TP-Link TL-MR3420 3G Router issues

[wratterus]

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

Got an interesting one here.

Got a client who lives right out in the wops, and doesn't have any internet access, no phone line, patchy cellphone reception. They recently bought a Sierra 308 USB 3G card from Telecom, and had an aerial for it professionally installed. It works well on two Macs they have there, they get about 40% - 50% signal (according to the Sierra software) and it's a stable connection.

They want wifi at home, to be able to use their iMac and macbook at the same time in their office and in the house. They are pushing the limits of wifi doing this due to distance, but that's another issue.

They initially bought a D-Link 3G router, but it was incompatible with the Sierra card. They have now got this TP-Link TL-MR3420 which is compatible. We got it working initially in the office very easily, but they took it onsite and the router wouldn't detect the card properly. I suspected maybe it was the aerial somehow interfering, so i got them to disconnect that, same issue, the router wouldn't detect the 3G card.

The 3G card still worked perfectly when plugged directly into either of the macs though. had the router and card back in the office this morning, and the same thing - the router just didn't want to know about the card. It would start 'identifying' but then not get anywhere, the card worked perfectly on my PC though.

At this point I reset the router to factory and double checked that it had the latest firmware (it did).

The APN in the Router was internet.telecom.co.nz and the dial number was *99#, which i thought was correct. In the sierra software on the PC the APN was the same, but the dial number (from memory here) was *98*2#. After I put that into the router, it worked, rebooted, power cycled, it still worked OK. Also telecom support said that number was ok to use, even though the 'correct' one was *99#.

Anyway, the customer has the router back onsite now, but i'm expecting a call any minute saying 'it's not working'

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of setup, or know of a different brand of router that is compatible with the sierra 308?

Mucho appreciado.

[Chilling_Silence]

I've had experience with these, I ended up taking it back, had similar issues. Got a Netcomm equivalent and the problems all went away, and it supports everything on the market currently for Voda / 2degrees / XT, and has done-so for the last 3-odd years!

Pretty sure this is mine:
NetComm N3G005W
http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=456031

It's an older model though (As mentioned it's been solid for AGES), and newer Netcomm ones cost less

[wratterus]

Nice Chill, thanks. Ironically it's actually working for them at the moment, so we will see. If it falls over again though, it going back and they can have one of those Netcomm ones.

[wratterus]

http://www.netcomm.com.au/netcomm-pr...oadband/3g17wn

3G17Wn would be the replacement for your one. Not many of them around, Ascent are showing them in stock though. Sweet.

[Chilling_Silence]

Yeah a mate of mine is a Netcomm distributor, he says those things are selling like wild fire right now