I’ve set it to fail-over in the event of packet loss.īack at the routing configuration settings page, set the default gateway to the new fail-over gateway group. Basically the primary service is the “tier 1” service (it will be the default). The following shows the details/settings for the Gateway Group. All settings below what can be seen in this screenshot are empty/unset.Ĭreate a Gateway Group to allow for the fail-over capability. This screenshot shows the Interface settings for the OPT1 (the interface connecting the TP-Link 4G/5G device to the Netgate). This is an explanation, not a walk-through. The following describes the settings that I’ve used in this test. Use a 4G/5G router that connects via Ethernet for a more reliable outcome. So I’ve concluded that the gamble and time to troubleshoot by trying a USB device is simply not worth it. While I recommend enterprise grade equipment for fail-over gear, this test was purely to examine the difficulty of device configuration required to have the fail-over in place. However, there’s still work to be done to get the fail-over working. No configuration change at all on the Netgate or the TP-LINK at all. I inserted the Optus SIM into the TP-Link 4G/5G device, connected that device to the OPT1 interface on the Netgate 3100 using Ethernet, configured OPT1 on the Netgate for DHCP, and it worked – the OPT1 interface came up. I ended up purchasing a “TP-LINK TL-MR6400 v5 4G/5G router”. However, the “E3372” model is on that list, but the “E3372h” is not. TIP: Netgate have a page listing “known to work” 4G devices. There are ways to deal with this but it’s seriously far more hassle than it’s worth. The device I received was the E3372h model and that is the “wrong” mode model. That’s because the USB stick can come in two different “modes” determined by the firmware they’re running. I went to my local Optus store and purchased a Huawei E3372 LTE USB sitck and had no luck. The question is, which 4G/5G USB stick will work. If you’re using a USB device for the 4G/5G, then it’s the pfSense drivers that matter. The model of the Netgate firewall appliance isn’t important.

This article discusses my recent experiences with 4G/5G fail-over for a small business running a Netgate 3100 pfSense firewall appliance.

Netgate pfsense router