In reply to a post by autopilot:

Hi. I need a 4G modem to connect to my Asus router. Needs bridge mode, external antenna connection, and to be able to specify and lock onto chosen bands. No router/wife needed.

Any ideas? Each one I read up about ends up having issues.

Budget up to £200.

Thanks.

Just throwing this out there for the wolf pack to tear apart 😂 (just an idea, budget would be strained/broken)

1. Nano-ITX chassis with available m.2 PCIe expansion slot, running something like pfSense or OPNSense on it.

2. Sierra Wireless, AirPrime EM7690 Cat-20 embedded module (around £226+VAT) or push the boat out with an EM9191(worldwide 5G and LTE bands )

I like, build your own. The Sierra Wireless cards I’ve used in the past were pretty configurable.

I assume for Cisco and similar just have very little demand for these modules. Home users need this sort of setup and aren’t Cisco’s target market.

Edited by jchamier (Thu 17-Jun-21 21:17:02)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I like, build your own. The Sierra Wireless cards I’ve used in the past were pretty configurable.

Compatible with Qualcomm QPST too

Or simply plug a decent phone into the USB port of a good router like my (now old) Asus RT-N66U and use that. Then decided with only two other devices neither of which would be used for broadband use I may as well just tether. Making my phone available for normal use at the same time instead of being upstairs plugged into the router.

That was what I did originally, and the only reason I got the B311 was to provide 24/7 cloud access for the security cameras I bought later. The speeds it gives are sufficient for the purpose and my much more recent smart TV, plus my iPad and laptop.

I don't do gaming.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I find it depressing that the likes of MikroTik have not upgraded their products with newer chips, the antennas will be identical as the freqs were defined years ago. Qualcomm, HiSilicon and MediaTek don't make Cat 6 only LTE chips any longer. So what are they using?? Anyone taken the cover off?

They use a miniPCIe card and given that MikroTik and the like are not in the business of manufacturing such cards they are where they are. You can buy a SXT-R if you want which comes san any modem and source something yourself. There are very few LTE-18 miniPCIe cards to purchase and they are very expensive.

Basically the market is not there. So while a phone might be cheap they are not designed to be used 24x7 as an internet connection and would likely die is short order if used as such.

I would note that people needing a separate 4G/5G modem is very low to begin with so basically market forces are why we are where we are. Further these are realistically stop gap solutions till a bit of glass fibre arrives at your doorstep and manufactures have to take that into account when looking at product life cycles.

Sadly not, confirmed by Netgear.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I have found that both the 4/5G modem market is incredibly lacking, as is the DSL one. It’s annoying that so many decent routers exist but you can’t find many decent modems to pair with it, it’s bizarre.

At the consumer level 95%-98% of users would rather have one box than two. No market for separate modems.

You might find some high end expensive ones, for rack mounting. Cisco and the like.

In reply to a post by autopilot:

Sadly not, confirmed by Netgear.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I have found that both the 4/5G modem market is incredibly lacking, as is the DSL one. It’s annoying that so many decent routers exist but you can’t find many decent modems to pair with it, it’s bizarre.

The wireless modem market these days really is either;
a) discrete devices for the commercial/industrial M2M (machine to machine) which doesn't require enormous bandwidths, beyond what is readily available or
b) embedded market the for laptop/embedded machines using discrete mini PCIe or m.2 PCIe wireless cards of the type I posted above.

Not quite in budget and probably difficult to get hold of currently as everywhere appears to be out of stock, but the Draytek 2862Ln, 2620Ln or the 2865Lac would do most of what you're after.

They do have WiFi but it's effectively disabled when in bridge mode. [actually, if you make use of VLANs, you could still use the WiFi if you wanted]

I have a 2862Ln in the loft, powered by PoE (using a 12v PoE splitter) being used as 2nd WAN for my main router downstairs.