Cable Net+Lte Modem with failover. What is the best option?

[psi12]

Hi guys,

I need to create dual wan connection for my home. My main provider will be through cable, 250mb/s. It is very stable and reliable connection but because of my work i need to have a backup so in case it fails i will have the backup within few seconds. I know that it can take a little bit but i hope it will be possible to achieve 10-20 seconds, so that i wont be disconnected from the servers i am on. Mostly operated through web browsers or from citrix.

I have Netgear WNDR 3700 v2 at home. It doesnt support anything i need but i read that it could be possible to install Open WRT/DD-WRT/Gargoyle on it and create Dual WAN. So here are my options

1. I can give it to someone to install and set this firmware on Netgear and with buying LTE subscription i can get D-Link DWR 116 with Huawaei e3372 modem/ Huawaei b315 router or ZTE MF283 + LTE for free.

I undersand that with this option i get LTE modem on one of the routers, i have dual wan on Netgear where i set my cable as main source and 2nd Wan as the backup. Can it work like this? How will it look with failover time?

2.I can buy router ASUS 4g-ac55u, wich have sim for 4g, so i can set primary and backup connection on its software. Question is, do i really have to buy this model if i'll use lte backup only few times a year probably. Think i pay for built lte modem here and i completely dont need it. Also what failover time is here? does anyone test it? It would cost 250 USD

3.I can buy different router from ASUS like RT-AC3200/ RT-AC87U or RT-AC56U. All i think have support for 4g modems, but the question is will it be compatible with Huawaei e3372 that i can get from my lte provider.

Also, and mainly all this routers have Dual WAN, so i can get it and get for free one of the D-Link Dwr 116/Huawaej B315 routers where LTE will be installed and connect it by ethernet to 2nd WAN in Asus router.

How would it look with failover time in this setup?

Wich option can be the best and what would you do. I spoke about it in many places but still have a lot of questions and i have no idea what to do really. I am reading about it from many days and still cant find failover times for any option. I wanted to go for Asus 4g-ac55u, but then Asus support told me that it could take few seconds but also its possible that it could take few minutes wich would be unacceptable for me.

Also is there any difference is failover is done on such Asus 4g-Ac55u where both cable and lte are connected in same place vs routers with dual wan where they switch between WAN ports(one would come from router that have LTE modem connected but it would be on/Not on standby like in 4g-ac55u

Big Thx in advance.

 

[L&LD]

If you're connected to a server, it should drop the connection if your original WAN goes down. Even for a second.

I don't think a dual wan will work for you if that is your requirement (to not drop the connection at all).

If that requirement is so high, you need to look at an ISP that offers 99.9999999% uptime.

Something like what Q9 promises.

https://www.q9.com/services/network-services/

 

[psi12]

My friend use Draytek Vigor not sure wich model but one of the cheapiest with Dual Wan, then he also have Dovado with 4g Modem and Dovado is connected to Draytek with 2nd WAN. 1st Wan is cable connection. Primary is cable and secondary 2nd Wan. He told that switch takes about 20-30 seconds normally and he is not disconnected from Citrix for example. So that could work for me as well

I dont think i have any chance with Uptime as those are too expensive options and we are talking about home business when i use trading platforms while working.

Wich option would you choose from those 3 and do you know what failover times can i achieve with each one of those?

 

[psi12]

I have to add that for configuring Netgear i would have to pay to someome who knows how to do it, so basically there will be costs too. At this point i am closest to picking RT-68U model for example wich is 100$ cheapier than 4g one and probably has better specs and also has Dual wan so that i can connect that lte modem or use 2nd WAN from other router.

 

[stevech]

cradlepoint routers have fail-over and fail-back for cellular modems like LTE. They mostly make expensive pro routers now but I've used their older SOHO like the MBR900 to be found on eBay.
I haven't used consumer type routers with cellular (USB modem) plug-ins. They may not have fail over/fail back as does cradlepoint.

Easy to configure cradlepoint.
I had a USB modem I could plug in to the router when needed, and also plug in to my laptop.

Now, my smartphone (Android/Samsung) like most except Apple, have no-extra cost (from Verizon and ?) WiFi hot spot capability you easily enable. Then routers like cradlepoint SOHO low-end use their "WiFi as WAN" to connect to the phone instead of cable modem/DSL. This works well and you don't need the USB modem.

 

[psi12]

From what i just heared from my friend its basically CITRIX thats important and its not effected(no disconnecting) when failover works

I dont see this cradlepoint routers in my country at all . So i would have to go with one of the solutions above

as for the failover times do you know if there is any difference when this option starts on such 4g-ac55u router vs this Rt-68U for example + other router with connected LTE modem?

Difference is that in this 4g one, backup connection from LTE is on a standby mode i think and from what i understand it can take a little bit more time to move from standby to active when primary cable net drops connection.

In Rt-68u router+ other router with modem in it i think that this LTE connection is always on but simply not used. It would be connected by ethernet cable to 2nd WAN in RT-68U router so in case main cable provider lose connection it would only switch sources. There wouldnt be any time loss on starting up connection from standby

Do i understand it right? What you think about such thing. Good thing is also that if Asus software doesnt work like i want i heared i can try to install other firmware on it to set up better failover things. Like RMerlin, DD-WRT or Tomato, so i would have some other options with it too.

 

[stevech]

Cradlepoint - Newegg.com, Fry's mail order, many on eBay.

 

[psi12]

Yea but not in my country at all, never heared about it and if i order overseas i would have a lot of problems to send it back if it doesnt work

I will go for this Asus rt68u https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC68U/

And will connect Huawei b315 lte router with built modem. Then asus will have set main line as primary and the one on WAN2 from this Huawei as the backup

I read that it will switch faster than in the 4g-ac55u for example because Lte backup is on standby mode there and it has to move first from standby to active and then reconnect. In my configuration LTE is active all the time in huawei router, but simply not used until main connection fails

Makes sense?

 

[sfx2000]

Cradlepoint - Newegg.com, Fry's mail order, many on eBay.

I agree - Cradlepoint understands the whole USB/4g-LTE modem thing, and they tend to update their LTE/4G/3G settings often as devices are released...

Warning - Got to watch out on the Bays of E and the Lists of Craig, as there is a lot of older gear that is no longer supported... Cradlepoint used to maintain a list of supported devices on their website, not sure if they still do..

FWIW - Huawei is probably the most common USB modem/dongle out there - and they're all a bit problematic, as they boot into USB Storage Device mode, rather that USB Comms/Serial mode, so the Router/AP scripts need to execute the usbmodeswitch...

 

[Nullity]

If you want to be awesome, you could get a remote VPN server, then simultaneously connect to it through both of your WANs, then access everything through the remote server.

This would meet your goal of being able to lose a single WAN with no interruption.

 

[Nullity]

Something like this: http://simonmott.co.uk/vpn-bonding

 

[primitivo]

Yea but not in my country at all, never heared about it and if i order overseas i would have a lot of problems to send it back if it doesnt work

I will go for this Asus rt68u https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC68U/

And will connect Huawei b315 lte router with built modem. Then asus will have set main line as primary and the one on WAN2 from this Huawei as the backup

I read that it will switch faster than in the 4g-ac55u for example because Lte backup is on standby mode there and it has to move first from standby to active and then reconnect. In my configuration LTE is active all the time in huawei router, but simply not used until main connection fails

Makes sense?

Nice ideas.

I am currently using RT-AC68U as a main router and Dovado Tiny AC (bridge mode) + Huawei E398 USB for WAN 1 connection + Huawei B315 LTE router for WAN 2 as a backup / failover. It works properly, however you need to keep in mind that B315 LTE router does not have bridge mode, which means you will have double NAT. Don't know if you care about it or not. There is DMZ, but again DMZ is not bridge.

Also keep in mind that RT-AC68U + any USB modem will always work worse than dedicated solution, such as LTE router or... Dovado routers. I don't know many LTE routers which would allow bridge mode, D-Link DWR-921 does but it supports 100Mbps LTE and doesn't have gigabit switch if you care about it.

4G-AC55U - this is a very nice router and in fact could be a primary with LTE support up to 150Mbps and gigabit switches. It's a pity there is no MerlinWRT on it.