3G / 4G network gateway

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › 3G / 4G network gateway

SATTV

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#201667 29-Aug-2016 11:20

Hi All,

We have a customer that has moved from 2Degrees to Spark.

The used 3G network gateways for their remote sites.

They do not want to use fixed line DSL for various reasons and need at least one network port for MFC devices.

Does anyone know of anything that will do 3G 850MHZ or 4G 700 / 1800

We have thought of the B315 from Skinny / Spark but they are locked down to 4G and 4G is not available on all sites. ( Spark will not sell us these anyway unless be get the BoLTE product which our customer does not need )

The devices will be located in an aluminium portacom or in the basement of a house so having an external antenna port available if needed is also a requirement.

There are lots of devices out there but the vast majority will not work on the Spark network.

We are hoping someone has something cost effective that we dont know about yet.

Thanks

John

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#1619030 29-Aug-2016 11:40

Could you use a USB dongle with a Mikrotik router? Bonus: you'll have a proper router to terminate VPNs on / debug the remote network with / etc.

cisconz

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#1619031 29-Aug-2016 11:40

Your looking at around the $1K mark for something decent

You can get the Sierra Wireless GX450 from Spark that will do what you want.

Hmmmm

ptinson

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#1619033 29-Aug-2016 11:40

What exactly are you after?
The BoLTE or Wireless Home Broadband product is aimed at the consumer market and not business.

The B315 may not be the best fit device for your requirements either so best to perhaps have a conversation.

Paul

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cisconz

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#1619034 29-Aug-2016 11:41

deadlyllama:

Could you use a USB dongle with a Mikrotik router? Bonus: you'll have a proper router to terminate VPNs on / debug the remote network with / etc.

If you were going to do that, I would suggest using the Sierra Wireless Cards (Not USB attached) for reliability.

Remember, unless you have a Private APN, all your traffic will be behind CGNAT.

Hmmmm

SATTV

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#1619036 29-Aug-2016 11:49

deadlyllama:

Could you use a USB dongle with a Mikrotik router? Bonus: you'll have a proper router to terminate VPNs on / debug the remote network with / etc.

That is my plan B - I was wanting an all in one unit if possible.

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#1619037 29-Aug-2016 11:51

cisconz:

Your looking at around the $1K mark for something decent

You can get the Sierra Wireless GX450 from Spark that will do what you want.

I have seen those and our customer is not wanting to spend that king of money.

Probably closer to $300 they would go with.

Unfortunatly I can not see any spark capable ones for that kind of price.

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SATTV

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#1619040 29-Aug-2016 11:55

ptinson:

What exactly are you after?
The BoLTE or Wireless Home Broadband product is aimed at the consumer market and not business.

The B315 may not be the best fit device for your requirements either so best to perhaps have a conversation.

Paul

Basically they need internet for emails and a VPN back to their office for a custom application.

They have a MFC on site that can FTP or email scanned documents to them have the ethernet requirement.

The B315 would work as long as we can change the APN but these appear to be locked.

If we could buy some unlocked ones it would be worth the try.

John

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coffeebaron

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#1619041 29-Aug-2016 11:57

Something like this: Cradlepoint IBR650LP3-EU M2M Integrated Broadband router

No Band 28 for 4G. Seems there is still very limited options for band 28 LTE routers

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SATTV

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#1619043 29-Aug-2016 11:57

cisconz:

deadlyllama:

Could you use a USB dongle with a Mikrotik router? Bonus: you'll have a proper router to terminate VPNs on / debug the remote network with / etc.

If you were going to do that, I would suggest using the Sierra Wireless Cards (Not USB attached) for reliability.

Remember, unless you have a Private APN, all your traffic will be behind CGNAT.

On Voda / 2d we have just changed to APN to get an IP address, unfortunatly I dont know about spark so that is something we will have to test. Spark says that VPN's will work but I dont trust what they say too much.

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#1619044 29-Aug-2016 11:58

coffeebaron:

Something like this: Cradlepoint IBR650LP3-EU M2M Integrated Broadband router

No Band 28 for 4G. Seems there is still very limited options for band 28 LTE routers

Thanks Fraser however that is too rich for my customers blood.

regards

John

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ptinson

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#1619045 29-Aug-2016 11:58

So you already have an APN and allocated mobile data?

meat popsicle

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#1619047 29-Aug-2016 12:04

SATTV:

The B315 would work as long as we can change the APN but these appear to be locked.

These are not locked. It is only the RBI / Wireless Broadband SIMs that are locked to hardware type. Best would be a generic Vodafone version as these will at least give you 3G 900/2100 as well.

I can supply one if needed - PM me.

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SATTV

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#1619057 29-Aug-2016 12:06

ptinson:

So you already have an APN and allocated mobile data?

We have the mobile data SIM cards but not the APN.

We were going to give one a go before we comitted.

John

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ptinson

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#1619062 29-Aug-2016 12:16

How much monthly data do you use per site?

meat popsicle

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#1619064 29-Aug-2016 12:18

ptinson:

How much monthly data do you use per site?

Sorry I cant tell you.

Not a lot only 1-2 GB per month per site and there are 7 sites.

They used to have everyone on a shared data plan with 2Deg

John

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