4G Router with DECT, POTS or VoIP for the 4G SIM

Hi All,

Like many of you here, the recent scramble to release unlimited 4G sims hasn't gone unnoticed!
I'm happy that there's a load of routers out there that will take the 4G sim and allow many devices to access the data connection either via wifi or ethernet.

However, many of these SIM cards provide unlimited voice calling, especially to mobiles.

Does anyone know of a 4G router which allows access to voice calls? Ideally via SIP locally, but equally via a PSTN socket on the router or.. well, any other way that you can think of!

Cheers,
Blueacid

B525,B618 and B715 from Huawei should do what you're after. I use a B715-23c and it supports VOLTE for three. On Vodafone sim it drops down to 3G when making or receiving a call, you might have to flash custom firmware for the other two 4G routers

I was using this method with VoIP for phone calls.
The downside seemed to be that most providers don't give a public IP on their mobile connections.
Sorry to say I didn't spend enough time on this, or test with lots of different sims, but a 3 (Three) sim did work for incoming VoIP calls. Seems to be they are supplying a useable public IP.

I know the b618 works with just plugging a telephone into the rj11 port on the router on three as long as you turn the answer machine off.
Ive been trying to find a 5G CPE (H112-370) with a rj11 on it to see if that works the same way but they are proving very difficult to track down.

Thanks very much! Will get looking at those

Post deleted by MrSaffron

https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-6890-lte/

In reply to a post by boranatty:

https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-6890-lte/

Sorry that only supports 3G, the 7590 will support a 4G dongle

If it doesn't support 4G, why is it called LTE?

The specification page blurb says:

The FRITZ!Box 6890 LTE transmits on the five LTE frequency bands 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz. It's ideal to connect your entire home network to the Internet via LTE or UMTS.

That's not 3G, it's 4G, as far as I can make out. But there are more than five LTE frequencies, and can it use more than one at a time?

Is there a proper list of specs for this device anywhere?

In reply to a post by hoopla:

If it doesn't support 4G, why is it called LTE?

In Europe and most of the world, it was agreed that the 4th Generation would be the LTE technology. In the USA (and Canada) there was no central agreement, and some networks thought the DC-HSPA+ over UMTS was good enough as 4G, so used the indicator. Hence the US/Canada now showing the "LTE" indicator for what we call LTE.


The 6890 contains a Cat 6 LTE modem, which compared to todays smartphones (Cat 12, Cat 20) is quite low spec.

Category 6 LTE modem (FDD) with up to 300 Mbit/s on the Internet

Specs are here:
https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-6890-lt...

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by hoopla:

If it doesn't support 4G, why is it called LTE?

The 6890 contains a Cat 6 LTE modem, which compared to todays smartphones (Cat 12, Cat 20) is quite low spec.

Category 6 LTE modem (FDD) with up to 300 Mbit/s on the Internet

Specs are here:
https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-6890-lt...

That says it supports bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 20, 28 and 32 - which includes all the bands used by either EE or Three.

OK, it may be restricted to a mere 300MB/sec, but I'd be delighted to see half that.

I'm not suggesting that this is a good device to buy (I've no idea what it costs, for a start) but your objections to it seem a little confusing to me.

I wasn’t objecting, just advising. A 300mbps device means it won’t have higher features or sensitivity that make reception better, especially in the rural areas. Don’t link “300Mbps” with actual speed. Most phones today are a lot faster. Cat12 or higher. This means more reliable connectivity.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I wasn’t objecting, just advising. A 300mbps device means it won’t have higher features or sensitivity that make reception better, especially in the rural areas. Don’t link “300Mbps” with actual speed. Most phones today are a lot faster. Cat12 or higher. This means more reliable connectivity.

So here I am, 3km clear line of sight to the base station, with RSSI of about -53. The actual download speeds I get are in the region of 20Mb/sec to 50Mb/sec upload, 25Mb/sec to 35Mb/sec.
It uses CA for downloads, but not for uploads.
As far as I know my router has a Cat 6 modem. The connectivity appears to be limited by the network backhaul, or possibly be cell bandwidth.
What would I gain by having a Cat12 one?
What models are Cat12 or better?

Depends on the network you are using. But....

Have a look at this:
https://www.semiaccurate.com/2017/11/14/qualcomm-sho...

Then see these products:

1) NETGEAR AC810 AirCard Mobile Hotspot 4G LTE https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FUZE5H8/ref=cm_sw_r_c...

2) NETGEAR Nighthawk MR1100 Mobile Hotspot 4G Router, Mifi, Portable Wi-Fi for Travel, Super Fast Download Speeds Up to 1 Gbps, Unlocked for All Networks https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079H2LX8X/ref=cm_sw_r_c...

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Depends on the network you are using. But....

Have a look at this:
https://www.semiaccurate.com/2017/11/14/qualcomm-sho...

Then see these products:

1) NETGEAR AC810 AirCard Mobile Hotspot 4G LTE https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FUZE5H8/ref=cm_sw_r_c...

2) NETGEAR Nighthawk MR1100 Mobile Hotspot 4G Router, Mifi, Portable Wi-Fi for Travel, Super Fast Download Speeds Up to 1 Gbps, Unlocked for All Networks https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079H2LX8X/ref=cm_sw_r_c...

Hmm. I don't think I explained my requirements well enough. Those two devices appear to be portable mifi units, with no antenna connections and no network ports. Yes, you could put one in your pocket, but what I want is something that I can connect to an external antenna, plug in and leave to get on with its job, week in, week out.

The article shows you can sell more bandwidth over Cat16 than over Cat 9. But Three seemingly can't even manage to provide a fraction of that bandwidth. The bottleneck seemingly isn't the link between the modem and the cell, it's the link from the cell back to the network.
Would there be any benefit to me to have a Cat16 modem instead of a Cat6 one in such a situation?

Both have SMA connectors for antenna. The second one has an Ethernet jack. The first has an optional cradle available.

How can you tell if if it is an RF or backhaul congestion problem?

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Both have SMA connectors for antenna. The second one has an Ethernet jack. The first has an optional cradle available.

Does it? why does the spec not say so?

In reply to a post by jchamier:

How can you tell if if it is an RF or backhaul congestion problem?

That's what I am asking you!

But to give you a clue to why I think there is a problem, see this:

Tracing route to thinkbroadband.com [80.249.106.141]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.200
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 105 ms 106 ms 74 ms 172.20.197.65
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 73 ms 91 ms 67 ms 172.21.25.85
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 64 ms 57 ms 49 ms 172.20.231.154
9 51 ms 57 ms 54 ms ip4.gtt.net [213.254.199.214]
10 58 ms 48 ms 47 ms et-0-0-41.cr11-lon2.ip4.gtt.net [213.254.199.213]
11 60 ms 49 ms 52 ms ip4.gtt.net [77.67.98.54]
12 46 ms 47 ms 46 ms ae-0.r24.londen12.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.140]
13 58 ms 58 ms 63 ms ae-8.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.22]
14 40 ms 52 ms 51 ms 62.73.169.10
15 55 ms 51 ms 51 ms po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]
16 46 ms 43 ms 46 ms ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]

then a bit later on the same evening:

Tracing route to thinkbroadband.com [80.249.106.141]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms homerouter.cpe [192.168.0.200]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 216 ms 88 ms 74 ms 172.20.197.69
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * 2492 ms 172.21.25.81
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 3807 ms 2243 ms 3698 ms 172.20.231.146
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 2672 ms * 1853 ms et-0-0-55.cr11-lon2.ip4.gtt.net [89.149.141.213]
12 2273 ms 207 ms 1036 ms ip4.gtt.net [77.67.98.54]
13 3074 ms * * ae-0.r24.londen12.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.140]
14 * * 3696 ms ae-8.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.22]
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * 3951 ms 1408 ms ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]

Mine, a few seconds ago.
C:\Users\Bob>tracert 80.249.106.141

Tracing route to ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms 1 ms homerouter.cpe [192.168.8.1]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 51 ms 57 ms 45 ms 172.23.64.133
4 55 ms 41 ms 52 ms 172.31.244.19
5 64 ms 37 ms 61 ms 188.31.255.97.threembb.co.uk [188.31.255.97]
6 53 ms 59 ms 41 ms 188.31.255.174.threembb.co.uk [188.31.255.174]
7 50 ms 47 ms 47 ms be4497.ccr21.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [149.6.3.129]
8 53 ms 49 ms 47 ms be2871.ccr42.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.58.185]
9 60 ms 43 ms 42 ms be2792.ccr21.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.57.106]
10 51 ms 48 ms 48 ms ae-33.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.145]
11 38 ms 49 ms 48 ms 62.73.169.10
12 65 ms 48 ms 44 ms po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]
13 47 ms 50 ms 46 ms ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\Bob>

Just tried again - much the same. Before they "fixed" the network issues, I was seeing threembb.co.uk steps, but not any more!

Tracing route to ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms 1 ms <1 ms homerouter.cpe [192.168.0.200]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 71 ms 98 ms 126 ms 172.20.197.69
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 61 ms 55 ms 43 ms 172.21.25.81
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 67 ms 52 ms 39 ms 172.20.231.154
9 48 ms 56 ms 45 ms ip4.gtt.net [213.254.199.214]
10 52 ms 45 ms 46 ms et-0-0-41.cr11-lon2.ip4.gtt.net [213.254.199.213]
11 49 ms 52 ms 53 ms ip4.gtt.net [77.67.98.54]
12 57 ms 47 ms 45 ms ae-0.r24.londen12.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.140]
13 43 ms 47 ms 47 ms ae-8.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.22]
14 46 ms 46 ms 46 ms 62.73.169.10
15 64 ms 59 ms 49 ms po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]
16 58 ms 48 ms 46 ms ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]

Trace complete.

You may be on a new network, or the routers near you don’t want to respond as they are BUSY handling real traffic.

Your trace route operates at the TCP/IP layer. Not at the LTE layer (physical). Yes you might have LTE congestion and network congestion. I have no idea how you tell about LTE congestion.

Do you have a rooted android phone with Qualcomm modem? If you do there is a complex engineering tool called NSG on the Play Store. But working out what the information means learning LTE. I just searched Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1118725107/ref=cm_sw_r_c...

You could also ask on the Digital Spy mobile forum where knowledgable people post.

Edited by jchamier (Sun 16-Feb-20 20:07:18)

I don't think the problems are due to the LTE bit because they started very suddenly last week (other people in different places have reported similar issues). I also notice that there are ongoing changes happening to the routing.
Here is a pair of traceroutes, from the same place, to the same place, ten minutes apart this evening.
The timings are not all that different, but the routes are. Perhaps Three is messing about trying to sort out an issue?

1 1 ms 1 ms <1 ms homerouter.cpe [192.168.0.200]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 79 ms 106 ms 68 ms 172.20.197.65
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 75 ms 57 ms 49 ms 172.21.25.85
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 51 ms 48 ms 45 ms 172.20.231.154
9 53 ms 54 ms 57 ms ip4.gtt.net [46.33.71.38]
10 52 ms 43 ms 51 ms et-0-0-71.cr11-lon1.ip4.gtt.net [46.33.71.37]
11 38 ms 63 ms 33 ms et-0-0-55.cr11-lon2.ip4.gtt.net [89.149.141.213]
12 48 ms 49 ms 56 ms ip4.gtt.net [77.67.98.54]
13 59 ms 47 ms 46 ms ae-0.r24.londen12.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.140]
14 43 ms 52 ms 41 ms ae-8.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.22]
15 52 ms 48 ms 56 ms 62.73.169.10
16 57 ms 50 ms 51 ms po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]
17 50 ms 49 ms 46 ms ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]

Trace complete.

Tracing route to thinkbroadband.com [80.249.106.141]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms 1 ms homerouter.cpe [192.168.0.200]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 87 ms 66 ms 75 ms 172.20.197.69
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 68 ms 49 ms 56 ms 172.21.25.81
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 51 ms 55 ms 39 ms 172.20.231.146
9 49 ms 47 ms 46 ms hutchison3g.demarc.cogentco.com [149.14.197.58]
10 49 ms 46 ms 54 ms be5247.agr21.lhr01.atlas.cogentco.com [149.14.197.57]
11 61 ms 50 ms 56 ms be3671.ccr51.lhr01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.48.137]
12 62 ms 48 ms 45 ms be3487.ccr41.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.60.5]
13 56 ms 51 ms 46 ms be2791.ccr21.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.56.78]
14 52 ms 61 ms 60 ms ae-33.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.145]
15 66 ms 52 ms 46 ms 62.73.169.10
16 59 ms 51 ms 72 ms po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]
17 55 ms 48 ms 78 ms ip106-141.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.106.141]

Just seen this on the Three website:

We're really sorry. There's an issue with the network in your area at the moment.
There is an issue with the service in your area. This fault has been going on for longer than we expected. Please check back in the after 7 days to get an update on this issue.

Use coverage checker to see the typical signal strength in this area.

This information is updated every 30 minutes. (last update 09:45 pm 16 February 2020)

Good to see the update frequency, that I haven't seen before, but several of us have had the status page saying for weeks thatthere is a problem in our areas.

In my case I didn't experience one for a few weeks, then two-three weeks of very dodgy. Fine since.