Chateau 5G ax R17

The Chateau 5G ax R17 (product code S53UG+5HaxD2HaxD-TC&RG650E-EU) is one box that does everything a house or a small office needs: internet over the SIM card, a router around it, Wi-Fi on two bands and five wired ports. You put it where there is no fixed line, where the fixed line has not arrived yet, or where you want a second route to the internet that does not follow the same street.

The WAN side: the mobile network

This is what sets this model apart from every other router in the list. The catalogue marks this device as a mobile one and sets the default WAN interface to lte1. That is the modem, not an ethernet port. Because of it the tool points you at the LTE / 5G router role, and that role opens with a WAN step asking for your APN instead of for PPPoE or DHCP.

What the LTE role fills in for you: the uplink on lte1 of type LTE, APN internet, no authentication, a default route over it, DNS from the carrier, and a gateway check by ping so a dead connection shows up. The LAN defaults to 192.168.188.1/24. All of it is editable; the APN is the field you genuinely have to look at nine times out of ten.

What a mobile uplink means, speed aside:

• Usually no address reachable from outside. Carriers put mobile customers behind their own NAT. Port forwarding and a VPN server on this router will not work then, however carefully you configure them. If you need to get in, ask your carrier for a public address, or have the connection set up from the other end.
• The connection is a radio link. Placement, antennas and band decide your speed more than any setting does. Move the device a metre before you start tweaking configuration.
• Data bundles run out. A router pulling large updates automatically, or a camera uploading to the cloud all day, shows up on the bill.

Adding a fixed line as a second uplink is possible: put a second WAN on ether1 and let the mobile connection be the backup, or the other way round. How the tool writes failover is in Multiple internet connections, and a worked setup is in Recipe: LTE as backup.

The ports

• ether1 — 2.5 Gbit. The fastest port on the device. Use it for the trunk to a switch, or as the wired WAN when there is a fixed line after all.
• ether2 through ether5 — gigabit. Desks, a NAS, a television.

There is no PoE-out on this model, on any port. An access point you hang off it needs its own supply or an injector.

Wi-Fi

The catalogue lists two radios: wifi1 on 5 GHz and wifi2 on 2.4 GHz. The Wi-Fi package is wifi, the newer package in RouterOS v7, so the configurator writes the wireless side under /interface wifi. You fill in country, SSIDs and security; see Wi-Fi settings and Channels.

What is inside

From the catalogue: a 64-bit ARM processor, 1 GB of RAM, an IPQ-6010 as the switch chip and a level 4 RouterOS licence. The data has been checked against real hardware. Level 4 caps the number of tunnels you may run at once, among other things; see RouterOS licences.

What it is good at, and where it runs out

Good at: putting down one device and being finished. Internet, router, firewall, Wi-Fi and five ports, without a cupboard full of boxes.

Where it runs out: no PoE-out, the four ordinary ports stay at gigabit, and the mobile side brings limits you cannot configure away. If you have thirty desks to serve, that calls for a real switch and probably a different router.

Which roles fit

• LTE / 5G router — the default choice, with the WAN step pointing at the SIM.
• Home router — one network, Wi-Fi, firewall, IPv6. Remember to set the WAN step to lte1 yourself if the internet comes over the SIM.
• Office router with VLANs — five ports is enough for VLANs with a trunk to a switch.
• VPN gateway — possible, but read the warning above about reachability from outside first.

The quickest route to a working configuration

Pick the model, pick the LTE / 5G router role and walk through the wizard. Fill in your carrier's APN in the WAN step, give your LAN address and DHCP range, put in your SSIDs, and you are done. Everything the WAN step can do is in Internet connection.

What trips people up

• Leaving the APN on internet. That is right for many carriers and not for all of them. If it is wrong, the connection never comes up at all.
• A PIN on the SIM card. A SIM with a PIN does not come online by itself. Remove the PIN in a phone before you put it in the router.
• Setting up port forwarding and blaming the rule. Behind your carrier's NAT no rule works. Check what address you get on lte1 first: if it is a private address, that is your answer.
• Leaving the fastest port unused in the LAN. ether1 does 2.5 Gbit. Put your switch or your heaviest device there, not a printer.
• Putting the device in a concrete meter cupboard. It is a radio. A window helps more than any setting on this screen.