US Cellular Router w/External Antenna

[BadSINR]

I'm nowhere near the wireless aptitude of probably 95% of the members on here so excuse my stupid questions. The property is located in rural southern Missouri about 3 miles from a Tmobile tower so I signed up for their home internet using the Arcadyan and the 4x4 omni directional Waveform external MIMO antenna (mounted on the peak of the roof gable). Everything looked fantastic except SINR so I opted for using 2 wide frequency range log periodic antennas in place of the omni directional. That didn't help whatsoever with any sort of adjustment/aiming or polarity adjustment. With the Omni directional it would randomly work and pull about 30 down and only 1 up but not consistent at all due to crap SINR (B66 & N71). Went back to Cellmapper and found US Cellular to have an antenna 1.2 miles away with line of sight.

Now I'm looking to ditch Tmobile and try US Cellular Unlimited Everywhere (300GB before throttling) utilizing Bands 5 & 12. The issue is with what US Cellular offers for routers, I don't see a viable option to use the 4x4 MIMO antenna that picks up Bands 5 or 12. I have to use an antenna because the house is practically a faraday cage surrounded in all metal siding and roofing. Does anybody know of any routers that US Cellular supports where I can still use the 4x4 MIMO antenna?

Verizon and AT&T are also somewhat in the area according to Cellmapper but speaking with everybody in town they say US Cellular has the best reliable internet. Are there any other simple recommendations that doesn't require any sort of coding or consistent troubleshooting? I see the Visible Plans but I'm still not sold on an easy fix for my situation.

This is for a vacation home with security and pure streaming for anything. I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out. Been on Starlink preorder since 2021 that was originally intended for my permanent home but since I've got that internet working great under Tmobile I'll use the preorder for the vacation home except that's much more $$ and the delivery date keeps moving.

Sorry for the book, appreciate any guidance.

[BadSINR]

Contacted US Cellular yesterday afternoon and found that I may be able to BYOD. They used to utilize the Netgear Orbi LBR20 which has 2 external antenna connections. I'll buy the LBR20 on my own and then have US Cellular issue a SIM card. I'll see how well the 4x4 MIMO works with the various polarity combinations and then maybe even try the log periodic pair since they have a little higher gain.

Are there any better options that I'm completely missing? There are AT&T and Verizon towers about 3 miles away very near the Tmobile tower so I'm a little hesitant given the horrible SINR I was getting in that direction. I'm going for a budget build that can handle at least 300GB/month.

[Didneywhorl]

The LBR20 is a good little unit for the price. The internal pcb has U.FL connectors if you want to access all 4 ports, otherwise 2 are built into the pcb, the other 2 are sticker antennas on the front of the case (inside of course).

You could opt for an upgradable build with any modem you want (https://thewirelesshaven.com), but if you want budget and something made like the LBR20, then that may be your ticket.

[BadSINR]

I didn't even think about searching out the LBR20 for additional internal ports. I'm glad you said that. I'll see how it does with the external 2 for now. The U.FL connectors on the Arcadyan weren't extremely hard to do but they did not go on easily. Hopefully the 2 are good enough so I don't have to venture down that path again.

[Didneywhorl]

The LBR20 U.FL ports are super easy to access and are robust.

The SMA ports need care in handling. They break off easily.