Wireless Joint

Shout out to all US veterans (living and fallen) and their families on this 2021 Memorial Day (my Dad was Navy). My questions and query are concerning the ZBT WG 1602 router and whether it ships with or supports Rooter firmware. It does appear to use the MTK7621A chipset and I'm seeing that the 1608 router apparently does support the firmware. My main consideration is to have control of TTL values that Rooter allows. I'm still in the learning curve here, so any insight would be appreciated. I have searched the forum here without results, hence my new topic. I have seen others ask about other router models that are not specifically mentioned on the Rooter website, but I believe in general terms members here have said that it's all about the chipset and since the 1608 appears to support the firmware it would lead me to the conclusion that the 1602 would as well. As always any help is TIA.

There's a GoldenOrb firmware available specifically for the WG1602, here's the latest as of today.
ZBT-WG1602-GO2021-07-20.zip
http://www.aturnofthenut.com/upload/ZBT-WG1602-GO2021-07-20.zip

And here's the folder with all firmwares and versions.
http://www.aturnofthenut.com/upload/

What is the highest number(7 Cat through 18 # ) Cat No #of a Sierra Wireless EM modem to fit the ZBT WG1602 ?

With adapter you could fit a 5G modem in there. Cat22. I've never spent any time on the WG1602, I heard it was not a good performer at all.

I have been using a WG1608 for a few weeks now and am really underwhelmed by the router. I'd have rather bought something without a m.2 and used a USB enclosure for the modem.

Dual core, 16 or 32 megs rom, 128 or 256 megs ram, at best ac1200 - it's a low-end 8+ year old router with only one redeeming factor: onboard m.2 support.

The regret is real, if OP is inclined to pave their own path my recommendation would be to choose another router with openwrt support and start from there.

/edit: My WG1608 (bought off ebay) came with OpenWRT preloaded. I then flashed ROOter.