Context: I'm having some landscaping done soon and it happens to be while I am out-of-state, and no one will be home. However, having my home internet connectivity remain up during this time is absolutely essential. Despite the underground service feed being marked, flagged, and thoroughly discussed, I know the landscaper will cut through it. I further know that when the cable people come, they will tear up everything the landscaper did to replace it, but that's not part of my question.
I'm looking for a practical short-term solution for internet connectivity that can serve as a backup where failover is automatic. I imagine I'd have to have a dual WAN router to do that, and I do not. My home networking is Eero 6. Failing that, I could have a solution that I switch over to before I travel that is reliable. Mobile service in my area from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile is pretty good. I don't require a lot of speed or data; basically, enough to access my Hubitat hub and irrigation system.
Since this is a one-time thing, I don't want to spend $500 buying dual WAN routers, Starlink dishes, long-term mobile contracts, etc. But I would spend a little if it was a solution that could be reused in the future without ongoing cost.
T-Mobile has a home backup internet package for $20 a month. No contracts, 130 gb/month.
Uses their own 5G wireless router. I’ve used it for backup internet service for about 6 months now.
I have done what you describe with a dual wan router. (Asus) and a cellphone using my already subscribed to data allotment. Adjustments could be using that last phone with a data SIM card in it or an Ethernet connected cell hotspot. Avoid subscription contracts.
That sounds viable. Interesting, though, when I put my address in the availability box, it tells me Home Internet Backup is not available in my area. However, the T-Mobile coverage map has me in the middle of a broad area of "5G Ultra" service.
There's a T-Mobile store nearby. I'll go in and ask them what's what.
No, this is incorrect. Neither of those apply to me, and that’s the pricing I have. The only requirement is auto pay through your bank account. Without auto pay, it is $25 a month.
I don't know what path you went through. I just went to their Home Backup Internet site and signed up. Here's the link, if you want to try it again ....
Before my retirement, doing backup routes was to assign a higher cost to the backup then allow the routing protocols to sort it out. The switch over was fast and transparent. But without a routing protocol neighbor, there needs to be a test like pinging the next hop of the primary then if it is gone long enough switch over. That method is s lot slower and will be noticed.
One problem with T-Mobile Home Internet (at least in my area) is that the gateway/router they give you cannot be used in bridge mode. If you run your cable gateway in bridge mode (like I do with Xfinity cable) and you provide your own router, you may have some issues with the T-Mobile gateway/router as your backup. There's supposedly a way to get it to work, but it causes some other issues that may be a problem.
Instead of T-Mobile Home Internet, I went with T-Mobile Business Internet. You get a different gateway/router that can set to "IP passthru" which is effectively the same as bridge mode. I haven't set up the T-Mobile service as a backup yet.
My firewall/router has one WAN port and three LAN ports. I haven't done it yet, but it allows any of the three LAN ports to be redefined as WAN ports. Ultimately, my firewall/router will have two WAN ports (one for Xfinity and one for T-Mobile), one LAN port connected to a managed switch, and one unused LAN port. I don't know how common it is for routers to have redefinable LAN ports, but it's an alternative to routers with two (or more) dedicated WAN ports.
I'm setting this up for hurricane season. If one hits us, we can be without cable/internet service for an extended period of time.
Consider getting one of these, especially if you have children, allows you to use wifi hotspot as secondary failover (from mobile or other source your already paying for).
I have Comcast/Xfinity cable Internet and used to have Verizon 5g. I recently switched to T-Mobile 5gl service. After successful use of T-Mobile, I installed their cellular Internet as a backup for Comcast. It works well.
I have a friend who lives 1/2 mile away who has Verizon 5g cell phone, but uses T-Mobile as his primary Internet service. Thus, even if you do not have T-Mobile as your mobile carrier, you can still get their Internet. The pricing is likely less expensive if you have a package with T-Mobile.
In response to T-Mobile taking a lot of Verizon customers (like me), Verizon is making some aggressive moves to stop the loss.
I would but they say my address is not "eligible" even though I'm smack dab in the middle of their Ultra 5G coverage. I went to the T-Mobile store and inquired, and they said coverage isn't the only factor. There is a quota on how many subscribers they will sign up per tower, and my area is already oversubscribed.
T-Mobile prepaid data SIM (physical or eSIM) and load it with $10 (1 GB).
That balance sits for a full year before you have to add another penny.
Step 2 – plug it into the GL-XE300 and run a USB cable to the ASUS Merlin USB port.
Step 3 – set Merlin to Dual-WAN, USB as Secondary, fail-over only, trigger level 2-3 missed pings (≈ 9–12 s).
When the internet connection hiccups, the LTE link comes up in ~3 s.
In a year you’ll probably burn 50–100 MB of that $10 credit; just top it up once annually.
Total one-time cost: ~$95 for the hotspot + $10 for the SIM. No monthly fee.
If you want 5G, the unlocked Nighthawk M6 Pro works the same way — you still need a SIM whose TOS allows hotspot tethering.
This came from an AI session when I was researching this for my self. I will order the Hotspot later tonight once I confirm that T-Mobile Sim is a reality for me.
