[SOLVED] Remotely reset a disconnected static SIM connection at property using a backup SIM connection?

[muellen2002]

What equipment to use? How to do it?

I have an unreliable static mobile internet connection (functions through a SIM card in a router) which I use to monitor my home through a Wi-Fi security camera. There are no other options other than the mobile network for a way to connect to the internet due to the location of my house.

I want to be able to remotely manage my camera and internet connection as I am unable to return to my home for weeks or months at a time and it has recently been broken into and robbed. Often the internet goes down and the only way to get it up again is to reset the router. Currently this can only be done by having physical access to the router. I need to get someone to go to my house and reset the router.

My current ISP (that I have a further years contract with) provides me with a Wi-Fi 4G router and a SIM to go with it. I am currently not certain if the SIM and/or the service will only function through the SIM being put into the router that the ISP provided.

My idea is to get a second SIM that is intended to be used in a mobile phone rather than a static router, then use the internet connection provided by the new ‘mobile’ SIM to reinitialise the old ‘router service’ SIM’s internet connection. The new SIM would be from a different ISP that provides better coverage for my area, and of course if I got another SIM from the same ISP, it’s more likely that both connections would go down at the same time.

I have been searching for different equipment and options for a way in which I can achieve what I want to achieve, but it is starting to stress me out. I’ve always hated trying to figure out networking.

I would like to achieve a balance between cost, and the ease of setting something up and its ease of usability.


Ideally what I would like to be possible is for me to be able to get the following single piece of hardware . . .

- Dual SIM/WAN 4G/LTE Wi-Fi router.

- Ability to restart a disconnected SIM/WAN connection from the connection provided by the other.

- Might be useful to restrict the security camera from connecting to one WAN only. That way if the security camera goes offline, but I can remotely connect to my home network / LAN, the chances are that the problem lies with the single WAN that the camera is connected to.

- Ability to access the settings of router remotely through either of the WAN connections provided by the SIMs, though just one might be acceptable. I’ve seen on one particular router that remote access is possible, but you have to designate a single WAN connection for the remote connection to use.

Load balancing and failover isn’t strictly necessary, but I figure it’s likely to be provided with a piece of hardware like this anyway.


As explained before however, it may not be a solution to get and use a single piece of hardware. Maybe the SIM for my current ISP is restricted to only work with or from the router that is provided with it, and/or it is not possible to get the piece of hardware above at all or cheaply enough. In this case I would need to use two or more pieces of hardware in combination.

I don’t fancy trying to research all the different pieces of hardware and processes out there! Maybe there is someone out there who has the knowledge to say instantly ‘you need this and this, and do this and this with it’.

Please help!

Thanks in advance.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

You will need a Cisco dual-sim router and a CCNA qualification. During the CCNA course you will learn exactly which routers support this functionality.

Typically, equipment with this sort of redundant remote failover capability runs to around $4000-$5000. A CCNA course will take about 6 months to compete and likely cost around the same amount.

A cheaper solution might be a long Ethernet cable.

You might be able to homebrew something. If you had two 4G routers connected up to a raspberry pi running Linux, you could have it reboot each router on alternate schedules, so every 12 hours one of the routers gets rebooted. Then you have the Pi act as a multi-ip internet proxy for your security camera. But again, a long Ethernet cable seems like a much better and simpler solution.

 

[bill001g]

I think a much larger issue is getting any kind of remote access when you are using a mobile broadband connection. I am kinda surprised that you can even remotely access your current system.

The problem is there is a shortage of IP addresses. Mobile device have almost no need to have exclusive use of a ip addresses because they seldom act as a server. Almost all mobile broadband ISP use carrier NAT and share the IP addresses they have between mulitple customers.

You must have a public IP address...best a static public IP address when you want to run a server function like remote access.

There are not many router that will take 2 sim cards. Most are lucky if they even take 1. Because of all the different radio variations (the sim chip is not a radio only security) it is hard to build routers that will work on all providers. Most times you use a USB modem type device and hook it to a compatible router.

So what I would recommend is first you make sure you can get a second ISP that will give you a public IP address. Next I would find a router that is compatible with one of the wifi usb modems for that provider. Asus and tplink have a pretty big list but you can if you have to load third party firmware like dd-wrt on a router to get more supported modems. You also want a router that can run as a VPN server. This is a fairly common feature on better routers and most that support USB modems also have a vpn server function.

So after you find the hardware it should not be real hard to get remote access to the other router. You would just use a vpn client and connect to the new router and you would then be the same as if you were on the lan. That does not help though if the router gets hung and you have to physically reboot it. You might consider one of those fancy network power plugs so your could cycle the power.

 

[Alabalcho]

While I can't offer off-the-shelf solution, here is an idea: "A Box" which monitors the Internet connection (eg. pinging google, 1.1.1.1 etc), and if this fails for more than five minutes / one hour / etc, kicks power cycles the router.

 

[muellen2002]

Seems that TommyTwoTone66 allowed me to see the wood for the trees with his 'rebooting' talk.
I'll just plug my router into an automatic timer socket, and have it turn off for a very short period every so often, and therefore reboot/reset my internet connection! That's all I really need to be able to do without being there.

 

[bill001g]

Simple solution tend to be the best and be the most stable.