Desk scope

LinkScope Sourcing 31

LinkScope Sourcing 31 is an independent sourcing partner for US business buyers who need factory quotations on cellular routers, mobile WiFi, and related wireless gear with an external antenna port. The service name is the desk. It is not a router brand and not a carrier, and it does not claim authorized distributor status for any handset maker.

The work is a written brief, a set of factory questions, and a side-by-side reading of the replies. A photograph on this site is a placeholder for the later image pass. It is not evidence that a model has been inspected.

Procurement worksheet for antenna-port routers beside a closed notebook

How a brief moves through the desk

1. Capture

The buyer writes radio standard, frequency range, channel width, MIMO, antenna interface, SIM scope, power method, quantity, US destination, and requested timing. Unknown cells stay marked unknown.

2. Match

The desk looks for factories that can answer that sheet. Matching is a sourcing step. It is not a claim that a plant has been audited or that stock is on a shelf.

3. Compare

Replies are lined up on configuration, currency, Incoterm, exclusions, and evidence. A lower unit price with the antenna excluded is not the same offer as a higher price with the antenna included.

4. Hand back

The buyer decides. Incoming inspection, firmware branch, and support route remain the buyer’s acceptance plan. The desk does not sign the purchase order.

What the desk will not write as fact

No published saving percentage. Any sourcing benefit wording lives in the site notice and is capped, with eligibility checked after the brief is read.

No invented street address, telephone switchboard, or social storefront. Replies go to the work email on the form.

No transfer of an FCC grant, an ISO 9001 certificate, or an NRTL file from one model to another.

New hardware versus a refurbished router

Buyers sometimes ask the desk to chase both. New condition may offer a clearer warranty and a current firmware branch. Refurbished condition may be the practical route when a legacy antenna jack must be matched and the current catalog dropped that connector. Provenance, remaining support, license scope, and cosmetic grade have to be separate lines. LinkScope Sourcing 31 records the preference. It does not grade the seller.

A second split is the antenna interface on the radio. SMA and N are not interchangeable just because both are threaded. Write the gender, the impedance, and whether the antenna is included in the unit price. An excluded antenna is a separate line, not a cheaper version of the same router.

Questions about the desk itself

Do you need a finished link budget before writing?

No. Write the known cells and mark the rest open. A reach in metres, a frequency range, and a connector are enough to start if quantity and destination are present. Guessed gain figures should be labeled as guesses.

Who checks compatibility?

The factory answers for the exact model it proposes. The buyer, or the buyer’s installer, accepts the interface against the host and the site. The desk compares the written answers. It does not issue an engineering approval.

What evidence is reasonable to request?

A current datasheet, a connector drawing, transmit power, receiver sensitivity, and, when the buyer asks, the FCC ID for that model. Measurement accuracy of an RSSI screen is a separate question and is often absent. Connector mating cycle matters when the pigtail will be unplugged often. Ask for it only if that duty is real.

Procurement scenario: a first brief with half the cells empty

Background: a buyer knows the quantity is twenty desktop routers and the destination is Ohio, but the antenna will be chosen after a window test. Process: the note lists 2x2 MIMO, SMA female as preferred, 50 ohm, Power over Ethernet class undecided between 802.3af and 802.3at, and asks each factory to state transmit power and whether the antenna is excluded. Result: replies can still be compared on the router chassis while the antenna line stays visible as a deviation. The desk does not fill the empty gain cell with a catalog average.

The Requirement Checklist is the longer worksheet. The contact page is where the note is sent.

Send the brief the desk can actually circulate

Include product family, quantity, destination, and the antenna interface. Optional budget and supplier preference can ride along. They are not required, and they are not a rating.

  • Independent sourcing partner, not a factory storefront
  • Deviations kept visible
  • Same sheet sent for comparison