An outdoor router is a cellular router designed for installation outside, with a weatherproof housing rated to IP65, IP67, or IP69K, wide-temperature operation, and either integrated antennas or external antenna connectors with weatherproof glands.

In short: Outdoor cellular routers solve a class of deployment problem that indoor routers cannot: putting connectivity where the equipment is, rather than running cables to a sheltered location. Common applications include rooftop CCTV cameras with their own connectivity, agricultural sensors in fields, construction site equipment, EV chargers exposed to weather, transport infrastructure, telecoms backhaul, and remote utility installations. Outdoor routers typically include PoE input (so power and data both arrive over a single Ethernet cable from indoors), passive cooling (no fans to fail or let water ingress), and surge protection (since outdoor cables run longer distances and are more exposed to electrical events).

Antenna design matters more for outdoor routers than indoor ones. Some outdoor routers include integrated panel antennas (the router and antenna form a single unit, mounted with a clear view of the cellular network). Others have external antenna connectors with weatherproof glands, allowing the installer to specify gain, polarisation, and directionality based on the specific site. Teltonika's OTD144 is an example of the integrated-antenna design.

For sites with poor cellular coverage, an outdoor router with a directional antenna mounted high and pointed at the nearest cell can often achieve usable signal where an indoor router with omnidirectional antennas could not. The combination of better antenna position, higher antenna gain, and shorter coaxial cable runs typically gains 10 to 15 dB of effective signal, which makes the difference between a deployment that works and one that does not.