the rules for the SIM, but I think it has to be used once every six months, or it stops working altogether and in addition, most of them also lose their data allowance within a month if it is not used.
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