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5G modems with Fanless Computer

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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  • D Offline
    Dobby_
    last edited by May 24, 2023, 5:08 AM

    @mathomas3

    • Were you wearing a ESD wrist band during the installation?
      An electrical hit can destroy that hardware

    • Did you connect the antenna first and then connect it to the hardware or power the hardware then on?
      The antenna ist grounding the card either
      miniPCIe or M.2 based

    • Did you consider to buy and install the right antennas matching to your card and according to its standard?
      There are antennas for the M.2 and others that must be connected to the miniPCIe cards

    • Did you think on something like a heatsink?
      You can buy for some coin (6 €) at AliExpress

    • Didi you take a ESD screwdriver to install
      that card grounded?
      An electric spark went over can destroy your card in time

    You will see there are some more point you should watching out before installing something else where. It is not rough meant here, but often
    peoples forget this points and then they will do often the same failure again and again
    burning their money and materials too.

    copper cooler miniPCIe
    copper cooler M.2 (2230) 1
    copper cooler M.2 (2230) 2
    electrostatic wristband (cordless)
    electrostatic wristband (corded)
    antistatic screwdriver
    ESD mat

    #~. @Dobby

    Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
    PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
    PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

    M 1 Reply Last reply May 24, 2023, 12:58 PM Reply Quote 0
    • M Offline
      mathomas3 @Dobby_
      last edited by mathomas3 May 24, 2023, 1:10 PM May 24, 2023, 12:58 PM

      @Dobby_

      Thank you for the reply... though this failure was not user error... the computer was/is AIO mini computer that about the size of a small hardback book that was never opened and arrived in it's air cooled computer case...

      the 5G modem is a mobile USB C 5G hotspot(as noted in the first post) and no I didnt open that either...

      Give me a little credit here... I have been working in/around IT for 22 years

      P 1 Reply Last reply May 24, 2023, 2:03 PM Reply Quote 1
      • P Online
        provels @mathomas3
        last edited by May 24, 2023, 2:03 PM

        @mathomas3 Maybe a powered USB hub in the middle might have crutched the power draw. Or not. Anyway, thanks for the warning. 👍

        Peder

        MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
        BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

        N 1 Reply Last reply May 25, 2023, 10:59 PM Reply Quote 0
        • N Offline
          nimrod @provels
          last edited by May 25, 2023, 10:59 PM

          USB should only be used temporary for your keyboard or USB storage from which you run your installation of pfsense. Nothing else. When it comes to 4G/5G modems you should get PCIe version or standalone box that attaches to your LAN port directly. Using USB lan cards and USB 4G/5G modems is bad solution. Just because you can, doesnt mean you should.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • D Offline
            Dobby_
            last edited by May 26, 2023, 2:20 AM

            External cases for USB > M.2 M/B-Key
            Some can be powered external via PS

            USBM2 Series Wireless USB M.2(NGFF) Card Adapter

            NGFF (M.2) WWAN/LTE/3G/4G ZU USB ADAPTER

            M.2 NGFF LTE 4/5G case

            Boards for own cases and/or as AddOn
            Could be a solution for existing cases or own cases

            MikroTik RBM11G

            M.2(NGFF) 3G/4G/5G-Modul to USB3.0-Adapter with Dual-SIM

            #~. @Dobby

            Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
            PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
            PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

            M 1 Reply Last reply May 26, 2023, 8:04 AM Reply Quote 0
            • M Offline
              mathomas3 @Dobby_
              last edited by May 26, 2023, 8:04 AM

              @Dobby_ The reason why I am using this solution is that my provider requires the use of their hardware... should I put the SIM into something different would violate the TOS...

              I am hoping that I will be able to move to something else by the end of the year when fiber is built into my area...

              My only current solutions that I could currently consider is WISP providers or TM@H which didnt work well while I tried them out.

              This 5g modem isnt deprioritized like TM@H and it's cheaper as well... at times I can get nearly 400mb down and close to 100mb in the middle of the day

              For anyone looking into this provider it's calyx institute... and yes I try some of those more shady providers before finding this one and I have been a member of them for nearly 2 years now... could they have a better operation... yes... but given that they are on the up and up with tmobile... I am happy

              D 1 Reply Last reply May 26, 2023, 4:53 PM Reply Quote 0
              • D Offline
                Dobby_ @mathomas3
                last edited by May 26, 2023, 4:53 PM

                @mathomas3 said in 5G modems with Fanless Computer:

                @Dobby_ The reason why I am using this solution is that my provider requires the use of their hardware... should I put the SIM into something different would violate the TOS...

                Ah, ok this was not clear to me.

                #~. @Dobby

                Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
                PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
                PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S Offline
                  Staceyondr
                  last edited by Jun 9, 2023, 6:09 PM

                  This post is deleted!
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                  • S Offline
                    Staceyondr
                    last edited by Staceyondr Jun 14, 2023, 12:53 PM Jun 14, 2023, 12:52 PM

                    This post is deleted!
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                    • L Offline
                      Lupanoss
                      last edited by Jun 21, 2023, 9:46 AM

                      This post is deleted!
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