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yaomacbt
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LTE modem meshed APs

Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:43 pm

MikroTik have some LTE modem APs, which allow using the LTE as the gateway to the Internet. I am wondering could we use couple of these LTE modem to created a meshed network under the same subnet?

For example, I have 4 Mikrotik LTE modem, with a SIM card and getting LTE Internet connection from the telecom provider. No matter what IP they are getting, on the WiFi side, can these 4 modems be meshed and stay on the same subnet like 192.168.1.0/24?
If yes, Can the user connect to this WiFi also been assgin IP under this 192.168.1.0/24 network?

Has anyone have experience with this?

Thanks,
Weiqi
 
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Amm0
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Re: LTE modem meshed APs

Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:17 pm

A "mesh" is pretty overloaded term... Guessing you have 4 different Layer3 networks, one per AP. Your current config can work, except it's like always using "client isolation" since which AP a Wi-Fi client was using determine what other Wi-Fi client it could see (assuming your using the same SSID/password on all the APs).

Now getting to one Wi-Fi network, that could use all the LTE modems, is totally possible, but more complex. And the specific matter to know the best way to "mesh" things, so hard to say what you should do...

I can share one basic approach to getting to 1 Wi-Fi network that use 4 AP's LTE modems...but the world is your oyster:
  • start with one of the APs and set up as a "router" as normal, and configure the rest of the APs as a "bridge" (e.g. no DHCP server, etc. on these) but with NAT & LTE enabled
  • link all of the APs together, somehow, either via a ethernet switch, wireless PtP link (if you have both 2.4Hz and 5Ghz on the AP - one used for wireless bridge between AP, other band used for clients), or use ring topology to "daisy chain" the APs (if you have 2 ethernet jacks on your AP, such as the wAP R ac)
  • on the first AP/router, add a route that include the IP address of all 4 IP addresses of the AP. (called an "ECMP route", will load balance traffic across the IPs - search the wiki/forum for details on that entails including connection marking etc), you also may want to the "check gateway" option in the options so if you lose an AP, it won't be used for routing
  • for bonus, and to get be more "meshy", you could use VRRP and assign DHCP to the VRRP interface, so any of the AP could take over being a router

Not the entire story, but that's the gist. And only one route of many.
 
yaomacbt
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Posts: 31
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Re: LTE modem meshed APs

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:14 pm

A "mesh" is pretty overloaded term... Guessing you have 4 different Layer3 networks, one per AP. Your current config can work, except it's like always using "client isolation" since which AP a Wi-Fi client was using determine what other Wi-Fi client it could see (assuming your using the same SSID/password on all the APs).

Now getting to one Wi-Fi network, that could use all the LTE modems, is totally possible, but more complex. And the specific matter to know the best way to "mesh" things, so hard to say what you should do...

I can share one basic approach to getting to 1 Wi-Fi network that use 4 AP's LTE modems...but the world is your oyster:
  • start with one of the APs and set up as a "router" as normal, and configure the rest of the APs as a "bridge" (e.g. no DHCP server, etc. on these) but with NAT & LTE enabled
  • link all of the APs together, somehow, either via a ethernet switch, wireless PtP link (if you have both 2.4Hz and 5Ghz on the AP - one used for wireless bridge between AP, other band used for clients), or use ring topology to "daisy chain" the APs (if you have 2 ethernet jacks on your AP, such as the wAP R ac)
  • on the first AP/router, add a route that include the IP address of all 4 IP addresses of the AP. (called an "ECMP route", will load balance traffic across the IPs - search the wiki/forum for details on that entails including connection marking etc), you also may want to the "check gateway" option in the options so if you lose an AP, it won't be used for routing
  • for bonus, and to get be more "meshy", you could use VRRP and assign DHCP to the VRRP interface, so any of the AP could take over being a router

Not the entire story, but that's the gist. And only one route of many.
Thank you for such a well explanation! I will go ahead do some test with what you mentioned above.
 
yaomacbt
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Re: LTE modem meshed APs

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:28 pm

Just one question, what you mentioned:
wireless PtP link (if you have both 2.4Hz and 5Ghz on the AP - one used for wireless bridge between AP, other band used for clients),
Is this Nstreme Dual in MikroTik?

Thanks!
 
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Amm0
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Re: LTE modem meshed APs

Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:15 pm

Just one question, what you mentioned:
wireless PtP link (if you have both 2.4Hz and 5Ghz on the AP - one used for wireless bridge between AP, other band used for clients),
Is this Nstreme Dual in MikroTik?

Thanks!
Maybe. Specifics matter...

You need to decide what band (2.4Ghz or 5Ghz) you want to use to connect the AP together first, then what’s left is what’s going to be what Wi-Fi uses. Now is 5Ghz typically used to bridge APs, and 2.4Ghz used for clients, so likely a good place to start. And for 5Ghz, not sure if nstream/nv2 (TDMA-based, ~Ubnt AirMax) is what be generally recommended if a device supports 802.11ac. Personally, I’d try 802.11ac first. But Nv2 may be right depending on the situation...

For the wireless bridge, I’d see what protocol/config QuickSet does if you set one to “PTP Bridge AP” and the other to “PTP Bridge CPE”. That get you something to test a bridge at the typical distance you want to deploy them in... Then tweak as needed to get a good link between two of the APs first.

But the “right choice” large depending on:
  • where are the Wi-Fi users going to be relative to the APs (and how many users you have)?
  • How far apart are the AP going to be from one another? If there really far apart, you might want to use 2.4Ghz for the backbone bridge, and 5Ghz for client but assume you need need Wi-Fi coverage in between AP locations too (see question 1).
  • What location provides acceptable LTE bandwidth/service? Typically higher is better for wireless bridging and LTE, but put the Wi-Fi client further from the AP.
And, you can’t optimize all three — maybe get a couple of them....better bridging and/or better LTE coverage and/or better better Wi-Fi coverage/speeds. And the laws of physics may prevent it in the first place ;)

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