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The Cradle Point MBR1200 is a robust 802.11n router with 3G/4G failover capabilities. With its failover/failback capability, the MBR1200 automatically switches to a secondary connection (either wired or wireless) when your primary service is interrupted. Once your service is restored, the MBR1200 will automatically failback to the primary connection - keeping your business online.VPN: Secure and Reliable The high-performance MBR1200 has the capability to create, manage, and terminate multiple IPSec VPN sessions. It provides up to ten concurrent sessions, supporting transfer and tunnel modes and several Hash and Cipher algorithms. These encryption protocols protect your communications from one private network to another from end-to-end. Specifications Model Name: MBR1200 Failsafe Gigabit Broadband N Router WAN / Internet: 3G/4G via Five Modem Ports (3 USB 2.0, 1 Express Card, 1 PC Card); One Ethernet Port (10/100/1000); One LAN Ethernet Port re-configurable to WAN for redundancy LAN: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Four Ethernet Ports (10/100/1000)Antennas internal WiFi antennas (300+ yards range), external antenna ports for optional antennas. Buttons / Switches: WiFi On/Off Switch, WPS Button (WiFi Protected Setup), Modem Signal Strength, Reset, and Power Switch LED Indicators: Power, Ethernet LAN (1-4), Ethernet WAN, 3G/4G WAN, 3G/4G Modem Status (5), WPS (WiFi Protected Setup), Signal Strength Dimensions: 9" x 5.1" x 1.57" ( 230mm x 130mm x 40mm )Certifications: FCC, IC, CE, WiFi Alliance Details:- 2.412 to 2.484 GHz Frequency Band Operation- Compliant with IEEE 802.3 and 3u Standards- Supports OFDM and CCK Modulation- Supports Cable/DSL modems with Dynamic IP, Static IP, PPPoE, PPTP, or L2TP Connection Types- Traffic Control and Virtual Server (max 32 servers) and DMZ- Compatible with HSPA, EVDO, LTE, & WiMAX Cellular Network Devices- Easy Management via HTTP and Remote Management via HTTP and SNMP- Full Integration with WiPipe Manager
This review is from : Failsafe Gigabit N Router for Mobile Broadband
Easy to configure but with some advanced features. . I have the MBR1200 by cradlepoint. I needed to have this particular device due to having a PCMCIA aircard. The device is extremely easy to configure. Allows for B/G/N wireless networking with 4 onboard 10/100/1000 ethernet ports. Has the ability to failover or load balance between WAN connections. I have not had a chance to try this, but will hopefully be borrowing neighbors USB airmodem to try this out. The VPN will only allow Device to Device tunneling, not software driven so that you could connect an outside single PC to a VPN connection using a PC client. I was under the assumption this would work but it is not a deal breaker. I did have a problem with one laptop connecting wirelessly. I did multiple things to troubleshoot the device but had no luck. What would happen is the laptop would connect and browse the LAN fine, but if I tried browsing the web or outside the LAN it would timeout. I finally got an external USB wifi adapter and this solved the issue. The internal card that would not work in multiple laptops was an Intel Pro 2200b/g.
Easy to configure but with some advanced features. . I have the MBR1200 by cradlepoint. I needed to have this particular device due to having a PCMCIA aircard. The device is extremely easy to configure. Allows for B/G/N wireless networking with 4 onboard 10/100/1000 ethernet ports. Has the ability to failover or load balance between WAN connections. I have not had a chance to try this, but will hopefully be borrowing neighbors USB airmodem to try this out. The VPN will only allow Device to Device tunneling, not software driven so that you could connect an outside single PC to a VPN connection using a PC client. I was under the assumption this would work but it is not a deal breaker. I did have a problem with one laptop connecting wirelessly. I did multiple things to troubleshoot the device but had no luck. What would happen is the laptop would connect and browse the LAN fine, but if I tried browsing the web or outside the LAN it would timeout. I finally got an external USB wifi adapter and this solved the issue. The internal card that would not work in multiple laptops was an Intel Pro 2200b/g.
Failsafe Gigabit N Router for Mobile Broadband Reviews
Works as advertised but poor documentation . If you are familiar with wireless networking and routers, you will be able to make this baby work without too much effort. However, if this is your first router you will likely have a very hard time. The device comes with just a quick start guide of two pages. Not even a CD like Linksys does it. If you are nevertheless able to access the internet, you will find that exactly the same quick start guide is also the only official documentation on the Cradlepoint homepage. The homepage additionally has a FAQ section, which seems to be the only available and useful information beyond the two-pager. The advanced user will find himself also browsing this FAQ because some of the advanced features, specific only to this device, like load-balancing, can hardly be understood by experimenting. Since this router is otherwise a very well done and sophisticated piece of equipment (provided you understand all the menu options on your on) it seems just cheap and unprofessional from Cradlepoint not to add a comprehensive documentation to a product that still costs more than two hundred dollars.
Update (08/02/10): As kindly pointed out by a reader of this review, the full manual is now available at [...]. It surely wasn't in May, which might give you an indication about Cradlepoint's priorities.
Works as advertised but poor documentation . If you are familiar with wireless networking and routers, you will be able to make this baby work without too much effort. However, if this is your first router you will likely have a very hard time. The device comes with just a quick start guide of two pages. Not even a CD like Linksys does it. If you are nevertheless able to access the internet, you will find that exactly the same quick start guide is also the only official documentation on the Cradlepoint homepage. The homepage additionally has a FAQ section, which seems to be the only available and useful information beyond the two-pager. The advanced user will find himself also browsing this FAQ because some of the advanced features, specific only to this device, like load-balancing, can hardly be understood by experimenting. Since this router is otherwise a very well done and sophisticated piece of equipment (provided you understand all the menu options on your on) it seems just cheap and unprofessional from Cradlepoint not to add a comprehensive documentation to a product that still costs more than two hundred dollars.
Update (08/02/10): As kindly pointed out by a reader of this review, the full manual is now available at [...]. It surely wasn't in May, which might give you an indication about Cradlepoint's priorities.
Failsafe Gigabit N Router for Mobile Broadband Opinions
Single Band? Really?? . Hey, I have houd the MBR1000 and the MBR1200. Both are good solid routers, but for a pricey 802.11n spec device it's missing one key ingredient. Support for the 5 ghz channels!! Thats where the real speed is. You can get some good solid speed if your in the middle of no where and you bond all of the channels together, but if your in a apartment or something with walls you want DUAL BAND. Anyway, I'm looking right now for something as a replacement on my boat(thats why I need the 5 ghz). Anyway, I hope this helps.
I guess I should tell you the cool things though.
You can bond all of your interfaces together. Or you can have your LAN connection run then fail over to a cell based modem(USB, PCMCIA, etc). Also supports VPN and a few other things. Pretty cool, and again has served me well but my cisco class made me want more. :-)
Single Band? Really?? . Hey, I have houd the MBR1000 and the MBR1200. Both are good solid routers, but for a pricey 802.11n spec device it's missing one key ingredient. Support for the 5 ghz channels!! Thats where the real speed is. You can get some good solid speed if your in the middle of no where and you bond all of the channels together, but if your in a apartment or something with walls you want DUAL BAND. Anyway, I'm looking right now for something as a replacement on my boat(thats why I need the 5 ghz). Anyway, I hope this helps.
I guess I should tell you the cool things though.
You can bond all of your interfaces together. Or you can have your LAN connection run then fail over to a cell based modem(USB, PCMCIA, etc). Also supports VPN and a few other things. Pretty cool, and again has served me well but my cisco class made me want more. :-)
Very powerful router for home use! . If you are a techie guru, you will be facinated with the features this router has. I bonded my 3g/4g card with my dsl to be one connection with failover in either wan interface. This router supports usb, ethernet, pcmcia for wan side. This to me is great because now i can simply update router firmware to support new card types and not upgrade hardware. If ur not a techie...plug it in and it works.
Cradlepoint MBR1200 Failsafe Router Rocks . Things to love about the Cradlepoint MBR1200:
1. Gigabit wired networking including the option to use two wired devices as uplinks to ISP.
2. Support for a wide variety of EVDO/3g devices and carriers for ISP failover.
3. Ease of basic installation and configuration.
4. Solid and reliable performance.
5. Support for end to end VPN connections.
6. Useful exterior indicators.
Things not to love about the Cradlepoint MBR1200
1. Documentation is less than thorough.
2. Does not support 300mb/s Wireless N standard.
I've been using one of these at home for about two years and just installed one at a client site. They work well and are feature rich, lacking only thorough documentation and support for 300mb/s Wireless N. The VPN features, though not well documented, work well and provide secure IKE/IPSEC tunnels to devices which support those protocols. Outstanding for remote workers who must be able to connect reliably and who need VPN connections to a central office.
1. Gigabit wired networking including the option to use two wired devices as uplinks to ISP.
2. Support for a wide variety of EVDO/3g devices and carriers for ISP failover.
3. Ease of basic installation and configuration.
4. Solid and reliable performance.
5. Support for end to end VPN connections.
6. Useful exterior indicators.
Things not to love about the Cradlepoint MBR1200
1. Documentation is less than thorough.
2. Does not support 300mb/s Wireless N standard.
I've been using one of these at home for about two years and just installed one at a client site. They work well and are feature rich, lacking only thorough documentation and support for 300mb/s Wireless N. The VPN features, though not well documented, work well and provide secure IKE/IPSEC tunnels to devices which support those protocols. Outstanding for remote workers who must be able to connect reliably and who need VPN connections to a central office.
Good Router. Tough UI . This is a good router for the configurations that work.
I have two issues with this router:
a) The settings are not well documented and one has to experiment to figure out the right settings.(e.g. what is the difference between the three load-balancing options?)
b) There is no way to configure the two WAN interfaces with two different settings (i.e. they both should be on either dynamic IP or they both should have the exact same static IP configuration)
Other than these two gripes - the router works very well for normal use cases.
I have two issues with this router:
a) The settings are not well documented and one has to experiment to figure out the right settings.(e.g. what is the difference between the three load-balancing options?)
b) There is no way to configure the two WAN interfaces with two different settings (i.e. they both should be on either dynamic IP or they both should have the exact same static IP configuration)
Other than these two gripes - the router works very well for normal use cases.
Easy Installation . Router practically installed itself and works flawlessly. I'm using WIN7 64bit. Verizon LG Broadband modem. Two Ethernet pc's and WIFI laptop. I plugged in the usb modem, power cord, and Ethernet cables, powered the unit up and instantly had an internet connection. You'll have to sign into your account on the manufacturer website and create a user name and password to make everything functional, just follow the included instructions. The instruction booklet gives basic info for suggested security settings. WIFI setup was fast and easy. WIN7 had to reconfigure the WiFi network settings, but everything was working great after just a few minutes. The WiFi signal is very strong and I was surprised to have an excellent signal three rooms away from the router. The load balancing seems to work well. Great router for a basic network.
Cons Review
Disappointing... . After reading reviews on the Cradlepoint 1200 and reading through the manual on the Cradlepoint web site, I was positively enthused by the capabilities of this device to provide load balancing and fail over between the two wired and two wireless (3G/4G) connections at my location. The feature set is rich, the capabilities extensive, and the support for latest generation wireless modems top notch.
Once I received the router and started playing around with it, I discovered that the reality was quite disappointing compared to my expectations. Some key challenges that others may find useful:
- I can't get either a Verizon (LG VL600) or AT&T (LG AD600) wireless modem to work reliably despite having the latest firmware and both modems being listed on the supported modems list. I can get connected, but the connection usually drops almost immediately and occasionally stays up but doesn't pass traffic. I've attempted to contact Cradlepoint technical support, but their online chat, after an hour, hasn't resulted in anyone actually coming online.
- Just about every configuration change you make to the router results in a reboot. This means, for even minor changes, you're creating a one minute outage for your entire network with each change or set of changes. Not fatal, but annoying... particularly as competing routers don't require reboots like this.
- I had planned to load balance between my two wired connections and use my wireless modems as fail over. Unfortunately, you can either choose to have load balancing across *all* devices or fail over across *all* devices, but not a mix of the two. I therefore either have to use one interface as primary or run the risk of having hefty modem usage bills when my normal wired connections are running just fine all month. Only annoying if you have two wired connections, I suppose.
- Load balancing doesn't seem to work properly with their SPI firewall. I'm still researching, but it appears the SPI doesn't track sessions across multiple interfaces or the sessions aren't being distributed across the multiple interfaces properly. The net result is my log file filling up every 20 minutes (you can tune down the logging level if you want) with warning messages about blocked packets that didn't match a session... along with web pages and mail messages that don't always load properly on the first attempt.
- Although it isn't written in any of the documentation and doesn't show up in the settings, you cannot use the last IP address of a network block on the LAN side of the router as the router uses both that IP address and the next one to function properly. I discovered this while browsing through the Cradlepoint knowledge base searching for an answer on the other topic. So, if you're on a Class C, don't use x.x.x.254 as your LAN IP address and gateway. (Some network engineers prefer routers at the top of the subnet instead of the bottom. I know we are few and far between, though.)
- I had a slew of errors with clients connected to the built-in WiFi. Despite strong signal strength and reliable wireless connections, the clients would periodically be unable to send anything through the Cradlepoint 1200 essentially blocking their access. The problem corrects itself after a few minutes. Rather than spend more time debugging this, I switched to using one of my other WiFi routers as a bridge and haven't had any issues after that, but something is certainly wrong with the WiFi at least in my configuration.
It's certainly not the worst device out there and there are some nice features and some areas that work pretty well, but it seems like the issues -- at least in my configuration -- outweigh those advantages by a long shot. I'm rather disappointed with my purchase, but am determined to find a way to make it work. I just wish I had bought a different device.
Once I received the router and started playing around with it, I discovered that the reality was quite disappointing compared to my expectations. Some key challenges that others may find useful:
- I can't get either a Verizon (LG VL600) or AT&T (LG AD600) wireless modem to work reliably despite having the latest firmware and both modems being listed on the supported modems list. I can get connected, but the connection usually drops almost immediately and occasionally stays up but doesn't pass traffic. I've attempted to contact Cradlepoint technical support, but their online chat, after an hour, hasn't resulted in anyone actually coming online.
- Just about every configuration change you make to the router results in a reboot. This means, for even minor changes, you're creating a one minute outage for your entire network with each change or set of changes. Not fatal, but annoying... particularly as competing routers don't require reboots like this.
- I had planned to load balance between my two wired connections and use my wireless modems as fail over. Unfortunately, you can either choose to have load balancing across *all* devices or fail over across *all* devices, but not a mix of the two. I therefore either have to use one interface as primary or run the risk of having hefty modem usage bills when my normal wired connections are running just fine all month. Only annoying if you have two wired connections, I suppose.
- Load balancing doesn't seem to work properly with their SPI firewall. I'm still researching, but it appears the SPI doesn't track sessions across multiple interfaces or the sessions aren't being distributed across the multiple interfaces properly. The net result is my log file filling up every 20 minutes (you can tune down the logging level if you want) with warning messages about blocked packets that didn't match a session... along with web pages and mail messages that don't always load properly on the first attempt.
- Although it isn't written in any of the documentation and doesn't show up in the settings, you cannot use the last IP address of a network block on the LAN side of the router as the router uses both that IP address and the next one to function properly. I discovered this while browsing through the Cradlepoint knowledge base searching for an answer on the other topic. So, if you're on a Class C, don't use x.x.x.254 as your LAN IP address and gateway. (Some network engineers prefer routers at the top of the subnet instead of the bottom. I know we are few and far between, though.)
- I had a slew of errors with clients connected to the built-in WiFi. Despite strong signal strength and reliable wireless connections, the clients would periodically be unable to send anything through the Cradlepoint 1200 essentially blocking their access. The problem corrects itself after a few minutes. Rather than spend more time debugging this, I switched to using one of my other WiFi routers as a bridge and haven't had any issues after that, but something is certainly wrong with the WiFi at least in my configuration.
It's certainly not the worst device out there and there are some nice features and some areas that work pretty well, but it seems like the issues -- at least in my configuration -- outweigh those advantages by a long shot. I'm rather disappointed with my purchase, but am determined to find a way to make it work. I just wish I had bought a different device.
Defective device crappy support . I purchased one of these as a failsafe for our MPLS network. Purchased August of 2010 and had the need to use it for the first time today. Unfortunately it won't work. None of the setting changes will hold after reboot. And the default setting is to require a user login. Unfortunately, this does not work for devices that don't have a web browser, like a credit card terminal. Long story short and after over an hour on support chat (just try to find a phone number to call) , email of receipt, typing serial number and MAC address 3 times they have "agreed" to an RMA. Fastest shipping option is for a $19.95 cross ship via UPS Ground. No options for exchanging locally. Gee thanks. An RMA for a defective unit within warranty. So much for a failsafe device. Defective device, crappy support. Purchase at your own risk.
Faulty Failover DISAPPOINTING! . I purchased this router to have load balancing/fail over for a wired T1 connection and a Clearwire 4G broadband connection. My experience has been horrendous. PART 1: ISSUE 1 - No Fail Over in Load Balancing ModeA couple months after using my T1/Clear setup, we had a complete internet outage at my company. It took me a few hours to diagnose the issue and found the following:1.) If the T1 connection fails, the Cradlepoint still thinks it is working.2.) After the T1 failure, the Cradlepoint continues to try to route traffic to the T1.3.) Unfortunately, load balancing to a T1 connection that is not up results in the entire network losing internet connection.PART 2: ISSUE 2 - Technical Support FAILUREI called technical support, and found the following issues:1.) I was put on hold for almost 1 hour, with 10 people in front of me. 2.) I asked if I could call back at 5PM PST (1 hour before they close), so I don't have to troubleshoot during my business hours; however, they are too understaffed to help me during their last hour of operations.3.) You have to pay $19.00 to get a replacement router sent to you if you would like to have the option of swapping out the router without having to first send in the product. The supervisor will tell you the same thing, and they will not budge to provide excellent customer service.PART 3: ISSUE 3 - Product Design FAILUREAfter taking my network down and put on a Buffalo Router running DD-WRT, I was able to troubleshoot my router during my business hours. Here is what I found:1.) There exists an input box in the Advanced settings to specify an IP address to ping to test link status; however, the Load Balancing fail over algorithm ignores it.2.) The Load Balancing fail over algorithm only checks to make sure the default gateway of the WAN can be pinged, so if you have a router without a valid internet connection, Cradlepoint will still register the WAN as active.3.) Because of the Cradlepoint's inability to properly test WAN link status, if one WAN link goes down, the Cradlepoint will continue trying to send traffic to that WAN link. This results in loss of internet, even if the other load balanced WAN links are working. 4.) The proper algorithm that uses the specified external IP address ping test only works with fail over WITHOUT load balancing. This makes no sense because the way to determine WAN status should be the same for load balancing. The programmers definitely got lazy here with load balancing.5.) Even if you want to switch to fail over WITHOUT load balancing, there is another design flaw. The Cradlepoint will turn off connection to the backup connection, so if you have a wireless WAN (Clear 4G in my case), you will need to wait another 1 minute on top of the 1 minute WAN failure detection timeout before the wireless WAN can authenticate with towers and become active. PART 4: ISSUE 4 - Engineering Team FAILUREThe technical support staff realize the load balancing fail over algorithm doesn't make any sense, but the engineering team refuses to change the firmware to fix the failure. This shows me that this company has no desire to support its customers. I see this issue as a HUGE FAILURE, making this "LOAD BALANCING / FAIL OVER" router completely useless. If a router that is touted as a Load Balancing / Fail over router does not do its job, you should fix it, not just abandon it because you no longer want to support it.PART 5: ISSUE 5 - VOIP Feature FAILUREIn addition to all of these load balancing / fail over issues, VOIP also doesn't work. I spent many phone sessions with multiple customer service staff, but have NEVER been able to get Ringcentral working. To solve this problem, I use a separate Buffalo router to handle all of my VOIP lines.PART 6: CONCLUSION1.) If you want a LOAD BALANCING / FAIL OVER / VOIP Router, do not purchase from Cradlepoint.2.) Cradlepoint does not care about producing a product that does what is claimed.3.) If you want to have excellent customer support, do not purchase from Cradlepoint.TO CRADLEPOINT:I hope you are reading this. If at any time you decide to update the firmware to properly support Fail Over with Load Balancing, I will gladly change this review. In the meantime, I will definitely have to warn all customers so they do not run into the same issues I have run into.
Feature Failsafe Gigabit N Router for Mobile Broadband
- Over 260 Yards (780 feet) of WiFi Range
- Share WiFi With Up To 64 People
- Cellular Redundancy Failover to 3G/4G
- Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- Works with USB, PC Card, & Express Card modems
- Firewall features Network Address Translation (NAT) and Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) which prevents against DoS attacks.
- Supports 64/128-bit WEP, WPA, WPA2 (Personal & Enterprise) Wireless Security Modes
- Supports multiple concurrent IPSec, L2TP, and PPTP VPN Pass-Through Sessions
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(Factory Refurbished)
Product Details
EAN : 0804879169901UPC : 804879169901
MPN : MBR1200
Brand : Cradlepoint
Weight : 3 pounds
Height : 3 inches
Length : 13 inches
Width : 10 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Manufacturer : Cradlepoint
Model : MBR1200CP
Publisher : Cradlepoint
Release Date : 2009-10-15
SKU : 804879169901
Studio : Cradlepoint
Where To Buy
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