Cellular Modem/Router for BGW210-700 Failover

Your ATT internet requires the ATT gateway. ATT does not offer any kind of gateway that does hardwired and cellular to my knowledge, so your proposed setup is unlikely. I’m also not aware of any cellular router/modems that do both hardwired and cellular. However, even if what you are asking is technically possible, is it economically sensible? Any cellular modem would require a cellular data plan to do any good. Would you really pay for a monthly plan that you might not ever use?

What you say is true.  However, there are devices designed specifically to do the type of hardware  "failover" I have in mind, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R813HLW

That is, the WAN port of device is connected to BGW210 ethernet port, and LAN port of device is connected to OPNSense router.  When the device does not receive signal from WAN port (BGW210), it switches to cellular data and sends that through LAN port.

Another alternative is OPNSense router failover configuration: https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/how-tos/multiwan.html

In this configuration, the BGW210 is WAN1 and the cellular modem is configured as WAN2.   The router switches from WAN1 to WAN2 when it no longer detects signal from WAN1.

Economically, you are absolutely correct.  It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, given that the BGW210 router will rarely go down.  But, in my case, when power goes out in my Apt, the broadband signal is also interrupted (even though the BGW210 is on battery backup).  So, the cost of a monthly cellular data plan for this specific purpose is basically the cost of insurance for uninterrupted Internet.

Is it worth it?  Probably not.  But, it is fun figuring out how to make it work.

Thanks for reaching out, you've come to the right place @somebodysysop. Let's get you to the right department.

@sandblaster thank you for providing helpful information on their inquiries.

Given the complexity of your concern, we recommend you reach out to our Home tech team for further assistance with your specific inquiry. We hope this works for you!

Thank you for contacting the AT&T Community Forums. Have a great day!

Shakendra, AT&T Community Specialist

How do I contact the Home tech team?  The link supplies gives me a 404 error.

ATTHelp did you a favor by messing up the link.  HomeTech is a paid service and so far, I've not seen one person in these forums ever come away with a solution from them, only an emptier wallet and a lot of frustration.

It seems like your hardware failover setup should work, but looking at the reviews there's some question that the WAN port is actually functional. 

Thank you for the reply.  I saw a video which demonstrated that the WAN port on the

NETGEAR 4G LTE Broadband Modem does work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWzOTHjVEw&t=669s&ab_channel=PhasedLogixITServices

However, in the case that it doesn't, my Plan B is to use the failover config on the OPNSense router (this sort of flexibility being one of the many reasons I chose to go with a 3rd party router) which only requires connecting to the device via its LAN port.

I just recently researched all of this, but posted the question here to hopefully get responses from individuals who have already been through the process and could offer suggestions (software, hardware, configs, etc...).

I've ordered the hardware and will post my results when I get this set up and running.

I hear ya.  While this isn't an off-the-wall setup, I'm not surprised if nobody shows up who has actually tried it.

Have you looked in the Netgear Community forums?   Or maybe posting in the https://www.dslreports.com/forum/uverse forum might garner some replies.  The people in the DSLR forums are often a great source of more advanced setups.

Excellent idea!  I just went to Netgear forum and found solutions to two potential problems I was looking at with the device.  Thank you, again!

This seems like overkill.  If a power outage is taking down your internet, it could be because the upstream has an issue.  BTDT.   I made a pest of myself, and it took two years, but Att finally got the batteries in the VRAD functional to keep service up during power disruptions.  If you have fiber service, internet should already be able  to survive power interruptions.  

I have AT&T Fiber Internet 1000.  My BGW, OPNSense routers and LAN are all on battery backups.  When building power goes out (SoCal Edison), Broadband goes out also.  It didn't used to be like that, but it's like that now.

It may be overkill, but it is still a way to keep internet access in the rare times when power goes out.  My apt is filled with smart devices, including my garage door opener.  All require Internet access to operate.  You can imagine the havoc when Internet is down for just an hour, let alone the 2 days it was down during the last outage.

Yes, overkill AND overly expensive -- but worth it for the piece of mind.  And the fun in actually making it happen.