NETGEAR 4G LTE Broadband Modem (LM1200)

Infrastructure engineer here (I work with large-scale computer networks and servers) so I apologize in advance that some of the terminology used may be beyond layman’s terms. Firstly, I should state that my “Wifi signal” rating in this review was reflective of the LTE wireless connectivity for this device. It has no other wireless connectivity. I am using the LTE modem with an external dual-interface antenna, and the signal is still terrible when compared to the USB LTE modem this replaced, from the same location, using the same antenna. Secondly, I will state that I am not utilizing or depending on the “LTE fail-over” functionality of this device at all, it is only being used to supply a second internet connection to a second WAN on my firewall which is handling the fail-over itself.

I am writing this review after having spoken with Netgear support at length regarding the concerns I will describe below. Needless to say, their first “answer” for my concerns was that “this is a home product, not a business product.” To explain why I purchased this product, it was meant to replace my existing, soon to be retired Sprint EVDO Netgear LTE modem that was already connected through USB to my firewall to provide LTE fail-over in case of loss of connection through my primary internet. Yes, with Sprint having been purchased by T-Mobile, it was decided they would retire the Sprint EVDO network in favor of the GSM network. As such, my novel solution (since there appear to be no LTE USB modems for my current carrier) was to purchase the LM1200 and attach it to a data-only SIM on my wireless account.

A simple enough solution in theory, or so I thought. But that was before I received, updated, and configured my LM1200. Given that the LM1200 is designed to be placed in front of your router/firewall, I would have expected the LM1200 to have the ability to configure the web GUI to use HTTPS rather than the HTTP that it operates in (you cannot). I also would have expected the ability to disable web GUI access from the LTE and WAN interfaces, you know, to prevent people from logging into the LTE modem management interface from the public internet. I think the chat transcript from my Netgear support sums this up the best:

Bradley F: May I ask what is the purpose of enabling https only?
Me: To prevent my configurations and credentials from being passed to or from the device in clear/plain text?
Bradley F: I see, for home modem they are only with Http and for prevention, you must keep your credentials as secret as possible
Bradley F: We do not have business equivalent for a LTE modem
Me: Really. What is the solution then for a business who needs an LTE modem to place on a secondary WAN interface of a firewall for fail-over?
Bradley F: We only have BR200/BR500 and Orbi Pro NOTE: These are firewalls, and do not list LTE connectivity as options.
Me: If I tried to install this product in that way for a business, I would get fired if they understood how insecure it is!
Bradley F: but those are already routers
Me: Yes, and I need specifically an LTE modem to augment the business-class firewall I already have.
Bradley F: Unfortunately we don’t have business LTE modems
Me: Wow…
Bradley F: Sorry about that

Let me explain it to you another way. You can login to the LM1200 device using its public IP address assigned to the WAN or LTE interfaces. Because the LM1200 uses HTTP instead of HTTPS, data sent to or from the LM1200 is not encrypted. When you login to the LM1200 from anywhere, the interface is presented entirely in HTTP, meaning your config and password are sent in plain text (clear text), and could potentially be “sniffed” by anyone who is also on the same . I don’t think you will be able to see my image names when this review is posted, but there will be only a few. Look for the one that is a list of public IP addresses. That image shows a network scan of the /24 subnet to which my public IP address belonged. Ideally, you should not be able to scan for and find the addresses of other devices on your ISP’s network, but in my case, you could. This also means others on the same network can scan/monitor you and possibly capture your credentials when you enter them. “Screen Shot 11-03-21 at 04.47 PM.PNG”

I feel, given their choice to make the user interface HTTP, that users should be able to disable or enable the ability to login from any interfaces to prevent such snooping. It is bad enough that Netgear has already saved invaders the trouble of guessing a username (there is none, only a password). As an edge device, the LM1200 should have been released with security in mind, regardless of being a “home” product. I myself have not encountered a network device that offered only HTTP for its configuration interface since the early 2000s. Here we are in 2021 with Netgear’s latest offering for an LTE modem, and it appears to have been designed with less security in mind than a Chinese government-issued web chat client. Is it that Netgear doesn’t think home users are subject to hackers, script kiddies, and identitiy theft? I assure you, they are, and Netgear should have better security on this from the start.

I would also point out that there are some concerning entries in the config file if saved from the LM1200. There is only one account on the device so far as I was able to discern from the web interface. However, even though I changed that one password on my device, there existed still the following line stored in the unencrypted config. Take that as you will:

“webd.ownerPassword=1234”

As such, until Netgear adds the ability to enable an HTTPS user interface (as they have on mose of their other home/business firewalls and routers) and the ability to limit or disable login access to the LM1200, I cannot in good conscience advise any home or business user to purchase or use this LTE modem as it now exists. Even if a user also intend to place the modem behind another firewall, it would only protect you from would-be hackers for your Ethernet WAN interface (and only while that WAN interface is active). There is no way to protect yourself on the LTE modem public interface!.

My device details are listed below, and I will revise this review should Netgear correct these security concerns.
Firmware Version: EC25AFFDR07A09M4G
App Version: NTG9X07C_20.06.09.00
Web App Version: LM1200-HDATA_03.03.103.201
Hardware Version: 1.0

2021-11-15 Addendum, I had asked the question of the manufacturer, “Will Netgear allow users to prevent login from public ip interface? since the gui is only http, this is a security concern. looking for mfg answer.” and received the reply back same day, “Remote access to the modem is off by default, so the admin Gui would not be accessible from the public IP address.”

I am not entirely sure how to respond to the manufacturer’s reply, but I have some screenshots (see attached) from my own modem that would indicate remote management IS possible from the public IP on the LTE interface. I did nothing that I know of to enable this, and if there is an undocumented way to disable it, I would really like to know how.

It was a plug and play for my Bell service, but lack wifi connectivity and batteries for more manoeuvrability , more details instructions and setup app will certainly make it a 5 star

Totally plug and play.

This shouldn’t be your your primary router. It’s router features are super slim and basic. You use this in bridge mode to act as modem to connect to Bell (or Rogers) 4G for cell internet when needed during an outage of your wired (fiber, dsl or cable). You want a carrier for 4G that is different than your wired ISP. It’s a fantastic hot standby and automatic failover solution if your wired internet goes down. Or your house fiber, phone line or cable line is cut.

Imagine voip, wifi, TVs, security, voice assistants, alarms, house automation all working when main internet goes down. It’s a whole house internet backup solution.

Super simple to setup – get a nano sim card and ask your cell data provider to unlock it and register the IEMI # of this modem and 5 mins later you are online. You configure it with a PC via an Ethernet cable to the modem.

You then connect it your primary router’s spare Ethernet jacks (that you designate as wan fail over in your router setup).

You need a router that has WAN failover and preferably failback like many Asus routers. Failover is about 30 seconds and automatic once your primary internet goes offline. Nothing in your house will notice the difference – no rebooting of anything or trying to hotspot to your phone in an outage.

Failback on your primary router watches for your wired internet to come back online and auto switch back to avoid costly cell data charges. Failback also happens in 30 seconds or less.

This modem also has sms alerts to your phone to let you know you are on backup internet and alerts when data exceeds a set threshold. This plus notifications from your 4G provider that require exception approvals protect you from surprise high cell data bills.

In standby mode, a router like Asus sends no data over the lan Ethernet cable to this modem So zero data charges, means you can get a basic $10/mth standby package for 4G online backup.

(It will also hunt for 3G if no 4G but those speeds aren’t really useable – so set it to hunt for 4G only). (An Asus primary router could also use this in an actIve wan load sharing mode to increase bandwidth- but that would be super expensive data charges).

Speed on this for about a 2 bar reception to cell tower is 50-70 Mbs down and 15 MBs up.
There are jacks for extra antennas that don’t make much of a difference unless you put the remote antenna outside.

When’s it’s in failover mode, you can logon onto to the admin interface from any lan device or phone to see real time data bandwidth downloaded.

Monthly testing is as simple as unplugging the wan Ethernet cable to your wired internet modem from your router.

After seeing a lot of reviews saying that the Netgear LM1200 [LM1200-100NAS] does not work with Telus in Canada I decided to test it for myself after checking that I could return the device if it did not work. The LM1200 works great with the SIM’s I have for a business APN I manage using Telus IoT. I can only assume that the LM1200 does not work with the Telus residential service or that people don’t know how to properly set up the device, usually an issue when you have to set a custom APN which is what I had to do to get the modem working with my Telus IoT account. The modem has been working great for me for several days as a failover device and I really like that it can be set to bridge mode which is something that most devices don’t offer as a feature. The SIM I’m using in this device has a static IP. I’m not using external antennas and the modem gets 20 Mbps upload and download (all I need) from inside a building with less than ideal signal strength. Since I have no need for WiFi or any router functionality on the modem it makes for a perfect solution for my needs. I can’t believe it is so difficult to find devices with these features.