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4G and WAN aggregation

Srd11

Member
HI

I'm moving to a rural area (TN27 0SD)where FTTP will arrive in 12 or so months. Current traditional broadband is < 5Mb. O2 and Vodafone are potential providers. Three are not. EE maybe though appear more expensive.

Currently have a ubiquiti setup (gateway + 3 APs) and planning on keeping the APs.

Plan is to use 4G AND the slow broadband through WAN aggregation and once FTTP comes, move to that, with 4G as backup. Am considering the draytek 2866 as it technically covers this (4G SIM, ADSL/VSDL and FTTP) and WAN aggregation - but concerned on it's ability to get a decent 4G signal

The B818 is discussed a lot and clearly a lot more confidence in it as a unit - however, I'd stil use ubiquiti for wifi and get something like a TP-Link router with wan aggregation, which is cheaper than the draytek.

Kicking a lot of options around - the key at the moment is ensuring a reasonably 4G connection and ability to aggregate -suggestions on h/w appreciated.
 
Last edited:
O2 have 650GB fup, similar to EE, though the latter might be on 1TB nowadays and not actively enforced.
 
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Try to get stock versions of good routers so you have maximum flexibility, bridge mode comes to mind which you might appreciate.
We generally recommend Huawei here. B818 (cat 19) is probably one of the best LTE routers, but could be hard to find, if that is the case then try the B628-265 (cat 12).
These would be much better than the draytek at LTE.
Try them in a good location such as the loft.

Mikrotik has some nice routers too, for outdoors as well, but lower LTE cat (6, same as the draytek) which may or not be a problem in your case. Lower cat means it can aggregate fewer bands and possibly lower MIMO, but if you only have lower spec masts around you then it should not matter. Have a look on Cellmapper.

Hope others will chip in as well and help you get the bigger picture.
 
I have a Draytek 2862 which I got from ebay - same as you I wanted 4G +broadband + a WAN port aggregated ( in my case for Starlink as FTTP seems years away!) Setup works well, I use RT-AC68U as mesh APs as I had these spare and use the Draytek rules to route a couple of services where lower ping/stability is more essential over the fixed broadband

I am using EE on a small business 4G sim only contract as I was worried about caps - for me locally this is by far the best performance. Best to get a couple of prepaid sims and check what you get at your location/

I actually had the EE 4G home broadband service to start with and had availed of their £100 external antenna install service before realising I wanted the Draytek "all in one" and cancelling that. But the antenna does help performance so that is something to look into perhaps.
 
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I have a Draytek 2862 which I got from ebay - same as you I wanted 4G +broadband + a WAN port aggregated ( in my case for Starlink as FTTP seems years away!) Setup works well, I use RT-AC68U as mesh APs as I had these spare and use the Draytek rules to route a couple of services where lower ping/stability is more essential over the fixed broadband

I am using EE on a small business 4G sim only contract as I was worried about caps - for me locally this is by far the best performance. Best to get a couple of prepaid sims and check what you get at your location/

I actually had the EE 4G home broadband service to start with and had availed of their £100 external antenna install service before realising I wanted the Draytek "all in one" and cancelling that. But the antenna does help performance so that is something to look into perhaps.
FYI you might have found that your ASUS can already do dual-WAN... my AC86U can. Though not sure if it'd need Merlin firmware (which I use) and/or if that model is limited to just USB as the secondary WAN. Also it might not be as configurable as the Draytek on rules for routing (might just be load-balance or failover options).

 
FYI you might have found that your ASUS can already do dual-WAN... my ASC86U can. Though not sure if it'd need Merlin firmware (which I use) and/or if that model is limited to just USB as the secondary WAN. Also it might not be as configurable as the Draytek on rules for routing (might just be load-balance or failover options).


Yes I originally had the Asus with the in built modem and the EE 4G router on a WAN port but had a lot of problems with my connection and this was identified as a possible cause - their VDSL modem doesn't have the best reputation. The Draytek allowed me to have it all in one box, the flexibility to add a third source on the WAN port and some more flexibility on the routing rules & happy to say it's proved to be rock solid even with my less than stellar FTTC it's all handled seamlessly
 
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