LTE/4G Failover device recommendations

Hey all

I need recommendations on a non router device, maybe a modem? to allow my internet connection to failover to the cellular connection in the event the primary FTTC goes down. What's important is that this failover device needs to support the existing PPPoE that's in place as my router (Netgear R9000) is responsible for doing that.

I looked at the Netgear LM1200 but this device is not compatible using the primary FTTC connection as it can't establish a connection with the router due to PPPoE being handled by the router - even when the LM1200 is set to bridge mode. The LM1200 needs a pure IP connection i.e. without any form of PPPoE encapsulation to pick up the FTTC connection.

TIA!

Edited by Bobby_Valentino (Fri 02-Feb-24 12:36:44)

I have used a nr5103e as a fall over connection with fttc

In reply to a post by Taras:

I have used a nr5103e as a fall over connection with fttc

Good to know but I'm looking for something that's not a router!

In reply to a post by Bobby_Valentino:

What's important is that this failover device needs to support the existing PPPoE that's in place as my router (Netgear R9000) is responsible for doing that.

Are you saying you want to keep the Netgear R9000 handling the PPPoE session over the FTTC link to the primary ISP? If so, can you explain *why* you need this?

The device which is best placed to make a failover decision ("the PPPoE link is down, send traffic down the alternate path") is the one which terminates the PPPoE session, as it can see the PPPoE keepalives.

Hence the best solution would be to have a single router with two WAN ports: one PPPoE to the FTTC provider and one to the 4G/5G network. If the R9000 supports dual WAN with failover, in principle it would be possible to put a 4G/5G router upstream of the second WAN port, with a lower priority default gateway pointing to the 4G/5G router. I have no idea if the R9000 is sophisticated enough to allow this, at least with its standard firmware (OpenWRT could probably do it though).

When you say "failover to the cellular connection", do you mean you already have a cellular connection available, and if so what is it? (What provider, what device) Or is this something you have yet to choose?

In reply to a post by Bobby_Valentino:

The LM1200 needs a pure IP connection i.e. without any form of PPPoE encapsulation to pick up the FTTC connection.

Which is exactly what your R9000 provides: a pure IP subnet behind the router.

However, any device behind the R9000 would not be able to tell reliably whether the FTTC link is up or down. You'd have to configure it to do ping tests to 8.8.8.8, say, via the ethernet link to the R9000, and to change its routing dependent on whether those pings succeed or not.

If it were me, I'd be looking at a Mikrotik router to terminate the PPPoE, with either a USB modem or 4G ethernet router for the backup link - or even better, one of the Mikrotik models with built-in LTE. But that means getting rid of the R9000, or delegating it to being a wireless access point.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by Bobby_Valentino:

What's important is that this failover device needs to support the existing PPPoE that's in place as my router (Netgear R9000) is responsible for doing that.

Are you saying you want to keep the Netgear R9000 handling the PPPoE session over the FTTC link to the primary ISP? If so, can you explain *why* you need this?

The device which is best placed to make a failover decision ("the PPPoE link is down, send traffic down the alternate path") is the one which terminates the PPPoE session, as it can see the PPPoE keepalives.

Hence the best solution would be to have a single router with two WAN ports: one PPPoE to the FTTC provider and one to the 4G/5G network. If the R9000 supports dual WAN with failover, in principle it would be possible to put a 4G/5G router upstream of the second WAN port, with a lower priority default gateway pointing to the 4G/5G router. I have no idea if the R9000 is sophisticated enough to allow this, at least with its standard firmware (OpenWRT could probably do it though).

When you say "failover to the cellular connection", do you mean you already have a cellular connection available, and if so what is it? (What provider, what device) Or is this something you have yet to choose?

In reply to a post by Bobby_Valentino:

The LM1200 needs a pure IP connection i.e. without any form of PPPoE encapsulation to pick up the FTTC connection.

Which is exactly what your R9000 provides: a pure IP subnet behind the router.

However, any device behind the R9000 would not be able to tell reliably whether the FTTC link is up or down. You'd have to configure it to do ping tests to 8.8.8.8, say, via the ethernet link to the R9000, and to change its routing dependent on whether those pings succeed or not.

If it were me, I'd be looking at a Mikrotik router to terminate the PPPoE, with either a USB modem or 4G ethernet router for the backup link - or even better, one of the Mikrotik models with built-in LTE. But that means getting rid of the R9000, or delegating it to being a wireless access point.

Interesting reply, thanks for the info! Will have a think over of how I'm going to do this. It looks like it's increasingly unlikely for me to plug in another device (that's not a router) upstream from my existing router to decide the routing/failover.

I was hoping for a device to exist that would handle the PPPoE traffic and the act as a passthrough to the router or failover to LTE/4G. I thought this device was the Netgear LM1200 but it doesn't handle anything to do with PPPoE

In reply to a post by candlerb:

When you say "failover to the cellular connection", do you mean you already have a cellular connection available, and if so what is it? (What provider, what device) Or is this something you have yet to choose?

It's the latter.

Edited by Bobby_Valentino (Fri 02-Feb-24 16:17:03)

its got a bridge mode .............

In reply to a post by Taras:

its got a bridge mode .............

You mean the R9000? Sure. You'd then be using the R9000 as a modem, which is perfectly reasonable - it avoids buying another FTTC modem.

However, the PPPoE connection would then be terminated on whatever dual-WAN router you have downstream of it. And its wifi would also not be used.

If you want an "all in one" box which does VDSL, dual WAN, and wifi, then I've read that the Draytek routers work pretty well (I never used one, but I did use the Vigor 130 VDSL modem with no problems)

As I said before, if you want something with maximum flexibility and configurability, then the Mikrotik routers are hard to beat, and have good LTE support. But they don't have any devices with integrated VDSL, so you're still going to need an upstream modem (until such time as FTTP is available to you)

Another very flexible option is a small PC running pfSense or OPNsense or similar. This is a nice box:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beelink-PC-Processor-Comput...
Dual 2.5G NICs.

i've used an asus router in dual wan fall over mode, with the nr5103e in ip passthru mode and a hg612 as the primary connection. From what the op has said, i believe the solution i have given is the same as the setup as what the OP needs.

I do love the pricing and config, and support from Mikrotik. They will be my go to switches this year!