Mobile phone or Wifi Pod USB tether to netgate box when fibre internet is offline

[Patian]

Hi All,
I am new to pfsense and I just received my first netgate 5100. I am wondering if it is possible to USB tether to the netgate box with a mobile phone or wifi pod, in case the land fibre connection is down. Since mobile phone and wifi hotspot pod are commonly used everywhere, no extra hardware cost is needed.

It is just a short term temporary solution for internet outage. I am from Canada and winter outage is not rare.

A similar function as on a ASUS router.

Thank you for your response.

[JKnott]

@patian

Yes, you can do that. Just connect it. When I just tried, interface ue0 appeared, which I was able to assign as opt4. Once it's connected, you'll have to change the assignments, so that it will be the WAN connection.

[Patian]

@jknott

Thank you jknott for the information. I am happy to know that it can be done. It is a good alternative back up plan for the fibre outage during the winter time. I will try it out.

[Patian]

@jknott
Hi Jknott,

I used a Verizon jetpack model mifi 7730L. I connected it to a laptop, I can connected to the internet. When I connected it to the netgate device, I did not see any new interface or new network port to add as new, ie ue0.

Any suggestion

Best Regards

[JKnott]

@patian

I'm not familiar with that device, but according to what I read online, the USB port is for charging phones, not a data connection. Given that it's called a "hotspot", I suspect you're supposed to connect to it with WiFi.

Try connecting your phone to the USB port and see what happens.

[Patian]

@jknott

Hi Jkott,
I tried it with a mobile phone and it worked fine.

For some unknown reason, I saw the new WAN IP assigned by the mifi 7730 to the pfsense, but the internet did not seem to work or extremely slow.

Anyway, it is just a back up plan for me when the main line is down. I will use the mobile phone as a back up connection when it is needed.

Thank you for your advise.

Happy New Year