AC68U - Unable to do WAN USB Tethering with Android phone on AT&T

[ColinTaylor]

Thank you for the tip on John's firmware. I might give it a go.

My main point was that it should work with Merlin AFAIK, but perhaps the lack of anything plugged into the WAN port is the issue. But there isn't a "list of supported phones" because it's just Android.

 

[galfert]

My main point was that it should work with Merlin AFAIK, but perhaps the lack of anything plugged into the WAN port is the issue. But there isn't a "list of supported phones" because it's just Android.

Well I've now tried it with cable modem on WAN and it still doesn't work.

I wonder if there is s firmware bug when you select "Android phone" because it keeps saying "USB modem" as connection type:

 

[agilani]

i tried this with att and my lg v40 when spectrum was out. i was never able to get it to work. I ended up using the hotspot on my phone during the spectrum outage. If you get this working, it'd be interested too.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well I've not tried it with cable modem on WAN and it still doesn't work.

I wonder if there is s firmware bug when you select "Android phone" because it keeps saying "USB modem" as connection type:

Well that's different from John's firmware. His doesn't have a "Cold Standby" mode. When I set mine up in fail over the phone still connected to the cellular network and was showing its IP address, DNS, etc.

FWIW I did have some issues getting it to recognise the Andriod mode. If I went straight to dual WAN setup it didn't work properly. I always had to systematically click through the options starting at USB application then 3G/4G and then USB Modem / USB Tethering.

 

[El Indalo]

I live in a remote location where there is 4G but no other internet.

I’ve got "Android Phone" working as my Primary (and only WAN) on AC86U and had it working well on AC68U before I upgraded. I've used it exclusively for about 6 months and it is pretty stable - much more than I expected. The entire set up is done with the web interface but it is not very intuitive.

I bought a cheap Android phone especially for the purpose. I researched quite a bit as the modem in the phone can be a limiting factor on the speed of your connection. The phone I use is a Umidigi A3X which I got on Amazon for under 80 euros. It runs a stock Android 10. I have not upgraded the phone in any way. Within the phone’s data and internet settings, there is "USB tethering" but this cannot be turned on till the router is set up, connected and waiting for a connection.

I have a 4G sim from the Spanish provider Lowi which is part of Vodafone and uses the Vodafone network.

On the router (having first applied the latest Asuswrt-Merlin firmware, I took these steps:-

1. Plug in the Android phone, I have it in USB 2.0 socket and use the cable that came with the phone.

2. USB application menu, 3G/4G, "Internet Connection" tab, switch on, select Android phone from the drop down and apply.

3. Dual WAN tab, "enable dual WAN" to off, "Primary WAN" select "USB" and apply.

4. Switch on USB tethering in Android phone settings. There is a short wait while it finds the connection.

A reboot might be needed between 3 and 4. Sometimes you need to switch on "USB tethering" on the phone again after a reboot, and sometimes not - not sure why.

The network has the WAN IP passed by the Android phone and uses the ISP’s DNS, which I would like to change but haven't yet worked out how.

Also, on the WAN > Internet Connection page, there are two settings under “Special Requirement from ISP” being “Extend the TTL value” and “Spoof LAN TTL value”. Does anyone know what these two values do?