Will the new Max Transit 5G require individual certification lasting weeks or months (potentially) or is it radio similar enough to the CAT-18 model that it will be provisioned by carriers on day one?
They have to be certified again as its a brand new radio module. That process is underway though and has been for some time.
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@MartinLangmaid - Thank you for the information.
With the current processor in the Max Transit 5G supporting a maximum throughput of 400 Mbps, I am struggling to understand the advantages of the 5G over the CAT-18 version. I am trying to decide myself between the two and other than I like to have the newest hardware, it seems like unless I moved up the product line to a faster processor (Balance or MBX) which I can’t justify for this mission this generation of Max Transit 5G is likely to be replaced in the upcoming years with hardware that will be able to take advantage of 5G throughput. I am buying an antenna that is 5G compatible for certain so if I go with the CAT-18 and upgrade someday I can just swap out the router. Am I missing something else the Max Transit 5G is able to offer?
On my cell phone in areas with 5G signal, I rarely see speeds which exceed that of 4G networks.
The internal processor is unlikely to limit your performance unless you are hooking this up to a 500Mb+ cable/fiber on the ethernet port. Cellular will likely never be bottle-necked by CPU.
I own a Max Transit Duo CAT12, Max Transit CAT18, and have a preorder for Max Transit 5G.
I use ATT+VZ sim’s in the Duo and T-Mobile sim in CAT18… if you are using T-Mobile the 5G model is a no-brainer.
Adding 5G bands and dropping support for 3G bands is the only difference as far as I can tell… and thats ok by me. 
Max Transit is solid. Changing the hardware dramatically is more costly for the manufacturer and may introduce new issues.
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This is me in 2019 saying don’t buy a CAT18 modem yet (when they were just released) and ignore headline speeds. LTE Categories 12 vs 18 or higher - #2 by MartinLangmaid
Today the difference between cat18 (LTE-A) and cat 20 (5G) is a similar story. You’re not buying it for headline download speeds of 2Gbps on a 5G modem. You’re buying it because it can do more aggregated carriers and support more concurrent spatial LTE streams on more bands so you get better reliability and can connect to more towers in more places.
But just like back then I’d still say that the Transit Duo (dual CAT12) or CAT18 Transit (single modem) is better value and more balanced than a Transit with a 5G modem.
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Thanks for the input on the Max Transit 5G.
@MartinLangmaid - The only constant in the technology industry is change itself. Your reference to your own comments from 2019 sound exactly like something I could have found myself saying.
@erickufrin - I will be using T-Mobile so your comment that it was a no brainer made sense to me too.
I took the plunge and ordered a Max Transit 5G, a Panorama 9-in-1 5G Mako Dome (2 Wi-Fi will be spares for future use), an AP One Rugged for internal LAN and (3) Panorama internal 4dB Wi-Fi antennas for the AP One. Thanks for helping me confidently make these choices.
Hi Matt. Did you deploy the 5G unit yet? Good results with T-Mobile? Experience with any other carriers?
I am waiting for my order to ship in full. The Max Transit 5G was available last Friday but I had the vendor wait until my Panorama dome and accessories were ready to ship. I should have everything by this time next week I hope. I’ll update this post once I deploy.
Any updates here regarding certifications, firmware, speeds or anything else that can help us early MAX 5G adopters? TIA!
I completely agree. For folks who I work with that need redundancy, a Transit Duo is the best solution, even though it is a bit older CAT12 modem.
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