Usb lte modem as primary(and only) connection

Question

hi, i'll have to implement a 60d with lte connection(the only alternative is a crappy adsl 640Kb). given that the lte modem will be the only connection i've to choose wisely the modem. anyone that had already work with usb modem that can suggest some valid one?

i know you can see the compatibility list but i want to know if there is some model that will be better than the other, or if there be some model that have some issues(so i can avoid them)

thanks

ede_pfau · Answer

ha, welcome to the games! Getting USB modems to work can be quite an endeavour...

First, do not complicate the setup by using a FortiExtender. I did, and I've paid with weeks of trail and error. FExt and FGT support different subsets of modems, there are settings in the config which pertain to both and some which only affect one of the two.

The main obstacle is that web sticks (modems) often/always offer 2 modes of operation: one as a modem and one as a flash disk device. The tricky part is that the FGT has to send the exact code sequence to switch the modes, and these codes are model dependent. Even if the model number is equal, there can be incompatible 'sub-versions' of it which you can only determine when peeking at the micro print on the stick itself. You do have the choice to enter a switch sequence yourself but that isn't documented well (neither from FTNT nor the modem's manufacturer) so that it often ended in trail-and-error with me. It tooks some time and several modems until I got it to work.

Having said that I recommend going with Huawei sticks. There are quite a few models supported in FortiOS so that you'll have a chance one of these is still on sale. Then, I dug up info on how to switch the stick permanently into 'modem' mode and did that on a PC. Only after that I connected it to the FGT/FExt and it worked.

BTW, 4G lines and traffic shaping are natural buddies.

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