Well I was using clockworkmod program for my intel/linux desktop.   I did not have any luck compiling it on the tv box.  Can someone recommend a cheap plan B for connecting via 4g?  There are a lot of USB dongles out there and I am not sure which is going to work out smoothly.  

 

Thanks ahead of time.

I don't know clockworkmod (rather only in Android Recovery context to which you're obviously not referring). But google for "wvdial" or "modemmanager", depending on your HW you don't even need this. wvdial is shell based, while modemmanager integrates into the GUI with NetworkManager (don't know which repo you are using, or whether it's available in Armbian repos at all!). On the other hand if you're not scared by the shell you could also achieve the same using chatscripts and pppd which are very legacy linux packages.
 

Some of the sticks, like the E3372 will even provide you a network interface which will not require any serial/QMI/WMI handling. Plug it on, use your browser to configure it (eg. navigate to 192.168.4.1 or similar) by entering APN + PIN code, ready. They can even run on a mobile charger and provide a WLAN-AP....