Using a Phone Hotspot as a Backup WAN Connection - Home Network Upgrade
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- In this video I upgrade my home network by adding a failover internet connection. This can be done using a multitude of different LTE/4G/5G modem products, however these would all require me to pay for an additional data plan. Therefore in this video we'll look at a way to use my phone's existing data plan a backup internet connection with only £30 worth of hardware using a MikroTik mAP lite connected to my UniFi UDM-Pro router.
Buy the MikroTik mAP lite on Amazon (Affiliate):
- UK: amzn.to/3xQN2eT
- US: amzn.to/3C8wstc
www.camerongray.me/
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Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
03:50 - Hardware Introduction
10:01 - Configuring the mAP lite
22:19 - Initial Testing
23:52 - UDM-Pro Configuration
27:44 - Connecting it all up
31:43 - mAP lite PoE Weirdness
35:13 - Completed Installation
36:14 - It works!
40:25 - Conclusion
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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Purchasing through these affiliate links will not cost you any more money, however the commission earned significantly helps fund the production of videos on my channel. 
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Buy the MikroTik mAP lite on Amazon (Affiliate):
- UK: amzn.to/3xQN2eT
- US: amzn.to/3C8wstc
I am at the point where I watch videos on RUclips feeling like there is no new ideas, and we are at the point where people are just updating content, or showing us their way of doing someone elses video. This is new and i love it. Sorry for the negative view of the current state of home lab hardware.
Thank you for your content.
The GL.iNET travel routers, possible most/all of them, run openwrt behind the scenes, this can be exposed or even raw openwrt installed, then the world is your oyster for whatever network you want to achieve.
Unfortunately the GL.iNET OpenWRT fork is an outdated mess
@@zxcvb_bvcxz assuming I'm understanding correctly, if you were going to dig into the openwrt side why would you not install vanilla openwrt? Both my mango and beryl are running 22.03.0 with no issues that I'm aware of.
I like this comment. I just flashed a V750v2 with latest firmware release, it was OK, but no modem was detected automatically. Had to install some separate packages (QMI and modemmanager?), but have yet to figure out how to configure the wwan0 for LTE...
Hopefully it's simple. : 🤞
@@jamess1787I recommend using the firmware selector to build a firmware for your device including those packages. Means on factory reset (I did a lot when trying to learn) your modem will still work, otherwise factory reset will clear the packages and it will stop working until you reinstall them.
I’ve done something very similar to this while waiting for a line to be installed. Raspberry Pi on hand and a short bit of setup got all of my devices online with their proper setups, plus it seemed a lot more reliable than trying to connect a bunch of devices to my phone. Enjoyed as always!
Excellent video, seriously clever use of existing mobile phone data plan and the failover feature of the UDM Pro. I got the MikroTik a few months ago and then never got round to setting this all up.. apart from today when my internet was knocked out by a tractor hitting a pole up the road! Got the MikroTik up and running ok and then tweaked some VLAN settings to get it piped back into my UDM-Pro.
Great video and has been a life saver today! Many thanks 👏👏
This is excellent, Cameron! I was considering buying one of those Unifi 4G router things and buying a sim etc, but I am the same as you in that I would actually rarely need it. I work from home and so my Internet is really important, but it rarely if ever goes down. This is a brilliant solution though, I am definitely going to copy this! Thanks again!
I am getting a new internet line activated so may be without wired internet in my house for a few days and I thought of using my phone connection in the interim period. I used this as a guide to setup the mAP lite with my TP-Link Omada hardware and it's all working really well, very impressed. Thanks so much for this video, keep up the great work.
This is great! I did create a VLAN since I did not have the POE injector. It is working great. Thank you very much for putting this together, it was very well put together.
Brilliant video! Gave up getting this working yesterday and started to set up a Raspberry Pi. Now I’ve got a wired and wireless solution 😊
You convinced me to use a GL-iNet travel router to do the same thing on my network. I didn’t realize I could use port 8 on my udm pro for wan 2. Thanks for making this tutorial - I’m very glad to have a failover connection.
FANTASTIC Video. I have been thinking about backup internet for a while because I've got services running in my homelab that need internet to run 24/7. Like you I was hesitating to pull the trigger and waste $30-$50 a month on something I might only use a few times a year. I bought this literally while watching your video and can't wait to set it up!
Exactly what I did couldn't justify paying for a service when I already have unlimited data on my phone.
Super cool setup, super well explained video. Thanks for this idea. Just ordered the device and will be doing it. Thanks!
Great video Cameron, been meaning to do this for some time. Now I have a project for next weekend, Thanks!
Works perfectly with my Unifi USG4 and t-Mobile phone hotspot... .followed your guide, unplugged my google fiber, plugged this into WAN1 - and bada bing bada boom worked first time. THANK YOU SO MUCH saved me a ton of hassle and I was thinking about paying $25/month for a secondary internet connection. I mean its slow like 50 Mbps download but it works when google fiber has one of its MANY outages. For those wondering I am in San Antonio, TX. You are a rockstar thank you for making this video.
Wow, that is a seriously detailed video, thanks for making it.
Saw this yesterday and ordered one through your link. Works a treat ! Good work, not sure I’d have been able to work that out 😂 I wasn’t willing to pay too much for a backup that would hardly ever get used so this is the perfect solution. Still had to make a crossover, but it works fine from port 8 using Poe on the UDMSE.
Thanks a lot man ! Once I get my flat, I'm doing this setup right away :)
Excellent vid been meaning to do this now I will as have one of the glinet routers you mention. Thanks for detailed breakdown
Brilliant. My next project...thanks
Really great video thank you!
You might have already learnt this since this video came out a while ago but Mikrotik has a "Safe Mode" available when configuring devices. When enabled (toggle button on lower left in webfig, top left in winbox, Ctrl + X in terminal) it will revert any changes done during the time safe mode was enabled if the connection is lost. Once you reach the desired config you can disable safe mode and the changes will stay like normal. It has saved me at least a couple times from a reset and restore!
Oh, that sounds awesome! Never seen that on MikroTik kit before, definitely need to try it out!
In the past, I've had a setup where I had a similar mini AP/router that could be an AP client or a AP. If you have a simple AP that can be a client, you can set that up and bridge it to the WAN2 of the UDM Pro. The UDM Pro will try to pick up the network from there in case of WAN1 failing *assuming you have your hotspot live*.
Some variants of this, mainly depending on how/where you have this access point, would be to use VLANs to pass the AP via your regular cabling back to your POE switch, then from that VLAN (only) connect to your WAN2. If you have a few places where you do this from (say living room, bedroom), potentially you can do the hotspot from 2 places (not at the same time). Interesting setup and I like the option as a backup. I ended up getting rid of my setup as it was cheaper to contract the 'near the bottom' 2nd line here in the end.
Neat device. Recently I had to do a presentation at a location without wifi internet access so I looked to tethering my laptop to my mobile but I also wanted to use a Fritzbox router with an analogue telephone handset connected. I wanted to demonstrate using analogue handsets with SIP/VOIP.
After a lot of trial and error I got my Nokia Android mobile to tether to the router using USB/Ethernet adapter (couldn't get wifi or BlueTooth to pair) and the handset would take an IP call. Cool! I also paired the Linux laptop with the mobile for internet access using BT (couldn't get wifi to pair). But when I connected the laptop to the router in order to configure the router then both router and laptop internet links to the mobile failed. I suspect the laptop thought the router was the path to the internet and the router thought the laptop was the path to the internet - just a theory. I think Linux enables routing overrides but could not see anything in the Fritzbox. In the end I ran out of time.
Seeing that it can be run via POE, this is the perfect pairing with the UDM Pro SE and configure Port 8 as a Wan port.
4G fail over is brilliant although not common, kudos to you mate
I like your technology videos!
Ingenious idea!
super information. I just lost my Bell fibre internet, and they can't come for 24 Horus to fix the optical cable connector (a 5 min fix)..so Im going to buy one of these and set it up, with your help. thank-you
Great video, always enjoy the attention to detail in your videos. I always thought you would prefer pfsense to udm though lol.
When it comes to platforms such as routers, I deliberately try to use a range of them rather than tying myself down to one platform so that I can remain impartial. In the past I've used various different routers (MikroTik, PFSense, OPNSense, VyOS) then most recently I moved to a USG-Pro and now a UDM-Pro to get experience with a fully integrated UniFI environment. Sure the UniFi routers are much less flexible than something like PFSense but the simplicity of a single management interface to control literally everything is nice to have. I also use other platforms (including PFSense) extensively in other environments so it's nice to have another platform at home so that I can gain a range of experience. That said, I'm not necessarily tired to it and would be interested in trying out other platforms in the future, some of MikroTik's new products look interesting and now that they're finally beginning to introduce WiFi 6 products, I may take a look at them in the future. It ultimately just comes down to budget since I can't necessarily afford to replace all of my networking equipment every year!
This is great - our internet goes down for perhaps 10 mins once a year, but you can guarantee it's during something important. I've extended what you've done and setup a connect-list on the MikroTik so if either my phone, my work phone or my partners phone turns the hotspot on, it'll connect and work (so if I'm not home, she can't use her phone as the backup) - brilliant.
10min once per year? You must have a really reliable ISP.
In the 4 years I was with talktalk I dont think it ever went down@@ACAIDC
Cool! My phone has 5G+ now, 200Mbps down 10Mbps up. Will consider this, even though my internet goes down less than 1 time a year.
Great idea. I have a weekend project. ;)
To expand on this, I wonder if you could setup a routine to run on your phone if your main connection is down that enabled the hotspot.
Could do something as simple as an external ping to a server on your network to confirm this.
This setup is pretty cool as it is but the only issue is that most people don't leave their mobile hotspot enabled all the time to preserve battery.
Wonder if home assistant could do this.
Just watched this video and set my MikroTik mAP lite as per your excellent video, thanks for that. I’m a total novice and couldn’t have fathomed this without your video. Just wondered if it’s possible to add two mobile phones as hotspot clients?
Thanks for the video. Which mikrotik device would you recommend with dual Ethernet interfaces? I’m trying to avoid using ego interface
I have outages often, this video saved a great deal of frustration. Can you list your configuration for led settings? I’m sure I messed it up while fiddling with it and don’t want to don’t want to do a reset. Thanks, great content as usual.
If you have an (old) ASUS WiFi router around, check if it supports the “Media Bridge” operating mode.
That’s then effectively the same thing as this Mikrotik router. I use my old ASUS RT-AC68U that way as a backup WAN (also tethered to a phone) with 100+ Mbps speed via the 5 GHz band 😀
any documentation or guide of this? sounds interesting!
Dang, I got a few ASUS routers laying around somewhere . I'll check it out . Although ....I already ordered the mAP , being so small and POE - it was just too tempting. :)
As far as i know, SOME models only support connecting to unsecured networks in this way
Love this approach. I ended up with UniFi’s own 4G failover and an unlimited data plan, which is just under £18/month.
We had to, really. There were two of us working from home for nearly a month before we could get our broadband set up when we moved house, earlier this year.
It’s worked faultlessly and I get an alert when it does fail over, which has happened a few times for brief (couple of minutes) outages.
I thought that thing was $10/gigabyte
@@estusflask982 In the US I understand the LTE failover device is tied to a specific carrier and plan.
I’m the UE/UK we can install virtually any nanoSIM. I found the cheapest unlimited data deal I could find on a carrier that had the best signal strength.
We used the LTE as our sole internet connection for a while and it worked perfectly. I think we managed to get at least 40Mb, which was enough for zoom meetings during the day for two people and 4k Netflix in the evenings.
The Tenda 8 port POE capable switch works also.
Great video! 2 Questions. What labeler do you use for labeleing the crossover cable? Second, which RJ45 connectors did you use for making the crossover cable (the look neat, almost a factory cable)
Thanks! Label printer is a Brother PT-E550W (video coming soon), the main thing with it being that it can support super wide tapes and has a "cable wrap" feature. I also use the "Flexible ID" tape (has FX in the model number" which is more flexible than traditional tapes so works better for cable wraps. Then for the RJ45 ends I use these connectors: amzn.to/3FKJI9W (Affiliate) with these strain relief boots: amzn.to/3WFIsuK (Affiliate) - the clear boots with the hook that goes over the clip like that look so much more professional than the basic rubber ones and are infinitely nicer to use.
Another great video and an Interesting solution to a somewhat common problem
I would excercise caution though and double check with your provider what their policy on tethering is.
I know that on "Three", you can only teather up to 12GB regardless of your data plan unless you're spesifically paying for a "Mobile Broadband" plan. As far as i know, some providers determine if you're Tethering based on the TTL of packets coming from your device when they hit their infrastructure, so you can sometimes get around this by adding 1 the default TTL for your OS.
Definitely worth checking although my contract allows it. Three used to have limitations however they have also got rid of them as far as I'm aware (I used to be with Three before my ill-fated decision to move to O2 who seem unable to provide a usable data connection when in a slightly busy area)
Definitely worth checking although my contract allows it. Three used to have limitations however they have also got rid of them as far as I'm aware (I used to be with Three before my ill-fated decision to move to O2 who seem unable to provide a usable data connection when in a slightly busy area)
Three haven't limited tethering for years
Exactly! Most people don't need it but it is always very annoying when it happens even if it is rare because we are always in the middle of something or trying to do something important and need to rout from our smartphones anyways.
Thanks for this guide Cameron. I found a little issue and am not sure if it's specific to my setup, my ISP or a bug, but I thought I'd share in case anyone following has similar.
The guide worked for me, but what I found when testing is that when falling back to primary from backup I couldn't access any websites which I traced to DNS not working. If I tried an NSLOOKUP using my USG IP address, they would all fail which explains why as this is what is set as the DNS server in the DHCP leases. What I think was happening (although I've not proved it conclusively) is that when it went back to the primary internet connection (Virgin Media), it was still trying to use the DNS servers of the backup (EE). I'm wondering if EE block access to them if you are not on their network.
To resolve, I set the DNS server of both primary and secondary internet connections to 1.1.1.1 and now it seems to be able to switch between connections seamlessly.
I'm interested in whether you already used custom DNS or perhaps it is specific to Virgin/EE? I'm only using the USG-3P if it is a bug at the UI side.
Great vid! Bought the two port one and it works! A question, oh great guru or router os. Is it possible to make the wlan bridge recognise and connect to one of two different hotspots? So, if on person is in, their system fails over to one phone, if the other person is in, it fails to theirs, or whatever other phone hotspot is set up?
Yes, untick “default authenticate” on the main wireless tab then use the “connect lists”, add each of the relevant SSIDs you want to connect to in priority order, specifying the appropriate “security profile” (add these first to make it easier”. It will then connect to an available SSID from the list.
Great video. DId exactly what you have posted and it works. One possible issue with with Wi-Fi speed I think... Doing a speed test I can only get about 24mbps on the download and upload. This is normally 100+ if I connect directly to my AP. Any special changes I should be considering for the MicroTik wireless?
edit: now that i look at it get the exact same speeds you do. Is this a limitation of the mobile router? Was hoping to get faster speeds.
I haven't tested it in depth but I wouldn't be surprised if it was just down to the mAP lite - it's a very basic device with a 10/100 Ethernet port and a basic 2.4GHz Wireless N AP so that sort of speed isn't unreasonable. For me the mAP lite was an ideal option as my mobile data connection is relatively slow (poor signal) but if you're looking for better performance, one of the MikroTik models with 802.11ac WiFi and Gigabit ethernet would be a better option but would basically be configured in the same way as I did here.
You should make an automation which turns your phones hotspot on automatically when the Internet goes down, and sends you a notification to put your phone on the windowsill as the Internet has gone down.
my mobile provider allows data sharing between devices on one plan, so I just have a second sim card for just a couple of dollars extra per month and use that as the failover wan in a basic 4g access point.
Great video as always, Cameron. The breadth and depth of your knowledge always amazes me! I have exactly the same use case and this looks like a great solution -- only problem is, the mAP Lite seems to be sold out (perhaps as a result of your video!). The mAP Lite is quite old now, I wonder if Mikrotik are readying a 5Ghz upgrade? On powering the mAP Lite via PoE from a Unifi switch, I have read that you can use a normal cable rather than a crossover if you choose passive PoE in the Unifi port settings rather than af/at. I see you've now removed the Cloud Key and are running Protect on the UDM Pro -- have you overcome your reservations about enabling remote access to all apps on the UDM from the Ubiquiti cloud, or have you found another way to use the Protect mobile app safely?
I think this chip shortage is impacting MikroTik hardware quite a bit, it's really just a case of shopping around until you can find one. As for the lack of CloudKey - unfortunately I noticed that the CloudKey was no longer working on its internal battery and on doing more research, people were finding that the internal batteries were beginning to swell up. I decided to retire the CloudKey as a precaution from a safety perspective and have since moved Protect onto the UDM. I can't say I'm happy about having Cloud Access enabled but it's just so I can get something working for now. Long term I'll probably take a look at non-UniFi CCTV options and move onto a separate NVR (not because of any real problems with Protect, just because I want to try different platforms)
@@camerongray1515 There's definitely something amiss with the Cloud Key's battery implementation. I had to RMA mine after a couple of years when I found that it was just powering off when pulling the ethernet cable rather than switching to the battery, so clearly the battery had failed. I'm on a new one now, I wonder how long this one will last? I did use the UDM Pro for Protect while waiting for the replacement but was dismayed to find that the fans run at full speed as soon as you install a hard drive - - a problem for me as the network gear is in my office. I tamed that with boostchicken's UDM utilities but, like you, I'm reluctant to allow remote access to the UDM.
@@camerongray1515 I've just been reading up on the swollen battery issue and now I'm worried! This is not just a case of a few isolated incidents and I'm amazed that there hasn't been a product recall. It does sound as though the unit will still work when the battery is disconnected, so I might just have to do that for peace of mind. Thanks for the warning!
wireless to ethernet bridge very handy when I'm at a hotel with no wired internet port in the room for me to plug into my firewall router
Fantastic idea and video! I'm also looking for a solution that can tether over 5Ghz Wi-Fi as my hotspot speeds clock in at well over 300Mbps (US, iPhone, AT&T). I also need to power it with 802.3af/at PoE/PoE+ power in (as opposed to Passive PoE) so I can plug it into my USW 24 PoE switch. MicroTik seems to have only product today that meets both these criteria, the MicroTik wAP ac, so I'll be giving it a try if I can find one.
Nice one! I have a similar setup here, though using a Mikrotik RB5009 & a USB LTE modem that my ISP gave me as a backup in case the main connection fails, so in this case I don't pay any extra contract for it. Even with this though, there's not a great advantage over your setup in terms of availability - as the wonderful world of CGNAT means that even when I'm away from home and the backup connection is being used, nothing can establish an incoming connection anyway!
You could work around this by getting a really cheap Cloud VPS server, setting up a VPN server on it and establishing a Site to Site link through it, then route all your services through that.
Since the VPN connection would be initiated out from your router to the cloud server, CGNAT wouldn't a problem. Comes with the added benefit of masking your real home IP too :)
@@jamescarey7768 I've considered it, but really didn't want the additional cost & maintenance overhead just for the slim advantage I'd get (the FTTP connection here is pretty stable, aside from a brief outage due to a failed fibre connection a few months ago we haven't had any outages in years.)
Thanks
You're more than welcome! 😊
Three do a Home Hub mostly a HUAWEI B331 3G/4G router and HUAWEI B331 3G/4G Antenna but does require a SIM.
Genius!
Is there a way to set this up so I can tether either my phone or my roommates phone to this without having to go deep into the settings?
Can this be done without Unify router? I mean is there any other router with backup WAN feature?
I finally set mine up and the last bit threw me when you mentioned the connection showing 1mbps i ended up trying multiple security settings and even a different phone and couldnt work out what was happening. If you dont do the dhcp setup after that then it got stuck like that for me so it threw me a bit. I ended up concentrating on that instead of then doing the next step. So for anyone who goes to set one up this video is perfect but dont get stuck on the point of the speed of the connection until youve done the last step.
Hi Cameron, is it possible to set this up to be able to connect to 1-3 SSID’s so that various people in a household can support failover access if we aren’t all in the house and still need internet to work from home?
This is possible with the "connect list" and store each password in separate security profiles. Then leave the SSID blank on the interface and it should go through the list.
Strange I can hook up my PC directly to the map unit (the 2 port one - ETH1) and I can surf connected to my hotspot. I setup port 8 on the unifi to be WAN2. I direct plugged in (bypassing all the poe issues you had) the power adapter. It never allows me to do anything on the web on the Unifi router though it has a DHCP from the Mikrotik. Thoughts?
FYI for anyone reading this. I just did more torubleshooting and the reason this happened was because my phone was connected to my Unifi wireless when I enabled the Hotspot. In order to get this to work I had to first disable my phones Wifi, and THEN turn on the hotspot. Then the internet started flowing. Now it works great.
Hi Cameron, i have a question :)
Thanks for the tutorial!
I have ordered the MikroTik (used you affiliate) and I need to get this thing running on a unifi 16 port Poe switch. I said something with VLAN. I don't want to plug the MikroTik directly into the UDM Pro because it has no PoE (don't have the SE Version). How I need to configure the VLAN to get it running. I plugged it into the poe switch. Do I only have to give the wan port on the UDM Pro and the port at the switch the same VLAN ID ? Thanks Mate!
You'd basically need to pick a pair of ports on the switch and configure them to be on the same VLAN as each other (with no other ports on that VLAN). You would then connect the MikroTik to one of those ports then run a cable from the other port to the WAN interface on the UDM. Essentially the switch ends up working like a PoE injector. Unfortunately the UDM doesn't allow you to use a VLAN on the LAN interface as a WAN interface, it needs to be physically connected to one of the WAN ports. The VLAN settings you are seeing under the WAN interface settings are only really for certain modems which require a VLAN tag to be set.
First of all, what a fantastic video/tutorial. 👏🏻 I also have a UniFi home network with a UDM Pro and finally managed to purchase a mAP lite for £29 (some suppliers are charging £100+). Anyways, I’ve followed along the steps but I have a few questions. I’ve managed to reconfigure the device so it connects to my phones hotspot and issue my laptop an IP address. ~25mb down in speed tests too so that’s great. My questions are related to IP addresses. Initially I accessed the mAP lite on 192.168.88.1. But during your video, your mAP lite issued your laptop an IP address 192.168.150.x
Question 1: I’m assuming you changed the default local network IP address from 192.168.88.x to 192.168.150.x and I’ve not missed a step and that you skipped over that?
Question 2: When you plugged your mAP lite into Port 8 on your UDM Pro, are you not getting an IP address issue? Does your UDM Pro not get an IP address in the range 192.168.150.x? You seem to still access your UDM Pro on 10.114.0.1. I can’t access my UDM Pro. Again am I missing something or have you skipped over some steps/info?
UPDATE: I've figured out why I couldn't access my UDM Pro. All sorted now and Backup WAN is working perfectly.
Apologies for the delayed reply, your comment somehow got stuck in RUclips's spam filter! I'm still using the 192.168.88.0/24 subnet for the MikroTik, 192.168.150.0/24 appears to be the IP addresses that my phone is issuing to hotspot clients. When connected to the UDM Pro's WAN interface, the UDM will get an IP address issued by the MikroTik in the 192.168.88.0/24 subnet however this will just be an additional IP address on the secondary WAN interface, it won't replace any other IP addresses that the UDM has so you'd continue to access it on your LAN gateway address. You can then use the MikroTik's IP address (so by default 192.168.88.1) to access the MikroTik's web interface, even from behind your UDM
@@camerongray1515 I’m with EE and they don’t issue 192.168.x.x to hotspot clients. That’s what threw me. I was expecting a public IP address. I also never said how I resolved my issue accessing the UDM Pro…. If I had brains I’d be dangerous! I still had the Ethernet cable connected from the mAP device to my laptop so I was on the mAP issuing subnet. I’ve got my UDM Pro setup so access is limited to devices on a specific subnet. As soon as I plugged the mAP device into Port 8 on the UDM Pro and connected my laptop back into its own port in the wall, everything worked as normal again.
Can you get the wireless interface to look for multiple hotspots at the same time?
I was wondering the same, but couldn't see how. Except you could name the hotspots exactly the same and set the same password. So if internet went down and I wasn't in, then the wife could turn on her hotspot with the same name as mine and carry on watching some rubbish on the tv 🤣
Is is possible to access the MikroTik RouterOS config page while the mAP is connected to the WAN port on the UDM-Pro? Was just thinking about how it could be useful to be able to tweak settings while the bridge was running.
Yep, can just connect to it using its IP address from devices on the local network (so 192.168.88.1 by default). Of course this makes it extra important to set a password for the web interface since it doesn't come with one out of the box!
Would iPhone Hotspot work automatically with this set up and as i have a standard UDM could I plug this in to the WAN if I new there was an outage ?
That would work as long as your WAN port is configured for DHCP on the UDM. If your WAN port has some sort of static IP or PPPoE setup then you'd need to also change those settings over to DHCP whenever you want to switch over to the backup connection after swapping the cables over.
I worked through this which looked OK but I could not find my phone hotspot in the scan list. I connected via ethernet and the wifi client of the router but not my phone. I switched my iphone to compatibility mode to force 2.5g. I saw all my access points's in the scan list but no Iphone so not sure what I have setup incorrectly or did wrong.
I tried my wife's older iphone and it worked with that.
One you get the mikrotik configured and plugged into you backup wan on Udm pro, can you still access the mikrotik configuration page?
Yep. since the MikroTik is doing NAT, as long as you don't have any subnet collisions between the MikroTik and any of your networks within UniFi, you can access the MikroTik by simply connecting directly to its IP address.
@@camerongray1515 thanks! Great video. Love how you show everything step by step.
You should check out a Draytek 2866AC, can set a second WAN as a wireless WAN and use it with a mobile hotspot in failover mode.
dope. i was going to do essentially the same with a pi, my phone and basic linux commands, two years ago, but never finished the project. how did you get the patched ethernet ports in your living room?
I ran the network cables in myself when I first bought the place, I made a video on the process here: ruclips.net/video/uGRYfVdAja4/видео.html. I've since learnt a fair bit more about doing these sorts of installs and done a few installs since for friends. I've made more recent videos about some of these that go into a bit more detail so those may be worth checking out too: ruclips.net/video/muuhVqqSeSM/видео.html, ruclips.net/video/bhQrMiThS8M/видео.html, ruclips.net/video/9bBUuDtJwKU/видео.html
-Ive found in the past, idk if its still this way today, that mikrotek don't really make anything but rebrand devices from other manufacturers. If you can find the original manufacturer of the device MT have rebranded you can often get the same device for about 1/3 of the price. Might be worth the premium if MT include their own custom firmware though.-
I was thinking of wavlink!
Are you sure you're thinking of MikroTik? They definitely make the vast majority of their devices themselves (I suppose maybe not things like power adapters.etc) but their networking equipment is definitely their own hardware. I've seen MikroTik hardware rebranded by some companies such as ISPs and VPN providers but they're still made by MikroTik.
You are right! I was thinking of wavlink! Not sure how I confused the two.
I am having issues when set as Wlan set as DHCP client. the status just says searching. I have a Map 2nD with two Ethernet Ports. The bridge I just have the 2 Ethernet ports. I set the Wlan as Wan.
got it updated router and it was all good.
I am sure it is explained in a different video, but why haven't you connected your 24 port switch to your UDM with a short DAC cable via SFP+, rather than ethernet to an adapter into SFP+?
The switch only has an SFP port, not SFP+ so there would be no speed benefit to using a DAC cable. I previously had a USG Pro instead of the UDM, and while this did have a pair of SFP ports, they were both labelled as WAN ports and while they were reassignable in software, I preferred the more "self documenting" nature of connecting the switch into the RJ45 "LAN" ports on the USG. The only reason I had the SFP to RJ45 module was just to keep all 24 ports on the switch free.
DAC cables do use less energy and create less heat than the RJ45 SFP modules. I swapped mine over, although I guess it might take 50yrs of 24/7 operation to recoup the cost 😂
Can you connect your phone via ethernet? I'm sure I tried it years ago, USB ethernet adapter and wireless charger.
I'd actually never thought about trying that! - I've connected it over ethernet before but hadn't looked into tethering over ethernet. I haven't tested it but there does seem to be an ethernet tethering in the menu so I imagine it would work. As an alternative to a wireless charger, you could also use one of those laptop "dongles" that supports both ethernet and a USB-C power input amongst other ports. This is what I've used previously and it would let you charge the phone at the same time as the ethernet is connected. Only downside is that your phone will end up hard wired to your router whenever you're needing the backup connection to be active.
@@camerongray1515 Looking at it my Pixel 5 supports RNDIS to provide ethernet over USB, which is apparently supported on BSD and Linux. So if the router OS supports it you should just be able to plug a USB cable into it and the phone.
Interesting, might need to give that a go as well, probably wouldn't work on a UDM since it doesn't have USB ports and the software is relatively locked down but definitely a viable option on more open Linux/BSD routers.
I'm sure you could use a USB C hub dongle, and then get a USB C dock that's wall mountable, so you just plomp your phone on the dock when you need
On my iPhone if I turn on the hotspot and use usb to connect to my Windows machine it'll say its connected to ethernet, I dont know if it transfers data tho.
@camerongray1515 Great vid thanks, been using a Glinet for a few years to achieve the same but it's quite underpowered and freezes whenever I use VPN. Will pick up one of these but had a quick Q : I'd like to power it over PoE, but my PoE switches are all connected to a Hi Capacity Aggregation switch from Unifi and then into a UXG Pro, again from Unifi. Essentially I have the same secondary WAN failover as you have on the UDM Pro but if I plug the Mikrotik mAP into one of those PoE switches it's not going to the secondary WAN port but rather belonging to the main subnet. If i were to plug another cable in from the PoE switch straight into the secondary WAN port on UXG Pro and setup a VLAN just for those 2 ports on that PoE switch would that do the trick?
Yep, just create a VLAN purely for the second WAN connection, connect the router to one port on that VLAN, the MikroTik to the other port and it'll work fine - you basically end up using the switch as if it's a PoE injector.
@@camerongray1515 perfect thanks!!
So essentially i could do this but i dont have allthis fancy network equipment so pull the cable from the main router and then swap into into the maplite and will provide ips to the whole network.
I use my Visible Wireless phone hotspot repeated by a mango router for my WiFi. I have an ethernet cable from the mango to my Linux computer. This is my main network. I am going to add a switch and use my old computer on the network.
This works for me as a manual backup but not as an automatic failover as none of my Android phones (all Pixels) seem to switch from WiFi to 4G unless I unlock them and manually try to browse the net.
I'm thinking maybe the problem is since the UDM Pro doesn't activate a WAN interface until a few pings succeed, then perhaps a few pings isn't enough network activity to cause Android to switch to 4G. Maybe a a more aggressive ping script in RouterOS could work.
If you have a dedicated phone you can just leave WiFi turned off but that's not what I want.
I've given up trying to get this to work as an automatic failover. Pixel phones stick pretty rigidly to a strong WiFi signal even if the internet is gone so it takes 5-20 minutes to failover unless I unlock the phone and start playing with it, in which case "only" 1-2 minutes is more typical. To get a quick failover I need to toggle a WiFi reconnect which will cause Android to do the checks required to achieve the "connected but no internet" status on WiFi. This can be done either on the phone itself or by forcing a WiFi reconnect from the UniFi controller.
Tasker could achieve it but these days you need a rooted phone to play with WiFi settings in Tasker.
All reliable solutions seem to require a dedicated phone with WiFi disabled or rooted for more control. Dual purposing your main daily driver phone and it's unlimited data as a seamless WAN2 failover seems to be impossible.
This setup is very much aimed at a manual failover for very rare outages. Realistically, if you want a 24/7 automatic solution you'd be much better off with a dedicated data plan and a proper 4G/5G modem rather than a phone.
@@camerongray1515 I'm actually using this to replace a dedicated £200 Teltonika Cat 4 4G modem and external aerial that can't get a reception where I am now, while high end phones such as Pixels, iPhones, etc can get 5-15mbit.
I'm not sure of the specifics of 4G modems, but I believe what I'd need for this area is a Cat 6 4G modem which are £600-£1200, i.e. the same price as a premium phone. Even the Unifi LTE Pro is still only a Cat 4 modem.
I have BT Hybrid Connect at my work office and that thing barely gets a reception even though I can see the 5G tower out the window and my Pixel can pull 100mbit.
What I'm saying is, there's a reason those 4G modems the networks give out are so cheap...
@@camerongray1515 I seem to have got it working now. The problem was Tasker (combined with sideloaded Tasker Settings) doesn't actually turn off WiFi if the hotspot is enabled so it has to be: hotspot off, WiFi off, WiFi on, hotspot on. This causes the phone to failover in 3-4 seconds.
Another problem I ran into was the phone would keep flip flopping from 4G back to WiFi because it thought the internet was restored on the WiFi. Even in manual backup mode this would happen. I fixed this by creating a "Policy Based Route" to pin the phone to WAN1. I'm not sure why everybody isn't running into this issue, maybe my 4G is so weak my phones are in a hurry to go back to WiFi.
All combined together, failover happens in about 10-15 seconds. Which is apparently as good as it gets with the UDM Pro failover ping/timeout settings. For comparison, BT's Hybrid Connect takes a few minutes to switch to 4G and then can take 20 minutes or a couple hours to switch back to the landline.
Also a warning about using port 8 for WAN2. I tried to do this 2-3 weeks ago but it causes mayhem with VLANs if you try to loop it back through the network to a "Third-party Gateway". I was tearing my hair out until someone on Reddit said they couldn't get WAN through a VLAN to work until they reverted WAN2 to port 10. Then there's other reports about WAN on port 8 capping traffic through the UDM Pro to 100mbit. It sounds like reassigning ports is done with some buggy software hacks.
Could you just swap the the map with your modem when the internet goes down? Instead of making a backup ethernet port.
I can't see why not however it would depend on how your WAN interface and modem is configured. If your WAN interface just uses DHCP then you'd be able to just swap the devices over and it should work. However if your WAN interface uses either a static IP address or something like PPPoE then you'd need to change the configuration to swap over to the mAP then change it back again to use the modem. The other benefit of using the secondary WAN connection is that it will automatically swap back over to the main connection once it comes back so I won't end up using mobile data unnecessarily.
I dont do thing exactly the same with Hotspot and Mobile network. But i do have an Antenna for carrying Wireless Broadband via the 5G towers on my balcony. cuz there is no DSL connection Nor Fiber Connection to my apartement / Studio, The DSL has been Discoonected in the box outside for long ago since DSL is pretty much obssolete in entire norway now.
But as far as a Backup WAN Connecting. I got a 100 GB free data plan per month and well, That is pretty much what i do if my network goes down. And my current router dose have dual wan settiings. now this router is gonna be changed out with an PFsese box but i belive PFsese also has dual wan config and automatic wan Failover. SO this might actualy be a good idea
Is it possible to set this device up to connect to an existing wireless network and then bridge that over the ethernet port to allow non Wi-Fi clients to connect over Wi-Fi?
My use case for this is i have a client with an NVR in their loft and they are unable to get a network cable from the router to the NVR so was wondering if this could work as a solution?
Yes, that would work
Definitely can do, you'd probably want a slightly different configuration from here so that you don't have the layer of NAT in between (presumably you'd add the WiFi and Ethernet interfaces to the same bridge and disable the DHCP server) but it's definitely possible. I used a MikroTik RB2011 many years ago for basically the same purpose.
Easiest way I've done it if you're trying to connect a device to wifi that doesn't have wifi built in. I've used in a few case for wifi cameras that running cable to would've been expensive. This method gets rid of all firewall/NAT and everything. Just usable for connecting to an existing LAN behind an existing firewall/NAT.
This is better with Mikrotik with more than one ethernet port and better wifi radio. Maybe a RB951 (2.4ghz only) or a CAP AC³ (2.4 and 5.8)
MAKE SURE YOURE USING WINBOX BEFORE DOING THIS. NOT WEBFIG OR SSH.
- once in the mikrotik go to system/reset configuration/check the "No Default Configuration"/click reset and choose yes. (This will remove ALL config including IP so make sure you're using winbox)
- wait for mikrotik to come back in neighbors window and select the MAC address and sign in
- System/Password and set a password. If you want to change username as well use System/Users. Just make sure you delete the default admin account if so.
- System/Identity and give it a name (not necessary but good practice)
- go to Bridge and on Bridge tab click add and then ok. You can name the Bridge something or leave named bridge1, but doesn't matter.
- go to Bridge then ports tab and click add. On the interfaces drop down, choose all and click OK.
- Go to Wireless and then security tab. Open default and add the wifi password of the network you're connecting to
- go to Wireless, click Wireless tab and open the WLAN interface you see. If you have two, the first is typically 2.4 and second 5.8. Choose the one you want to use. Id right click and disable the other interface youre not going to use for this. Though you could set the other up as an AP and have ethernet and wifi. Basically a switch that connects over wifi and has wifi AP as well. If youre not using that, just disable the unused one. For Mode, I choose "station-pseudobridge" can't remember the differences between station, station-bridge and pseudobridge. Just what I use. Additionally, under ssid add the ssid of the existing wifi network. For security profile, choose the security profile you added the wifi password to (default or the one you added). Click ok.
- go to dhcp client, click add, choose the bridge you created for the interface and hit ok. You should see it take an ip from the wifi you've connected it to.
If you notice it's not staying connected or the mikrotik won't take an address on dhcp client, make sure you have the ssid and password correct. On winbox, you can click Settings in top left and disable "hide passwords". To make sure you didn't typo any. Also, make sure you're doing this to correct wifi interface depending on 2.4 and 5.8. If you need to know which is which for sure, can go to Wireless and choose the interface. Then go to Wireless tab and check the frequency drop down. Will have 2400 or 5800 frequencies.
That will make the mikrotik act as a switch that connects over wifi. As mentioned, if you get dual band you can set up the other wifi interface manually and have a switch with wifi that's uplinked over wifi. That can be a bit technical though and can cause its own issues so If you don't need the extra wifi AP, disable it. Less uneeded RF noise. The beauty of this is if for when you don't want any NAT or firewall since you presumably have that on your main router. Anything you plug in to the mikrotik should get dhcp from the wifi network the mikrotik is connected to. Pretty handy for times you have device without wifi and for whatever reason can't run ethernet to it. Saved my but a few times. I've used it for a VoIP phone and Camera before and didn't notice any issues.
What speed do you need? Powerline could fit the bill for that, I got around 200mbps on the same ring, 120mbps on differnt rings but fairly close, 15mbps on a different ring into a different building about 50 feet away.
@@aardwolf21 Yes, powerline is my usual go to option however given that the NVR is in the loft of my clients property, the loft has its own dedicated circuit for power therefore making powerline unusable in the case.
Imagine if this thing had a microSD slot. World's smallest NAS!
29:48 what's make and model of the rack mounted poe injector?
I made a video about it here: ruclips.net/video/o3LG_E2Dml8/видео.html. It's from fs.com but appears to have been originally made by "ONV" - unfortunately I can't seem to find it for sale nowadays so it may have been discontinued.
@@camerongray1515 great, thank you. I just subscribed so it is gonna take me a while to go through more of your vids ;-)
Woudn't this be a better choice... and it's cheaper $23... Mikrotik hAP mini RB931
It would also work and gives more ethernet ports however it doesn't seem to support PoE and I found the form factor of the mAP lite to be better for my use case. However it would still work perfectly for this task!
Is there a 5GHz version that could make better use of the high speed 5G connections most modern phones have?
No 5Ghz version of the mAP Lite yet. However, for this to to work over 5Ghz would require you to connect to the phone's hotspot at 5Ghz and I don't think this is possible in the EU on Android phones. The 5Ghz channel used by the phone is baked into Android and it uses 149 (US high band 3) so it is invisible in the EU. If you're using Android in the EU, this solution is limited to 2.4Ghz.
Interesting, I suspect this maybe depends on the Android phone - I have a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and it seems to work fine as a 5GHz hotspot - in fact, I deliberately had to change the settings for this project as it was set to only operate on 5GHz originally. As for the original question, with MikroTIk your cheapest 5GHz option would be the hAP AC Lite however this only has 10/100 ethernet ports so if you need more than that then you'd be looking at the hAP AC^2. Since all MikroTik wireless products run RouterOS, you'd be able to do this with any of them so just make sure whichever device has the interfaces/form factor you like and you'll be good to go.
My 2021 Galaxy A52s has Android 12. There's no way to specify the channel if you change the mobile hotspot to "5Ghz Preferred". I've only just discovered this setting up this project but people appear to have been moaning about it for years.
An alternative to the mAP Lite is the TP-Link TP-WR902AC -- a small 5Ghz travel router not much bigger than the mAP Lite and it supports multiple configurations including client mode needed for this project. It's a much simpler device out of the box than the mAP Lite -- it's far less geeky and doesn't require manual configuration in something like RouterOS. You can run OpenWRT on it if you do want more control. It doesn't support PoE, however. It's not much more expensive here in the UK than the mAP Lite.
@@camerongray1515 I did some more testing on this. I think the variability of whether this works or not is down to whether the wireless client can see the mobile hotspot on channel 149. The phone definitely uses channel 149 when set to 5Ghz and this can't be changed. My laptop is able to see and connect to the phone on channel 149 but other wireless clients do not see this channel when doing a scan. The TP-Link travel router I have is an example so while it has ac wireless I can only use it on 2.4Ghz as a backup internet connection with the UDM Pro when using the stock firmware. I might try flashing it with OpenWRT to see if that makes any difference.
Twin-sim not an option?
As in, two SIMs sharing the same data plan? Unfortunately providers in the UK don't really offer this nowadays, the most you can get is family plans which give discounts on additional SIMs but there's still additional monthly costs for each SIM.
Great video, I travel with an old Apple Airport Express for a wired connection in hotels so I'm getting two mAP's one for travel and one for internet backup at home. PS those ads on the first speed test nearly made me vomit, you need pihole in your life!
Suppose if that works well you could have a cheap phone plugged in all the time with a cheap data sim, sky mobile would be good as the allowances roll over if not used.
That would work although at the point that you're buying a data SIM I'd look at some sort of 4G/5G modem device. Both MikroTik and Ubiquiti (amongst many other brands) sell them and you'd put your SIM card into the device and connect it up to your network over Ethernet, they also have specialised high gain antennas and many are even suitable for mounting outdoors to get an even better reception.
Poms and their "ROOTERS"
Different countries have different dialects, and in the UK it is generally pronounced "rooter" in the same way that we'd pronounce "route" when talking about planning a journey. A "rowter" would be a woodworking tool.
@@camerongray1515 Yeah, I know but we can still have a laugh while rooting around the place.
easier option to configure it, is just by using winbox via the ethernet port and connecting to it via its MAC address rather than it's IP address which you're gunna be fucking with, that way you cant lock yourself out :)
protocol is mac-winbox
That's a very good point, it's been a while since I worked on MikroTIk hardware so totally forgot about that option, it's a really good feature! If I remember I'll try to demonstrate it if I do another video on MikroTik kit in the future.
@@camerongray1515 absolutely amazing feature, mac winbox and mac telnet have gotten me out of hot water many a time..... really miss it on cisco and juniper kit in my core
Sounds like a great project. But I have to say I am really struggling to follow you. The speed of your talking combined with the accent really makes me struggle. I am quarter through and I feel like I ha e been beaten around for a bit. So, I am sorry to say i am having to stop here.
Keep up the good work but slow down you presentation.
MikroTik router config
Ensure phone's hotspot is turned on and set to 2.4ghz
Management interface 192.168.88.1
Step 1
Reconfig Ethernet from Wan to Lan
Bridge
Ports
Add new
Interface: ether 1
Apply
Interfaces
Interface List
"D" to disable WAN interface (ether1)
DHCP Client
"D" to disable ether1 (interface)
Disconnect from wifi
Reconnect using LAN, go to management interface
Step 2
Bridge
Ports
"-" Remove wlan1 from list
Interfaces
Click on greyed out WAN
Interface: wlan1
Apply | OK
"E" to enable WAN
Step 3
Wireless
Wifi Interfaces
Click on Wireless adapter
Mode: station
SSID: AP-OF-YOUR-PHONE ("Scan" button if using a different hotspot)
Frequency: auto (Might need to double check that it's kept it as auto if using the scan button)
Apply
Security profiles
Click on default
Mode: dynamic keys
Authentication types: WPA2 PSK
WPA2 Pre-shared key: PASSWORD-OF-AP-FOR-YOUR-PHONE
Apply | OK
Step 4
IP
DHCP Client
Click on greyed out "ether1"
Interface: wlan1
enabled: tick
Apply
Should see "Status:bound" and it will get an IP address from the phone
Step 5
UDM Pro
Port 8: Backup (WNA2)
Step 6
Might need a crossover cable if it doesn't power up
Thoughts
Need to consider VLAN?
Get to the point, 41 mins?
@camerongray1515 what’s the in rack pdu you have?
It's a pretty generic PDU sold under a load of different brands - nothing special at all. Can't remember exactly where I bought mine from but this is basically the same as far as I can tell: cpc.farnell.com/lms-data/pdu-6ws-h-sp-1u/1u-6-way-surge-pro-pdu-13a-horiz/dp/EN84053?st=1u%20pdu