On Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 10:53:52PM +0000, Alex Frolkin wrote: > Can anybody recommend a 4G USB dongle that works with OpenBSD, ideally > without any kernel fiddling (although I am open to this if necessary)?
Do you actually need a _dongle_ for some specialised usage, or is the end goal to have access to cellular data services and SMS? If it's the latter, you can avoid all of the difficulties that come with finding and using one of these devices, by buying a 4G, (or 5G), router that works in bridge mode. A router is slightly more expensive up front, but on the other hand if you have to buy two or three dongles that end up not working then the price difference is moot. With a router you also usually get better antennas, (and the option to use external antennas). Additionally, since it's a separate device which is powered on constantly, a reboot or power cycle of your OpenBSD machine doesn't cause the link to go down and up, so you get more or less instant connection after reboot. Oh, and at least in my experience, IPv6 support has been much more solid using a router than a dongle. We've done detailed write-ups about using LTE bridges with OpenBSD on our research site, by the way.
