Zyxel 4G LTE-A Outdoor Router | IP68 Design | Standard 802.3af/at PoE | Wall/Pole Mounting [LTE7480-M804]

I spent quite a while trying to get a reliable 4g signal, and had tried all the recommended set ups with correct external antennas and good quality routers etc, but kept hitting a dead end with poor signal and slow speeds. I eventually found this, and it was the last ditch attempt before I gave up, and I am so glad I did! Yes, it is expensive, but it actually works. I watches a lot of you tube videos about it to learn how it works, and the set up was pretty easy.Like all LTE set ups, you need to take the time to ascertain where the best signal is coming from, point it in places you think there is no chance it would work- you may be surprised- as this will go through buildings and trees etc unlike others. One massive plus this has over other external antennas with a cable to your modem/ router indoors (so there is a certain amount of loss and you can't use a long cable if you are tight on speed as it is), is that the is PoE so you can just run a Cat5e cable to it- we are using a 30m one and the speeds are still superb (more than 3 times what we were getting with various external antennas on a 5m cable).The other invaluable feature, is the app you can use to verify the best signal (you do this by wifi with your phone whilst stood next to it- can also be done through a computer if you prefer). This makes it so much easier to establish you have found the best location, and then for fine tuning.Unless you know which carrier will work best on your area, buy a few cheap PayG SIM cards and try the various providers. I was sure EE would be best for us, but it turned out that Three although a further mast gave a better and more reliable signal in the end (and was half the price! Remember to buy an unlimited phone data sim once you settle on a provider, don't pay for the more expensive 'router' options. These will have a 'fair use policy' usually of 1TB which is more than enough for most people).These look like they are sold as more of a 'professional set up' type thing, but don't let that put you off. It was really easy, really the worst part is having the tools to drill holes in a hard brick wall if required I would say!Without a doubt, this makes rural broadband a viable option for even very hard to reach properties.

Pro quality item. Well packaged and everything is included. Easy installation and set up. Unpack, find the best signal spot using their phone app or point in the line of vision of cellular mast, run the ethernet cable to the supplied PoE unit included and connect to your internal router - that's it.Choice of 4G provider is very critical for good performance - buy cheap PAYG SIMs from all providers and test by rotating the modem in all directions before signing up to a contract. Go for UNlimited phone SIM (they work out a lot cheaper than data SIM and work fine with LTE modems and at max speed). With my previous set up (Huawei B525 + external aerial) I was getting 60 down and 30 up. With these babies I could not believe my eyes - once installed I am getting 150 down and 60 up with EE (mast in clear view 400m away), and 60 down and 30 up with O2 (mast 2km away) which I use as a back up. 4G broadband is surprisingly extremely reliable and less likely to go down than fibre. BE WARNED however - this LTE modem DOES NOT work with Vodafone Max SIM or in fact with any other SIM which is 5G enabled. They do work fine with 4G SIM only. Also recently one of these started to drop the connection unpredictably and I had to return it for a replacement.Update 7/6/22:Bought another one of these babies. This one came with Firmware version 2 and it works fine with the Vodafone MAX SIM. They are a really excellent piece of kit for those who live in rural areas and get reasonable 4G signal. Forget wired broadand. Get an unlimited phone SIM and one of these and happy days.

I loved this device but had to return it because all four mobile phone signals are hopelessly inconsistent in the area where I live. I have broadband fibre at home and get speeds of up to 25 Mbs D/L and 8 U/L. I got sim cards from all 4 mobile operators to tests which direction the signal was coming from and which was the fastest. I then used the fastest one, EE, in the ZyXEL device. It worked like a dream and suddenly I was getting speeds of up to 100 & 50 Mbs. But an hour later and fo no apparent reason it had dropped to 4/0.3 Mbs. So as I said, a great idea, massive potential but make sure you have a fast, reliable and consistent mobile phone signal. And if you find one then you're a very lucky person!