I just wanted to see what other selfhosters backup emergency plan is if the primary internet router goes offline but the internet isn’t out (ie a router reboot would fix the problem), leaving you without access to your stuff even via vpn.

the options I’ve considered so far:

  1. cellular smart plug to reboot router

I tried a ubibot smart plug (SP1) that is supposed to work with cellular, but the device or sim is bad. I’m currently troubleshooting. The problem with this one is it requires a proprietary cloud service, it’s supposedly self hostable, but it’s a pia to setup and their app port can’t be changed easily allowing for a reverse proxy setup on VPS.

  1. the other option I am considering is cellular wifi router and a wifi smart plug connected to that device to reboot router

what other options have I overlooked? Also, specific models of devices would be helpful info from others doing this already.

TIA!

Edit: also just thought of possibly a cellular internet backup on my opnsense box, but from everything I’ve read that’s also very involved to setup

Edit2: I’ve setup a homeassistant automation to reboot a zigbee smart plug if 2 external hosts are down for 15 mins, will try this out for a bit. I still need tp troubleshoot why the device goes down in General. Thanks for all the responses and ideas!

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    • If your problem is brief brownouts or similar — my experience is that some consumer broadband routers have cheap power supplies that leaves them in bad states when PCs will pull through — you could put them on a UPS.

    • If your problem is that your router is unstable, you could just replace your router. Like, if you need remote access and you have a flaky router, that seems like a prime choice.

    • You could have a power control device or something and have another machine on your network set up so that if it loses Internet connectivity for some sustained period of time, it power-cycles the router.

    • If this is for when you’re a long ways away, do you have a friend who you’d trust with a key and flipping a switch?

    • I expect that there are business-oriented routers that will have integrated watchdog features that will auto-reboot if they hang. I have not gone looking, though.

    • Possibly, if it’s compatible with your use case, and uptime is critical enough here, having a second, backup server elsewhere, possibly not self-hosted. I mean, your connectivity is always going to be bounded by the reliability of your residential Internet connection otherwise.