how to add 4G LTE to home network?

[paul45]

I recently moved to Hong Kong and signed a 12 mth contract with a DSL provider (no other modern broadband avail at my location) which gives me about 4-6Mbps in real connectivity, which for me is too slow. My 4G LTE mobile is getting a steady 40Mbps at my home and the company offers a sort of modified (they call it "fair use policy") unlimited data plan at a reasonable price.

My home is Cat5e wired (about 15 points throughout) with all wires terminating in a cabinet in the garage where I have Gigabit router, 16 port POE switch and the DSL modem.

I would like to modify the setup by changing the router to a dual WAN model. I would use WAN 1 for DSL (I'm still on contract after all so might as well keep it for backup and other traffic management) and WAN 2 for 4G LTE.

Here is where I need help. I can't make sense of the products in the market to make this setup happen. Since everything terminates in the garage, I want to keep the router there. Meanwhile, my 4G connection is best on the top floor of the house, so I would like to wire a 4G modem there into my wall socket and that would terminate on the WAN 2 port on the router in the garage. All the products I see on the market however are listed as "4G LTE router". I don't want a second router in my home, I just want it to behave as a modem. I need a product that is a modem (preferably with antennas), accepts a SIM card and can be wired by Ethernet cable into the WAN port of a router.

Can anyone advise on the right product or setup to fit my needs?

Thanks

 

[thiggins]

Check to see if the 4G routers you are considering can be bridged (bypass routing function). Otherwise you'll have to go with a double-NAT setup. This isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you need to access your LAN remotely.

 

[CaptainSTX]

First step should be to see what WiFi 4G LTE mobile hotspots your 4G LTE provider offers and or supports. I have a 4G LTE hotspot manufactured by ZTE. Be aware that not all 4G Hotspots will work every where in the world. They need to have the right radios. Even though T-Mobile told me the ZTE would work in Greece and Sweden it wouldn't so they sent me a Samsung Hotspot Pro. Haven't tried to connect the Samsung to my router as the ZTE works so well in the USA.

Then check the software on your router to see if it supports the hardware from your mobile 4G LTE provider. If you look at the posts here you will see that not all modems and/or adapters are supported or work equally well.

I leave a USB cord connected to my Asus N66U. Then when I need a backup source for Internet I just connect my my ZTE to the cable and my network has Internet. Worked very well when I moved and FIOS didn't get my new connection set up for 48 hours. Only problem I had was my wife streamed a movie from Netflix and used half a months worth of my fast data allocation from T-Mobile.

Most of the time I use the ZTE to provide WiFi for our Kindles when we are at the pool or the beach.

 

[azazel1024]

Check to see if the 4G routers you are considering can be bridged (bypass routing function). Otherwise you'll have to go with a double-NAT setup. This isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you need to access your LAN remotely.

It might also be a possibility that you can get a router that'll support an LTE USB modem, though I haven't seen any dual (or more) WAN port routers that'll support a USB modem (of any kind).

Likely what you'll need to do is get a load balance dual WAN router, connect one WAN port to the DSL modem and the second WAN port to the 4G LTE router (hopefully it can be put in to bridge mode). Then you'll need to setup load balance rules for each connection, which is likely going to be by device rules, or possibly round robin. Some have more advanced load balance settings than that, such as weighting connection types and so forth.

 

[politby]

Microtik routers support LTE modems and can be set up with multiple WAN ports.

$118

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BGIXOHQ?pc_redir=1409689456&robot_redir=1

www.routerboard.com/RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN

Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk

 

[dorf]

I recently moved to Hong Kong and signed a 12 mth contract with a DSL provider (no other modern broadband avail at my location) which gives me about 4-6Mbps in real connectivity, which for me is too slow. My 4G LTE mobile is getting a steady 40Mbps at my home and the company offers a sort of modified (they call it "fair use policy") unlimited data plan at a reasonable price.

My home is Cat5e wired (about 15 points throughout) with all wires terminating in a cabinet in the garage where I have Gigabit router, 16 port POE switch and the DSL modem.

I would like to modify the setup by changing the router to a dual WAN model. I would use WAN 1 for DSL (I'm still on contract after all so might as well keep it for backup and other traffic management) and WAN 2 for 4G LTE.

Here is where I need help. I can't make sense of the products in the market to make this setup happen. Since everything terminates in the garage, I want to keep the router there. Meanwhile, my 4G connection is best on the top floor of the house, so I would like to wire a 4G modem there into my wall socket and that would terminate on the WAN 2 port on the router in the garage. All the products I see on the market however are listed as "4G LTE router". I don't want a second router in my home, I just want it to behave as a modem. I need a product that is a modem (preferably with antennas), accepts a SIM card and can be wired by Ethernet cable into the WAN port of a router.

Can anyone advise on the right product or setup to fit my needs?

Thanks

Have a look at Dovado, www.dovado.com. If you can get hold of a USB modem they already support it or they will add it. They can bridge the router if you wish so.

 

[paul45]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I should stress that the main router and the 4G LTE modem/router must be in 2 diff parts of the house and can only be connected by Ethernet cable. Having 2 routers is not an option because I have a NAS that I need to access via WAN. Dovado looks like an interesting product, they list mobile broadband accessed in routed/bridged mode. So bridged mode effectively turns off the router function of the device? I'll read their documentation to try to figure out on my own but if anyone has any experience with these please let me know. Thanks

 

[thiggins]

For one device using fixed ports you can put the device in DMZ on the LAN facing router and on the WAN facing router, forward the required ports, using the LAN facing router's WAN IP.

 

[dorf]

So bridged mode effectively turns off the router function of the device? I'll read their documentation to try to figure out on my own but if anyone has any experience with these please let me know. Thanks

Yes. Bridge mode means that NAT will be disabled. You will not have double NAT. Mentionable in this discussion could be that the connection tracker function that they have will not be available. It will only be needed if the modem hangs but still... In my experience I would say that Dovado have the best experience in mobile broadband. Routing is done by IP tables as any router so basically no difference, wireless however is something that you could have an opinion about. I use an Ubiquiti AP instead of the built in wireless.

 

[paul45]

Right, makes sense. I've got several Linksys wireless APs with POE scattered throughout and they work pretty well. So really only need the modem functionality. Shame no one is producing a device like that. I'll look into getting the Dovado in HK, not sure if that's even possible, but we'll see. Thanks again for all the responses.