I own a GL-MT6000 (Flint 2) and plan to use it with an external 5G USB modem.
I am specifically interested in the Teltonika TRM500, because it works as a
pure USB modem (QMI / MBIM) without cloud services or mobile apps.
Before purchasing the modem, I would like to clarify the following:
Does the current GL.iNet firmware for the Flint 2 support USB cellular modems
using QMI (qmi_wwan) or MBIM (cdc_mbim)?
Is ModemManager included in the firmware, or can it be installed via opkg?
If not, are native QMI/MBIM network scripts supported?
Which Linux kernel version is used in the current Flint 2 firmware?
Can a USB WWAN interface (e.g. wwan0) be used as the primary WAN interface
including NAT and firewall?
Does the Flint 2 USB host properly support externally powered USB modems
(data over USB, power via separate connector), without requiring the modem
to draw its main power from the USB port?
When using third-party USB cellular modems, does the GL.iNet firmware treat
them as plain network interfaces (QMI/MBIM), or does it require any
GL.iNet-specific services, cloud connectivity, or telemetry?
My goal is a fully local, privacy-focused setup using OpenWrt-based firmware.
USB cellular modems are supported, but we can’t guarantee compatibility with every third-party model. If you prefer a solution we can better validate/support, we recommend using GL-M2 from GL.iNet.
In our stock firmware, QMI and MBIM drivers are pre-installed.
ModemManager is not included in the stock GL.iNet firmware. Cellular interfaces are managed by GL.iNet’s own program/scripts. If you prefer to manage the modem via ModemManager or your own custom scripts, we recommend using native OpenWrt.
Kernel version: based on our current stock 4.8.3 firmware build:
root@GL-MT6000:~# uname -a
#0 SMP Thu Oct 16 04:05:39 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux
If you require a newer kernel, please consider native OpenWrt.
Yes—a USB cellular interface will appear in the Multi-WAN list and can be selected as the primary WAN when multiple WANs are available. It will be placed into the WAN firewall zone with NAT enabled by default.
This is generally not Flint 2–specific. If you want to separate USB power and data, you can use a third-party USB splitter / powered solution.
The firmware treats third-party QMI/MBIM modems as a standard network interface. It does not require GL.iNet-specific cloud services or telemetry for basic QMI/MBIM connectivity.
