We're currently using the Sierra Wireless USB modems on various Mikrotik routers (including for some OOB) - and find them absolutely horrible. We've had no end of stability problems (USB power reset gets a lot of use from me!), sometimes they will run for weeks at a time without a problem, other times they will fail 5 times in one day for no apparent reason. Mike and I had a look at it a while ago, and couldn't find any obvious causes (checked power, swapped routerboards and USB modems, different ROS and Sierra Wireless firmware revisions etc). What is the stability of the ZTE USB dongles like? Also, is there any way to bring the IP allocated from Telstra through to the Mikrotik (we use the Telstra.Extranet APN to get a publically routable IP address into our OOB units). The other option that we're considering is the Sierra Wireless PCI-e cards, but ROS currently only supports the old serial PPP method of speaking to them currently, meaning that we can't get the full 4G speeds. Any other options would be welcomed :) -----Original Message----- From: Public [mailto:public-bounces@talk.mikrotik.com.au] On Behalf Of Alen Orsolic Sent: Tuesday, 21 April 2015 4:51 PM To: jason@upandrunningtech.com.au; 'MikroTik Australia Public List' Subject: Re: [MT-AU Public] Out of Band access options I'm with Jason on this one and here is some of his handy work, :-) The Telstra prepaid ZTE MF823 (~$50) does indeed work on my 751G and 2011 box using firmware 6.27. Some things to note to have it work in a straightforward mode: * The Mikrotik knows how to set up the right USB IDS's to get the ethernet USB interface going. * It also knows to tell the modem to connect to the network. * Use a DHCP client on the LTE1 interface with default route and Peer DNS set. * The DHCP client gives you an address of 192.168.0.182/24 and the modem is 192.168.0.1. * I used used SRC NAT to the 192.168.0/24 subnet. The modem runs Linux on ARM internally so you can log into it with telnet and change the default subnet on the modem apparently. Telstra have disabled or hidden these settings in the web menu on 192.168.0.1. * Be wary of the triple NAT in effect and any consequences: Internet <| 10/8 Telstra <| Modem 192.168.0/24 <| Your network * As per the Mikrotik Wiki cold power the 2011 when plugging in the modem otherwise LTE1 doesn't come up properly. This wasn't an issue on the 751G. * Disabling then reenabling the LTE1 interface brings it up briefly then it disables itself again. Only a plugging cycle fixes this. * Make sure the main router power supply can drive your router and the full 2.5W to the USB port. * This message is coming to you via the LTE1 interface on my 2011. Regards, Alen