📶 CradlePoint CTR35 Portable Wireless N Router Review

I'll try to be brief and concise. The product was exactly as advertised. I was able to connect a "Sprint" 3G/4G USB modem to this router and use it immediately. I followed the instructions and ran the updates as suggested, which only took a few minutes. I think the only issue I had trouble with during a software update was that there was no update complete message. It only takes a few minutes. Anyway, I left it for a while and came back to it. When the update status didn't change, I turned it…

I've used the CTR35 a few times since I got it in mid-November and so far I'm loving it. I've had a couple of instances where it wouldn't recognize my LG AD600 (AT&T) USB modem for some reason. I had to turn the unit off and let it sit for a while and then turn it back on before it recognized the AD600, but other than that it seems pretty reliable. I was wondering if I was getting the full bandwidth that the AD600 was giving me when connected directly to my laptop because I was seeing VERY poor

Update: Some reviewers claim they work well with 5V batteries. I have a 5-19v battery that can deliver up to 4 amps or 76 watts (that's a lot) that can be plugged into almost anything. Using a 5V battery that another buyer had could only provide 0.3W. This thing's charger assumes a load of 18 watts. When I tried this with 5V I just didn't have enough power to power my router and USB air card. You decide. Don't worry about buying a hollow USB 5.5mm cable for power delivery. Normal USB power (5W)

An update to the original review below. I accidentally found a firmware update and downloaded it to stay current. I then checked the release notes and found that Cradlepoint was receiving comments and complaints similar to mine, and included the fix in the new Fireware release. After two days of working with the updated firmware, I can report that the recovery not working issue is gone and everything is working as expected. Good job Cradlepoint. So I've raised my rating to 4 stars. Why not 5? I

In-room personal Wi-Fi services at the top of the mountain successfully launched! This router was purchased to provide failover for the school's SOHO implementation as well as a VPN connection to a remote office. Failover: The router handles both the DSL modem and the USB modem just fine, although the DSL connection has a number of issues. Default settings worked well in managing failover and failover, with configured settings failover is smooth with little downtime. In fact, the only downtime…

I bought this router hoping to use it when traveling to create a local secure network of hotel WiFi networks. This feature doesn't work once you figure out how to set it up (not trivial as the online FAQs are incomplete and the instructions are missing an important step before you can even see the option). Also, it fails to route as a 3g/4g broadband router after a few minutes, usually because the cellular modem (UML290 in this case) has a signal strength of 84% according to CTR35, but I can't…