Which Router/Modem Combo For AT&T Band 5 w/ CA

[connexion2005]

Hello,

I've been using an old Cradlepoint MBR1400V1 w/ compatible MC200 AT&T modem for a long time now and it does fine but is only able to pull Band 4 LTE (band 5 is not supported on this modem) in my area with no carrier aggregation of course. In this setup I also have a 40 foot tower with Wilson DB Pro LTE antenna set up so full signal is achieved with great DB and SINR in the building this is going in. This typically nets me 5-12mbps down and around the 5-10mbps up depending on network congestion. However in my area there is a superior Band 5 LTE pipe that is being carrier aggregated on newer modems like my Samsung S20 Ultra where the following configuration is consistently established:

Primary - Band 5 LTE BW 10Mhz
Carrier Aggregation 1 - Band 66 BW 10Mhz
Carrier Aggregation 2 - Band 66 BW 5Mhz

Band 5 on it's own without carrier aggregation outperforms Band 4 anyhow. When carrier aggregation is running speeds are significantly higher as well at around 20-30mbps down and and 10mbps+ up.

So my question is I've seen tons of the WE826 models running around but right now what is the best possible setup to attempt to lock in this configuration for my needs. What router and what modem would go best for me? I'm also looking for something that can optionally run VPN services configured at the router level such as PIA, ExpressVPN or NordVPN as well.

Thanks for your help and I hope I've provided enough detail!

[connexion2005]

-Update-

I went ahead and went with the following for my setup:

NEXQ6GO-M
Quectel EM12-G CAT12 M.2 Modem - This modem should allow for 3X carrier aggregation covering the primary band 5 and the 2 band 66 CA's that I need
Mini PCI-E to M.2
5 in 1 SIM Card Adapter Kit with Emery Sanding Board -
12V 2.5A 30W Power Adapter (2.1mm Tip)

The setup should arrive today (barring any Fedex delays) and I'll probably attempt to run this through a PIA OpenVPN or Wireguard VPN setup to alleviate the AT&T Transparent Proxy issue that all AT&T customers have had for the last several months where they will soft block traffic over port 80 and 443 after a few hours at a time.

I'll let you know more as I get things built and rolling out!

[Viper67857]

From what I've been reading, the transparent proxy problem seems to have been resolved. Personally, I haven't had to reboot in over a week, and I had attributed that to setting up dnscrypt, but it appears to be just a coincidence since the problem has apparently disappeared for everyone else..