5G Routers That Can Be Used With External 5G Antennas

Many consumer 5G routers such as the Huawei 5G CPEPRO and the TCL Link Hub as well as many rebadged 5G routers supplied by the UK mobile networks such as the 3Mobile 5G Hub, the Vodafone Gigacube, the O2 5G Router and the EE 5GEE Router 2021 either have no external 5G antenna ports or have just 2 x TS9 antenna connectors.  This means that if you need to attach an external 5G antenna, or in some cases attach an outdoor 4×4 MiMo 5G antenna to get the best 5G network signal for your router then you will be unable to with these home and office 5G routers.

The option is to buy a business grade or industrial grade 5G router which will have external 5G antenna connections and in most cases will have 4×4 MiMo connections which means that the router will have 4 x SMA antenna connections so will support the connection of a 4×4 MiMo 5G Antenna such as the Panorama DWMM4-6-60 Omni-Directional 4×4 MiMo antenna or for more rural locations that require a directional 5G antenna the WMM4G-6-60 high gain directional 4×4 MiMo antenna that can be pointed at the preferred 5G tower.

An ideal 5G router for home and office use that will support the connection of external 5G antennas is the Proroute RAPID NR550 Industrial router which is designed as a multi-functional router that can support M2M 5G Internet applications such as CCTV, but also has a specification that supports demanding home and office users who want fast Ethernet and WiFi as well as a CPU that can handle the high speed downloads that 5G provides.  The NR550 has 4 x SMA antenna connectors so can easily be used with the majority of 5G antennas, either a single 4×4 MiMo antenna or a pair of 2×2 MiMO 5G Antennas.

The RAPID NR550 5G Router has four SMA Female antenna connections on the rear of the router which means that it is compatible with all of the 4×4 MiMo antennas in our store.  You can view a selection of antennas below.

Directional Antennas for 5G Routers

As mentioned above, you may want to use a directional 5G antenna with your router, this may be either to pick up a signal from a distant cell station or if you have multiple cell sites in your location and your omni-directional antenna keeps connecting your router to a slower tower then a directional antenna may be the answer.

Once you know the location of the tower you want to connect to and established which side of your building you can conveniently install a directional antenna with clear line of sight then you can prepare for your installation.  a Directional antenna will usually have a higher gain so you can get a longer antenna cable, however we still recommend that you try to keep your antenna cables as short as possible.  You may want to install your router closer to the antenna and run a long Ethernet cable to your network switch or central distribution point.  If there is no power where you need to install your router then you could consider using a POE switch which can deliver both Ethernet and Power to your router and then using a POE splitter which breaks out the power and Ethernet connections so you can provide power and Ethernet in a single Ethernet cable.  This means that you do not need a long antenna cable run, especially if you are using a 4×4 directional antenna which would mean 4 lots of antenna extension cables.  You can see a selection of directional 5G antennas below as well as the POE splitter.