I think GL.Inet should expand and sell external WWAN enclosures with tested m.2 modems and go ahead and promote 4g/5g availability on their whole product lineup while the new products are being developed. The volume may produce better pricing on the integrated 4g/5g models when they are released.
They will also need dual-usb3 ports on their newer models to power the higher-end enclosures/5g cards, which only has SBC’s with multiple USB’s as an option at the moment.
I have a Spitz, but also use an Opal with the same model LTE card in an external enclosure. I normally use a 6 inch usb cable, but on several occasions, have needed to use a 6 foot cable and set the enclosure at the window in direct sunlight, which would make the Spitz, Mudi, Puli and Smartphones overheat. Having external LTE antennas that can be set well away from the router is a nice feature with the external enclosures vs integrated LTE.
Adding an additional wifi chip for exclusive repeater use would also allow for using the wifi hotspot on a 5g phone while getting full-bandwidth to the clients (5g backup WAN for Flint/Slate v2’s are nice too). You can find 5g phones very inexpensively now, so optimizing the hardware in 2023 for every budget ($300/$500 5g WWAN modem or $99+ 5g phone) keeps GL.Inet ahead of the curve for connectivity features.
The software for GL.Inet devices adds so much polish to openwrt that I’ll look at the 2023/2024 models when its time to upgrade WWAN devices.
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