[SOLVED] 911 - USB 4G DONGLE TO ADSL ROUTER

[Nataliedavis]

Hi there,
I've got an ADSL Router and I've got a 4g dongle. Would to be possible for me to connect my 4g dongle into the USB port of the ADSL router and get a WiFi connection?
I'm currently using pocket WiFi that has a simcard slot and I cannot afford to buy a new router that has a simcard slot right now.
Please please help!!

 

[helpstar]

which router and which 4G dongle is it exactly?
Depending on your router model, it can work.

 

[Nataliedavis]

The dongle is ZTE vodafone K5006-Z 4G
The ADSL router is ZyXEL (Wireless N VDSL2/ADSL Gateway with USB)

 

[bill001g]

My guess is no but this is a read the manual thing...or more likely go to the vendor web site because if it does support modems that list changes.

In any case your first thing to look for is does it support any 4g modem it is not a common feature. Then you must check both the dongle model number and the ISP. Seem different ISP do things just a slight bit different even when they use the same dongle. Asus routers tend to have the largest list. DD-WRT is the largest but you can not load third party firmware unto a device that has a dsl modem in it.

 

[Nataliedavis]

I tried it out and all lights are green, its only the internet light that's red.
Dammn now I don't know what to do, because now both would go to waste.
Is there any other way for me to create a hotspot at home with any of these two devices?
I do apologize for all of these questions, I don't really know much about these things.

 

[bill001g]

The device will get power from the router but that is all. Pretty much it will do the same thing if you hook it to a pc without loading the device drivers. Problem is you can't load device drivers on a router they actually have to build the driver into the router OS which is why it is so hard to get dongles that work on many routers.

The only option I can think of is to use your pc as a hotspot for other devices. It is part of microsoft ICS function. It works for most devices but if they intentionally made it so it does not support ICS then it will not work. Look at microsoft site they have good examples of ICS but mostly they share the ethernet with the wifi but it should be very similar process.

ICS in general is not really a optimum solution for any function. What you have done is make your expensive computer into a very dumb router. You can still use the computer while ICS is running but you have to be careful if you run anything very intensive because it might disrupt the traffic passing though.

 

[Nataliedavis]

I think I'll rather not use my laptop as a hotspot, it means it should be on all day. I'll just have to buy a new or secondhand router with a simcard slot. At the end of the day it saves me much more!
Thank you so much for your help!

 

[bill001g]

Do not just buy a router that has a sim slot that is the most expensive way to do it.

I would consider finding a inexpensive router that supports dd-wrt and also of course has USB slots. Your dongle is on the supported list I think but with dd-wrt there is so much information it tends to be complex to know exactly which images have which support. It is on the list of supported modem/ISP. You will note that most modems with very similar numbers say WIP in the table which means they are not supported currently.

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Mobile_Broadband

My guess is a $50 or less router should work. Some router 2 or 3 years old will be more than good enough.