I’m looking into setting up a private LTE/5G network, for use with GSM mobile devices (with removable SIM cards). The network would be used for/with:
FreePBX (calls, SMS, MMS)
LAN service access (sites sitting behind VPN)
However, I am not sure if it would be feasible or practical for me to attempt. I’d be the only person setting it up and maintaining it. I have two questions:
Does MikroTik sell any equipment for this use case?
Would a network like this provide any meaningful benefits over other existing solutions?
Are you aware how expensive and complicated (both from technical and legal point of view) it is to run your own cellular network?
Yes, they do but it’s expensive and equipment cost itself is least important of your problems in this scenario. You will have to license part of radio spectrum to use LTE and/or 5G nework of your own.
No. Unless you literally have to cover hundreds of square km of land and have virtually unlimited budget (both for technical and legal affairs, mostly the latter) you should stick to Wi-Fi based solutions.
You can run 4G LTE/5G NR open source projects like open5gs/free5GC using srsRAN/OpenAirInterface on unlicensed bands like 2.4, 5/6 and 60 GHz, although coverage is limited due to signal strength regulations similar to Wi-Fi. Software-defined radios for lower bands cost around 1k bucks but those for 60 GHz are still pretty expensive.
I do wish Mikrotik made one of the “Intercell” for Band 48 in US - there aren’t a lot of good offerings. But LTE/5G is just complex, both in specs and regulations, and not sure any vendor can fix that.
This is only a minor part of LTE network. In MT/WiFi parlance, when building an LTE network, one needs: edge router (PGW in LTE; at least one per network), CAPsMAN (SGW in LTE; at least one per network), AP (eNode-B in LTE; one or many per network) and antenna (one per cell; one eNode-B can sustain multiple cells).
In LTE, eNode-B can (and often is) split into two parts: digital processing unit (“the brain”) and analog unit (with D/A converter and power amplifier for Tx and recevier and A/D converter for Rx), often interconnected with FO (or DAC if they’re real close to each other). The analog unit is commonly referred as “radio head” or RRU (Remote Radio Unit). One digital unit can “drive” multiple RRUs and typically one RRU means one cell.
And the Amazon offering is about a single RRU unit.
Well, for 600 bucks you might get a whole bunch of capable multiband 2x2 MIMO transceivers for up to 10 dBm @ 6 GHz, like BladeRF, PlutoSDR, USRP, HackRFOne, etc. Hardly useless, I’d say. For let’s say 1-2k, you get a whole lot more power as well.
Finding some ORAN radio HW is not the hard part. There are a lot of software parts need too. And even more software and a high-end CPU too if using an SDR. And MOST importantly some allowed frequency to actually broadcast, and some CPE that receives on that frequency…
I got a CBRS/Band48 ORAN working a few year back to a wAPacR (with Telit 960 modem), but there are a lot of fragile parts to it, and it was not particular fast (granted, limited by Mhz available). And really never found a use case for it. Maybe things in EU/elsewhere are different than US, but CBRS/Band48 is limited to a few 10Mhz slots. While kinda nifty having your own SIM cards, generally speaking some Wi-Fi APs and 60Ghz PtP links is way easier, cheaper, and faster solution than any private LTE combo I find, today at least.
The tricky part was getting the SIM card programming to work.