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Basis: Manufacturer specifications and published owner reports. WebReviewStar has not independently tested this unit.
The short answer
Buy it as a failover box so your card machine and email keep working when the fibre drops. Skip it if you want it to be your main router — the four 100 Mbps ports put a ceiling under every wired device in the house.
Buy it if
- You need automatic failover when the main line dies
- You are running a shop, till or small office that cannot go offline
- You want a SIM router without paying for a 5G one
Skip it if
- You want it to be the main router for a fibre connection
- You have a NAS or anything that shifts large files over Ethernet
- You expect the "427 ft" range figure indoors
What it actually is
A 4G router with a SIM slot. You put a nano SIM in it, it connects to the mobile network, and it shares that connection over Wi-Fi and four Ethernet ports.
It has three modes: cellular router, ordinary Wi-Fi router on a wired WAN, and WISP. In cellular mode you are using the mobile network as your internet. In the other modes the SIM is a fallback, and the router switches to it when the main line stops answering.
That failover behaviour is the reason this product exists. Everything else is a compromise made to hit a price.
The four 100 Mbps ports are the whole story
Manufacturers list the Wi-Fi speed and leave the port speed in the small print. Here the small print matters more than the headline.
Wi-Fi on this unit is AC1200 — 867 Mbps on 5 GHz, 300 Mbps on 2.4 GHz, in ideal conditions. But every one of the four Ethernet ports is 10/100, not gigabit. Real throughput on a 100 Mbps port is around 94 Mbps once you account for framing overhead.
So: any device you plug in — a desktop, a NAS, a console, a printer — is capped just under 100 Mbps, no matter what the Wi-Fi radio can do.
The interesting part is that this limits the cellular connection too. Cat 4 peaks at 150 Mbps down, which is already more than a single 100 Mbps port can carry. On a good tower, with a wired client, the port is the bottleneck rather than the network. Most of the time the tower is slower than both, which is why nobody notices.
The ports are not a cost-saving detail. They are the specification that defines what this device can and cannot be.
What works
- Automatic WAN-to-4G failover is the whole point, and it works
- Full VPN stack for the price — WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, ZeroTier
- Guest network and Wi-Fi scheduling, which budget routers often skip
- Mesh capable with Cudy's own units
What doesn't
- Every Ethernet port is 100 Mbps, not gigabit
- Cat 4 LTE caps at 150 Mbps down, and real-world is far below that
- The V2.0 datasheet lists WPA2 only — no WPA3, despite the retailer listing
- 16 MB of flash leaves no room for third-party firmware
- Wi-Fi 5 only — no 6 GHz
- The 427 ft range figure is open-air line of sight
What the datasheet reveals that the listing does not
The V2.0 datasheet is more forthcoming than the shop page, and two details matter.
128 MB of RAM and 16 MB of flash. That 16 MB is the interesting number. It is enough for the stock firmware and nothing else — there is no room for a full third-party build, and it is the reason the feature set is fixed rather than extensible. It also explains why VPN throughput is not published: the CPU and memory budget decide it, and neither is generous here.
The security line reads WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK. No WPA3. The Amazon listing advertises WPA3, which is either newer firmware or newer hardware — this datasheet is specifically V2.0, and Cudy also sells a V3.0. If WPA3 matters to you, check which version is in the box before you rely on the listing.
Where it is genuinely good
Automatic failover. The WAN/LAN port can run as WAN while the SIM stays connected, and the router prefers the wired connection to save mobile data — that is the actual mechanism behind the failover claim. There is also a 4G watchdog that redials automatically when the connection drops. For a shop with a card machine, or a home office where the line drops every second afternoon, that is worth the price on its own.
The VPN stack is unusually complete for the money: WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, ZeroTier, L2TP and PPTP. A remote worker who needs to reach a home or office network can do it without buying anything else.
WPA3 and a guest network are both present, which several routers at twice the price still omit.
Where it falls short
The range claim deserves a sentence. "Up to 427 ft" is measured in open space with clear line of sight, which is not a description of any building anyone lives in. Through two interior walls, expect a fraction of that; through a brick or concrete wall, less again.
Cat 4 LTE is the older tier: 150 Mbps down, 50 Mbps up in theory. On a loaded tower you will see a small share of that, and the router cannot change what the network gives it.
And it is Wi-Fi 5 only. No 6 GHz, so it will not benefit from the cleaner band that newer phones and laptops can use.
Who should buy something else
If this is going to be your main router: buy something with gigabit ports. The money you save here is paid back in a connection that cannot use the line you are already paying for.
If your house is large or has thick walls: a single box in the corner will not cover it. A mesh system is cheaper than a second router and an afternoon of frustration.
If you need speed over Ethernet: this is the wrong device, and no amount of configuration changes that.
Specs that matter
| Wi-Fi speed | AC1200 — 867 Mbps (5 GHz) + 300 Mbps (2.4 GHz) |
|---|---|
| Ethernet ports | 4 × 10/100 Mbps, one configurable WAN/LAN |
| Cellular | 4G LTE Cat 4, up to 150 Mbps down |
| SIM | Nano SIM (not included) |
| Antennas | 2 × Wi-Fi + 2 × LTE, fixed, 5 dBi |
| Chipset | MediaTek + Qualcomm |
| Memory | 128 MB DDR / 16 MB SPI flash |
| Security | WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK. No WPA3 in the V2.0 datasheet |
| VPN | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, ZeroTier, L2TP, PPTP |
| Modes | Cellular router, Wi-Fi router, WISP, with failover |
| LTE bands (US) | FDD B2/B4/B5/B12/B13/B14/B66/B71 · WCDMA B2/B4/B5 |
| Transmit power | CE <20 dBm · FCC <30 dBm |
| IPv6 | Full stack — SLAAC, DHCPv6, static, passthrough, MAP-E, DS-Lite |
| Management | TR-069/TR-098/111/181, GenieACS, OpenACS |
| Other | TTL adjust, 4G band lock, DNS over Cloudflare/Google/Quad9, SMS, 4G watchdog redial |
Questions
Can it really do 150 Mbps?
That is the Cat 4 theoretical ceiling. On a congested South African network, expect a fraction of it and test with your own SIM before relying on the number.
Will the 100 Mbps ports slow my fibre down?
Yes. If your fibre line is faster than about 94 Mbps in real throughput, every wired device behind this router is capped below what you are paying for.
Does it work as a normal router too?
Yes — cellular, Wi-Fi router and WISP modes. The hardware is the same; only the port speed limits it.
The bottom line
If it suits how you actually use your network, this is the one to buy.
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