Overview of 4G/Wi-Fi router Keenetic Hero 4G+ (KN‑2311). For home, cottage and something else

Table of Contents

• Contents of delivery
• Specifications
• 4G capabilities of the Keenetic Hero 4G+ router
• Software
  software - read SMS, USSD and other settings
• Impressions, competitors and conclusions

Contents of delivery

• router
• Power adapter
• Two detachable 4G antennas
• Ethernet cable
• Instruction

Specifications

• Dimensions - 214 mm x 154 mm x 33 mm, weight - 485 grams
• Processor MT7621A 880 MHz, 2 cores
• Memory 256 MB DDR3
• Flash memory 128 MB (Dual Image)
• Wi-Fi 2.4/5GHz, Mesh support, WiFi class AX1800X (Wi-Fi 6), 802.11ax
• Seamless 802.11 k/r/v roaming
• MU-MIMO
• Multi-SSID and guest network
• WPA3-PSK, WPA3-Enterprise, OWE
• Antenna sensitivity - 5 dBi
• Ethernet ports, 4 x 1 Gbps
• WPS/Wi-Fi key
• Fn key, user-assigned action
• One USB 3.0 port, read speed up to 90MB/s, supports FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, HFS+
• Built-in LTE modem ASR1826, nanoSIM
• LTE cat.6, frequency aggregation, download up to 300 Mbps
• Receiving and sending SMS messages
• Support for USSD requests
• 4G antenna sensitivity - 4 dBi
• Ranges:
  • FDD-LTE B1/B3/B5/ B7/B8/B20 (2100/1800/ 850/2600/900/ 800 MHz)
  • TDD-LTE B38/B40/ B41 (2600/2300/ 2500 MHz);
  • HSPA+/HSDPA/ HSUPA/WCDMA B1/ B5/B8 (2100/850/ 900 MHz)

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The Keenetic brand in a special presentation is notneeds, the model range is as wide as possible, for every taste and budget. Models from Keenetic are distinguished by thoughtful software, the presence of many additional features, for example, you can control your router through a Telegram bot, which is sometimes more convenient than entering a web panel or application. The latter is of course also available. But what bribes me personally is four years of support and a guarantee for the same period, plus an active community of Keenetic router owners who constantly come up with new features, and the company quickly adds them to the firmware. Plus, the simplicity of working with routers, outside the city there used to be several routers from another manufacturer, united in a Mesh network, now instead of them there is one Giga, which reaches the farthest corners. And for several years there were no problems with it, it works non-stop, periodically updates itself, keeps its software up to date.

Perhaps Keenetic can be described as a brand,which simplified the management of its devices as much as possible, but at the same time did not sacrifice the support of technology, there are a lot of them and a small cart. The settings are simple, and for those who do not have enough of them in the control panel, there is an opportunity to use the command line. But it almost never comes to that, just mentioning that such a function is present and it makes very interesting things possible.

But first, let's figure out for whom it canapproach Keenetic Hero 4G+, the router appeared as a continuation of a similar model without the prefix "plus", where the modem pulled only LTE cat.4, which was enough for most use cases, except for one - when many users are on mobile communications at the same time, downloading heavy content, and the channel to the operator is not the thickest. There is definitely an improvement in terms of speed, frequency aggregation, but who might be interested in this router?

The cliché whispers that it should be put behindcity, where there is no conventional wired Internet. Banal, but quite a working script. In my opinion, such routers are needed for any person who has a house and all kinds of machinery in it, for example, a boiler. I think that in such a house there are already certain smart things that monitor the temperature, the presence of light and transmit this data to you. In most cases, only Wi-Fi and a local connection are used for data transfer, which does not have duplication. And in a situation in which a tractor driver or a careless neighbor cuts your Internet cable, you will simply be left without information about what is happening in your house (there will also be no opportunity to manage something, you will have to go and fix everything, I would even say - rush in winter in the hope that the house does not cool down, and the boiler works).

In apartments, many consider such a router a whim,but this is an erroneous opinion. If you installed a security system from a smart home kit (from there, and not a professional solution), then turning it off is not difficult, just find the cable that goes into your apartment. No signal, no security. For most, you don’t even need to look for a cable, it makes no sense for attackers to strain too much.

Outside the city, the signal of the cellular operator is often far awayfrom ideal, frequency aggregation allows you to get more speed. Moreover, the word “larger” is relative here, often it’s not 10, but 20 Mbps, it seems that both are small, in fact, the difference in the resulting capabilities is very large. Before you buy a 4G router, you need to understand which operator works well in your village, as well as how much the external antenna improves the signal quality, whether it is needed or not.

4G capabilities of the Keenetic Hero 4G+ router

We are accustomed to comparing the characteristics of deviceson paper, without regard to real life. If you look at the modem in Hero 4G+, it seems that it came from the past, it's just LTE Cat.6. Usually people worry about this and claim that they need other categories that will give a download limit not of 300 Mbps, but at least twice as much. I don’t know what wonderful places such people live in, but even in large cities it is impossible to squeeze out Cat.6 in all places, the speed will be noticeably lower. In settlements outside cities, and even more so in villages, the speed is even lower, so here, too, it will not be possible to drive data at the maximum of paper characteristics.

The second moment, which almost neverremember, do not take into account - these are restrictions on the part of the telecom operator. Let's say you have a SIM card with unlimited internet in stock, which you bought some time ago, today operators have closed such options. An ideal SIM card for a router to distribute the Internet to all households in the country, right? In fact, operators determine the type of device and place of use, as a result, change the priority of the SIM card on the network, limit its speed. In theory, everything is fine, in practice there are limitations. And they learn, as a rule, about them at the moment when they start using the Internet. Hence, separate tariffs for routers, where communication is at maximum speed, with a different priority and is offered for other money. Today in Russia, the maximum speed of an LTE modem in the operator's network for the vast majority of users is LTE cat.6, there are exceptions, but they are very few.

Perhaps the most important thing when choosing a device -understand how much traffic you really consume, what are your scenarios for using 4G. If this is an additional channel for a smart home, then speed does not matter at all. In the case when your operator outside the city gives a normal speed, you can use the router for everyday needs - watch movies, download applications, mail, and so on. Regular Internet without any flaws, it is important to calculate the maximum and average load depending on the number of those who will use the 4G component.

I hope that this is sorted out, now is the time to look at exactly where it is worth placing the Wi-Fi router. There is a separate and detailed material on this, the link is below.

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The peculiarity of a 4G / Wi-Fi router outside the city is thatthat you need to understand exactly where it is best to place it. Usually everything rests on the place where the cable from your wired Internet operator comes in (subject to availability). Unfortunately, in most cases, the entry point is far from optimal and creates many problems in the future. The principle of choosing a place is simple, you need to find a point where the reception of a mobile operator is stable and has the best quality. It is desirable that a cable can be stretched there, and also that this is a place from where the Wi-Fi signal “shines” into all rooms and is visible in the area around the house. In houses up to 200-250 square meters, it is quite possible to get by with one router, not to create a Mesh network.

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The most common mistake is settingrouter on the ground floor in the hallway or utility room. That is, the router is on the side of the house, the distant rooms will have a weak signal. If the house has two or three floors, then the signal at the top will also not be the most optimal. The ideal option, which is not available to everyone, is to put the router on the second floor near the window (not on the window, but near!). The signal of the cellular operator will be optimal here, plus you yourself will increase the coverage of the house.

The Keenetic under consideration has two 4G antennas with good sensitivity; most likely, you will not need to use external antennas.

But if the default antennas do not pull, then youYou can install your own by unscrewing the ones that come with the kit. The advantage of this solution is also that the antennas can be placed at a distance from the router. Just remember that you do not need to do this at a distance of tens of meters.

The SIM card slot on the case is a nanoSIM.Easy to put on, easy to take out with a push, no staples required. The beauty of Keenetic is that you can install an additional 4G modem into the USB connector, then you will have two operators, the connection reliability in villages where the quality of the Internet leaves much to be desired will increase.

The wealth of router settings allows you to implementdifferent use cases where critical elements of your home, such as a gas boiler, temperature sensors, and a security system, can use both mobile and wired Internet. While for the NAS where you upload movies, music and your files, assign the use of only wired, as it is not critical. This way you can sort devices according to their importance for yourself and your home, and most importantly, prevent “unnecessary” devices from eating mobile Internet traffic.

Software - read SMS, USSD and other settings

The key feature of Keenetic routers is software,more specifically, a web interface that allows you to customize almost every aspect of the device. I am delighted with the capabilities and thoughtfulness of the interface, I will try to show this using the example of a 4G modem and its functions.

Let's start with the main thing - frequency aggregation in the modem. List of supported aggregation combinations:

B1+B1/B3/B8/B20
B3+B3/B7/B8/B20
B7+B7/B8/B20
B38 + B38; B40 + B40; B41 + B41

We go to the web interface, the section "Internet - Mobile - Signal Metrics". Everything is very clear and very informative.

For those who want to check the signal quality,the possibility of aggregating frequencies before buying a router, it makes sense to install the NetMonster application for Android and run a load test, for example, start downloading a large file. It is important to remember here that your smartphone must support frequency aggregation, otherwise the test itself will be useless. If this is not possible, then look at the map of base stations in the application or on the CellMapper website.

In life there are quite uniquescenarios, for example, you can live on the border of two regions, say, between New Moscow and the Kaluga region. The phone and other devices can periodically cling to the base station not in the home region, depending on the operator, there may be speed limits, the calculation of the available traffic package, and so on. Even if they do not exist now, they may suddenly appear in the future. In Keenetic, you can select the frequency ranges on which the modem will work. This allows you to manually control your connection, for example, to select a less loaded frequency, which will give an increase in speed in practice.

Those who want to bind the router to a specific base station will have to do some simple manipulations on the command line, there is such an opportunity. You can find a description here.

In the settings you can and should set restrictionsin terms of the amount of data transferred, this is important for all SIM cards with an Internet package. You can set a limit on the amount of transmitted data, when it is reached, an SMS will be sent to you and to several additional numbers. You will know for sure that you are running out of traffic. You can also set the settings so that when the threshold is reached, the 4G modem stops working.

In the web interface, you can read and send SMS messages, which is extremely convenient.

You can also immediately work with the operator's USSD commands, which makes it easier to configure the router or work with it.

There are a lot of settings in the web interface,at the same time it is difficult to get confused in them. In the aspect of 4G work, I want to dwell separately on setting priorities for your devices. In most cases, if you have a wide channel, there is no point in prioritizing devices, everything will work for you as it should. Another thing is if this is a channel limited in width and the devices begin to conflict, they do not receive the required amount of data. Here it is worth setting those devices that will receive the highest priority, as a result, they will be able to transmit / receive data faster. Prioritization is important for speed-limited connections. Above is a scenario where you can separate devices by the type of connection used. Together, these two approaches ensure that you are not left without a connection, and the channel is open to the devices that matter most to you.

I want to say a few words about such an opportunity asKeenDNS, it gives you a permanent symbolic address for your router and web-managed devices connected to it, you can access them from the outside! The beauty is that it is absolutely free, allows you to see your network from the outside, manage it and all applications. You don't need a white static IP address, it comes with a global HTTPS certificate (also free!). Interestingly, all devices that are behind the router, for example, your boiler, are now hidden behind an encrypted connection, even if the manufacturer did not originally have it, which increases the security of your home. The perfect item with no discounts. All resources on your home network, such as NAS or webcam, will be available through KeenDNS as if you were at home. It is impossible to overestimate this chip, it captivates with simplicity and usefulness.

For a number of webcams with proprietary protocols, in order to receive a stream from them, you will need to do some simple manipulations, they are described here.

Many other services are implemented in the same way - a built-in torrent client, sftp, and much more. To describe each of the functions, you will have to spend more than one day.

The mobile application is simpler than the web interface, but for many routine tasks it will be enough for the eyes.

Impressions, competitors and conclusions

In the review, we focused on the 4G componentrouter Keenetic Hero 4G +, nothing was said about Wi-Fi 6, about the fact that this is the latest generation system that supports the creation of a Mesh network. I will not delve into the Wi-Fi capabilities of the router, as this will require more text than what you are reading. In short, I will say that Keenetic for me is a synonym for quality in terms of Wi-Fi, its configuration options and various applications. Moreover, it is suitable for both ordinary users and for those who dig under the hood, want to squeeze the maximum.

What bribes me is that, in addition to the web interface and application, there is also a Telegram bot that allows you to control your router.

One of the scenarios followedusers, it becomes a separate purchase of a router and a separate 4G modem that connects to it. This solution is much cheaper, but it cannot be called optimal. The integration of a 4G modem into another solution does not always look good, and there are no management of various settings, event notifications at all. So this is a solution for those who save a lot and do not care about convenience. Plus, or rather, minus, the inability to use external antennas.

There are other 4G routers on the market,for example, TP-Link Archer MR600 supports LTE cat.6. Easy to set up, but lacks a lot of additional chips for both 4G and Wi-Fi. There is no way to connect an external LTE antenna, Wi-Fi 6 is not supported. The price is 11-12 thousand rubles, which is justified given the limitations that it has, it is a little lower class.

Above class Zyxel LTE5388-M804, despitebiting name, this is a 4G router, it has no external antennas, but only two LAN ports, if that matters to you. Nice design, there is no support for Wi-Fi 6, but due to the configuration of the antennas, the speed for Wi-Fi is not a flaw. The only downside here is the cost, it starts from 26 thousand rubles!

The official price of Keenetic Hero 4G+ is 15 thousandrubles, you can find a router for a couple of thousand cheaper, the question is your luck. For the money, the router looks like an interesting offer, it gives a good price / quality ratio. And here it is important to look not only at hardware, but also at software, the possibilities of the latter are very wide and good.

Such a router is almost ideal for those whoequips a country house and needs a dual connection to the network - both by wire and via a mobile network. Any person who has set up a smart home for himself should think about having a spare communication channel, in our reality it is always mobile Internet.

Keenetic Hero 4G+ router looks like a working onea horse with very wide possibilities, and it can be recommended to everyone, both experienced users and beginners. Ease of setup does not exclude the advanced features of the router, but makes them understandable to anyone.

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