Backup ISP - 4G
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Does anyone use a CradlePoint or similar device as a backup internet connection. We lost internet at our local office, so we all just went home and are working from there. However, it brought up the point of backup connecitons again. I have an ER-4 router at this office, and while I know it is capable of doing Dual Wan configuration (failover), I'm wondering if anyone has experience with 4G/LTE backups. Or if something else would be better.
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I've not used cellular for backup ISP, but direct point to point over radio 10/10.
Just enough to "keep the lights on" so to speak.
It was functional for the use case of a bucket truck ripping 6 poles out of the ground and cutting fiber for a quarter mile.
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I just called Century Link. (the other provider in our area) They offer 80/10 for $75/month. That's not terrible. Maybe that would be a the best option.
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@fuznutz04 I have cradlepoints at 13 locations, running on the Verizon network. They work okay for our smaller stores. They have saved me quite a few times with outages.
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I have a 20/20 fiber connection as primary and another via cable modem as a backup. Works great and keeps everyone working if it does fail over. Don't see any reason why a cellular connection wouldn't work the same. I set up a site for a friend on cellular only and he gets a constant 80 mbps down and decent uploads. Been working fine for a few months. It uses the LB1120 from Netgear.
https://www.netgear.com/home/products/mobile-broadband/lte-modems/default.aspx
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@brandon220 said in Backup ISP - 4G:
s great and keeps everyone working if it does fail over. Don't see any reason why a cellular connection wouldn't work the same. I set up a site for a friend on cellular only and he gets a constant 80 mbps down and decent uploads. Been working fine for a few months. It uses the LB1120 from Netgear.
I looked at that one. It seems to be a popular choice. Any specific plan with a specific carrier?
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I've heard folks on our network team talk about "CradlePoint," so we use it, and I believe it is what's used as a backup Internet connection for our sites.
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@fuznutz04 He used att and added it to his personal plan for $10/month. They have it billed as a "hotspot". He showed me the bill because I didn't believe him.
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@EddieJennings Cradlepoint routers are popular and work good but are a lot more expensive.
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4G is so slow, rarely is it worth it. Slow enough that you often send people home, anyway.
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I have a cradlepoint AER2200 setup with an AT&T connection at a location across town at a warehouse that gets occasional use. We were going to be using handheld wireless bar code scanners that needed connection to our ERP server. I created an IPSec tunnel to our main office and used an ACL to only limit the correct ports to the server here. Anyway, the connection has been reliable even though it doesn't get much use.
They were going to move out of that location and I was happy because I was going to use the cradlepoint in the main office as a backup, but more for out-of-band management, than for the whole company. Now we have at least another 6 months at that location, so I might end up getting a new one for here anyway. We'll see.
