4G Setup
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Could someone please advice me on the pf sense settings to create a 4G wan, I have a space NIC in my router so it will be on a separate interface.
Thanks in advance!
Eddie -
@eddiemcdiarmid What device are you using to connect to 4G?
If its a 4G router with ethernet ports then DHCP will work, although you will end up with a double-NAT that way. (not necessarily a problem IMO, just sub-optimal)
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On my setup I use a Netgear LB1120 set to bridge mode (must have the latest firmware for this to work correctly). Then in pfSense I have set to DHCP since this is just a normal consumer level SIM account.
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@eddiemcdiarmid I plugged a ZTE MF910V into the pfsense via USB and it was detected as a USB Ethernet interface ue0
I could not get our Huawei E5577 to work as it needs USB_ModeSwitch and thats not in pfsense and Android tethering also doesn't work in pfsense
It does double NAT though but it works. The big problem is if the USB interface is removed like when the power is off a while and the battery dies and it doesn't auto start the hotspot it just stays off and when pfsense boots if freeks out becuase a network card is missing (even though WAN is Ethernet and LAN is Ethernet) and will not boot. This is killing me.
4G (3G or 5G even) hotspots / routrers with Bridge Mode (sometimes called IP Passthrough) are extremly rare and are somewhat expensive. Supposedly the Netgear Nighthawk M1 (with firmware update) and AC800s (with expensive cradle / dock) can work in bridge mode.
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What I did was use the router I am using as a WiFi Access Point (pfSense is not suitable for this due to poor WiFi support in FreeBSD) running OpenWRT and plug my phone into that.
I then setup one of the switch ports as a vlan and bridge usb0 to that port, plugging that port into its own on my pfSense box where its setup as DHCP Client.
It then allows me to add that interface to the gateway group and I monitor Google DNS 8.8.8.8 to detect if the gateway is up or down.
OpenWRT seems to handle USB0 going up and down without any issues, although it can take pfSense a while to pickup DHCP again if it does.