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Vodafone's Router

TTJJ

ULTIMATE Member
So I've just had a thought.

Vodafone's router is pretty great - I don't have experience with the new one, but the previous one worked well and had good WiFi performance.

The new-ish broadband plans they have feature 4G back-up. I'm curious if this works without a broadband line, and how exactly it's implemented. I use Vodafone 4G broadband with a B535 currently. I don't know if the 4G is built in or whether it's a dongle situation but it sounds like it could be a viable option if it isn't locked down to a line and would just work in 'backup mode' if that was the routers only available option.

You'd get a pretty decent 4G router perhaps..
 
Are you talking about thg3000?
It doesn't have a 4g modem built-in, it has a usb port you can connect a dongle into.
 
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The dongle is probably cat4, so more for emergency rather than daily use, but the hubs are excellent hardware. I use a couple as access points, top notch and cheap as chips.
 
More info here


Vodafone only give you 50GB whereas the BT backup is unlimited and enables automatically and doesn't have to be near your router.

So the 50GB is a killer if you use it with no broadband
 
Oh yeah, the BT device is a proper LTE router, not sure what CAT, but way better than the VF dongle.
 
BT Hybrid Connect is a nice piece of kit but its bespoke and dependant on a Smart Hub 2 unless you hack it. As far as I am aware BT still owns this kit.

Bands 3, 7, 20 and 38. Speed is purposely limited so that it will not become the preferable connection. Really only meant to address provision delays (such as New Build) and to retain Internet for basic connectivity needs/IoT. SIM/Serial Number is linked to the BT account.

You can put a different SIM in it (slot in base), but why would you. For those that are using the BT eco system and this Hybrid its £7 per month (included in Halo 3+) for an unlimited data SIM when ever you may need it (data consumed limited by speed of course). It would be hard to find an alternative SIM for less than this that is solely dedicated to backup and be alive when needed. Its the way we should go in a IoT world but their price is high which BT always does to make their premium packages look better value.

My preference currently as SIMs are getting more expensive again is a 4G SIM that can take the BB load when needed via balancing and provide Unlimited outgoing VoLTE.
 
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BT Hybrid Connect is a nice piece of kit but its bespoke and dependant on a Smart Hub 2 unless you hack it. As far as I am aware BT still owns this kit.

Bands 3, 7, 20 and 38. Speed is purposely limited so that it will not become the preferable connection. Really only meant to address provision delays (such as New Build) and to retain Internet for basic connectivity needs/IoT. SIM/Serial Number is linked to the BT account.

You can put a different SIM in it (slot in base), but why would you. For those that are using the BT eco system and this Hybrid its £7 per month (included in Halo 3+) for an unlimited data SIM when ever you may need it (data consumed limited by speed of course). It would be hard to find an alternative SIM for less than this that is solely dedicated to backup and be alive when needed. Its the way we should go in a IoT world but their price is high which BT always does to make their premium packages look better value.

My preference currently as SIMs are getting more expensive again is a 4G SIM that can take the BB load when needed via balancing and provide Unlimited outgoing VoLTE.
Hybrid connect is shite. I say this from personal experience, I’m getting rid of mine ASAP. It doesn’t do what it is intended to do. I was told when I purchased it that it would kick in immediately and I wouldn’t notice a drop in my connection however this is not the case as you have to wait 180seconds before it kicks in which I find ridiculous considering I was told it took immediate effect. I now have my own system whereby a huawei B535 handles both connections (4G and VDSL) and when the VDSL disconnects, the 4G kicks in in under 1 second. Nice and simple and NO DROP IN CONNECTION.
 
@Bubblesthefish6 usually what is the nature of the dsl failure, complete drop or just starts to loose packets degrading the experience, but not entirely?
 
@Bubblesthefish6 usually what is the nature of the dsl failure, complete drop or just starts to loose packets degrading the experience, but not entirely?
DSL light goes out and no throughput is achievable. I’m not bothering having openreach Round again, I’d rather spend my own money setting up a system which I know is reliable
 
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Like a lot of the BT offerings it is targeted at the mass market and for support reasons I suspect they may be initiating a network reset sequence after a specified delay is that the case?.

BT T&Cs state "When switching from a fixed broadband network to the EE 4G mobile network there may be a delay of up to two to three minutes"

The old BT Assure took a few minutes. Anyone know how quick the Vodafone router is with backup dongle?
 
Last edited:
They shouldn't have told you that obviously, could have a case for a refund under miselling there.

The issue with these backups is that they are recovering the users service from a LOS, but what you say your after is basically imediate redundancy from a 'service interuption'

The two differ as that latter would kick in once a drop in packets detected or some other errors such as DNS failures,

The LOS backup however is intended to get people back online, not keep them online, service interuptions on 'best effort' services are to be expected,

If BT/VF set there 4G recovery to act immediately upon a service interuption (such as packet loss or DNS delays) then they would constantly be switching between fixed line and mobile connections and this would cause major issues for homes user and ultimately bring the mobile networks crashing down too.

I also beleive that unless tunneling connections that even the best of redundancy results in connection drops/resets as IP's would change and routing tables would also change.
Dual wan router is the way I'm going. One wan interface for the TP Link and one wan interface for the LTE. (Failover setup obviously so no load balancing)
 
My Draytek 2925 dual wan can be set to load balancing or failover, the failover parameters can be simple WAN failure or a user configurable minimum speed on either download or upload. When I have used failover it kicks in in secs.
 
Mine cost £50 with AC Wifi, as long as you go for discontinued models they are cheap, mine has a restricted firewall of 300mbs, so if I ever need FTTP connection more than 300 mbs its upgrade time. Despite the WAN ports being Gb capable the firewall taxes the CPU throttling the throughput, later ones are faster.
 
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Tbh I did try to get a dray Tek but they weren't available for a reasonable price. They were my first thought tho as they do make good products.
Ubiquity Edgerouter can do multi wan and they are cheap.
 
Where can I get one of these from? I'm currently winning a bid for a TP Link TL-R600VPN but I'll consider a Ubiquity if I lose it. 1) Can they do WAN Failover
2) How much and where can I get one
I think they do all you need to (don't have direct experience, but friends recommend it). Amazon used to be full of them, not at the moment it seems. Random shopping link:

 
I think they do all you need to (don't have direct experience, but friends recommend it). Amazon used to be full of them, not at the moment it seems. Random shopping link:

That's a great price, if I don't win the bid on the TP Link I shall be having one of these
 
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