Request: For the MXs with built in cellular

[Wake-Maker]

We need Meraki to consider supporting LTE band 14 on these MXs to support FirstNet. Its going to be an issue soon not having that supported by the hardware. We will be forced to consider other options soon.

Integrated Cellular (MX67C and MX68CW only)
LTE bands: 2, 4, 5, 12, 13, 17, and 19 (North America). 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 26, 28A, 28B, 34, 38,
39, 40, and 41 (Worldwide)
300 Mbps CAT 6 LTE
Additional regulatory information: PTCRB (North America), RCM (ANZ, APAC), GCF (EU)

[BrechtSchamp · Accepted solution]

Have you reached out to your Meraki SE/rep about this? I'm afraid the forum may not offer much in this situation.

[jdsilva]

My understanding is that the supported bands are hardware related, not software. Unless Meraki makes a significant hardware revision to these devices I do not think there will be any additional supported bands But, as @BrechtSchamp  says, I would also recommend that you reach out to your Meraki account team and ensure they are aware of your ask.

[Uberseehandel]

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@jdsilva wrote:

My understanding is that the supported bands are hardware related, not software. Unless Meraki makes a significant hardware revision to these devices I do not think there will be any additional supported bands But, as @BrechtSchamp  says, I would also recommend that you reach out to your Meraki account team and ensure they are aware of your ask.

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It requires a replacement of the cellular subsystem. Computer makers manage to upgrade their devices to take account of new technologies. These sub-systems are cheap enough. The folk who make the sub-systems have been signalling G5 LTE for a long time.

[kYutobi]

Let's       

[Uberseehandel]

Actually we need G5 LTE capability, just adding band 14 is no longer an attractive offering.

[SoCalRacer]

USB dongle!

Good luck with the wish to add bands.

[kYutobi]

@SoCalRacer wishes can come true lol...

[SoCalRacer]

Yes very true, but hardware additions to an existing model kind of hard. Bands especially, the only time it happens and is a very limited amount in wireless and the hardware is there to support it out of the box, but then the carrier enables it on their infrastructure and devices get software/firmware updates to handle it. All in all that is a very long process. Then take into account the FCC has to reapprove a separate device under and different ID, not that it won't or couldnt happen, but it will take a while if it does.

[Uberseehandel]

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@SoCalRacer wrote:

Yes very true, but hardware additions to an existing model kind of hard. Bands especially, the only time it happens and is a very limited amount in wireless and the hardware is there to support it out of the box, but then the carrier enables it on their infrastructure and devices get software/firmware updates to handle it. All in all that is a very long process. Then take into account the FCC has to reapprove a separate device under and different ID, not that it won't or couldnt happen, but it will take a while if it does.

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Nobody is suggesting adding new hardware to existing product, but why Meraki released the Z3C with such an out of touch hardware spec suggests that they are trying to emulate Microsoft. Even the Gin Palace production team managed to upgrade the USB on the RSX-300 without telling marketing.

As far as FCC approvals are concerned, they are a fact of life. They are not an excuse for inaction.

[PhilipDAth]

You wont need 4G or 5G support once Starlink is online.  There wont be any point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellation)

[Uberseehandel]

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@PhilipDAth wrote:

You wont need 4G or 5G support once Starlink is online.  There wont be any point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellation)

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In the long term, SpaceX intends to develop and deploy a version of the satellite communication system to serve Mars

[MMoss]

I find myself being rather ignorant about First Net, I started to look into it, but figured it would be quicker to ask someone to enlighten me as to why this is an issue. Outside of alerts on the public band what data would I need to access upon it in a fail over situation?

[dalmiroy2k]

You will have better luck using an external Ethernet 4G/5G modem via WAN 2 (supports both load-balancing and failover) or a USB Dongle for cellular backup.

I know Huawei and ZTE are somehow banned or disliked in the US, but here in latin america they can't be beated in both cost and complete LTE band support. 

I'm currently using a Huawei E3276 as cellular backup for my MX64.

[Mnyanga]

hi, hope you are doing good, kindly assist me, i want to enable 4G modem on my mx68, i plug my modem on it, but i can't see where to enable it or any guide to activate it, please help, thanks

[MMoss]

Not all modems are supported, but under uplink in the MX Security & SD WAN Appliance Settings there should be an option under WAN 1 and WAN 2 if you have it to enable Cellular. In my experience I've sometimes had to reboot the MX to get it to take changes to it's WAN settings so you may need to do that in order to get it to recognize. I've not used the USB stick to be honest.

[Uberseehandel]

(From a distant place)
Currently, my Internet connection is over 5G "Mobile broadband".
There is a lot to like about it, but, many ISPs use CGNAT, (for reasons of unplanning and economy), this causes high latency, fortunately, I don't play computer games where this matters. Apparently it makes many online games unplayable, without some "jiggling around". Predictably, ISPs that use CGNAT are in denial.
Allegedly the problem doesn't exist if the WAN interface can be configured to use IPv6 whilst leaving the LAN side IPv4.