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External ISP went down, how to rejig Eero to connect to internet via my phone (over ethernet)?

Hi, we're all working from home, and I have 2 kids who need to connect to school via Zoom. Our incoming internet connection went down. No problem, I have a good 4G signal on my phone, lots of data allowance, and can tether it to my computer and from there share it to the Eero via ethernet.

Should be simple right?

Tethered phone via USB to my computer, got internet access on computer, great. Configure computer to share the phone's internet connection via Ethernet, no problem. 

[FYI: I've done this before at work (small company) - change of internet providers left us with a service gap & I was able to connect office ethernet network / 10 colleagues to internet via my phone.]

But how to get Eero to pick up the ethernet internet connection from my computer? I can't make it work. The app won't work as the Eero has no internet access, so I can't set the upstream IP address there. I've tried power cycling the gateway Eero and hoping it will pick up a DHCP address from my computer. Didn't work.

Any ideas?

2 replies

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    • Techtomato
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Clarification: this would be a temporary change while external ISP is down.

    • Techtomato
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    SOLVED! My edit of my post got rejected so here is the solution again: 

    1. Set phone to provide a hotspot.

    2. Connect computer to phone's hotspot via USB or wifi. Check computer has ethernet access.

    3. Set computer to share connection from phone via ethernet. (I was using a Mac, and for some reason they tether via wifi even while the phone is plugged in over USB. Both connections will show up as available for sharing. Share the wifi connection, not the USB connection)

    4. Unplug everything from the gateway Eero (unplug both ethernet cables & power cable)

    5. Plug an ethernet cable direct to computer. No switches or hubs allowed.

    6. Plug in power cable to Eero, wait a couple of minutes and it should connect.

    7. When light is white, you can now connect the other ethernet cable / your network switch (if you have them). Switch / other computers may need power cycling as some network details have changed.

    When external ISP comes back online:

    1. Unplug everything again from the gateway Eero (unplug both ethernet cables & power cable)

    2. Connect only the modem/router to the gateway Eero.

    3. Turn the gateway Eero on again.

    4. When light is white, you can connect your other junk again (and power cycle if needed.)

    Happy home camping!

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