Hey,
I don't know how to look for the list of router that would support the band B28 (700mhz) ; the only one I found isn't supported by OpenWrt and is kind of pricey (MR600) ?
I think "I need" that band support because on the same SIM at the same location : a phone supporting B28 get 4G, while using the DWM-222 only get H+. Is my assumption right or could I be mistaken too ? (like maybe, the smartphone's antenna is just better than my g4 dongle ?)
Before purchasing any router I recommend checking with your smartphone which frequencies/bands are present in your area (obviously if the smartphone is recent enough to support a large number of frequencies/bands)
The friend's smartphone won't allow it, they disabled playstore and only uses f-froid, guess I'll try my chances T_T
EDIT : scratch that, found an APK. Indeed my assumption that the Free operator uses only the 700Mhz band over my place is confirmed !
One last question : the category. The reception isn't great here. Will it do any good if I pick a category 4 or 6 ? (it's almost twice as pricey to jump from one the another) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_Advanced
...And then comes the scary message you find about somehow unfortunate router/antennas pairs
I wish there were less choices to pick from at this point, or that I could just test things before buying them. It's scary how much time you can lose browsing the "internet mall" T_T
In a weak signal area, a purpose-built outdoor CPE is advisable rather than cobbling something together with external antennas. The Zyxel NR7101 was popular here for a while as a large number of them had dropped onto the used market after a service company went bankrupt. Now though they seem to have become expensive.
I l can vouch for the NR7101 running OpenWrt. Mine has been solid with excellent signal stats to line of sight cell tower, although I did have to RMA it recently in its second year as it randomly stopped powering on. The Zyxel two year warranty proved helpful and their RMA process was very quick and efficient. Batch of units have bad internal PoE module apparently. Think I was just very unlucky. Price dropped in the UK from ÂŁ700 to ÂŁ400.
Before that I used Huwaei B818-263 in bridge mode, and I can also recommend that for an indoor device, albeit no OpenWrt.
problem is, it's 10x the price of the ZTE, where I live.
I can easily get my hands on an used 286D for 30€, but it's tricky to find the NR7101 below 300€, I managed to snag a new one for 270€, but I got lucky.
Can't find less than 60€ here, but its in my prize range. I'll put some alarm here and there if I can get a bargain. Worth testing, 300€ is too steep personally (psychologically at least, I may be wrong not to invest that one time).
