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    4G/3G Dongle Failover - Anyway to power down while on standby?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • N
      NESMO
      last edited by

      Hi All,

      We use pfsense routers at a fair amount of sites.

      Wanting to implement 4G failover which works perfectly. Unfortunately, having the 4G dongles on stand by all the time tends to burn them out. I was wondering if there is a way to have them powered down until the fail-over kicks in, power up and then work until the pfsense fails back.

      Even if there is something like a 3rd party plugin that does this functionality, please let me know.

      Looking forward to your answers!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Not that I know of and I imagine it would cause more trouble to be honest if you found a way to do it.

        What dongles are you using that 'burn out' if you leave them powered?

        Better air circulation required?

        Steve

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • N
          NESMO
          last edited by

          Hi Steve,

          Thanks for your reply.

          The dongles we are using at the moment at Telstra 4G Sierra Wireless Aircard 320u dongles.

          2 out of the 8 devices have burnt out previously so we currently have a fail over procedure of plugging the dongles in when the internet drops which is working OK but would much rather there be less human interaction as the sites are not tech minded.

          Not sure what happens to the dongles but they basically stop working after being plugged in for a long period of time and then no longer turn on no matter what device we plug it into.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • GrimsonG
            Grimson Banned
            last edited by

            Get an Ethernet connected LTE modem like the LB2120 from Netgear, then you can place it a location with good reception and air circulation. Those cheap dongles are just that: cheap.

            johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • johnpozJ
              johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Grimson
              last edited by

              @grimson said in 4G/3G Dongle Failover - Anyway to power down while on standby?:

              just that: cheap.

              More like cheap crap ;) would be more descriptive..

              An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
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              N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • N
                NESMO @johnpoz
                last edited by

                @johnpoz @Grimson Hahaha - I agree with you both.. If it was upto me I'd definitely have them with better dongles.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Hmm, ouch. That's bad. Not sure what to suggest other than try a different device.

                  Steve

                  N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • N
                    NESMO @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10 Ahh all good!!

                    Really appreciate all your help.

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