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Teltonika TRB500

Interface comparison. Really want additional signal parameters for 5G NSA.

RUTXR1, FW RUTX_R_00.07.02.7:
1675934423329.webp


TRB500, FW TRB5_R_00.07.03.2:
1675934370920.webp
 
But both devices have the same modem?
I wish. If the RUTXR1 had a 5G NR modem, I'd be GBP 400 richer today (and could take some extra days off). 😅

RUTXR1 modem: EG06
FW: EG06ELAR04A04M4G

TRB500 modem: RG501Q-EU
FW: RG501QEUAAR12A05M4G_OCPU_BETA_20211020D_04.001.00.000
 
If only there was some kind of converter to try the TRB500 modem in the RUTXR1...
Sadly, the loft is about 7 Celsius at the moment so I'm not going up there. 😂

I do wonder whether the TRB500 in bridge mode connected to the RUTXR1 WAN might expose any hidden functionality.

The TRB500 doesn't seem to have mobile usage data collection which could be a real pain. Below for the Smarty test SIM. Data for the EE SIM previously there would have been more interesting.
1675940075690.webp
 
Previous record got smashed (293 Mbps down). Did some fine tuning and testing of antenna direction to see if I could get something better than predicted by 5G-RSSI but ended up resetting to the weird angle slightly away from direct line. Weirdly, got this result downstairs via newer Devolo AP whereas older Devolo AP was getting 100 Mbps to 180 Mbps.

Don't have 5G-RSRQ or 5G-SINR so guess 5G-RSSI around -52 dBm is the only thing I can aim for.


Bit weird that there's no mention of a connected NR band in the interface, only bands pre-existing in LTE. A reset of radios facing the opposite direction didn't seem to help as it quickly connected back to the usual and best mast. I suspect the obstructions are pretty bad in the direction of the town centre.


Another good bump on highest measured (343 Mbps down): https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9056958660
 
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After hours update.

PREVIOUS FIRMWARE INFORMATION​

Firmware versionTRB5_R_00.07.03.2
Firmware build date2023-01-11 08:24:59
Internal modem firmware versionRG501QEUAAR12A05M4G_OCPU_BETA_20211020D_04.001.00.000
Kernel version4.14.296

VALIDATION SUCCEEDED
Below is the checksum and file size listed, compare them with the original file to ensure data integrity.
MD5: fb66c5aedb9cb93e47517dea03c7d4c2
SHA256: 11a2714345fa9affe08159855426e2c5a154fc36336a56f1a547eadb3ec57ac2
Size: 20.24 MB

CURRENT FIRMWARE INFORMATION
This section displays information about the software currently installed on the router.​


Firmware versionTRB5_R_00.07.03.4
Firmware build date2023-02-07 14:06:23
Internal modem firmware versionRG501QEUAAR12A05M4G_OCPU_BETA_20211020D_04.001.00.000
Kernel version4.14.296
 
Hi All,
Great reading this thread - I got the TRB500 a few days ago, got the antenna in the loft (Poynting XPOL-2-5G Antenna) and didn't know what to do with the other 2 mobile ports on the TRB500 as there are 4. Thereafter found out that you shouldn't leave them empty and so I put2 of the 4 small antenna in the spare ports.

Without them I couldn't get decent speed.

Before I continue - Previously - I had a 5G CPE Pro in the same location with the external antenna into Huawei antenna. Although the 5G light on the Huawei was lit, it wasn't giving me more than 80mbps and needed rebooting most days,.

So, with the Poynting and 2 small antenna (I managed to see teh holy grail, 5G N78. In this format
LTE B1 / LTE B3 / LTE B7 / LTE B7 / 5G N78

im currently pulling 142/61 which I am quite pleased with as its NSA and not NR. Ping is 25 https://www.speedtest.net/result/14383516749

Last night around 11.30 I pulled 190mbps/ with 60mbps up

I run a small telecoms business in Kent so I am really looking for a robust system to put to market. Been using Mikrotik on LTE6 recently with some decent results and I like the mikrotik soluiton as its a lot slicker, compared to the RRB500.

Hope to exchange lots of info in the coming days/weeks as I have a few surveys coming up in other 5G areas so it will be interesting to see if we continue to only get NSA and if N78 along with the 4G bands are the same...

ANy assistance appreciated and likewise willing to share all I know

Oh, BTW, when the device doesn't show the N78 5G band, the connection type still shows as 5G (NSA) but with 50-60mbps slower speeds.

Cheers
Michael.
 
@mikeliuk

How are you getting on with this now Mike.
Any issues at all, 4G LTE side good as well ?

I have 5G back working on my mast so this is back on the list, don't really need anything until May when we start using the camper again.

Looking to upgrade from a RUT360.
 
@mikeliuk

How are you getting on with this now Mike.
Any issues at all, 4G LTE side good as well ?

I have 5G back working on my mast so this is back on the list, don't really need anything until May when we start using the camper again.

Looking to upgrade from a RUT360.
It's happily meeting requirements which I can tell from testing with an Samsung Tab 8 on Android 13 via Devolo Magic-2 WiFi 6: https://www.speedtest.net/result/a/9097203142

A Microsoft Surface Go via Surface Dock 2 and Devolo Magic-2 still meets performance requirements but measured throughput is spotty with over 150 Mbps down seen and https://fast.com recently hitting 200 Mbps down so confirm the outliers (e.g. over 300 Mbps down) I had seen with https://speedtest.net but measured throughput can sometimes be inexplicably lower which disagrees with other devices: https://www.speedtest.net/result/14414237784

These negatives I don't currently attribute to the TRB500.

I don't use the TRB500 in 4G-only mode as it performs better with 5G-NSA. A weird thing is that when I check on https://bidb.uk the expectation is that the "Cellular Data" panels suggests I should have Three 5G here but not EE 5G whereas I find in testing it's the other way around. When I click on the crossed out EE 5G, the coverage map then puts me under 5G availability outside and inside which is correct as far as the loft is concerned.

The real-time data graphs for the TRB500 are still missing the traffic graphs and various signal parameter graphs that are available for the RUTXR1. Thankfully, I can see at least the traffic in OPNsense and quite regularly use those to check against speed tests (e.g. that https://fast.com is not over-reporting). SMS "status" gets 4G signal parameters.

At the moment I'm wondering what the next tests should be. A certain amount of reading would be needed to implement IPv6 in the LAN and I'm not sure how complex that could be if I keep two service providers (e.g. SMARTY and EE at the moment).

I guess for people who don't already have WiFi access points, the slightly larger RUTX50 could be a better pick although it's about 50% more expensive. Obviously, there are far cheaper options than industrial routers/gateway and with more configurability but I quite like Teltonika for the moment.

The TRB500 also has no log of data usage as available for the RUTXR1 either which could be a deal breaker unless the ISP has another way of tracking usage.
 
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Cheers, Its the small size of the unit and low power consumption that does it for me, same size as the 360.

I already have 3 Teltonika routers so you can tell I rate them highly.
When they have a signal they hold on to it very, very well, we have a Nighthawk M2 as well in the camper, it looses the signal far to often.

Always have Two sims, Smarty and O2, would be EE but if our 3 mast goes down I lose EE as well, hence the O2 as that stays up running.

Already bought the Antennas for it ....so I think it will be arriving :)

https://www.2j-antennas.com/antenna...2g-mimo-heavy-duty-magnetic-mount-antenna/651
 
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Latest firmware seems stable. Seems to prefer 3CA over 4CA now. https://speedtest.net seems all over the place this evening: 7 Mbps to 180 Mbps down, depending on endpoint (Vodafone a little further away seems best, nearest endpoints seem congested). OPNsense confirms https://fast.com consistently 150 Mbps to 280 Mbps. B3 excluded as bad SINR causing some throughput tests to fail.

After some debugging, I've isolated the speedtest vs fast.com to an issue with the route via the RUTXR1. Previously a fail-over route via a Three SIM was available there so it made sense to have that as the higher priority gateway which behaved fine even when that allowance expired. Rather than debug further, I've just put the TRB500 as the higher priority gateway and will test the RUTXR1 again when a Lebara SIM arrives.

Firmware version: TRB5_R_00.07.04
Firmware build date: 2023-03-03 14:40:26
Internal modem firmware version: RG501QEUAAR12A05M4G_OCPU_BETA_20211020D_04.001.00.000
Kernel version: 4.14.300

Carrier aggregation: Triple
Connected band: LTE B7 / LTE B1 / LTE B7
Signal strength: -54 (Excellent)
RSRP: -83 (Good) / -87 (Good) / -82 (Good)
RSRQ: -13 (Good) / -12 (Good) / -13 (Good)
SINR: 20 (Excellent) / 11 (Fair to poor) / 20 (Excellent)
 
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I can confirm the varying speeds – in my case it goes down to 1MBit but up to 140MBit. I even spun up my own speedtest-instance on a hosted VPS to eliminate the effects of varying load on public sites. Same result …

I am a little astonished that a device with pricing around 450€ gets pushed to market with a modem firmware that is labeled as BETA.
 
Lebara SIM arrived and managed to solve my issue. I had unwisely moved cables between two Devolo adapters on a 4-socket extension strip which is not how they are supposed to be connected according to the documentation. I've been able to get away with it up to now as the data path was previously internally switched in one adapter. I wrongly distributed between adapters treating the powerline network as a single bridge whereas in fact it's physically hierarchical in switching capacity and there's probably additionally a bandwidth sharing issue with two subnets on the same L2 segment and traffic hairpin-ing.

Fix was to free up a VLAN by moving most cables to RUTXR1 and moving all cables off one Devolo adapter, to the freed-up VLAN on a D-Link, so it could be removed from the power strip. Behaviour seems sane for the moment.
 
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Does anyone have experience with other antennas on the TRB500 or RUTX50? Or other ideas how I can improve the connection speed?

Perhaps the Poynting XPOL-2-5G Antenna that was mentioned earlier in this thread is an option here as well ...
I am not experienced with optimizing cellular connections, as I previously only used cellular as failover and didn't care that much about speed. And when I deployed a cellular router for my mother, it instantly had decent speeds, even with the router positioned in the middle of her flat.

Signal strength is good at my location and the current firmware (TRB5_R_00.07.04.1) finally brought a more consistent connection speeds (around 50 MBit Down, 20 Mbit Up). Carrier aggregation is usually "Dual" and sometimes switches to "Triple".
The values for RSRP, RSRQ and SINR are not that great though and often show "Fair to poor".

The TRB500 is located upstairs directly at a window. I use it as a replacement for my Broadband internet, as it is much cheaper for me to get internet through cellular (almost free, but that's a long story …). I am willing to invest in further hardware if needed as the monthly savings are substantial with 30-40 €/month.

Carrier aggregationTriple
Connected bandLTE B3 / LTE B1 / LTE B20
Signal strength-62 (Excellent)
RSRP-95 (Fair to poor) / -105 (No signal) / -88 (Good)
RSRQ-13 (Good) / -15 (Fair to poor) / -13 (Good)
SINR6 (Fair to poor) / -1 (No signal) / 9 (Fair to poor)
 
Last edited:
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Does anyone have experience with other antennas on the TRB500 or RUTX50? Or other ideas how I can improve the connection speed?

Perhaps the Poynting XPOL-2-5G Antenna that was mentioned earlier in this thread is an option here as well ...
I am not experienced with optimizing cellular connections, as I previously only used cellular as failover and didn't care that much about speed. And when I deployed a cellular router for my mother, it instantly had decent speeds, even with the router positioned in the middle of her flat.

Signal strength is good at my location and the current firmware (TRB5_R_00.07.04.1) finally brought a more consistent connection speeds (around 50 MBit Down, 20 Mbit Up). Carrier aggregation is usually "Dual" and sometimes switches to "Triple".
The values for RSRP, RSRQ and SINR are not that great though and often show "Fair to poor".

The TRB500 is located upstairs directly at a window. I use it as a replacement for my Broadband internet, as it is much cheaper for me to get internet through cellular (almost free, but that's a long story …). I am willing to invest in further hardware if needed as the monthly savings are substantial with 30-40 €/month.

Carrier aggregationTriple
Connected bandLTE B3 / LTE B1 / LTE B20
Signal strength-62 (Excellent)
RSRP-95 (Fair to poor) / -105 (No signal) / -88 (Good)
RSRQ-13 (Good) / -15 (Fair to poor) / -13 (Good)
SINR6 (Fair to poor) / -1 (No signal) / 9 (Fair to poor)
For each particular location, I would recommend moving the router around a little to try to improve the SINR when connected to the same tower (aiming for better than 10 dB or 13 dB). I would then reset the router in different locations within the property and note the connected Cell ID and measured throughput in each location (by a window is not always the best location). The best performing cell tower can then be located using http://cellmapper.net to decide which side of the property and position to locate the router (higher usually better).

Once the baseline performance is understood, a good price for an antenna (e.g. on Amazon Warehouse) can be waited for as bank holidays approach that might bring sales.
 
Mine is due for delivery tomorrow, can have a play with it over the weekend.

I will post up how I get on :)
 
@Xup Consider sending it back while you can!

FYI: There's a fundamental fault with the TRB500/RUTX50 binary blob & Teltonika are blaming Quectel..

Screenshot 2023-04-05 at 16.34.47.webp

..
Screenshot 2023-04-05 at 16.35.04.webp


Source:

There's more threads on their forums about this issue

Like here

Sent two back last October when we hit this exact issue and reported it to Teltonika. Kept one for testing but no sign of a fix yet..
 
@Xup Consider sending it back while you can!

FYI: There's a fundamental fault with the TRB500/RUTX50 binary blob & Teltonika are blaming Quectel..

View attachment 5876
..
View attachment 5878

Source:

There's more threads on their forums about this issue

Like here

Sent two back last October when we hit this exact issue and reported it to Teltonika. Kept one for testing but no sign of a fix yet..
Could be a fun one to investigate within the 14 days online right of return. It looks like the report is that downloads top out at about 250 Mbps when the preconditions are right. Per the below, I can spike/burst above 250 Mbps but don't have a second 5G NR router to confirm or rebut the issue. Very interesting though.

The user report seems to be that as high as 795 Mbps down/9 ms unloaded latency is seen immediately after reboot but after some time, this goes to 250 Mbps down/19 ms unloaded. Personally, I would be very happy with the impacted values but feel this would be very nice to look into for another location to confirm the behaviour is the same.

I guess if the 250 Mbps cap is hit and higher is required, it must be sent back. If the requirement is below 250 Mbps or the cap cannot be hit in the location (e.g. in my case), it doesn't make any difference whether I return the item to get another 5G router with a different modem.

I don't immediately spot a fix yet in the March firmware: https://wiki.teltonika-networks.com/view/TRB500_Firmware_Downloads
1680711851066.png



I guess the issue is still present after applying the below as it doesn't impact the modem firmware?
1680713228664.webp
 
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