Using 3G or 4G on Remote - Need Advice

[troynm]

I'm considering purchase of a RemoteRig. The remote location has 4G available. The carrier will be Verizon. The control point will be DSL. I've searched and read through a number of posts concerning 3 and 4G at the remote location and I'm pretty confused. I'm experienced in simple networks, but really have no knowledge of the cellular system.

It looks like I can use a 4G router connected to a RemoteRig. Is a USB 4G dongle or air card the better way to go? Do they still have those? I haven't seen one lately. As far as I can tell I cannot plug a dongle directly into the RemoteRig but instead need to use a router. It looks like I can use dyndns or a similar service that RemoteRig supplies to keep the IP updated when Verizon changes my IP since I will not have a private IP. It also appears that if I get a Verizon 4G router I need to have an additional router connected or is that only if I use a dongle or air card?

It probably doesn't matter but I will be controlling a Kenwood TS-480HX through an MFJ autotuner. I'm going to download the manual and look through that tomorrow.

Is there a single post somewhere that details all of the basic info I need to connect to a remote location using 3 or 4G? I don't want to get the 4G router and be stuck with a 2 year contract if it doesn't work.

Thanks,
Tom
W5GV

[sm2o]

Hi

You must have a router where you can put the simcard direct in it, no dongle. There is no other difference, you shoud set it up exactly as a cabled router, so it must support portforwarding but the routers from the ,major brands like huaweii , linksys, netear d-link etc do that.

73 de mike

[troynm]

Thanks Mike. It sounds like you are saying that I should buy my own cellular router and get a SIM card from Verizon? That way I will have control over my ports?

[oz1rh]

If you already have a USB 4G dongle you can put it into a cheap 50 $ router like TP-Link MR-3420 ver. 2. Note, only ver. 2 supports 4G. It works for me but I prefer a real 4G router.

Verizon must give you a public IP address open for incoming traffic. If you get a private IP adr like 10.9.x.x or 192.168.x.x as WAN IP adr it can't be accessed from the internet, thus you can't connect to it and manage your radio.

The speed of a 3G connection is more than enough for RemoteRig, but ping time/latency/jitter might not be adequate. In this respect 4G/LTE is much better, so get a 4G. If only 3G is available some tweaking of the advanced parameters in RemoteRig is likely to be needed as described in other places on this forum.

HNY, Palle, OZ1RH

[troynm]

Thanks again for the info. I do have 4G LTE available at the remote site and I talked with Verizon for quite a while this afternoon. They can give me a public address. I'm putting up the antenna tomorrow which will be a simple dipole. I will order the Remoterig next week sometime. once I get it configured and working with my TS-480 on my own network I will get the 4G device. I will be able to configure and test everything with that here at home although things might be slightly different at the remote site. I'm going to get it going with voice, and the digital modes with HRD then take it out to the site.

[DJ5DT]

As far as I know there is a problem in so far as most providers do not provide a public IP but rather a private IP. With private IPs you can NOT do portforwarding as required with remoterig. So it may be advisable to confirm in written (!) with your 3G or 4G provider that they will give you a public IP every time you log in. Insist on writing as the highly skilled hotline people will not even understand your request..... It is NOT a problem of your hardware.
73,
Thomas, DJ5DT

[sm2o]

My experience is that most 3G and 4G provider is working exactly as a DSL or other fixed service. You get a dynamic IP address which is public, and if you use the DDNS service, it works exactly the same way with a mobile or fixed service provider. There may be a few operators which use double NAT then it does not work but that's very rare.

73 de mike

[oz1rh]

In Denmark the mobile broadband ISP's TDC, Telmore, Telia and Oister will give your router a dynamic but private IP address, thus not good for access from the internet. From ISP '3' www.3.dk you can get a public dynamic IP address if you choose the right APN and you can buy a public static IP address from '3'. However '3' has a special feature that customers from Oister and '3' can NOT access other '3' customers unless BOTH has paid for a public static IP address =:((

If you plan to use mobile broadband make sure your ISP will provide your remote site with a public IP address, either dynamic or static. Notice that their customer service often does not know the difference between public and private IP addresses, they keep talking about dynamic and static IP address which is not our issue.

73, Palle, OZ1RH.