Currently I'm paying $80/month for unlimited Optus nbn. I have an ASUS RT-AX56U router which has 2 USB ports on the back (3.1 and 2.0). Is there a 4G dongle that I can purchase that will plug in to my router to allow me to use a prepaid mobile internet plan (eg. Amaysim or something) through my normal router? I found this list but am unsure which router this applies to.
Has anyone else done something similar with success?
Telstra also sold Huawei E3372/8372s.
The difference between an E3372 and an E8372 is that the latter adds wifi. You don't need the wifi, but turning it off requires knowing how.
The difference between an Optus one and a Telstra one is firstly the bands it uses, and secondly the network it tries to log onto. You can not change the bands it uses. You can change the network it logs onto, but you have to know how. The router will try to set stuff like that, but it won't work on E8372s and E8372s. Again, you have to know how. So its best to buy one for the carrier you're going to use. The "you have to know how" stuff is actually easy, but you have to find someone who knows to explain it.
I used to connect with the internet this way. But I wanted to go to 5G. So I got a GL.iNet travel router with a USB port that you can either plug a 4G model into, or USB tether a phone to. And I use my phone and the phone plan's data, which I wouldn't otherwise use much of. The protocol from a Huawei USB modem is actually very close to the same as from a USB tethered phone, and it may be the Asus router would connect to a phone. But I can't guarantee that.
If you are going to replace your NBN with 4G dongle, it will be a big downgrade on speed depending on your usage. USB dongle normally limits to 150mb download comparing to NBN 100Mb. If you dont want to downgrade your speed may be better off to get a B818 modem router instead.
I was about to comment this.
4g dongle vs mobile vs dedicated 4g modem.
A dongle won't keep up with the other two.
Also the latency of NBN vs 4G. 4G would be higher.
The reason you get 4g is as a backup internet in case your nbn goes down and you need internet failsafe.
Can you configure a router so that it automatically switch to 4g if NBN is performing poorly?
Nothing consumer grade.
Optus help for 4G issues is non existent as they will go through scripts that do not help if there is a tower issue. Optus will not say if there is a tower issue, unless the tower has "maintenance" being done on it. Maintenance could be anything.
Optus support when I had 4G did not even know what a mobile band was and depending on the modem may go as slow as 1.2K (kilo) or as fast as 300Mbps depending on the bands used and the distance from the tower, but overall support sucked and never called back.
My advice is do not downgrade from NBN to 4G, but change RSP to a cheaper RSP.
If it's just for you swap to a phone plan with https://felixmobile.com.au/ (unlimited data $40/month). It's PAYG and 50% off for the first month.
Also just so you're aware, gaming on 4G is absolute dog water, even if more than one person were to try streaming at the same time, you'll both need to use 540p or less to prevent buffeing issues.
Noting that the felix service is speed limited.
Felix have a list of approved devices. This excludes using a USB dongle as a NBN replacement, which the OP is wanting to do. Your Felix account will get suspended if you don't use an approved device.
That's why I started with "if it's just for a phone plan".
TLDR: just ISP hop between cheap NBN plans rather than switch to 4G unless you don't need a whole lot of data/speed
I did this back when our usage was <200Gb/month on a 200Gb/month plan for $60/month.
I had a proper 4G modem, Huawei E5186.
We got 100/30 mbps speeds in off-peak times, but at peak times, speeds plummeted to around 30/10.
As this was still more than our crappy FttN was able to achieve, I was happy to be paying slightly less and getting more.
Then COVID hit and I was working from home transmitting ~8Gb/day. All of a sudden our usual ~150Gb monthly usage was more than doubled.
So I ended up getting NBN reconnected as a fully deductable work connection until our 24 month 4G contract concluded.
By then, we were pushing right up to the 200Gb monthly limit consistently anyway and with work from home continuing, we kept the NBN running as our sole home connection. Jumping NBN ISP's every 6 months to get the promo price is pretty hard to beat if you use more than 200-300Gb/month.
Just get a Telstra smart modem for $20 off scumtree or marketplace. Version 2 and 3 have 4G backup and will run from a Telstra/Boost/Belong sim (possibly the resellers as well).
Do you know if these Telstra smart modems can be unlocked at all?
I believe there's 2 different versions of the smart modem 2 and one of them can be unlocked. Might be a whirlpool thread on it.
What speed were you paying for with Optus NBN?
You will find with 4G broadband that due to congestion at the local tower that your internet speed will be severely limited it will be under 100Mbps in most cases particularly in peak times you will be lucky to get 30Mbps download speed and maybe 1Mbps upload. It should be better late at night or early morning but its a risk.
I would suggest you will get a more stable connection on NBN.
If you are getting drop outs or slow speed move to a provider with decent support.
5G might get you reasonable speeds it depends where you are though as in how congested the local tower is.
See https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1042703/ on how to identify if your router supports 4G dongle.
It appears it does. https://i.imgur.com/PEIJvR3.png
You can buy the Optus Huawei E3372 for around $42 on eBay. It used to be sold in Coles and Kmart too. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/huawei-e3372