Backup 4G router

SpellowHouse said:
I did this a few months back. I tried a variety of equipment.

My ordinary router is an ASUS, which has a failover. It can either use the USB or an Ethernet port. It's not really that important, though, because you can just manually unplug your current modem and plug in a 4g router in its place.

Having tried a few, I particularly like the Zyxel because they had a reasonable amount of configuration, and you could set the IP on the LAN side to 192.168.0.1 which didn't clash with my normal routers settings of 192.168.1.1.

You can get a zyxel router, used, for that sort of money. TP-Link offer some alternatives, but I didn't try one of those.

There is little point in buying a fast router if you are in a poor reception area. A cheap one will perform just as well as one costing twice the price.

As to which service you buy, the best I found was 3. Their SIMs are available in the jungle, and they just plug in and work. Others, you have to put them in a phone first to register the SIM before it works.

I am still not entirely sure of all the rules for the SIM, but I think it has to be used once every six months, or it stops working altogether and in addition, most of them also lose their data allowance within a month if it is not used.
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Thank you. What Zyxel model are you using please?
 
wizard said:
Thank you. What Zyxel model are you using please?
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I managed to pick up a Zyxel LTE5388-M804. They are about £90 new and around the cost you are looking at when you find one on ebay.

I tried the more expensive one, the LTE5398-M904, but in my reception area, there was no benefit despite it being almost twice the price.

The tp-link routers are worth looking at as well. I was looking for an upright model, which is the only reason I didn't look at them.
 
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I have a HUAWEI B535 (Can be had second hand for about £50) it wasn't originally purchased as a backup but I haves used it when the landline connection has died, we use a mesh wifi so it was just a question of plugging in the router and connect the mesh to the $G router instead of the broadband one and everything was back alive. It is a pretty basic bit of kit but seems reliable and gets decent enough signal where I live when used with a GiffGaff sim which are convenient as you can top them up when ever and however much you need and I didn't have to put it in a phone to activate it you can even pick up txt messages on the router.
 
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a1ex2001 said:
I have a HUAWEI B535 (Can be had second hand for about £50) it wasn't originally purchased as a backup but I haves used it when the landline connection has died, we use a mesh wifi so it was just a question of plugging in the router and connect the mesh to the $G router instead of the broadband one and everything was back alive. It is a pretty basic bit of kit but seems reliable and gets decent enough signal where I live when used with a GiffGaff sim which are convenient as you can top them up when ever and however much you need and I didn't have to put it in a phone to activate it you can even pick up txt messages on the router.
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Interesting point. I assume you are talking about a GiffGaff PAYG card? Does these expire every month or do you need to use it every often? Switched from Tesco Mobile (does not give Wifi calling on Pixel 6:mad:) to O2 directly. More data at lesser price and good Wifi calling!Does it matter that GiffGaff does not support Wifi Calling?

B535 look tempting but just wondered if I should also consider Mobile broadband which would work as a backup option should the Broadband goes down and cannot get Wifi calling?
 
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wizard said:
Interesting point. I assume you are talking about a GiffGaff PAYG card? Does these expire every month or do you need to use it every often? Switched from Tesco Mobile (does not give Wifi calling on Pixel 6:mad:) to O2 directly. More data at lesser price and good Wifi calling!Does it matter that GiffGaff does not support Wifi Calling?

B535 look tempting but just wondered if I should also consider Mobile broadband which would work as a backup option should the Broadband goes down and cannot get Wifi calling?
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The 3 Payg sim I got is a 24GB that is supposed to last up to two years. The problem is, I am not completely certain it does. It's very difficult to get a straight answer from anyone in CS. The first SIM I bought didn't last anything like 2 years, but I am not sure why. I was using it while I was experimenting with modems. I am 90% certain that I didn't use anything like 24GB and the SIM suddenly announced that I needed to top it up. I didn't get to check the actual usage because Amazon offered to replace it, so I returned it the same day. I have not used the replacement yet. At £35 each, I am not about to waste another. When I do eventually get round to using the replacement, if it runs out in a month then I will switch tariffs, because the £35 is very expensive if it DOESN'T last two years. Until then, I can't answer whether it's worth the money or not.
Incidentally, even it if the data expires after a month, you only have to top it up once every six months for it to stay valid, so it is an option to just hang on to one that has say 1GB of data that has expired, but remember to top it up it every 6 months. 1GB is really cheap. It would work out at less than £4 for six months "standby".
 
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In an emergency situation (no internet) and for a very short term solution, would my phone sim be an option with a 4G modem / mobile router?
 
wizard said:
In an emergency situation (no internet) and for a very short term solution, would my phone sim be an option with a 4G modem / mobile router?
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Yeah, it'll work in the same way as hotspotting from your phone. I transfer my 4G sim from my router to my phone now and then.
 
wizard said:
I assume this is not your normal router for daily use? What router do you transfer it to please?
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I considered that, but came to the conclusion that I couldn't afford to disconnect the phone for the sake of the internet.

The one thing I didn't try is using the phone as a modem plugged in to the router. I have no idea whether that is even a thing.
 
I was using a Huawei B525 4G router at my caravan It was ok for streaming Netflix etc. I then ordered a Huawei B535 to see if it improved the speed due to some tech using two towers or something similar! That router did increase my speeds. I also tried a Poynting Omni antenna but that made no difference.

A friend of mine lives in an isolated area and wanted faster speeds than her regular broadband as it gives a max of 3mbs.

I tried a couple of different 4G routers, external antenna and sim card providers. In the end, I bought her the same Huawei B535 Router from a well-known used site and her speed is 3x faster than her home broadband was.

The B535 certainly appears fast for 4G and around £60 used.

There are 5G routers but at my caravan, it's overkill, and at my friend's house no signal on 5g.

Yes, the ZTE, Zyxel 5G modems get some great user reviews but not good for her.
 
wizard said:
One further question - can MR600 be used as an AP off the base Mesh router? This way it can use the sim 4G when needed and give me separate 2.4Ghz for my older device that refuses Mesh auto 2.4/5Ghz.
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You can setup two ssid one for 2.4 and one for 5. I had to do this in the past.
 
AnastieByte said:
I was using a Huawei B525 4G router at my caravan It was ok for streaming Netflix etc. I then ordered a Huawei B535 to see if it improved the speed due to some tech using two towers or something similar! That router did increase my speeds. I also tried a Poynting Omni antenna but that made no difference.

The B535 certainly appears fast for 4G and around £60 used.
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Managed to get B535-333 for £65 on ebay. Looked at B353-232 around £60ish but 333 has a Voip phone connection which may be useful.
 
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