Dual LTE Modems - GoldenOrb

[chronicledmonocle]

Hello All,

So, I have tried this several times without success and I'm wondering if anyone else has tried getting two LTE modems working with GoldenOrb? I have a WG3526 with an internal Quectel EM12G and a USB enclosure Sierra Wireless EM7455. I try to connect both at the same time and it works mostly OK at first, but eventually mwan3 freaks out and marks one of the LTE WANs as down even though the status page under Modem --> Status shows both Up with PING TEST and a +.

If I reboot the router, that's when things TRULY wig out. The Quectel will show up and get an IP address, but the Modem --> Status panel is totally jacked for it and just gets stuck on "Connecting..." even though the interface for wan1 shows an IP. The Sierra Wireless card will have a bunch of AT! command results showing in all of the details fields and won't properly identify the model or make of the LTE Modem. I thought this was a corruption of some kind, so I reloaded the firmware from bootloader and setup everything from scratch (no config restore). Same results.

If I power off the router, unplug the USB for the Sierra Wireless card, power on the router with just the internal Quectel card in and wait for it to connect, THEN plug in the USB enclosure with the EM7455 and let it connect, things will work just fine for a while, but eventually mwan3 shows one of the WANs as down again and I have to go through the rigamarole all over again.

At the end of the day, I'm currently just using the Quectel EM12G with a LB1120 plugged into WAN for my secondary WAN, but would love to have a solution to this. Should I just ditch GoldenOrb as it just seems super buggy and go straight OpenWRT with the necessary luci components for LTE?

[baldwine]

I have a dual RPI3B+ and EM7565 setup (we go through a lot of bandwidth with 2x4k tv's) and I was looking for something that would load balance all of our traffic. GoldenOrb looks like it has the option, but I could never get it to work. So I went in a different direction.

Unifi has the USG which does dual wan interfaces and I just set it up for both of my modems yesterday. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of documentation to explain how to do this in one location, but through persistence I was able to get it up and running. So far it is handling all of my download traffic at a constant 50/50. Upload traffic is different because I have 3 nest cams hogging bandwidth and they will rarely switch networks without some external interference. The problem with the USG is that you need a switch controller to get full access to it. I bought a USW Flex Mini to work in conjunction with it. This setup is overkill though and I believe you could purchase an Edgerouter X that will combine all of those functions into one unit for under half the price.

The key to making it all work is to set the RPIs and the USG to different IP addresses. The switch controller has to be connected directly to the Lan1 port or it won't recognize the gateway. Lan2 has to be reconfigured into Wan2, which is simple to do, but you have to find the documentation to do it online. The downside to this setup is there is no widget or an easy way to view load balancing on the USG.

[Didneywhorl]

You may want to ask in the whirlpool forum about this if you cant find that info here: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3vx1k1r3?p=773

[chronicledmonocle]

I have a dual RPI3B+ and EM7565 setup (we go through a lot of bandwidth with 2x4k tv's) and I was looking for something that would load balance all of our traffic. GoldenOrb looks like it has the option, but I could never get it to work. So I went in a different direction.

Unifi has the USG which does dual wan interfaces and I just set it up for both of my modems yesterday. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of documentation to explain how to do this in one location, but through persistence I was able to get it up and running. So far it is handling all of my download traffic at a constant 50/50. Upload traffic is different because I have 3 nest cams hogging bandwidth and they will rarely switch networks without some external interference. The problem with the USG is that you need a switch controller to get full access to it. I bought a USW Flex Mini to work in conjunction with it. This setup is overkill though and I believe you could purchase an Edgerouter X that will combine all of those functions into one unit for under half the price.

The key to making it all work is to set the RPIs and the USG to different IP addresses. The switch controller has to be connected directly to the Lan1 port or it won't recognize the gateway. Lan2 has to be reconfigured into Wan2, which is simple to do, but you have to find the documentation to do it online. The downside to this setup is there is no widget or an easy way to view load balancing on the USG.

I think you misunderstand: I want to get it reliably running GoldenOrb on the same appliance for both modems. There is a modem selection screen in GoldenOrb and MultiWAN capabilities.

[chronicledmonocle]

You may want to ask in the whirlpool forum about this if you cant find that info here: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3vx1k1r3?p=773

What in the world is that forum for, if you don't mind me asking? I figured this would be the best place to ask.

[Didneywhorl]

That's the forum thread of the creators of Goldenorb. They made/make Goldenorb/rooter. Its not a place to ask most of the questions we ask here, but it is the go to for Goldenorb specific items. Big brainz over there. Sometimes they grace us here with knowledge.

[aimlesswanderer]

I have a dual RPI3B+ and EM7565 setup (we go through a lot of bandwidth with 2x4k tv's) and I was looking for something that would load balance all of our traffic. GoldenOrb looks like it has the option, but I could never get it to work. So I went in a different direction.

Unifi has the USG which does dual wan interfaces and I just set it up for both of my modems yesterday. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of documentation to explain how to do this in one location, but through persistence I was able to get it up and running. So far it is handling all of my download traffic at a constant 50/50. Upload traffic is different because I have 3 nest cams hogging bandwidth and they will rarely switch networks without some external interference. The problem with the USG is that you need a switch controller to get full access to it. I bought a USW Flex Mini to work in conjunction with it. This setup is overkill though and I believe you could purchase an Edgerouter X that will combine all of those functions into one unit for under half the price.

The key to making it all work is to set the RPIs and the USG to different IP addresses. The switch controller has to be connected directly to the Lan1 port or it won't recognize the gateway. Lan2 has to be reconfigured into Wan2, which is simple to do, but you have to find the documentation to do it online. The downside to this setup is there is no widget or an easy way to view load balancing on the USG.

Would you mind elaborating on your setup a bit please? I currently have two wg1608 routers with goldenorb and Quectel EM160R-GL modems in each. The modems and routers work great by themselves. I purchased a USG and wanted to take advantage of the load balancing provided by the two WAN ports.
I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get this working. I cant seem to be able to get to the internet when I have the routers connected to the wan ports on the USG. (I have different IP address' on the routers and the USG) I have also enabled the second WAN port and setup the interface. I can access the routers through the USG but I cannot access the internet.

Would you mind sharing where you found the documentation online to do this? I must be searching for the wrong thing because I cannot find out how to get it setup.

I know this probably is not the right place to post this but it is the only place that someone has mentioned a setup that is very similar to mine.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[baldwine]

Would you mind elaborating on your setup a bit please?

Sure, my whole setup was trial and error.

First, I will answer your question about the USG. You have to establish your network connection for the 2nd LAN/WAN port. To do this, you will need to do the following per Unifi: The order might not be correct.

Using classic settings interface:

Settings --> Networks --> Create New Network
- Change Network Group to 'WAN2'
- Change Load Balancing to 'Weighted LB'
- Enter Load Balancing weight to 50 for half/half internet traffic between both WAN ports
- Save

Next go to Devices:

Devices --> USG --> Ports (Center Icon) --v Configure Interfaces
- Change Port Wan 2/Lan 2 to 'WAN2'
- Apply

Give it a moment to adjust the settings and you should see both WAN Ports active. On your USG Device, there will be three icons on top, all represent the ports on the front of the USG, both icons will be either Green/Orange depending on the connection speed to the WG1608. If it is grayed out, it isn't working.

You will want to have the USG set to utilize a different Gateway IP then both of your routers. You can change the default from 192.168.1.1 to something other than that or make sure to set your routers IP addresses to something different between the USG and themselves. Such as 192.168.1.1 (USG) 192.168.2.1 (WG1608 - WAN 1 port) 192.168.3.1 (WG1608 - WAN 2 port). This will make it a lot easier to see your devices on the network to help troubleshoot and update as necessary. (I just read your next line about separate IP addresses, so I am being redundant, sorry).

That was all I have done to get it up and running. I hope I was able to explain this for you.

Edit: Gave bad info on the gateway for Starlink. You need to create a Static Route on your Starlink WAN port for 192.168.100.1/32.

[toddw]

I have the same setup above on the USG pro 4 and it works well. Keep in mind its load balancing, not WAN bonding.

[aimlesswanderer]

Sure, my whole setup was trial and error.

Baldwine, thank you for your instruction. I tried this setup on the USG and it still was not working. The USG stated that there was a firmware update. I tried updating the device multiple times, but the update would not install. I have come to the conclusion that there is something wrong with my device. I say this because I have successfully setup an EdgeRouter Pro (ERPRO-8) and have it working with dual WAN.
The EdgeRouter Pro just worked after setting it up similar to what you have. After I confirmed the setup working with the EdgeRouter I tried using the USG and it still would not work. This device is going to be returned.
In conclusion, I have setup the EdgeRouter Pro with Dual WAN to both of my LTE Modems and am using load balancing, not bonding. I may explore load bonding in the future but it seems like there is a good bit too getting it setup, and right now my speeds are upwards of 150mps which is more then plenty for what it is being used for.

I really appreciate the help and insight on this forum. Thank you all for your assistance!