fortiextender vs cradlepoint

[rpetty]

Has anyone compared and worked with both fortiextender and cradlepoints for cellular internet connectivity ?

I am having to deploy cellular extenders to remote branch offices to provide internet service due to not having an ISP or due to the existing ISP having issues.  From testing both functionality and easy of use with cellular extenders I have found that the cradlepoints are all around a better solution.  The cradlepoints can be plug and play with the fortigate and the cradlepoint central management is easier and providers better insight into the status of the device.  

I would of though since the fortiextender was a fortinet product the integration and ease of use with fortigate integration would of been better.  Here are some of my thoughts how fortinet could make it better.

Plug and play with the fortigate so need to allow for pre authorization and setup on the fortigate

Better hardware/build so antennas/screws don’t come loose and fall out.

Modular cellular equipment to swap out to 5G when 5G becomes available so I don't have to purchase an entire new extender 

Ability to connect to the extender with the WAN IP in case there are issues.  So the extender needs to run as a standalone device.

A nice to have would be if the extender can act as a console server to plug into the fortigate in the event there are issues with the fortigate we could get out of band access.  This would allow us to reconfigure the unit or run health checks on the unit without us having to ship back the unit and run them.  We have used multiple console serves WTI, lantronix and found these devices to be life savers in remote locations.

[Toshi_Esumi]

The key difference is the logical 3G/4G or 5G interface with FortiExtender lives in the FGT, while it's just IP next hope with Cradlepoint or any other wireless router, unless you set "IP Path-through" on those wireless router.

It's not a big deal if the wireless device pulls a private IP (NATed by wireless carrier's device inside their cloud). But if you order a static IP, which provides a static public IP from the carrier to the wireless device that might make a difference. Sometimes work or break. Also depending on the model of Cradlepoint (I believe at least cheaper models), their NAT support only one inside subnet configured on the LAN interface. So if you come from behind FGT without NAT at the FGT, it couldn't browse the internet via wireless.

[rpetty]

We use static IPs/unrestricted on all our network cellular equipment so we can built a site to site vpn tunnels for hub and spoke VPNs.  With the cradlepoints we configure them in bridge mode so all traffic is passed to the fortigate and we can connect to both the fortigate and cradlepoint on the public IP just different management ports.