Doing some research helping out a friend doing some volunteer work. Below are the requirements I have. Given the 5G compatibility requirement would one of the pepwave MDX 5G models work? Are there others I should look at ? (either more cost effective or other vendors?)
I’m currently on a volunteer base in the Seychelles. The base has super bad wifi. They need better wifi to upload the data from coral surveying as well as general usage and education.
Would you have time to check what this the best wireless cellular router, in terms of both ability to receive cellular (good antenna or separate antenna). Ideally if there is a model that takes multiple SIMs to increase bandwidth. We don’t have 5G on this part of the island but there is 5G being rolled out, so 5G ready would be good. It’s too slow for me to research it from here.
I would recommend the Transit Duo with Primecare Subscription (MAX-TST-DUO-LTEA-K-T-PRM). This is a Dual 4G (CAT12) modem.
Its a really cost effective device that supports dual active 4G modems, with good throughput, and external antenna ports so they can add big external antennas later if they need to.
No point getting 5G yet - especially if they are on a budget. If they want to add 5G later they can plug a 5G router into the wired WAN port of the Transit and have 5G = 2 x 4G connections.
thank you, that is a much more affordable solution for a non-profit. For my education what are they “giving up” (if anything) by going with the transit duo over pepwave max hd2 router?
Do they need to worry about making sure the bands or frequencies used by local Seychelles carriers are compatible with the radio on the peplink hardware?
Looks like its mainly Band 1 and Band 20 in use there so that will be fine. The CAT13 version of the Transit has broad cellular network coverage.
The MAX HD2 MBX is a completely different hardware platform. Its physically heavier and bigger and more powerful (2.5Gbps of throughput compared to 400Mbps). It comes with more wired LAN ports and WAN ports as well as dedicated wifi radios for the wifi AP and WiFI WAN roles. It also supports more SpeedFusion Bonding throughput (600Mbps compared to 100Mbps). The cellular radios are removeable and upgradeable from 4G to 5G when you want to as well. Its a fantastic bit of kit and if they have budget to invest now in this then they should - it will take care of all their cellular connectivity needs for years and years.
Personally though. I’d buy the Transit Duo CAT 12 and see how well it works. It should be a really good fir for them.
Martin, thanks so much for the great info. 2 more (last) questions.
-what if any external antenna do you recommend? I got him to give me for radio diagnostics from phone and assuming I am interpreting correctly the tower in 1500+ meter and a directional antenna (yagi?) is something to look at? Screen grab attached.
-Any recommendations on a UK based reseller to purchase from? (I can buy in US and ship but he’s Uk based and thinking shipping will be quicker)
