18 Aug 2021
Updated: 7 July 2024 - Cradlepoint 5G adapters allow legacy routers to be used to access 5G speeds and bandwidth for reliable future-proofed wireless WAN. Now is the time to take advantage of this inexpensive and agile pathway to harness the benefits of 5G.
This must be the good news story of the year for CIOs and CTOs.
Without the commercial implications of having to swap out existing routing equipment, there is a clear pathway to exploiting the benefits of 5G for enterprise class connectivity and business continuity.
In this blog you will learn how you can take advantage of the Cradlepoint solution within the context of the Australian market, what Cradlepoint devices are available here, and how some Australian businesses are already using Cradlepoint for 5G-enabled solutions.
Cradlepoint 5G adapters are designed for Australia's 5G networks
There are three Cradlepoint W-Series adapters that are relevant to the Australian market and the 5G spectrums being utilised by our major carriers.
The W2005 and W1855 are designed for outdoor use and for low to mid band spectrums, while the W1850 is designed for indoor use.
These purpose-built adapters are sold with a subscription to Cradlepoint's NetCloud Service which provides streamlined configuration and continuous cloud, modem, and router software feature monitoring, remote management. and reporting.
All three adapters have been tested and optimised by Telstra, and are approved for use on the Telstra network.
What is the Cradlepoint W1850 5G indoor adapter?
The Cradlepoint W1850 is an enterprise-class 5G wideband adapter designed for indoor settings and suitable for branches that require the higher performance of Cat 20 LTE and low- and mid-band 5G.
The W1850 adapters can be paired with a Cradlepoint router in “captive modem mode” to provide virtual single-endpoint deployment, monitoring, and control. Or, the adaptors can connect to a third-party router via an Ethernet connection.
MobileCorp has deployed this adapter in many retail environments, including a big-box department stores with 300 branches across Australia and New Zealand.
What is the Cradlepoint W2005 5G outdoor adapter?
The Cradlepoint W2005 is an outdoor wideband 5G adapter unit. It is designed for fixed locations that require the higher performance of 5G and the flexibility of wireless. The Cradlepoint W2005 comes in a variant especially designed and tested in the Australian market on the Telstra network.
The W2005 5G wideband adaptor is purpose-built for outdoor deployment. To address the tradeoff of lower propagation in the low- to mid-band capacity layer, Cradlepoint designed the W2005 to be placed on the outside of buildings for optimal signal reception. It does not require, but is often paired with an additional external antenna. This could be a directional antenna aimed at a specific 5G base station, or an omni-directional antenna to take advantage of 5G signals from more than one 5G base station.
The W2005 can be paired with a Cradlepoint router, or can connect to a third-party router via an Ethernet connection.
What is the Cradlepoint W1855 Outdoor 5G Adapter?
The W1855 outdoor adapter was released in Australia in early September 2023. It is Cradlepoint's second generation 5G-native outdoor adapter.
The refreshed modem is 22% smaller, uses 30% less energy, and 84% less packaging.
It features the latest 5G standards with 3GPP Release 16 specifications. This provides expanded carrier aggregation and band combinations and future proofs the devices for 5G network growth.
The W1855-5GC adapter is certified on most first responder networks in the United States, and is available now in Australia.
Cradlepoint 5G Adapters - A review of the key features
So now you know a little about each of the three adapters that are optimised for the Australian market and approved for use on their networks by Australian carriers.
You might be wondering what makes these devices so special.
The Cradlepoint adapters are the global market leading devices in this space which is why they have been adopted by Telstra. They have a number of unique features that raises them above competitive devices on the market.
Telstra Enterprise Wireless
Telstra has embraced the Cradlepoint solutions and adopted them as the basis of its Telstra Enterprise Wireless and Enhanced Enterprise Wireless products.
Enhanced Enterprise Wireless is Telstra's premier 5G enterprise-class wireless connectivity product offering guaranteed uptime, 24/7 monitoring and included managed service delivered by accredited Telstra partners, including MobileCorp.
Enhanced Enterprise Wireless provides
- guaranteed 99.9% 5G network uptime
- enterprise-class Cradlepoint 5G wideband outdoor adapter
- a Telstra approved external antenna
- a managed service bundle which includes site assessment, installation, Telstra connectivity management, 24/7 monitoring, planned outage notifications, technical help desk and more
Designed for Enterprise-Class Business
While the performance of 5G is top of mind, the W-Series was also designed with enterprise-class standards for high scalability, comprehensive management, and security. Because 5G is a collection of new spectrum, new technologies, and new network infrastructure that is rolling out over several years, the Cradlepoint 5G edge networking service and endpoints accommodate the diverse deployments of an organisation with hundreds or even tens of thousands of sites.
Carrier-Class Connectivity
Although each network operator conforms to 3GPP standards, they implement those standards differently to gain optimal efficiency and performance from their network. Additionally, software from modem manufacturers is designed to serve multiple operators within broad markets. The W-Series uses a customised software-defined modem, pre-programmed endpoints, and multilevel integrity testing to predict vulnerable connections and deliver carrier-class connectivity.
5G Spectrum Solutions
The W-series portfolio supports all spectrum layers ensuring that organisations have the right solution for every location. The W1855, W2005 and W1850 all support low- and mid-band layers and are applicable to the Australian 5G landscape.
Transition seamlessly from 4G to 5G
Cradlepoint 5G solutions support all cellular generations, from 4G LTE to Gigabit-Class LTE to 5G — with the ability to gracefully transition tens of thousands of sites between generations as technology becomes available in individual locations.
Complete 5G Lifecycle Management
Cradlepoint 5G solutions help enterprises minimise complexity from installation to troubleshooting with tools and features such as the mobile installation application, the captive modem feature, 5G tools demonstrate 5G service value, and Out-of-Band Management.
Intelligent Hybrid WAN Connectivity
Cradlepoint 5G solutions deliver effortless wireless endpoint management in a “wired-first SD-WAN” environment and provides all-in-one capabilities (routing, embedded wireless, and foundational SD-WAN) in a “wireless-first SD-WAN” deployment.
Image: W2005 being prepared for shipping to site at MobileCorp office.
What are the business use cases for the Cradlepoint 5G Adapters?
Enterprise Branch
This use case focuses on primary connectivity and has been popular in construction, retail, and branch office locations. The 5G link is the primary data link and also provides VoIP calling. MobileCorp was the first Australian MSP to hold the Cradlepoint '5G Enterprise for Branch' specialist certification and is still only one of a small number of Australian MSPs certified to procure, configure, deploy and manage the outdoor adapters.Business Continuity
This has been the most popular use case of business, with obvious benefits for failover to a wireless WAN. It's a simple concept...when the wired infrastructure is compromised it is detected by the Cradlepoint 5G adapter and automatically fails over to the 5G link. This is a seamless transition and end users may not even notice the switch. When the wired line is back up, the Cradlepoint fails back returning the primary connectivity to the wired line.
Read Blog - Five reasons why you should consider 5G for your business network redundancy
Pop Up Networks
The first time a Cradlepoint outdoor adapter was utilised in the wild in Australia was during the Black Summer bushfires in January 2020. Residents and tourists at the holiday hamlet of Mallacoota, were evacuated by air and sea to a temporary processing centre that was quickly established at the port of Hastings, near Melbourne. The centre would to account for the displaced evacuees, and to provide them with a safe haven.A reliable 'instant' network was needed and Cradlepoint routers were requested and quickly dispatched to provide connectivity. The routers were set up prior to dispatch, as there were no IT personnel on the ground. With internet access, authorities were able to account for and process people swiftly and evacuees were given access to Wi-Fi so they could let family and friends know they had made it to safety.
Read Blog - Mallacoota bushfire evacuation showed value of Cradlepoint pop-up network
MobileCorp is Australia's leading Cradlepoint MSP
MobileCorp is the leading Cradlepoint partner in Australia. We were named APAC MSP of the Year in 2021, Growth Partner of the Year in 2020, and were the first Elite Partner.
We provide expert advice and service from solution design through procurement, configuration, deployment and management.
Our managed and professional services include:
Learn more about Cradlepoint and MobileCorp
About MobileCorp
MobileCorp is an Australian communications technology company providing Mobile Device Management, Managed Mobility Services, Mobile Security, Complex Data and IP Networks, and Unified Communication solutions. It has a proven track record providing solution architecture, build, deployment, and managed services for Australian enterprise and business.
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