LTE (4G) failback

[#1]

Hi

I am sorry if this has been covered before, but nothing came up on a search.

Does anyone know why PlusNet aren't offering the LTE (4G) failback option BT do to their customers?

BT own PlusNet, PlusNet buy from BT wholesale it seems a no-brainer to offer this to customers.

I currently use a very convoluted system involving a "three" (no other mobile provider gives you an external IP) "all you can eat" (which isn't BTW) to back-up my which is a nightmare should the VDSL drop as the LTE link has a dymanic IP.

🙂

S

[#2]

Hello @Pulsar

Thank you for your feedback.

I will send your feedback across to the relevant team. Currently, it is not a service we offer. I do apolgoise for any inconvenience caused.

Should you require any further assistance, please do get back in touch with us.

Many thanks.
 

[#3]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Fibre to Plusnet Feedback 

[#4]

As the 4G only comes with BT and the cheapest monthly price seems to be 61.99 then you're certainly paying for it.

[#5]

It's not really a cost thing, my poxy "three" sim costs £30 a month and gives the wrong IP every time (3 times so far, so VDSL is pretty solid) it goes live. I have a few sites with PlusNet VDSL with a ADSL backup and have yet to have both die simultaneous which is pretty cool, but £61 PCM is still a LOT cheaper than a leased line (which can still drop) and as more companies litterally grind to  halt without internet access it would be nice to get more option included. 

Before anyone suggests I switch to BT.... No, I like phone people that actually have a clue when I have a problem, hence PlusNet.

[#6]

Hi @Pulsar,

A warm welcome to the forums.

A note of clarity, whilst Plusnet does buy broadband services from BT Wholesale, it is not Wholesale which provides the 4G backup service, it is the BT Retail ISP who does so, as someone has noted at a stiff price.

If you do not find the price to be an issue, then an investment in a VDSL router with a USB port supporting 3G/4G failover might be a good solution for you, with a clutch of 3G/4G dongles.

Whilst BT Retail's "Keep you going" service has merits, it has challenges … the wait for it to arrive and then the hassle of reconfiguring the network, has it got ethernet connection, how many devices will it support?  Putting the back-up service "behind" your network router provides a seamless transparent operation … typically such routers also support a secondary LAN connection (ADSL?) as a back-up route as well.

See something like TP-Link TD-W9970 should do the job … there are others too!!

[#7]

@Pulsar

For what it is worth I use a Huawei E5186 connected to the vigor 2860 Wan2 port (so no need to ensure I have a compatible usb dongle). Line goes down, it switches automatically from WAN1 to WAN2.

Probably not the cheapest option, but it works.

[#8]

TBH, I went out and bought the Draytek 2860 that has LTE built in, I have a thing about clutter so a one box solution suited me.

@dws1900 the Huawei E5186  would also have been a good option, back in the day I used ISDN <> Ethernet routers as back-up as Plusnet attaches your static IP block to the username it was seemless, now if the VDSL drops I get an email and I have to txt my router to find out the WAN IP address to re-direct traffic.

An ISP backed VDSL > LTE failover that deals with the IP swap would be nice.

Apart from the fact it isn't vaguely rack-mountable the Huawei E5186 looks like a decent bit of kit and you just know it will be cheaper than the Draytek I use....

[#9]

If you want a stable static IP address regardless of whether you are using your ADSL/VDSL or a LTE fallback, look at the Andrews & Arnold L2TP service. £10 per month with a 1TB monthly limit, static IPv4 address and block of IPv6 addresses, configurable rDNS etc (all the things you'd expect from A&A). It costs a bit more for a VAT registered company, but still excellent value - it makes a Plusnet connection almost like a business level service.

I use a Vigor 2860n+ with the L2TP tunnel set to prefer my Three LTE connection (using a MikroTik SXT LTE connected to the WAN2 of the Draytek)), but it will swap to the ADSL if Three is disconnected for any reason. You can do that the other way around if you prefer.

[#10]

Sorry to necro this thread but I was looking into this failover stuff yesterday and came up with results from more than one person about it taking up to 45 minutes for the 4g Assure system to notice the line had failed and switch to the 4g.