MikroTik

This is my first Mikrotik router and I am trying to set this up to provide an LTE connection to my main router. I simply want to place the WAPR into bridge mode so it passes the public IP provided by the LTE connection to my main router which will handle all DHCP, NAT and routing functions.

I have looked through the Webfig but cannot find an obvious way to do this. Can anyone advise how to achieve the above using the Webfig interface?

Thanks for any advice.

Hi,

I'm in the same situation as the OP in that I'm trying to get my SXT LTE device to pass the public LTE IP to my Synology RT2600ac. I have tried for several hours this evening to get this working by following the passthrough example linked above in the Mikrotik wiki and also a post by another user here ( viewtopic.php?p=690922 ) but I just keep locking myself out of the SXT and having to reset it and start again.

I'm by no means a networking expert but I am familiar with most aspects of networking including VLANs and have an HP managed switch which I was hoping to use to retain management access to the SXT once it is in passthrough mode. I just can't quite put it all together. I've tried removing ether1 from the default bridge to allow me to setup the passthrough from lte1 because it said you can't set up passthrough on a slave interface. I also tried setting up passthrough to the bridge interface. Invariably I only get so far before I lose comms with the SXT and have to reset it again. Sometimes I can still ping the SXT but can't get into WebFig. Not sure why.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Craig.

Thanks for the link. I had already found that but was hoping there was a way to do it through the webfig rather than the CLI. I assume Bridge mode has to be set using command line instructions rather than any other method?

You can set the passthrough option in WebFig via:

Interfaces -> LTE (tab) -> LTE APNs (button) -> Select an APN -> Passthrough Interface

But if you do this for ether1 when it’s still part of the default bridge with ether2 you’ll get an error something along the lines of, you can’t do this with a slave interface. That led me to try to remove ether1 from the bridge but I keep cutting off my access to WebFig somehow.

HTH
Craig.

Thanks Craig.

That's very helpful and appreciated. I used the CLI method linked to above to see if that would work. It seems to have put the router in bridge mode as I now don't have any ability to alter the IP address of the router or change DHCP settings so I assume it's now bridged. That's one of the reasons I didn't want to use the CLI as it isn't obvious what's happened from the webfig. Anyway I think it's working.

However I have a bigger problem and that is the speed I'm getting from the Mikrotik. I am setting this up for someone else and am testing at my own property. My own setup is an outside Zyxel LTE modem which is getting 24mbps download speed. My phone is also getting around the same. A USB dongle with SIM achieves similar. However the Mikrotik in the same position is achieving only 7mbps! I've tried altering the network mode to force it into 3G rather than try LTE but no difference. Whatever I try the Mikrotik won't get above 8mbps.

Is this just poor reception on the Mikrotik or is there a setting I'm missing? With every other device able to get over 20mbps I'm extremely disappointed with the Mikrotik at the minute. Any help appreciated.

Thanks Craig.

That's very helpful and appreciated. I used the CLI method linked to above to see if that would work. It seems to have put the router in bridge mode as I now don't have any ability to alter the IP address of the router or change DHCP settings so I assume it's now bridged. That's one of the reasons I didn't want to use the CLI as it isn't obvious what's happened from the webfig. Anyway I think it's working.

However I have a bigger problem and that is the speed I'm getting from the Mikrotik. I am setting this up for someone else and am testing at my own property. My own setup is an outside Zyxel LTE modem which is getting 24mbps download speed. My phone is also getting around the same. A USB dongle with SIM achieves similar. However the Mikrotik in the same position is achieving only 7mbps! I've tried altering the network mode to force it into 3G rather than try LTE but no difference. Whatever I try the Mikrotik won't get above 8mbps.

Is this just poor reception on the Mikrotik or is there a setting I'm missing? With every other device able to get over 20mbps I'm extremely disappointed with the Mikrotik at the minute. Any help appreciated.

Can you go to the LTE interface and look at its statistics and see what it is connecting at? eg 3g-4g if it is only connecting at 3g you are able to set what mode you want the lte interface in eg,2g 3g 4g and what bands you want it to connect to. the easiest thing for you to do would be to untick 2g and 3g so it only connects at 4g but a better option would be to select the band of the 4g ISP on your closest antenna and/or lock the device to that cell tower look at finding and using cell lock(dont know if this works on the US version of the r11e-LTE unit though?) https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:I ... _Cell_lock

Thanks for the reply and trying to help.

I've already locked the unit into 3G as that is what my other devices are on and is the fastest connection. I've also tried just using 4G (LTE) but again this doesn't increase speed. What I did notice is the Mikrotik is connecting to a different cell ID to the other devices. I can't get the Mikrotik to connect to the cell ID the others are on which is probably the problem. I've also locked the bands to the correct ones for my mobile operator here in the UK, Three - bands 3, 7 & 20. Still no change.

I guess I can try using cell lock but I really thought the device would connect to the best signal without forcing it to do that through cell lock.

Update:

OK after further changing of the LTE settings I managed to get the Mikrotik connected to the exact same cell ID as all the other LTE modems I've tried. However the speed is still under half what the others are giving - 8mbps for Mikrotik and over 23mbps for the others.

I think I'm going to have to abandon the Mikrotik and return it as it's simply not connecting at the speeds the other modems are. I expected it to at least match a cheap Huawei USB dongle.

Hi Andy,
I'm also using mine with Three in the UK and have seen comparable speeds to what my daughter gets with her iPhone 8 also on Three.

Apologies if this is a silly question but are you aware the SXT is directional? I believe it has a receiving cone of 60 degrees although in practice I find it isn't all that sensitive to direction but if you happen to have it pointed in completely the wrong direction then it'll certainly not help your speeds. Mobile phones are also somewhat directional due to the shape but try to be omnidirectional as much as they can. Also, try to ensure it is upright and pointed at the horizon. You can also use the signal strength graph in the "Quick Set" area of the web portal to help set the best direction if you are unsure where your cell tower is.

Update: One other thing to mention is that you might want to use the APN "3internet" as it gives you a public IP address rather than a CGNAT address. I don't know if this affects speed but might be worth a try. I'm running on LTE with a signal strength of around -86db. If I switch to 3G I get a much lower signal level (around -105db) and although my download speeds aren't that much lower, my upload speeds are terrible on 3G (< 1Mbps) compared to 8Mbps or more on LTE).

I hope this helps,
Craig.

Thanks Craig. Not a silly question at all.

This is the WAPR LTE so I don’t think directional is critical like the SXT.

Have played around with direction anyway and no real difference.

Ah, sorry, I was thinking you had an SXT like me. Maybe I should read the thread title more carefully!

By the way, I made an update to my last post just as you posted.

Cheers,
Craig.

Thanks Craig.

Yes I’m using 3internet as the APN for exactly that reason. Makes outside access much easier.

Thanks again

Andy