Which wired LTE router?

superczar

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I need to replace an old gemtek airtel wired router as it has been acting flakey.

The device will be used purely as a backup line that goes wired to the primary router.
The wifi module etc will be disabled 100% of the time.
The only aspect that matters is that it should maintain a stable LTE connection that can sit in standby till the primary fails - and then again sit in standby when the primary recovers.

I see a bunch of options from TP Link/ D-link on amazon but there seems to very little info on what difference, if any between them.
Any thoughts or recommendations?
 

nithishsabapathi

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You can check out TP-Link MR series routers, also you can check out Mikrotik SXT outdoor routers like the airtel gemtek one.
 

superczar

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nithishsabapathi said:
You can check out TP-Link MR series routers, also you can check out Mikrotik SXT outdoor routers like the airtel gemtek one.
Click to expand...
I did take a look at the TPL MR series - but couldn’t find any info on their site (or elsewhere) about what differences between the different models , if any (other than the wireless stack)
I am inclined to order the MR-100 (cheapest variant) but don’t want to end up with a device that has a poor WWAN module compared to the pricier ones
 

vishalrao

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I'd also be interested in getting an LTE router (I have an Airtel "data" SIM too) especially one that could do carrier aggregation on various bands for higher speeds.
 

bobbyprajan

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I have used a Mikrotik RB750 for this purpose and it worked well. I had bought it pre-owned for much lesser than its list price
 

superczar

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vishalrao said:
I'd also be interested in getting an LTE router (I have an Airtel "data" SIM too) especially one that could do carrier aggregation on various bands for higher speeds.
Click to expand...
The MR600 seems to be only locally available router that I could find that supports band aggregation.
It does not seem particularly cheap (8.5K ) but there is a 10% card discount for today.
Do you think band aggregation would help in India? I seem to have good signal on both band 40 and band 3 at the location I intend to put this at.
On a side note, i thin it supports wired WAN/ LTE failover directly on the device itself so that would help your cause consdiering it comes with gbe ports (though does not offer any additional advantage to me)

The other alternative is MR100 at 4.5K but it does not have band aggregation.

On a side note pertaining to our last convo, I downgraded the Airtel fiber to 300mbps as gbe wasn't making any practical difference and the pricing difference was substantial.
 
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MadAxe

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No use of buying a LTE router if it does not support Carrier Aggregation.
MR 600 seems to be the cheapest that supports it.
 

vishalrao

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Band aggregation should increase speed, but only if there is matching support between the router and the provider... meaning so called inter and intra band support should be available and overlap for any benefits.
 

superczar

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MadAxe said:
No use of buying a LTE router if it does not support Carrier Aggregation.
MR 600 seems to be the cheapest that supports it.
Click to expand...
OK, let me order that.. better this one time expense than paying 700 a month for local fiber as backup
 

vishalrao

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@superczar do update this thread after you try the mr600 with your airtel sim... I'm especially interested in seeing if there is a speed boost due to aggregation.
 

MadAxe

Active Member
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superczar said:
OK, let me order that.. better this one time expense than paying 700 a month for local fiber as backup
Click to expand...
Before ordering do check if CA is enabled at your location. Airtel seems to have disabled CA at many locations.