Designing an IoT network around a 4G/5G router: Teltonika, Robustel, Grandstream and the antennas that make them work

September 05 2026, 42 min reading time

A designer's guide to cellular IoT networks in Australia: choosing Teltonika and Robustel routers and gateways by job, bands, I/O and failover; putting Grandstream Wi-Fi, switching, cameras and phones behind them; connecting security cameras over 4G/5G; and pairing every design with the right antenna, cable and surge protection — with five costed reference designs from our shelves.

Who this is for: integrators and OT/IT people putting cellular connectivity into pump stations, plant rooms, vehicles, farms, kiosks, depots and small sites — and anyone who has bought a router that "had great signal" on the bench and none in the cabinet. It walks through the design decisions in the order they should be made, covers the LAN side (Wi-Fi, switching, cameras and phones) that most router guides ignore, and finishes with five reference designs costed from our shelves.

1. Start with the site, not the router

Almost every failed cellular install we hear about was a good router in the wrong place, on the wrong antenna, on a carrier that doesn't reach that paddock. So before comparing spec sheets, answer five questions about the site itself.

Which carrier actually covers it, and on which bands? Rural and fringe coverage in Australia rides on the 700 MHz band (LTE B28, and n28 for 5G). Capacity in towns comes from B3 (1800 MHz), B1 (2100 MHz), B7 (2600 MHz) and B40 (2300 MHz TDD), and 5G speed comes mainly from n78 (3.5 GHz). Every router in this guide is stocked in a variant that includes B28 — but it is worth knowing that the low band is what gets you a link at the edge, and the high bands are what get you throughput once you have one. A router that reports "4G, 2 bars" on B28 at a remote tank is doing its job.

Where will the antenna live? If the router sits in a plastic enclosure on an external wall with two bars or more, a terminal antenna screwed to the router is usually fine. If it sits in a steel switchboard, a plant room, a basement or a shipping container, it needs an external antenna and a cable — the enclosure is a Faraday cage and no amount of router will fix that.

What power is there? Industrial routers take 9–30 V DC, 9–36 V or 9–50 V, and the Robustel R3000 takes 9–60 V, which suits a 12/24/48 V control panel supply or a solar battery. Several accept passive PoE, but note the trap below: Teltonika's passive PoE is not 802.3af/at and a standard PoE switch will damage the router. Robustel's PoE-PD models are 802.3af/at compliant.

What does it need to talk to? A Modbus RS485 flow meter, a DNP3 RTU, a PLC on Ethernet, four cameras, a Wi-Fi tablet, an IP phone, a GPS position — the interface list decides the router family faster than anything else, and it also decides whether you need a switch and access points behind the router.

What happens when the link drops? A second SIM on another carrier, a wired or Wi-Fi WAN to fail over to, a VPN that re-establishes itself, and a management platform you can reach it through. Design the failure first and the router picks itself.

2. Choose the router by job

We stock Teltonika and Robustel for the WAN side because between them they cover every job below with hardware built for cabinets: metal cases, DIN-rail mounting, wide DC input, −40 °C to +75 °C ratings on most models, and cloud management (Teltonika RMS, Robustel RCMS) that a one-person integrator can actually run. Grandstream supplies the LAN side — Wi-Fi 6 access points, PoE switches, IP cameras, door stations and IP phones, all under one free cloud console — and section 6 shows how the two halves fit together.

Compact LTE routers for small sites

Model	Cellular	Ports and I/O	Power	Pick it when
Teltonika RUT241	LTE Cat 4, single SIM (eSIM option)	2 × Ethernet, Wi-Fi 4, 1 DI + 1 DO	9–30 V DC, passive PoE in	You need a small, cheap, reliable WAN for one device or a small LAN — kiosks, meters, a PLC panel. 83 × 25 × 74 mm.
Robustel R1510	LTE Cat 4, single SIM, Telstra approved	2 × Ethernet, Wi-Fi, 1 DI + 1 DO	9–36 V DC	Same job as the RUT241 with Robustel's RCMS cloud; a common Telstra-fleet choice.
Robustel R1511 (RS232) / R1511 (RS485)	LTE Cat 4, single SIM	2 × Ethernet, Wi-Fi, one serial port (RS232 or RS485 — choose at order time)	9–36 V DC	One serial device needs to reach a server: a legacy controller, a flow meter, a BMS. The serial port is the whole point.

Dual-SIM industrial routers with I/O — the SCADA workhorses

Model	Cellular	Ports and I/O	Power	Pick it when
Teltonika RUT951	LTE Cat 4, dual SIM (B1/3/4/5/7/8/28 + B40)	3 × LAN + 1 × WAN (10/100), Wi-Fi 4, 1 DI + 1 DO; Modbus TCP, DNP3, OPC UA	9–30 V DC, passive PoE in	You want carrier redundancy and a proper LAN without paying for serial ports you won't use.
Teltonika RUT956	LTE Cat 4, dual SIM, GNSS	3 × LAN + 1 × WAN, Wi-Fi 4, RS232 (DB9) and RS485, 4 inputs incl. one analog 0–24 V, 3 outputs incl. a 4 A relay; Modbus RTU master on either serial port	9–30 V DC	The telemetry site: read the RS485 meter, switch the relay, report position and alarms. This is the one we specify most for pump and tank sites.
Robustel R1520 (also a PoE-PD version)	LTE, dual SIM, GNSS	5 × Ethernet, Wi-Fi, RS232 + RS485, 1 DI + 1 DO (3 kV isolated), 1 analog input (0–24 V or 4–20 mA)	9–36 V DC; PoE model 802.3af/at	Same telemetry job with a 4–20 mA input and five Ethernet ports, and a version that powers from a standards-compliant PoE switch.
Robustel R2010	LTE, dual SIM	2 × Ethernet, Wi-Fi, one serial (RS232 or RS485, set in software), 1 DI + 1 DO	9–36 V DC or PoE-PD	A dual-SIM version of the R1511 job at 350 g, when the serial type might change later.
Robustel R2011	LTE, dual SIM	5 × Ethernet (10/100, 1.5 kV isolated), Wi-Fi; no serial	9–36 V DC or PoE-PD	Several Ethernet devices — cameras, an HMI, a PLC — and no serial. Idle draw 1 W, so it suits solar sites.

Robustel R3000 series — the industrial flagship

The R3000 is the router we reach for when the site is harsh, the panel is electrically noisy, or the customer's standard says "industrial" and means it. It is a different class of hardware from the lite routers above: a metal IP30 case, a 9–60 V DC input that runs straight off a 48 V telecom or solar bus, 1.5 kV magnetic isolation on the Ethernet ports, 3 kV isolation on the I/O, EMC immunity tested to the EN 61000-4 series, a hardware watchdog, and a −40 °C to +75 °C rating. Robustel's own positioning is a rugged router for machine-to-machine sites in harsh environments, and that is exactly where it earns its price. Local stock is lighter than on the R1500/R2000 series, so allow lead time — and specify it anyway when the job warrants it.

Model	Cellular	Ports and I/O	Power	Pick it when
Robustel R3000-4L	LTE, dual SIM; AU variant B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/28 + B40	2 × Ethernet (1 WAN + 1 LAN or 2 LAN), RS232 + RS485 on a locking 7-pin socket, 2 DI (dry) + 2 DO (wet), USB host, micro SD; GNSS on the global variant	9–60 V DC, reverse-polarity and surge protected	Substations, rail, water and mining panels, anything on a 48 V bus, anything where the EMC environment is hostile. VPN: IPsec, OpenVPN, GRE, L2TP, PPTP, DMVPN, WireGuard.
Robustel R3000-L4L Lite	LTE, dual SIM; same AU bands	1 × Ethernet, RS232 + RS485 on a DB9, USB host	9–36 V DC	The same rugged platform in a 305 g slice for metering, infrastructure and distribution sites with one Ethernet device and one or two serial devices. Usually in stock.
Robustel R3000 LG LoRaWAN gateway	LTE backhaul, dual SIM, plus an 8-channel LoRaWAN concentrator (+24.5 dBm, −142 dBm sensitivity)	2 × Ethernet, RS232 or RS485, 2 DI, USB; LoRa on its own SMA port; LoRaWAN 1.0/1.0.2 Class A and C	9–60 V DC	A private LoRaWAN network with the gateway and the cellular backhaul in one industrial box. For Australia specify the AU915 (902–928 MHz) variant — order codes B028718 (RS232) or B028719 (RS485), RCM certified — not the 863–870 MHz EMEA build. An IP67 outdoor kit exists for pole mounting.

Robustel also lists a 5G RedCap version of the R3000-Lite (5G NR-Light with LTE fallback, same DB9 serial layout) for Europe; ask us about Australian availability if you want the R3000 platform on 5G.

Gigabit and high-throughput LTE

Model	Cellular	Ports and I/O	Power	Pick it when
Teltonika RUTX11	LTE Cat 6 (up to 300 Mbps), dual SIM, GNSS, Bluetooth	4 × Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 5 dual-band, USB, 1 DI + 1 DO	9–50 V DC, passive PoE in	A site that needs real bandwidth and a fast LAN: a depot with CCTV, a site office, a vehicle with many users.
Teltonika RUTX09	LTE Cat 6, dual SIM, GNSS	4 × Gigabit Ethernet, USB, 1 DI + 1 DO; no Wi-Fi	9–50 V DC, passive PoE in	The RUTX11 job in a cabinet where Wi-Fi is unwanted (or prohibited) — control rooms, substations.
Teltonika RUTX14	LTE Cat 12 (up to 600 Mbps down, 150 Mbps up), dual SIM, GNSS, Bluetooth	5 × Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 5 dual-band	12 V PSU supplied	You need more LTE speed — and in particular more uplink, which is what cameras consume — but 5G isn't on the tower yet.
Teltonika RUTXR1	LTE Cat 6, dual SIM	Rack-mount, SFP fibre port, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 5, console port, two DC inputs (main + backup)	9–50 V DC × 2	4G failover for an office or comms room: it lives in the rack, takes the fibre and the LTE, and can be fed from two supplies.

5G

Model	Cellular	Ports and I/O	Power	Pick it when
Teltonika RUTC50	5G SA/NSA (n1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40/41/75/76/77/78), LTE Cat 19 fallback, dual SIM, GNSS	4 × Gigabit LAN + 1 × Gigabit WAN, Wi-Fi 6, USB, 1 DI + 1 DO; 4 × SMA mobile ports; Modbus, OPC UA, DNP3	9–50 V DC, passive PoE in	The current-generation 5G router: n78 for speed, n28 for reach, Wi-Fi 6 for a busy site, and the uplink that a camera site needs. Buy this one for a project with a five-year life.
Teltonika RUTX50	5G SA/NSA, LTE Cat 20 fallback, dual SIM	5 × Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 5 dual-band, USB, 1 DI + 1 DO	9–50 V DC, passive PoE in	The proven 5G unit at a lower price than the RUTC50. See the lifecycle note in section 9 before specifying it for a long project.
Robustel R5020	5G SA/NSA (incl. n28, n78), extensive LTE bands, dual SIM	4 × Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 5, RS232 + RS485, 1 DI + 1 DO; 4 × SMA mobile ports	9–36 V DC or 802.3at PoE-PD	5G with serial ports and standards PoE — the R5020 is the only 5G router here with RS485 on board.

Gateways: when you don't need a router at all

A gateway is a modem with a purpose. If the job is "get this one serial device onto the network", a gateway is smaller, cheaper and simpler to secure than a router with a LAN you'll never use.

Teltonika TRB142 — LTE Cat 1, RS232 on a DB9, DI/DO, 74 × 25 × 64 mm. Modbus and DNP3 over cellular from one serial port, at the lowest cost in the range.
Teltonika TRB245 — LTE Cat 4, dual SIM, Ethernet, RS232 and RS485, GNSS, on a 16-pin terminal block. Teltonika has succeeded it with the TRB246 (3 DI + 3 DO + an analog input on the same block); ask us which we have in stock.
Teltonika TRB500 — a 5G gateway for one Ethernet device that needs gigabit-class backhaul. Ordering has closed in favour of the TRB501, which adds a 2.5 Gigabit port and four SMA mobile ports.
Robustel M1200-4L — LTE Cat 4, RS232 + RS485, two inputs and one output, no Ethernet: a pure serial-to-cellular box at 106 g with a single SMA antenna port. The Australian variant covers B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/28 but not B40.

3. Interfaces and protocols — what actually moves the data

Cellular is just the transport. The design question is how the sensor's words reach the SCADA or the cloud, and the routers handle that in three ways.

Serial to TCP. Every serial-equipped model above will present an RS232 or RS485 device as a TCP socket, or act as a Modbus RTU-to-TCP gateway so the SCADA polls it as Modbus TCP. On the RUT956 the router can itself be the Modbus master, reading registers on a schedule and publishing them — the meter never sees the network at all.

Native protocols. The Teltonika units carry Modbus TCP, DNP3 and (on RUT951, RUTX09 and RUTC50) OPC UA in firmware; MQTT publishing is available through the same data-to-server feature. Robustel's RCMS platform does the equivalent from the cloud side.

Digital and analog I/O. A digital input on a float switch or a door contact can raise an SMS, an email or an MQTT message without any PLC. The RUT956's analog input and relay, and the R1520's 4–20 mA input, take that a step further: a level transducer wired straight to the router, with the pump contactor on the relay, is a complete small telemetry outstation.

Position. RUT956, RUTX11, RUTX09, RUTC50 and R1520 have a GNSS receiver with an SMA port for an active antenna. For a vehicle that means live tracking through RMS or RCMS with no extra tracker; for a fixed site it gives you an NTP-quality clock and proof that the asset hasn't moved.

4. Design the failure first

The reliable IoT networks we see share four habits.

Two SIMs, two carriers. Every dual-SIM model above will fail over to the second SIM on signal loss, data cap or a ping failure, and fail back on a timer. Put the carrier with the best low-band coverage in slot 1 and a different carrier in slot 2. This is cheaper than any other form of redundancy and it is the one that saves you when a tower is down for maintenance.

A second WAN where one exists. If the site has NBN, a satellite terminal or another router, wire it to the WAN port and let cellular be the backup (or the other way round). Wi-Fi WAN — the router joining someone else's Wi-Fi as a client — is a legitimate third option on the Wi-Fi models.

A VPN that comes back on its own. WireGuard, IPsec and OpenVPN are on every router here. WireGuard is the one we recommend for new designs: it reconnects in seconds after a carrier NAT change, and its keys are simple to manage. For fleets, Teltonika RMS and Robustel RCMS give you remote access to devices behind the router without opening an inbound port anywhere.

Power that matches the panel. The wide DC inputs mean the router runs from the same 24 V that feeds the PLC. Two cautions: Teltonika's passive PoE input (on LAN1) is 9–30 V or 9–50 V passive only and Teltonika states plainly that an IEEE 802.3af/at switch will damage the device — power it from its DC socket or a passive injector. Robustel's "PoE" models (R1520 PoE, R2011, R5020) are 802.3af/at powered devices and are safe on a standards PoE switch. And put the router on the UPS side of the panel: a router that reboots on every brownout will drop the tunnel every time.

5. Antennas: the half of the design most people skip

A router's radio is only as good as what it is connected to. Three rules cover most sites.

Rule 1 — MIMO means two (or four) antennas, always. LTE routers have two mobile ports (MAIN and DIV/AUX); 5G routers have four. The second port is not optional: with one antenna the link loses its MIMO gain, throughput roughly halves, and a 5G router will not get near its rated speed. Use a MIMO antenna with two (or four) feeds, or two matched single antennas spaced apart.

Rule 2 — the antenna must cover the bands you found in step 1. For 4G in Australia that is 698–2700 MHz; for 5G add 3400–3800 MHz. An antenna marked "698–2700" will work on a 5G router but will not carry n78, which is where the 5G speed lives.

Rule 3 — every metre of cable costs you signal, and it costs more at higher frequencies. RG58 loses around three-quarters of a decibel per metre at 1 GHz and well over a decibel per metre in the 3.5 GHz 5G band — a 10 m RG58 run on 5G throws away most of what a high-gain antenna gave you. Keep RG58/HDF-195 runs to a few metres; for anything longer use CNT-400 class cable (roughly a sixth of the loss) with N connectors and a short SMA jumper at the router. Section 7 lists the actual cables.

Good signal, plastic enclosure or open site: terminal antennas

A terminal antenna screws straight onto the router. They are cheap, they are what the router shipped with (only better), and they are the right answer more often than people think.

Poynting OMNI-85 — 617–3800 MHz, 3.5 dBi, SMA. Covers B28 and n78 in one whip, so it suits 4G and 5G routers alike. Fit two for LTE, four for 5G.
RFI ANT-5G-SMA-B — 617–5925 MHz hinged whip that swivels to vertical whichever way the router is mounted. Also works on Wi-Fi bands if you fit an adaptor.
RFI ANT-LTE-S-SMA — the budget 4G whip, 698–2700 MHz, IP65. Perfectly adequate for a Cat 4 router at a strong-signal site.

All 16 of our device-mount antennas are in the Terminal Antennas collection.

Metal cabinet, plant room, weak signal: put the antenna outside

Run a short cable through a gland to a bulkhead-style antenna on the enclosure roof or a nearby wall. Two of the most useful pieces in the range are:

RFI CD8295 (6.5 dBi) and CD8294 (5.5 dBi) — 698–3800 MHz stud-mount whips with 5 m of cable and an SMA plug, IP65. Drill a 13–16 mm hole in the cabinet roof and you have an external antenna for the price of a terminal one. Fit two for MIMO.
Poynting XPOL-1 (V2) — a 2×2 MIMO omni in one housing, 617–3800 MHz, with two 5 m SMA leads. One wall or pole mount, both router ports served, and it doesn't care which way the tower is.

Fringe coverage: directional gain

When the site is at the edge of coverage you trade omni convenience for gain and point the antenna at the tower.

Poynting XPOL-2-5G — 11 dBi, 2×2 cross-polarised, 617–4200 MHz, with 10 m twin HDF-195 leads terminated SMA. The standard answer for a 4G/5G router at a rural site; it covers n78 and the 617 MHz end of the range for future low-band use.
RFI LTE-XPOL-002-5G — an Australian-made 2×2 panel, 9–11 dBi across 698–3800 MHz, 10 m leads.
Poynting XPOL-24 — 4×4 MIMO, 11 dBi, four N-female ports, for RUTC50, RUTX50 and R5020 when you want the full four-stream 5G link. Budget four jumpers and four surge arrestors.
RFI LPDA7038-11 — a single-port 11 dBi log-periodic for gateways with one antenna socket such as the M1200 or TRB142.

Aim by signal, not by eye: most routers show RSRP and SINR on the status page. Turn the antenna for the best SINR, not the best RSRP — a strong but noisy signal is slower than a weaker clean one.

Vehicles and machines: one hole, everything through it

Poynting PUCK-5 V2 — five feeds in one 93 mm puck: 2×2 cellular (617–6000 MHz), 2×2 Wi-Fi and an active GNSS element, 2 m leads, IP69K. Poynting supplies RP-SMA adaptors for the Wi-Fi feeds, so it pairs directly with a RUT956, RUTX11 or R1520 with nothing else to buy.
Poynting MIMO-4-19 — the 5G version: 4×4 cellular, 4×4 Wi-Fi and GNSS, nine feeds, for the RUTC50 and R5020.
RFI CDQ8195-B — a 6.5 dBi 698–3800 MHz spring-base whip for utes and trucks that spend their time on the fringe. Fit a pair for MIMO, and use the removable Q-fit whip so the vehicle can go through a car wash.
2J Phoenix 5G + GNSS — a low-profile 2×2 + GNSS screw-mount for machinery and rail.

LoRaWAN and 915 MHz telemetry

Sensor networks on farms and sites usually run LoRaWAN in the 915–928 MHz band under the ACMA's Low Interference Potential Devices class licence — no licence application, but a hard limit of 1 W EIRP. That limit includes antenna gain, so a 6 dBi gateway antenna means the radio must be set to about 250 mW. The gateway then needs a cellular backhaul, which is where the routers above come in — or you use the R3000 LG, which has both in one box.

Gateway antennas: RFI CDR2795 (6 dBi collinear) for a mast, RFI ISM9 dome (4 dBi, IP67) for a roof or enclosure, or a YB809 Yagi for a point-to-point sensor link across a property.
Node antennas: RFI ISM9-FA-SMA folding whip (2 dBi, $22).

Wi-Fi and GNSS ports

Router Wi-Fi ports are RP-SMA, not SMA — the centre pin is on the other side. A cellular antenna will not screw on. For external Wi-Fi on a vehicle or a shed, the Poynting PUCK-12 (2×2, 2.4 and 5 GHz, adaptors supplied) is the clean solution. GNSS ports expect an active antenna and feed it DC up the cable: use an active puck such as the RFI GPS3-MHP (0.5 m or 7 m lead), give it a view of the sky, and never put a DC-blocking surge arrestor in that line.

Surge protection on every outdoor feeder

An outdoor antenna is a lightning collector wired to a $1,000 router. A coaxial surge arrestor at the point of entry, bonded to the panel earth, is the difference between replacing a $140 arrestor and replacing the router and everything on its LAN.

PolyPhaser GT-NFF-AL — DC to 6 GHz, DC-pass, N bulkhead. Covers 4G, 5G n78 and Wi-Fi; because it passes DC it is also the right one for an active GNSS feeder.
PolyPhaser TSX-NFF — 698 MHz–2.7 GHz, DC-block, 40 kA: the higher-energy choice for a 4G-only feeder on an exposed mast.
PolyPhaser IS-B50LN-C2 — 10 MHz–1 GHz, for the 915 MHz LoRa feeder (not for cellular — it stops at 1 GHz).
Ethernet and PoE runs to outdoor cameras and access points get a Transtector RJ45 data surge protector at the building entry.

6. The LAN side: Wi-Fi, switching, phones — Grandstream behind the router

A cellular router gives a site a WAN. Most sites then need the things an office needs — Wi-Fi that covers the yard, PoE for cameras and access points, a phone on the desk, a door station at the gate — and a router with four LAN ports is not that. Grandstream's GWN range is what we put behind the router for it, for three reasons: everything from the switch to the door station is managed from one free cloud console (GDMS), the PoE switches carry a genuine 802.3af/at budget, and the whole range is priced for small sites rather than campuses.

Wi-Fi. GWN7660 is the indoor Wi-Fi 6 access point for an office or shed (2×2, 802.3af powered, 9 W), and GWN7664 is its 4×4 big brother with a 2.5 Gigabit uplink for a busy depot. For the yard, the loading dock or the machinery shed, the GWN7660LR and GWN7664LR are IP66 outdoor Wi-Fi 6 units rated −30 °C to +60 °C with external antennas, pole or wall mounted, with up to 250–300 m of range in the open. All of them are powered over the Ethernet cable from the switch, so an access point in the yard is one cable, not a cable plus a power point.

Switching and PoE. The routers in this guide do not supply PoE to other devices, so anything that needs it — access points, cameras, phones, door stations — hangs off a PoE switch. The GWN7801P (8 Gigabit PoE+ ports, 130 W budget, two SFP uplinks) covers most small sites; the GWN7802P (16 ports, 240 W) and GWN7803P (24 ports, 370 W) scale up. They are Layer 2+ managed, so you can put cameras on their own VLAN and keep the office off it. If the site is very small, the GWN7002 multi-WAN router has two PoE-out ports of its own (up to 24.8 W with the larger supply) and can take the cellular router as one of its WANs.

A second router? Usually not. The cellular router routes; the Grandstream switch and access points sit on its LAN. The exception is a branch office that already has NBN: put a GWN7062 (Wi-Fi 6, five Gigabit ports, one of them WAN/LAN configurable) at the front with NBN on WAN1 and the cellular router on WAN2 in backup mode, and it fails over on its own. The GWN7062 can also take a 4G USB dongle as a failover WAN for the smallest sites, though a proper industrial router on the second WAN is the version that survives a hot day.

Voice. SIP phones work perfectly well over 4G/5G — a G.722 call is about 100 kbps each way — and a site office with two or three handsets is a normal cellular-backhauled design. The GRP2602W has built-in dual-band Wi-Fi 6 for a desk with no cable, the GRP2604P is the PoE desk phone, and the GDS3710 door station puts a camera, an intercom, an RFID reader and two relays at the gate, calling the desk phone or a mobile when someone presses the button. Give voice its own priority on the router's QoS and keep the camera streams off the same uplink where you can.

Management. Grandstream's GDMS is a free cloud platform that provisions and monitors the phones, the switches and the access points from one login; Teltonika RMS and Robustel RCMS do the same for the WAN router. Two consoles is the practical minimum for a mixed site; both are alert-driven, so you find out about a dead access point before the customer does.

7. Security cameras over cellular: the uplink problem

CCTV is the one application where people get the arithmetic wrong, because every other IoT load is tiny and cameras are not. A camera streams up, and cellular uplinks are a fraction of the downlink figures on the box.

How much data a camera makes. A 1080p camera on H.265 at 15–25 frames per second settles around 1–2 Mbps continuous; a 4 MP camera 2–4 Mbps; 4K 6–12 Mbps. H.264 roughly doubles those. One 2 Mbps stream is about 0.9 GB an hour, or 650 GB a month if it streams continuously — per camera. That single number should decide the architecture before you choose any hardware.

What the uplink can carry. LTE Cat 1 and Cat 4 routers top out at 50 Mbps uplink on paper and deliver 5–20 Mbps in the real world; Cat 6 improves the downlink only. Cat 12 (RUTX14) raises the uplink ceiling to 150 Mbps, and 5G (RUTC50, RUTX50, R5020) is the first technology that treats uplink as a first-class citizen. Directional antennas help the uplink more than the downlink, because the router's transmit power is the limiting side of the link.

Three architectures, in order of data used.

Record locally, view remotely. An NVR on the site LAN records everything; operators reach it through the router's WireGuard tunnel or through RMS/RCMS remote access, and only the streams somebody is watching cross the cellular link. This is the right design for most sites and works on a Cat 4 router.
Record locally, upload on events. The same, plus motion-triggered clips or snapshots pushed to the cloud or by email. Grandstream's GSC cameras can also place a SIP video call on motion. Data use is small and predictable.
Stream continuously to a cloud VMS. Only with 5G or Cat 12, only on an uncapped or very large data plan, and only for as many cameras as the measured uplink supports with headroom. Two cameras on a good 5G link is realistic; eight on a Cat 4 link is not.

Powering and protecting them. Fixed cameras are 802.3af devices (up to 12.95 W each); PTZ cameras are usually 802.3at. Add them up against the switch budget with 20 % spare — a GWN7801P's 130 W runs eight fixed cameras with room to spare. Use outdoor-rated Cat 6, keep each run under 100 m, and put a Transtector RJ45 surge protector on every cable that comes in from outside; a camera on a pole is the second-best lightning collector on the site after the antenna. Do not port-forward the NVR to the internet — the VPN or the management platform is the door.

Cameras. Grandstream's GSC3615 (bullet) and GSC3610 (dome) are 1080p, H.265, IP67, 802.3af, with 20 m infrared and ONVIF Profile S, so they record to any ONVIF NVR; the GSC3620 adds a 2.8–12 mm motorised varifocal lens for a gate or a driveway where you need to choose the field of view after installation. All three enrol in GDMS alongside the switch and the access points.

8. Cables and connectors: what actually joins the pieces

The cable list is where designs go wrong on installation day, so here is what plugs into what.

Situation	Use	Notes
Antenna with SMA leads (OMNI-85, CD8295, XPOL-1, XPOL-2-5G, PUCK, CDQ8195) to a router mobile port	Nothing — the antenna's SMA plug goes straight onto the router's SMA socket	Fit a lead per port. Coil excess cable loosely; don't cut and re-terminate RG58 in the field.
Antenna with N-female ports (XPOL-24, OMNI-914) or an N-male lead (COL8195), short run to the router	Pulse RG58 SMA-male to N-male lead, 0.5–5 m	One per port. Beyond 5 m, or on 5G, step up to CNT-400 below.
Long run from a mast or roof (more than ~5 m), any band	Pulse CNT-400 N-male to N-male lead 10, 15 or 20 m, or CNT-400 by the metre with N connectors	Terminate the router end with a short Pulse SMA-male to N-male jumper. Choose N-type antennas for these runs so the whole chain is N.
Surge arrestor in the feeder	PolyPhaser N female/female bulkhead (GT-NFF-AL, TSX-NFF, IS-B50LN-C2) through the panel wall, bonded to earth	Antenna lead's N-male on the outside, Pulse SMA-male to N-male jumper on the inside. If your antenna has SMA leads, we can supply the SMA-female to N-male adaptor — ask when ordering.
Moving a terminal antenna a few metres	Pulse RG58 SMA-male to SMA-female extension, 5 m	Fine on 4G; on 5G prefer a proper external antenna with its own lead.
QMA leads (T25-5M-QMA glass-mount)	Pulse A-94 SMA-female to QMA-male adaptor	—
Wi-Fi ports	RP-SMA — PUCK-5 and PUCK-12 include the adaptors	An SMA antenna will not thread onto an RP-SMA port. Check before you drill.
GNSS	Active antenna lead straight to the SMA GNSS port	Keep it short (the GPS3-MHP comes in 0.5 m and 7 m); DC-pass arrestor only, if any.
Cameras, access points, phones	Outdoor-rated Cat 6 from the PoE switch, under 100 m; Transtector RJ45 protector at the building entry for outdoor runs	Label both ends. A camera VLAN on the switch keeps the office traffic separate.

9. Five reference designs

Prices are our web prices at the time of writing, ex freight; they change with the supplier feeds, so treat them as a guide and ask for a quote for the exact bill of materials. Grandstream items are priced on request until the range is on the store.

A. Remote pump station or tank — Modbus telemetry with alarms

Item	Why	Approx.
Teltonika RUT956	RS485 to the flow meter, relay for the pump, analog level input, dual SIM, GNSS clock	$651
2 × RFI CD8295	Through the roof of the steel cabinet, 5 m SMA leads straight onto the router, MIMO pair	$283
Teltonika DIN rail kit	The router mounts beside the PLC	$15
Mast option: 2 × PolyPhaser TSX-NFF + 2 × Pulse SMA–N jumper + 2 × Pulse CNT-400 N–N 10 m	Only if the antennas go on a mast rather than the cabinet roof	$1,020

Design notes: run the RS485 pair as a proper bus with termination; set the router as Modbus master polling the meter every 60 s and publishing to your SCADA over a WireGuard tunnel; put the float switch on the digital input for an SMS alarm that works even if the SCADA server is down. Swap in a Robustel R1520 if the level transducer is 4–20 mA, or an R3000-4L if the panel runs on 48 V or the site's EMC environment is hostile.

B. Farm office or depot — 5G broadband with 4G failover

Item	Why	Approx.
Teltonika RUTC50	5G n78/n28, dual SIM on two carriers, Wi-Fi 6 for the office, four Gigabit LAN ports	$1,608
Poynting XPOL-2-5G	11 dBi directional 2×2 on mobile ports 1 and 2, pointed at the tower; 10 m SMA leads included	$392
2 × Poynting OMNI-85	On ports 3 and 4 so the modem still has four antennas connected	$64
Optional: Grandstream GWN7660LR outdoor AP + GWN7801P PoE switch	Wi-Fi across the yard and the machinery shed, powered from the switch	POA

Design notes: the link runs on two streams with this kit; if the site is within reach of a 5G n78 cell and you want the full four-stream rate, replace the XPOL-2-5G and OMNI-85s with an XPOL-24, four SMA–N jumpers and four GT-NFF-AL arrestors. Add the NBN or satellite service on the WAN port and let the router load-balance or fail over between them.

C. Vehicle or mobile plant — tracking, Wi-Fi and a data link

Item	Why	Approx.
Teltonika RUTX11	Cat 6 for onboard cameras and tablets, GNSS for tracking, dual SIM across the route, 9–50 V for 12/24 V vehicles	$899
Poynting PUCK-5 V2	One roof penetration: 2×2 cellular, 2×2 Wi-Fi (RP-SMA adaptors supplied), active GNSS; IP69K survives the wash bay; 2 m leads straight onto the router	$283

Design notes: mount the puck on a flat metal surface with a clear sky view; the router's ignition-sense can be done with the digital input so it powers down cleanly. For rural plant that spends its day at the edge of coverage, replace the puck's cellular feeds with a pair of RFI CDQ8195-B whips. If the vehicle needs RS232/RS485 to onboard equipment, the Robustel R1520 does the same job with serial ports; for rail and heavy transport the R3000-4L is the vibration- and EMC-hardened choice.

D. LoRaWAN sensor network with cellular backhaul

Item	Why	Approx.
Robustel R3000 LG (AU915 variant)	LoRaWAN gateway and 4G backhaul in one industrial box, 9–60 V, on the shed wall	$1,304
2 × RFI ANT-LTE-S-SMA	The shed has good signal; terminal whips on the cellular ports are enough	$36
RFI CDR2795 + Pulse SMA–N lead	6 dBi 915 MHz collinear on a short mast on the LoRa port — set the gateway to stay under 1 W EIRP	$200
PolyPhaser IS-B50LN-C2	Surge arrestor on the 915 MHz feeder — the mast is the highest thing in the paddock	$170
Per node: RFI ISM9-FA-SMA	2 dBi folding whip on each sensor node	$22

Design notes: the budget version pairs any third-party LoRaWAN gateway with a RUT241 ($329) for backhaul and remote access — the antennas are the same either way.

E. Compound or remote site CCTV over 5G

Item	Why	Approx.
Teltonika RUTC50	The uplink: 5G for the camera streams, Gigabit LAN to the switch, WireGuard for remote viewing, dual SIM	$1,608
Poynting XPOL-2-5G + 2 × OMNI-85	Directional gain where it matters most — on the transmit side	$456
2 × PolyPhaser GT-NFF-AL + 2 × Pulse SMA–N jumper	Arrestors at the wall entry on the XPOL-2 feeders	$333
Grandstream GWN7801P	8 × PoE+ ports, 130 W: four cameras, an access point and headroom; camera VLAN	POA
4 × Grandstream GSC3615 (bullet) or GSC3620 (varifocal)	1080p H.265, IP67, 802.3af, ONVIF — about 1.5 Mbps each on H.265	POA
4 × Transtector RJ45 surge protector	One per outdoor camera run, at the building entry	$700–1,400
ONVIF NVR of your choice	Records locally; only viewed streams cross the cellular link	—

Design notes: four cameras at 1.5 Mbps is 6 Mbps if all four are watched at once — comfortable on 5G, workable on Cat 12, marginal on Cat 4 — but with local recording the everyday load is close to zero. Set the cameras' sub-streams to 720p for remote viewing and keep the main streams on the NVR. If the site is 4G-only and needs one or two cameras, a RUTX14 (Cat 12) or even a Robustel R2011 with event-based upload does the job; the antenna and surge advice is unchanged.

10. Managing a fleet of them

Ten routers on ten sites without a management platform is ten site visits waiting to happen. Teltonika RMS and Robustel RCMS both give you a cloud console for firmware, configuration templates, remote access to devices behind the router, data dashboards and alerts, and both can broker VPN access without any inbound port. Each vendor also supports SMS control (reboot, status, switch an output) for the day the data link is down but the SIM still registers. Grandstream's GDMS covers the LAN side the same way. Plan the platforms at the design stage, because they change how you configure every device — templates first, then devices.

11. A note on product lifecycles

If you are specifying for a project with a five-to-ten-year life, this matters. Teltonika has announced end-of-ordering dates of 3 February 2027 for the RUTX50, RUTX11, RUTX09, RUTX14 and RUTXR1, with the RUTM50 and RUTM11 as their successors and support continuing until 2032; the TRB245 and TRB500 are succeeded by the TRB246 and TRB501. The RUT241, RUT951, RUT956, RUTC50 and TRB142 are current with no announced date. None of this makes the older units a poor buy today — they will be supported for years, and they are keenly priced — but a new long-life design is better placed on the RUTC50 or the RUTM series, and we can advise on stock of either. Robustel lists every model in this guide as current.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use one antenna on a two-port router?

You can, and it will connect, but you lose MIMO: throughput drops sharply and the link is less stable at the fringe. Fit two, even if the second is a cheap terminal whip.

Do I need a 5G router for IoT?

Usually not. Telemetry moves kilobytes. A Cat 1 or Cat 4 LTE device is cheaper, uses less power and has better low-band sensitivity. Choose 5G when the site needs bandwidth — cameras streaming to the cloud, an office, a mobile workforce — or when the project life extends past the point where you would want to be on LTE-only hardware.

How many cameras can I run over 4G?

With local recording, as many as the switch will power — the cellular link only carries what someone is watching. With continuous cloud streaming, plan on one or two 1080p cameras on Cat 4, a handful on Cat 12, and measure the real uplink at the site before promising more.

Which SIM plan?

Any carrier data SIM works. For a fleet, an M2M/IoT plan with a private APN and static addressing simplifies VPN and SCADA polling, and dual-SIM routers let you mix carriers. A camera site streaming to the cloud needs an uncapped or very large plan — do the gigabytes-per-month sum in section 7 first.

Can I power the router from a PoE switch?

Only the Robustel PoE-PD models (R1520 PoE, R2011, R5020) accept 802.3af/at. Teltonika routers accept passive PoE only, and a standards PoE switch will damage them — use the DC socket. None of the routers here supply PoE to other devices; that is the switch's job.

Is the antenna that came in the box good enough?

At a strong-signal site in a plastic enclosure, yes. Anywhere else, the bundled whips are the first thing to upgrade, because they are the cheapest change with the largest effect.

A note on compliance. Everything on this store reaches you through Australian distribution with the RCM in place and the responsible-supplier obligations already met, so a router or gateway bought here is ready to deploy. The picture changes when you bring equipment in yourself — a batch of devices direct from an overseas manufacturer, or a product you intend to sell under your own name. Then the ACMA labelling arrangements apply to you as the supplier, and for mains-powered equipment the Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS) does as well. Techwave is a registered Responsible Supplier on the EESS database and can act as the Australian entity: the declaration of conformity, EESS registration, the compliance folder and the RCM labelling. Details at techwave.com.au/acma-eess or [email protected].

Where to from here

If you have a site in mind, send us the details — location, what needs connecting, where the cabinet is — and we'll come back with a bill of materials and a price. Business customers can open a trade account for project pricing and invoice terms, and we're on 1300 168 777 if you'd rather talk it through. Everything in this guide ships from our Sydney warehouse.

Specifications quoted from manufacturer documentation (Teltonika Networks, Robustel, Grandstream, Poynting) and our product pages, September 2026. Band support refers to the Australia/New Zealand variants we stock. Camera bit rates are typical figures for H.265 at default quality; measure your own. Check the product page for current stock and price.