4g RBI router, advice please

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › 4g RBI router, advice please

Mike61

110 posts

Master Geek

#279756 6-Nov-2020 07:05

I'm moving to a 4g RBI wireless connection. Leaning towards providing my own router/no contract. There seems to be a lot of different ones around so I'm after recommendations. So details of connection are:

Rural location - western bay of plenty up by Kati
Spark tower full so will be on Vodafone
In a pnp location but need a aerial locked to specific sector on tower as it's on partial stop sell
Device will be located in cupboard in centre of house

Price - ideally sub $250

Thanks in advance

Mike

jjnz1

1363 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2598689 6-Nov-2020 07:46

I have just purchased a b525 modem from VF for around $200/$250.

Great router, dual carrier, all 4G bands, 4 ethernet ports.
I use it with an external dual pole antenna and it's fantastic.

Also has 5gh and 2.4ghz wifi.

It's using a VF sim card from a 100GB plan, and has a sure signal attached to it which works really well (and zero rated traffic!)

I also purchased a TP Link Mr600 for my brother and it seems to be performing the same but was over $300.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#2598720 6-Nov-2020 08:41

4G RBI is a pretty vague term as a lot of providers sell 4G RBI connections. Depending on who your provider is you may or may not have a choice of hardware - many will force use of the the hardware they supply.

coffeebaron

6236 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#2598731 6-Nov-2020 08:58

I've done quite a few custom RBI installs, so feel free to get in touch if you need some help.

Rural IT and Broadband support.

Broadband troubleshooting and master filter installs.
Starlink installer - one month free: https://www.starlink.com/?referral=RC-32845-88860-71
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Need help in Auckland, Waikato or BoP? Click my email button, or email me direct: [my user name] at geekzonemail dot com

zenourn

271 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2598757 6-Nov-2020 10:06

I recently swapped my 4G RBI modem to this:

https://www.gowifi.co.nz/cellularrouters/rbd53g-5hacd2hndtceg12-ea.html

Isn't in your sub $250 range but I found it gave a huge speed boost from the default Huawei router (went from ~40 Mbps to ~180 Mbps). This is with dual external aerials and the tower ~ 3 km away. I actually got this router because I wanted RouterOS and full bridge support, the speed increase was just a nice bonus, especially with unlimited AM data. Note that this router is running a beta version of RouterOS 7 and has a steep learning curve if not familiar with Mikrotik routers.

I had to change to a blank 4G Ready Voice & Data USIM as the RBI sims are locked to the Huawei devices.

Mike61

110 posts

Master Geek

#2599369 7-Nov-2020 08:12

Thanks for all the replies. In the end I have gone with fsrmside and 2 year contract. For me seemed to be less hassle and less money up front.