Using a Netgear 341U as a backup connection for your WiFi router

There are a lot of things inside our homes besides our computers and mobile devices connected to the internet today. Thermostats, coffee machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners can now all depend on an internet connection for critical functions.

And that makes the WiFi router in your home a very important device. It makes sure all your home appliances stay connected, so that you don’t freeze to death or run out of food.

Unless of course your actual internet connection drops. What then?

If you have two wired internet connections with two different providers, you’re in luck. But adding another $75 to your monthly expenses just for the security of knowing you’ll always have a connection probably isn’t worth it for most.

Pairing Charge data-only LTE service with a USB modem like the Netgear 341U makes an excellent backup internet connection that’ll keep you and your appliances connected in a pinch without costing you an arm and a leg every month.

Charge customer Alex has done just that with his Cisco RV320 router. Read on to see how he’s got it all configured.

Netgear 341U configuration

On the Netgear 341U, you unfortunately need to disable LTE for this to work. That's because of the way the Cisco router communicates with the modem. Other WiFi routers may behave differently and may support LTE on the 341U.

Cisco RV320 configuration

You'll need to configure your WAN failover settings from "System Management" > "Dual WAN".

Then you roll down to "Setup" > "Network" and edit the USB device config. Set a DNS Server (Google's 8.8.8.8 will do), the APN (r.cx.ispsn) and leave everything else default.

Finally, change the "USB Failover Settings" to "3G/4G Failover Cold Standby" (or "Warm" if you want to keep the modem on all the time).

Here's the final setup in place. You can see the Netgear 341U poking its head out from behind the Cisco RV320 on the left. Pretty fancy.