[kwlug-disc] Backup LTE/5G Internet Recommendations

[Charles M]

If you just need something to get messages out: some laptops have a
spot for a cellular sim card. If the laptop is doing some of the
monitoring you could have it set up to send out over the cellular
network. Pretty sure some of the older Thinkpads had a sim slot
adjacent to the removable battery.

Just a thought, probably not what you want to do, but if you happen to
have a spare laptop sitting around with a sim slot, it might save
buying a modem.

Charles

On Tue, 23 Apr 2024 at 22:07, Jason <jasonpa at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> So I'd like to get a backup internet connection for my house that is wireless, and I could use some recommendations.  My wife and I mainly work from home, so having a backup on a different provider just in case, would be really handy in case there is an outage.  In a pinch we can always use our phones as hotspots to keep working, but that would only work with our laptops and not the rest of the house.
>
> Also, I'd like to drop my landline and physical alarm system that I'm paying monthly for, and just set something up with Home Assistant that can message me if there's a problem. I already have battery backup for my servers, but if the internet hard line gets cut (for example), or the power goes down, I want to make sure it can at least alert me that there's a problem.  That's the other reason I'd like to get a wireless backup.
>
> I know I can hook in a WAN failover on my pfSense firewall.  I'd just need some kind of wireless modem and a SIM on a non-Rogers carrier, that can hook into my setup via Ethernet.
>
> Any recommendations for wireless modems, or carrier plans?  I'd prefer not to get something that is locked to a specific carrier, and would like to get a data-only plan that has a reasonable amount of data (like 10GB/month) but not crazy if I go over that.  Again, this is for backup only.
>
> Would appreciate any suggestions!
>
> Thanks,
> Jason
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-- 
Charles
Mastodon: @chaslinux at techhub.social