Replace Modem

This morning I received from Inseego, their FW2000e external antenna/modem. It was a bit of a group effort, with my T-Mobile business rep signing off on everything so I could obtain this unit at about 50% of retail price. It took about an hour to install it and get it up and running, and my first impressions are quite positive.

First, some background: I have been a T-Mobile for Business subscriber ($50/month - unlimited use) for about a year, and was obtaining decent performance with their Nokia router connected to a WaveForm 4x4 MIMO antenna system. Performance was about 75 (ping), 170 (download) and 12 (upload). Much better than the satellite providers (and more reasonably priced), but the Nokia lacked the ability to "pass-through" the internet to my own wireless router and home network.

As a trial, I obtained from T-Mobile one of their new Inseego FX2000 modems and attempted to connect it to my existing WaveForm antenna using the connection ports built into the modem. Alas, as previously informed by WaveForm and T-Mobile, the built-in antenna ports on the FX2000 are not compatible with the frequencies used by T-Mobile. No amount of tuning could get the FX2000 to perform any better than when not connected to the antenna system (about 25% of the performance I had been getting from the Nokia modem through the external antenna).

Anyhow, I now have the FW2000e installed at the location previously occupied by the WaveForm antenna system, and even though the installation app pronounced the location as only "fair", I am enjoying performance comparable to the previous setup. I must add that my location is 2 miles from the tower, with plenty of trees between it and my location. I would never classify it as "line of site". The performance I have obtained from T-Mobile has been relatively consistent and satisfactory, but I am fortunate to be in a very rural area, near a tower set up to service the interstate highway that runs nearby. My only competition for the available bandwidth appears to be highway traffic.

Total cost for the FW2000e was $859, including freight and taxes. The T-Mobile subscription is still only $50, but I understand a static IP is available for $10/month extra. T-Mobile also appears to have another subscription package offering priority bandwidth should my current subscription no longer meet my needs.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with T-Mobile and Inseego, and can recommend this combination to  others looking for rural internet access.