The Internet is abuzz today with reports that a major ISP is down, affecting businesses and home users alike, even hospitals. Reports began from just after 3am 8/11/2023.
This happens from time to time with almost all ISPs. The problem is, what can you do to get by until the problem is fixed? Having no Internet for any amount of time is not just annoying, it can get very expensive, very fast, if your business depends on it.
One solution is to use the Wi-Fi WAN feature built into DrayTek 2865, 2866 and 2927 wireless routers. This allows the router to use any Wi-Fi hotspot as its Internet connection, whether that’s a mobile phone or a public Wi-Fi hotspot. It can then share that connection to a local area network with all of the other benefits that the router provides. Check out the following video for more detail.
Another solution is to grab a USB LTE device (get a prepaid one if you don’t want to sign up to a plan) and connect it to the USB port on routers that support USB WAN. That includes the 2135, 2765, 2766, 2865, 2866 and 2927 series routers as well as many discontinued models. Just be sure to check the compatibility list here before you buy. Not all USB devices are compatible.
For more information on this procedure, check out the following video.
Note, this is an older video showing an older model router, but the configuration remains much the same in current models.
Another solution is DrayTek LTE routers. These only need a SIM rather than a USB device. If you have one of these routers and your ISP is down, you can swap the SIM out for one from another provider. Alternatively, most DrayTek LTE routers also have two SIM slots and will automatically fail over to the second SIM if the primary SIM isn’t working, so you can leave the primary one in place for when it comes back online again.
More information on this can be found in this short video.