cellular usb modem to ethernet port?

RouterOS General
1

Hello all,

I am trying to add a third cellular usb aircard to an RB435G.

I want to use this adapter https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812705330&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-USB+Converters-_-N82E16812705330&gclid=CjwKCAiA1uHSBRBUEiwAkBCtzdGajm1eG_qQ2mU7PCgeEWH7josnac2f-XNBBkpxY4hJj2EBx5idVRoCzWwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Will this adapter correctly pass the data from the cellular card usb port to ethernet port?

Will I still be able to configure this as a PPP EVDO link the same as I would for the 2 cellular cards connected directly to the usb ports on RB435G?

Your help is always appreciated.

Brian

2

As no driver is mentioned in the description, and as the illustrative photo shows it connected to a home router Ethernet port, I would deduce that at its Ethernet side the adaptor behaves as a DHCP server and offers itself as a default gateway and possibly has some management interface as well. So far so good. However, they describe it as suitable for connection of an “ADSL USB modem”, so it is hard to guess whether they support cellular modems as well, and if so, which models. If I would manufacture a product, I’d definitely make sure I list all its features in the advertising material, therefore I’d be surprised if this one supports cellular modems and does not say that in bold red. Worse than that, the manufacturer page referred to by the seller is totally silent about the product.

What makes me even more cautious is that whoever sells that does not spend a word about how it is powered. Normally, USB hosts power the peripherals, not vice versa as would have to be the case here, and usual laptops and home routers do not provide PoE on their Ethernet ports.

So the only thing you can be sure about is that even if miraculously that thingy does support cellular modems and feeds itself by pranah, you’ll have to use its own management interface to set up the modem.

3

Your response is very much appreciated. I believe i have found a more suitable solution to this in Proxicast PocketPORT 2. However now i have second question.

Do you think this ProxicastPORT 2 will work properly when connected to the USB ports on the R435G via and ethernet to USB to adapter.

Once again thank you very much for your response to my initial question. I will also post my results to this thread as I test various configurations to help others looking to implement similar solutions.

Brian
Systems Integrator II

4

work properly when connected to the USB ports on the R435G via and ethernet to USB to adapter.

I’m not sure how to read the above sentence. In my understanding of the world, the situation is the following:

  • you can use an USB hub to extend the number of USB devices (e.g., modems) which can be physically connected to a host. The questions in this case are:
  • does the USB host support hubs at all,
    • how many devices of a given type the USB host can handle in software,
    • whether the total capacity of the bus is sufficient for the summary peak data flow of all connected devices.
  • you can use a pair of USB-over-Ethernet-cable adaptors to extend the physical length of an USB bus, but I don’t know any adaptors which would extend the USB bus using Ethernet physical layer and protocol. The difference between the USB bus communication protocol and the Ethernet protocol is so huge that it is impossible or at least extremely difficult to transport the former using the latter reliably in all possible scenarios.
  • you can use a device similar to the one you’ve suggested here, i.e. one which routes (or bridges) such higher layer protocols (such as IP) that can be transported both using Ethernet and using USB, between an Ethernet interface and a USB interface of such device. But the configuration parameters for the “IP over USB” side must be delivered to the device “out of band” because they cannot be derived from the settings of the “IP over Ethernet” side.

The manual of the device you’ve suggested this time explains in detail what it does and I believe it does it well, but you can obtain most of its functionality using another Mikrotik box for less than half the price and with a possibility to configure the modem the way you are used to. This box simply acts as another router (or bridge) in the network, i.e. it will not extend the number of USB devices directly controlled and configured by your Mikrotik.

To my opinion, unless you are really concerned about the physical dimensions, the only distinctive feature of the box you’ve found this time as compared to another Mikrotik with a USB port is the Virtual Cable mode, which uses vendor’s server acting as a “box-in-the-middle” to allow establishment of EoIP tunnels between these devices even if none of them has a public IP address. It is also worth noting that this functionality can be used also over the Ethernet interface of the box. However, while such feature is convenient when you lack even a single static public IP address across all your sites, there are two main drawbacks to it:

  • its availability depends on availability of the “box-in-the-middle” service both short-term (outages of that box-in-the-middle) and long-term (it will stop working once the vendor goes out of business).
  • as the tunnelling and encryption protocol used between the endpoints is not specified, doubts regarding privacy cannot be avoided

.So should your business depend on it, it is much safer to place two Mikrotiks (or other powerful enough devices under your own control) to two different telehouses and obtain public IP addresses for them.


I will also post my results to this thread as I test various configurations to help others looking to implement similar solutions.

No USB-modem-over-ethernet product can ever integrate into RouterOS seamlessly, i.e. in such a way that the cellular modem connected to such device would just appear as another cellular modem in the RouterOS’s list of directly connected ones and would be configurable exactly the same way like the directly connected ones, unless gents at Mikrotik spend some effort on integration of such product. I cannot speak for them but commercially doing so would make little sense.

5

Your AWESOME!

Thank you for very much for taking the time to entertain my questions. This is what I sorta suspected but you have saved me a lot of time and head scratching and tinkering. I will just connect the the Cellular cards directly to the USB which I have observed working. Though I’m curious and planning to test how efficiently they are able to utilize the cards as I’ve heard cellular USB cards have been known to have flaky performance with routerOS. Space is definitely an issue as these components all have to fit in a mid-small size pelican case along with an 20AH 12v deep cycle battery and other RF components. I’m trying to add as much cellular back haul to this unit as possible and then I’m going to try various types of load balancing across them at this point looks like it’ll be 3 cellular cards. For my application I believe upload speed will be more critical but I’m gonna try to optimize for download as well. I just wish mikrotik made LTE minipci card that I could just plug in a sim card and offered the same connection type as R52HnD for antenna. I haven’t been able to locate ANY minipci card that functions as an LTE modem all seem to be minipcie cards geared more towards installation in a computer or rack mounted hardware.

You have cleared up many questions for me and for this I deeply and humbly thank you I’ll post how things are going as I get to the testing stage.

Brian
Systems Integrator II

6

R11e-LTE in the wAP-LTE HUAWEI ME909S-120 ARE MINI PCIE CARDS SUPPORTED AND WORKING WITH MTK ROUTERS. and some routers have already lte cards inside.

7

R11e-LTE in the wAP-LTE HUAWEI ME909S-120 ARE MINI PCIE CARDS SUPPORTED AND WORKING WITH MTK ROUTERS. and some routers have already lte cards inside.

8

I need minipci not minipci express. The board Im using is R435G the wap LTE does not meet my needs due to size. I need a card to attach to R435G not a standalone deceive. Even if the Huawei card was a minipci not express I still would not use it due to Huawei’s HIGHLY unethical business practices I will never support their products.