WAN as a Failover via Ubiquiti U-LTE

[kingfurykiller]

Good day LTT forum,

 

I have a home network reliability problem and am trying to add some redundancy, and would like your advice on how good this plan seems (including input from those who have done something similar).

 

Problem: My ISP, the only broadband provider to my house, is unreliable and has no incentive to improve their service. Due to my semi-remote location, LTE signal for at least cell phones (Verizon and T-Mobile towers tested) is weak. This impacts me because I work remotely and downtime is costly. I have asked every local ISP for wired and wireless options, and they either don't provide service, it's dialup-only, or they didn't even understand what I was looking for.

 

Current Setup: I have an all-Ubiquiti network layout in my house (USG for the router, notable for having 2 WAN ports, an 8 port switch, and 2 wireless APs). Critical gear (work laptop, main desktop) is wired directly to the switch. All home users' cell phones are enabled to use wifi calling and can communicate effectively even if they get no signal. I have many reasons for not wanting to use a phone or a 'hotspot', both for performance reasons and the task of manually failing over each device to that new 'network' during an outage, along with pricing concerns (I am trying to keep monthly fees low and flexible).

 

Proposed Solution: While searching for any possible way to essentially "add an antenna and a second connection" to my router, I came across this: https://unifi-lte.ui.com/ It's essentially exactly what I am looking for, an antenna that plugs into my network and acts as a secondary WAN. The pricing seems very reasonable for how much data I would use during an outage state (given numerous prior 'tests'). This solution uses AT&T LTE in the US, which claims to have 4G coverage for my location (not tested)

 

 Concerns: 

1. Location. My network closet is currently in the basement where LTE signal is the weakest. I'm guessing I would need to install a high-gain antenna or hope that AT&T LTE is coverage is solid.
2. Connection: This wasn't clear from the instructions; would I plug this device into the second WAN port on my USG Router, or any available PoE port of the switch?
3. Routing: If the answer to question 2 is "PoE port on switch", would I be correct in assuming that this device would do normal "router" tasks or work with the existing USG?
4. Failover time: to anyone who has used this solution, how long does this failover time take? Do I have to take any manual actions?

 

Questions:

 

1. Do you all think that this is a good option?
2. Has anyone else facing a similar concern used any alternatives as redundancy?
3. Am I missing anything here?

 

Thank you in advance!

[brwainer]

The U-LTE plugs into any POE port on your network. The controller will create a VLAN for communication between it and the USG. The USG will disable its WAN2 port (assuming you had it in WAN2 mode and not LAN2) and start using that VLAN as WAN2. The system was designed this way so it is compatible with the UDM which only has one WAN port, and the UDMP whose WAN2 is an SFP+ port.

 

With the U-LTE you are locked into Ubiquiti’s AT&T pricing. “The price plan is $15/month (includes 1 GB) and is $10 per additional GB.” Additionally, I think there is a hard limit at like 20GB/month. What you do get with this solution though is the ability to decide what can or cannot use the LTE backup - I think it is based on networks, but I may be wrong.

 

The U-LTE-Pro, only available in Europe, lets you provide a SIM card and carrier/plan of your choice.

[Falcon1986]

4 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

Location. My network closet is currently in the basement where LTE signal is the weakest. I'm guessing I would need to install a high-gain antenna or hope that AT&T LTE is coverage is solid.

Mount the U-LTE outside your home or at least somewhere that has a good, unobstructed view of the outside. Then run ethernet back to the network closet.

 

4 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

Connection: This wasn't clear from the instructions; would I plug this device into the second WAN port on my USG Router, or any available PoE port of the switch?

It is detected by the UniFi Controller for adoption, so shouldn't matter if you plug it into the USG or your UniFi PoE switch. See the setup guide.

 

4 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

Failover time: to anyone who has used this solution, how long does this failover time take? Do I have to take any manual actions?

There might be a short delay. Watch this video.

 

4 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

Do you all think that this is a good option?

If it were easily available at this time, I'd recommend Starlink.

 

There are other LTE gateways, but they don't integrate so easily for simple failover like the U-LTE.

[kingfurykiller]

47 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

Mount the U-LTE outside your home or at least somewhere that has a good, unobstructed view of the outside. Then run ethernet back to the network closet.

 

It is detected by the UniFi Controller for adoption, so shouldn't matter if you plug it into the USG or your UniFi PoE switch. See the setup guide.

 

There might be a short delay. Watch this video.

 

If it were easily available at this time, I'd recommend Starlink.

 

There are other LTE gateways, but they don't integrate so easily for simple failover like the U-LTE.

thank you very much for the assistance. Mounting it where i get good LTE signal is going to be a challenge; I may have to get a signal analyzer. Running a cable should be simple.

Interesting on the setup; i'll read the setup guide more in-depth. And im not too worried on failover delay; my work isn't that sensitive.

Starlink is not available in my area until at least 2023. I haven't found any other LTE gateway for my region

[kingfurykiller]

58 minutes ago, brwainer said:

The U-LTE plugs into any POE port on your network. The controller will create a VLAN for communication between it and the USG. The USG will disable its WAN2 port (assuming you had it in WAN2 mode and not LAN2) and start using that VLAN as WAN2. The system was designed this way so it is compatible with the UDM which only has one WAN port, and the UDMP whose WAN2 is an SFP+ port.

 

With the U-LTE you are locked into Ubiquiti’s AT&T pricing. “The price plan is $15/month (includes 1 GB) and is $10 per additional GB.” Additionally, I think there is a hard limit at like 20GB/month. What you do get with this solution though is the ability to decide what can or cannot use the LTE backup - I think it is based on networks, but I may be wrong.

 

The U-LTE-Pro, only available in Europe, lets you provide a SIM card and carrier/plan of your choice.

Thanks, I appreciate the "how this works" clarification; I was a bit confused on that portion. Makes sense now for devices that don't have a second WAN port like I do.

 

The pricing is by far the best i've seen for any option. Typically, even in the longest outage, I used maybe 1-2 GBs max in a month. And I can easily control that in a failover state (hey, no youtube right now, voip-only for WebEx, etc). Assuming the signal is good, I would have gladly paid $25 to avoid any of my past outages; those cost me $100/hr at minimum.