What to Look for in a 4G Router
4G
LTE networks have come a long way since the 3G days. It is not uncommon to have
a 4G connection that can provide tens of megabits per second downlink
throughput and several megabits per second uplink throughput. Even though these
numbers are much lower than what theoretical 4G promised, it is still
impressive specs provided that you may not be able to get similar rates from a
wired broadband connection depending on your location.
So
we will look into some of the use cases that 4G routers might be a good
solutions. We will also highlight some of the potential shortcomings of a 4G
router for certain applications. Overall, we would like to dive deep into the
aspects that matter when choosing a 4G router. Let’s
begin:
First
start with some facts about 4G networks that may not be apparent immediately.
Even though there has been dramatic improvements in the cost of bandwidth in 4G
networks in recent years, expect to pay $5 or more per GB of data with 4G
LTE networks. There are some unlimited service options, but if you
dig deeper into the fine print, in majority of cases, they are not real
unlimited (as they would throttle your rate down after certain amount of
usage). With that in mind it is a good rule of thumb to plan for $5 to $10 per
GB bandwidth cost.
4G
networks are inherently unpredictable. This means, even though in ideal
locations, times and environments, the performance of a 4G modem
can be fantastic, there is no guarantee of achieving that result every single
time. As a matter of fact, because of the fast-fading, slow-fading, network
congestion and many other factors, your performance may vary with only a few
second, or within a few millimeters. So it is safe to assume the 4G networks
are and will be unpredictable.
The
carriers you use makes a difference. Oddly enough, there is no clear winner
among carriers, as they usually excel in different aspects. Some carriers have
the largest coverage area, some carriers have the best urban performance, some
are better in rural etc. So you should usually expect variation on the
performance based on carriers. It is not uncommon to see one carrier outperform
one in a certain location at a certain time, while the following day the roles
may reverse.
With
all these base level factors in mind, let’s investigate what factors and
features you should consider in a 4G router:
1) What is your
use-case?
This
is perhaps the most important factor in determining the features you need to
look for in a 4G router: how will you be using the 4G router? Is this for a
retail store as a backup on an existing primary wired connection (imagine the backup
Internet for a POS register)? Is the 4G router going to be used in a specialty
vehicle (imagine a police car with surveillance cameras)? Or will you be using
the 4G router as an alternative residential Internet access?
If
you are considering using a 4G router as a primary Internet connection for
every day usage in a residential environment, you are probably a year or two
early as the cost of the data has still not gotten to levels where you can
replace your wired Internet line with a 4G router. A 4G router should be considered
only when you have no other wired Internet options in your house. Having said
that, a 4G as a failover for your wired Internet at your house is a very smart
move. For this type of simple setups, a 4G router that can house a single wired
WAN and a single 4G connection will be a good choice. We recommend 4G router
with built-in modems so that you can use an external antenna for best coverage.
2) Do you have an
industrial use for the 4G router?
In
case your goal is to leverage 4G router in an industrial application, such as a
backup connectivity for a branch office, or as a primary connectivity for a
mobile or temporary office, then your 4G router needs to support some advanced
features including firewall, broadband bonding and application centric
optimizations. Ideally, you can have the 4G router capability within your
primary router, such as a SD-WAN router with Broadband Bonding capabilities. In
this setup your wired line can failover on to a bonded set of 4G connections.
Bonding 2 or more 4G wireless connections will provide not only a wider
bandwidth and higher throughput, but will also provide self-healing
capabilities for the traffic going over 4G networks. Think of it as adding
another lane onto your high-way. Compared to a single lane high-way, a 2 lane
high-way will always outperform. Broadband Bonding feature will give your cars
driving on that highway to dynamically switch lanes, so to speak and therefore
shielding network problems, fluctuations and outages from your applications. This
naturally brings up our next aspect to consider.
3) Will your 4G
router be your primary or failover connectivity?
IF
your 4G router is going to be carrying your traffic all the time, i.e. will be
your primary means of Internet connectivity for your office, specialty vehicle
or similar, then we highly recommend 4G routers with more than 2 cellular 4G
connections. Going back to our high-way analogy, this will mean a larger
capacity highway to carry more cars with ease. For failover only scenarios,
where the 4G connections need to keep the connectivity alive for only limited
time, having only 2 connections might be enough. We still caution against a
single 4G failover for the following reason.
4) Will you benefit
from carrier diversity?
In
cases where you have single 4G connection in your 4G router, you are
essentially putting all your eggs into a single basket and if that basket (i.e.
carrier) goes into a trouble state, and that is almost unavoidable in wireless
environments, then your failover insurance failed you. For these reasons we
suggest at least 2 cellular connectivity at a bare minimum. Increase that
number as a function of the mission criticality of your connectivity to the
Internet to 3, 4 or beyond.
5) Do you use special
applications that need special care?
Another
important consideration is your traffic profile. If you are relying on IP
traffic that has high SLA requirements, such real-time applications such as
VOIP, video conferencing or chatty applications such as cloud services, then
your 4G router needs to have application aware flow management capabilities.
These can be as advanced as “VOIP Armor” where the voice packets are sent over
the network in such a way that any loss of packets or late arrivals can be
shielded from the end-user, by leveraging error-correction and network coding
techniques. Essentially, the 4G connections are intelligently used to create an
optimized tunnel for the application type at hand. Different type of flows
demand different types of network characteristics and it is your 4G router’s
job to utilize the best tunnel that is optimized for that specific type of flow
to provide the best end-user experience.
6) What type of
environment will the 4G router be used in?
It
is important to have ruggedized 4G router in case you will be using the device
in harsh environments. Certain environments may even require their specific
certifications, such as installation in trains where certification for train
installations is a must have for your 4G router both for performance against
temperature range, vibration tolerance etc., as well as for safety reasons.
7) What good to have
features do you need?
The
4G router can also have some additional features such as firewall, layer 7
filters, DHCP server, advanced QoS and others. It is important to match these
additional features with your requirement list to make sure you are getting the
best matching 4G router for the job at hand.
8) What is your
return on your investment on your 4G router?
Last
but not least, you should look at the investment recovery time, by looking at
the savings that the 4G router will provide by eliminating down-time for your
business. Depending on the cloud services that your business depend on for
business critical applications, in most cases, a 4G router will pay for itself
within weeks if not sooner. None-the-less it makes sense to go over that
calculation to make sure your investment is a wise one.
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