Can I use a WiFi Hotspot as a backup to my U-verse Internet?

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davidasman

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Oct 30, 2013
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I have 2 necessities: 1) I need to have an internet connection & 2) I need to maintain LAN access for the wired devices on the network to remain in communication with one another.

Currently, I'm using a U-verse internet connection with the wired devices all connected through the U-verse modem/wireless router (it is a combined unit). The wireless devices are then in LAN communication with the wired devices as required. The problem occurs when the WAN connection goes out...which was the case all day yesterday as U-verse experienced mass outages nationwide due to a software upgrade.

I'm looking to use a mobile hotspot (such as the Virgin pay-as-you-go device) in the case of U-verse outages (I have no other ISP available besides a satellite connection). I have yet to find one that allows for wired routing though.

Is it possible to bridge the mobile hotspot to another router? If so, what do I need & how do I set it up? I'm guessing I need a wireless bridge and another router. Will this be plug & play? Essentially, I'd like to be able to power up the mobile hotspot and be back online at the point an outage is noticed.

Thanks for the help!



Slightly more background, if necessary: This is a restaurant POS setup. Credit cards are processed through the internet connection. Kitchen ticket printing occurs through the LAN. The terminals are wireless connected to the LAN; the printers are connected via ethernet. If I simply reassign the terminals to the hotspot SSID, then I will lose printing ability. The terminals can only have 1 wireless connection (they're iPads). A cellular iPad will not utilize its cellular connection while connected to a WiFi source -- *even* if that WiFi source doesn't provide an internet connection (I've tried -- as I thought that would be the easy answer).
 
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The asus router realbeast mentioned has a feature that allows the device to use wireless broadband as a backup when the main internet fails.

Now it would be really nice if it would detect the most common failure where everything is electrically up but no traffic passes. Unfortunately it does not work that way but if you are willing to unplug the cable when you detect the failure it will switch over. Since you can run third party firmware on this router maybe they have solved this. Commercial routers can do things like measure the quality of a path and switch over if it receives too many errors.

I would go though the supported list of USB dongles and make sure you get one that is compatible with this router.

In this configuration...
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bill001g

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The asus router realbeast mentioned has a feature that allows the device to use wireless broadband as a backup when the main internet fails.

Now it would be really nice if it would detect the most common failure where everything is electrically up but no traffic passes. Unfortunately it does not work that way but if you are willing to unplug the cable when you detect the failure it will switch over. Since you can run third party firmware on this router maybe they have solved this. Commercial routers can do things like measure the quality of a path and switch over if it receives too many errors.

I would go though the supported list of USB dongles and make sure you get one that is compatible with this router.

In this configuration I would run the uverse router as a bridge and move all the routing function to the new router.
 
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davidasman

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I've purchased that router... Is there any way to use a mobile hotspot and bridge that connection to the router? While I like the idea of using the USB modem as the backup, I have a couple fears: 1) I know cellular service in the office (where the router would be) is generally pretty poor across all providers, however in the dining area there aren't cell reception issues, and 2) looking into the pay-as-you-go solutions, their USB modems only work on WiMAX and not LTE --- my area has LTE, but no WiMAX.

Thanks for the help!!
 
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bill001g

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I was surprised it could even run the USB ones as backup it is not a common feature to find on a consumer grade router. It is going to to depend what country you should be able to get LTE prepaid. First is to problem is to determine which providers are even a option based on signal levels.

The USB ones are a little tougher to find because the target market is moving to tablets which most run WiFi. Generally you should be able to use any USB device that the carrier supports on their prepaid plan. The hardest part is getting a device for a reasonable price that does not require a commitment. Lately now most the vendors have been publishing their no contract price on devices...even though they give no discount on the service for doing it. I know you put the ATT prepaid sims in any ATT device. You may be able to buy unlocked devices that will work also but LTE is still a little tricky because it is not just the sims, the LTE is on different frequencies for some providers.

The main issue I have seen using the prepaid plans is the time expires no matter if you use it or not. They end up in a way getting a month charge out of your indirectly. The only way around this would be to keep a prepaid card on hand that you do not activate until you need it but than would be a pain.

 
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davidasman

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@bill -- finding a service is not a concern of mine.

My question remains: Is it possible to bridge a wireless hotspot as a backup to another internet connection, and if so, how?

In researching the ASUS router (should be delivered Monday), it seems to have a dual WAN feature -- does anyone know if that will allow me to use a wireless network bridge into the WAN-2 port and wirelessly connected to the hotspot?

Thanks again!
 
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RealBeast

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The wifi hotspot can be run as the router WAN, it is quite simple, but as bill says you will need to manually switch from your usual network, although it should only take a moment or two to engage.

 
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davidasman

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The hotspot cannot be used as the router as my network has a necessary wired component that the hotspots I've seen cannot accommodate.
 
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bill001g

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He means use the hotspot on the WAN INTERFACE of the asus. I would have to load the correct firmware back on mine ( i hack on this router constantly) to see if when you select WAN-2 you can then select it to connect to a wireless AP for the WAN. I know it can run as a repeater or a client bridge but I don't know if you can do that when you run in dual wan mode.

Now if your question is can you hook a hardware device acting as client bridge with a ethernet cable plugged into the ASUS and connecting to the hotspot. That I suspect is very doable since the client bridge hides all wireless stuff and it just appears to be a ethernet cable to the ASUS.

I would try to make things as simple as possible though. This dual wan stuff tends to be kinda of a pain to start with.
 
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