In reply to a post by hoopla:

The main snag seems to be not having a fixed, public IP address. In theory, 3internet gives that, but I'm told only on 3G, not on 4G - and the best speeds seem to be on 4G.

The 3internet definitely gives you a public IP address with no NAT on 4G. It isn't fixed though, it will change next time you reconnect the 4G connection.

It changes frequently on my HomeFi, which I haven't touched for weeks. IIRC it also changes frequently on my (different connection) phone.

I'm considering DDNS for the MiFi just to get a working BQM. For the phone I don't really care, as of course it moves around with me. Unless later I get really geeky and want to know how the latency varies with location.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 02-Jun-19 22:28:27)

Yes, it looks like I am getting a public IP on 4G. Not sure how often it changes. I'll have to wait untill I stop messing with the config to get a steady signal
The router only has a limited range of DDNS service settings, so I may have to use no-ip, which isn't widely praised.

I use the Mikrotik DDNS, my BQM is rock solid.

I use a Three AYCE SIM along with a £10pm L2TP connection from AAISP - that gives me static IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Other VPN solutions that provide a static adress are available.

I experimented with AAISP's L2TP for static IP addresses, it worked well enough. In the end though I settled on a $5 a month Linode VM and installed OpenVPN. Cheaper than the AAISP option, it is encrypted and I can also use the VM for other stuff if I want to.

I used this script to make the OpenVPN install fairly painless (as long as you are reasonably comfortable with command line stuff).

In reply to a post by j0el:

Or get one or more of the Three data SIMs which come with 200 MB free data per month from here. Will take more than a couple of days, but should save you a few bob if only testing.

Thanks for that, that's brilliant and obviously the best way to get a 3 PAYG SIM card. I've got one and ordered another.

In reply to a post by hoopla:

I'm just thinking about replacing my phone line and FTTC - which is gradually getting slower and slower over the years - with a Three £20 a month unlimited deal.
[snip]
The main snag seems to be not having a fixed, public IP address. In theory, 3internet gives that, but I'm told only on 3G, not on 4G - and the best speeds seem to be on 4G.
[snip]
And that's the other snag: put my EE sim into the router and I get about 40MB/sec up and down. Put a 3 sim in and it is more like 29MB/sec down at best, often less, depending on how far out of the window I hold the router. That's slower than the FTTC.
So I need to consider whether I really need the fixed IP or public IP and DDNS.

Well, a month or so later the deed is done.
After careful positioning of the antenna to point at the best base (there are several with clear line of sight) I'm mostly getting speeds well in excess io the FTTC down speeds, and it is always much faster upwards.
The ping is much worse, but I never play games, so that isn't so important.
FTP transfers seem less snappy, but not really what you'd call slow.
The IP address does change from time to time, but no-ip seems to cope with it well, and everything works as it did before.
I had wasted some time trying to make bridge mode work, which proved to be neither possible nor necessary.
Now I'm saving £35 per month and getting faster speeds.