4G Failover with Google Wifi

[Eden]

Hi,

I am looking at the possibility of adding some sort of failover for a home internet with Google Wifi. The idea is so that if Virgin UK broadband goes down, the network will be able to automatically switch to using a 4G service. I've had some trouble finding definitive answers on if this is possible or not.

The only really workable idea I seem to have come across is having the Virgin modem and a 4G router go into something like a Linksys LRT224 (possibly in something called Transparent Bridge Mode?) and having that then run into the main Google Wifi router. I would want this to not effect the usability of the network in any way (such as being able to avoid Double NAT which I have heard can cause issues).

While I would consider myself rather computer literate, I am pretty beginner with networking so any advice on this idea would be much appreciated. Cheers.

[Jeff]

Hi, Eden.

Thanks for reaching out to the community with your question. I can see you have given a lot of thought to the setup. Let's look at things and see if we can figure out what would be best for your goal here.

Looking it over, you may run into a double NAT situation, but there are ways to mitigate the issue, especially if you are only using this is a backup network and not a primary network. As you mentioned, bridge mode should help you bypass the double NAT issue, which is confirmed in this article here: https://bit.ly/3k7Hhmv

Things can get a little uncertain any time you're running a double router setup, so keep that in mind. But to me, it looks like you've figured out a method for setting up an effective backup network here. I would just make sure that this network isn't running simultaneously to your main network or have all your devices only connect to this secondary network in the event that primary network is down entirely. Mixing devices between networks will definitely cause some headaches and more advanced troubleshooting.

Hopefully this helps. It sounds like a cool solution to primary network outages, but as with all things networking, running that double NAT situation might create a bit more troubleshooting down the line. Good luck with the setup!

[Jeff]

Hey, Eden.

I’m just checking in real quick to see if we needed anything else here or if we were able to resolve the problem. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do here.

Thanks

[Eden]

Hi Jeff,

Cheers for the reply, I do appreciate your time in writing it. However, looking further into things I believe I will eventually be looking into migrating from using Google WiFi to a more robust solution such as a pfSense with access points.

This will allow me to get a bit more hands on with things than with what the Google system allows and will make it much easier to implement a 4G failover. It is rather a shame as I do like using the many routers and points that I already own but it simply just doesn't offer the full flexibility that I am now interested in exploring.

Thanks again,

Eden

[Jeff]

Hi, Eden.

Thanks for following up. I can definitely understand why you might take that direction with things. If you decide to stick with or return to your Google WiFi setup in the future, I'll be happy to help you out as needed.

For now, I'll go ahead and close the thread as we have our answer. If anyone has more to add or needs anything, please feel free to start a new thread.

Thanks.