MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
We currently run a 'shareband' service where we pay for two lines (both run about 4 meg) connected to separate routers than basically VPN to a gateway somewhere giving us close to the speed of both. This works by the routers sharing the default gateway and (sort of) intelligently switching data over the least congested line. Works okay but we had it free for a year and now we have to pay for it.
It's blooming expensive running two lines (which i need for work to do video etc we couldn't do on one circuit) and paying the share band stuff. We do now amazingly have 4G from EE which run at about 14meg!
Obvious thing would be to take an EE package but the cap is 64gig and we use around 200GB a month. What'd be ideal is to keep one line and somehow add in a cellular second 'line'. I'm pretty sure this is moon on a stick territory (other than having the 14meg for me only for work and the rest of the family slumming it on the 4 meg ADSL) but thought I'd ask.
Other thing is don't want to sign up for 24 month contract because there's a strong rumour we'll be getting proper fibre connectivity if Herefordshire council gets the contract done before the EU money runs out.
Do EE do something like the vodaphone sure signal? In my basic technological understanding, this is kinda like a powerline adaptor, where it's plugged into a mains socket and an Ethernet cable from it into a port in the router and in doing so, boosts the mobile signal around the home/office/wherever.
They definitely exist, we use them for some installs at work. Though ours are Cisco boxes that come in at about £1400, so probably out of reach for a domestic install. I don't doubt there are consumer versions though.
Here you go, Googling for "4G router":
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinfo/productinfo?productCode=2565214
Still not cheap but not as eye-watering as the enterprise offerings.
My bro recently got one of these.
ADSL and will take a USB 4g Dongle in the 'arris too.
and loads of funky management stuff for you IT bods that go right over my head. £185 I think he said
https://www.draytek.co.uk/products/business/vigor-2832
In Germany Telekom offer that as a service, wasn't worth it to me I can get 50meg vdsl, but a mate who lives a bit further out in the sticks has it, I think his router was about a 100 quid extra but the service is just 5 euros a month more with 4g than it would be without.
I would contact the service providers first to see what they can offer
A few TP-Link routers which can do this. They have ADSL/VDSL, plus you can plug in a USB dongle for 3G/4G.
Looks like this is the cheapest model, £65: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-Archer-VR400-Connections-Compatible/dp/B01LFGTEI6
ADSL bonding would properly join the two lines, but I think the provider needs to support it, and then you need to equipment that's probably priced at commercial levels.
You could do it with a router and a clever NAT table, be a bit of a pig to setup though 🙁
Draytek v2670 will do this.
Thanks all. I've had a look at a few of those before. The problem is they act as primary/backup. We really need a bonded link or session-switching to create persistent-channel aware connections. Takes me back to my time messing about with the original Cisco ISP front end boxes - horrible things.
The problem with ADSL bonding - which we have now - is not that it doesn't work but it's not the kind of cost MSP talks about. Off the top of my head, it's nearly £1000 a year for both lines and the bonding service.
Maybe you could set up a computer running PfSense, it can work as a firewall/router.
So it can use different types of connections, and various ways of combining them, eg load balancing. https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Multi-WAN
I don't think you will get proper bonding unless the ISP supports it, and you pay for it.
Bonding xDSL and cellular......I've been involved in some trial activity (tech stuff behind the scenes) for one of the big carriers in the UK, and while its theoretically possible, in practice we're not making much progress. To be truthful, we thought it would be a lot easier than its turned out to be.
There are a number of headaches that need to be overcome on our network (MPLS core with various bits of edge kit) but in short, its the general variability of the access speeds on both xDSL and cell that are hampering us. I think it will happen in time; we're working on a way of properly reporting back 'true' edge throughout in semi-realtime.
For now, if I was you, I'd get 2 routers- a 3G/4G model and an xDSL one, put their LANs on a common subnet, and just direct your devices manually to each one.
Ta. Yeah I think I'm going to have to frig a solution. I'm going to try it and see how it goes... and if nothing else this thread reminded me when I had a proper job messing about with big networks 😉
The telekom router in Germany is 400 euros to buy outside of a line rental contract, I don't know what telekom have going on in their exchange to enable the technology, if anything. Odd that it is a normal option here, and not in the UK.
http://www.telekom.de/zuhause/geraete-und-zubehoer/wlan-und-router/speedport-hybrid