Netgear 4G LTE Router Gateway/New Plans

[Bob Newhart]

This is really good, thanks.

[belusnecropolis]

2 hours ago, Bob Newhart said:

This is really good, thanks.

Sure thing, let us know if you need help troubleshooting. They don't make a decent off the shelf model, and probably won't until whatever 5g is rolls out in 202?. These are probably the most comparative to off the shelf in price and function.

Like building anything, do some reading, ask some questions and it should go pretty smooth.

Sometimes they need a reset or a firmware upgrade, but that is something you will not get out of Netgear often; i.e. I use an unlocked AT&T branded mr1100 nighthawk. It has received a couple updates, but they don't do much to add functionality. It still camps on low bands, band selection or combinations are non existent, and it has a real fussy ethernet port. Cost me 200 bucks. I put together a 3 carrier capable modem and router for 249 and it does all of these things, and does not require carrier support for updates.

I get regular firmware updates for both LTE modems(Telit, Sierra Wireless) and the routers(openWRT, ROOTer, modem manager). I am mesh networking a couple right now to boot. 

[Bob Newhart]

With the  Sierra Wireless tech docs, they say they offer ota firmware updates.

Are they transparent?
How are they initiated?

Looking at pfsense, it has the support for that module via USB.

The Cradlepoint solutions seem more expensive.
https://www.amazon.com/CBA850LP6-NA-Cradlepoint-Cellular-Broadband-integrated/dp/B01EO0Q6DQ

 

[ingenium]

With the  Sierra Wireless tech docs, they say they offer ota firmware updates.
Are they transparent?
How are they initiated?
Looking at pfsense, it has the support for that module via USB.

The Cradlepoint solutions seem more expensive.
https://www.amazon.com/CBA850LP6-NA-Cradlepoint-Cellular-Broadband-integrated/dp/B01EO0Q6DQ

 

I think some models support OTA updates. I want to say they aren't completely automatic, and you have to trigger them by issuing a modem command (the same way you control the modem in general). The modems expose a serial interface that you use to issue commands and see the result.

For the modem I have, MC7455, the updates are not OTA. You have to flash them manually. It's still a pretty easy process, though the last update caused a BSOD on Windows when it completed. But everything was updated and fine after that.

The modems often have 2 modes they can operate in, MBIM and QMI. MBIM I think is more established and has broader support in software, but I think is mostly a legacy/compatibility mode on the modems. QMI I think has lower overhead and is the protocol that they're moving towards. I believe it's a Qualcomm protocol.

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