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Setting up Three 4g+ hub (which has no bridge mode) for load balancing/failover. Help appreciated.

Evanz

Pro Member
I'm intending to try and set up a Huawei b818 263 on EE as my main source of internet, and a Three 4g+ hub as backup and/or load balancing, into a TP Link TP-Link TL-R605 SafeStream router and then into a TP Link Deco M5 Mesh system.
The Huawei has bridge mode , which I understand is necessary for doing this, but the Three 4g+ hub doesn't. Is there a workaround for this?
Help me and I'm your slave for life.
 
I'm intending to try and set up a Huawei b818 263 on EE as my main source of internet, and a Three 4g+ hub as backup and/or load balancing, into a TP Link TP-Link TL-R605 SafeStream router and then into a TP Link Deco M5 Mesh system.
The Huawei has bridge mode , which I understand is necessary for doing this, but the Three 4g+ hub doesn't. Is there a workaround for this?
Help me and I'm your slave for life.
"bridge mode" is not "required", just reduces the number of NATs your traffic goes through, can help with some games, voip etc.

On the Three hub the closest you have is DMZ I think, use that.
 
"bridge mode" is not "required", just reduces the number of NATs your traffic goes through, can help with some games, voip etc.

On the Three hub the closest you have is DMZ I think, use that.
Thanks Lucian , but you underestimate my thick headedness in these matters. DMZ?
 
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Thanks mikeliuk, but there’s no mention of how to set up the routers you want to feed into the load balancing router.
Easiest is default for the two upstream routers. Just ensure they don't have overlapping subnets in the LAN, and load-balancing router gets IP addresses for WAN1 and WAN2.

Essentially there's no other configuration to be done. The hard part is getting a configuration that doesn't work (post turtle situation). https://www.barrypopik.com/index.ph...a_turtle_on_a_fence_he_had_help_getting_there
 
Thanks Lucian , but you underestimate my thick headedness in these matters. DMZ?
It's a sort of 1:1 NAT, where most ports are redirected to the "DMZ-ed" host.

It's not as good as bridge mode, you are still behind a NAT, but at least all/most ports should be forwarded.
 
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It's a sort of 1:1 NAT, where most ports are redirected to the "DMZ-ed" host.

It's not as good as bridge mode, you are still behind a NAT, but at least all/most ports should be forwarded.
I did a bit of looking up, but thanks for that explanation. I've got everything connecting and it's more or less working, just ironing out the kinks as they come up, and bejeezus, they're coming up.
Funny thing is, everyone says the modems should be in bridge mode with this setup, but when I put my 818 in bridge mode, the Internet packs up until I switch it back on again - the Three 4g+ hub doesn't have it.
 
I did a bit of looking up, but thanks for that explanation. I've got everything connecting and it's more or less working, just ironing out the kinks as they come up, and bejeezus, they're coming up.
Funny thing is, everyone says the modems should be in bridge mode with this setup, but when I put my 818 in bridge mode, the Internet packs up until I switch it back on again - the Three 4g+ hub doesn't have it.
If you put an upstream router into bridge mode, the downstream router's WAN would need to be appropriately configured to obtain an IP address. You would then need to check routability to the internet. The only thing bridge mode would buy you is eliminating one NAT hop.
 
If you put an upstream router into bridge mode, the downstream router's WAN would need to be appropriately configured to obtain an IP address. You would then need to check routability to the internet. The only thing bridge mode would buy you is eliminating one NAT hop.
I spent all yesterday tinkering with this setup, using bits of frequently conflicting information I’d picked here and there, watched countless YouTube videos and last night I ended up with a system that seemingly works, that goes like this:

Huawei b818 (nothing changed in settings, not in bridge mode, WiFi off) and Three 4g+ hub (again no changes WiFi off) >WAN 1 and 2 on TP Link R605 router set for failover> LAN on TP Link R605> LAN/WAN TP Link Deco M5 Mesh system in ROUTER mode, not AP.

I tried AP mode on the Decos, which is what everyone recommended, but AP mode has a few issues and did feel a bit ponderous compared to when I’d previously had them in router mode, so I put them back onto router mode last thing last night expecting everything to stop working, but to my great surprise it didn’t, and it it definitely feels quicker and smoother.

So I’ve got 4 routers, no bridge mode to be seen for miles, everything just plug and play, set up by an ignoramous - surely something’s bound to go horribly wrong, isn’t it?
 
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Hands-on is definitely the best way to figure things out.

My Teltonika RUTXR1 supports load-balancing so I do the same config with half the number of routers (and subnets), possibly lower footprint and possibly fewer power sockets, which is why I'm not a huge fan of consumer routers.

It's interesting that the Deco L2 segment is faster with an additional L3 NAT hop and I guess perhaps there's less broadcast traffic. I use Devolo APs and don't think my setup has an option to force routing/NAT in that network.
 
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Hands-on is definitely the best way to figure things out.

My Teltonika RUTXR1 supports load-balancing so I do the same config with half the number of routers (and subnets), possibly lower footprint and possibly fewer power sockets, which is why I'm not a huge fan of consumer routers.

It's interesting that the Deco L2 segment is faster with an additional L3 NAT hop and I guess perhaps there's less broadcast traffic. I use Devolo APs and don't think my setup has an option to force routing/NAT in that network.
All over my head mikeliuk, but I’ve found that with load balancing rather than failback, my EE and Three combined gives me a bit more download speed, but a hell of a lot more upload speed 10-12 rather than the pathetic 2-4 on EE. So I seem to be getting the download speed of my EE connection, plus a bit more, and the upload speed of my Three connection, plus a bit more.

This has made me stupidly happy. It’s gonna work out expensive though. Now I’m on the hunt for a ridiculously cheap unlimited Three deal, although Vodafone, with slower download speeds for me, would probably do (Lebara is probably the best bet, I would’ve thought).
 
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