Will my NBN 4G backup dongle work if directly plugged into my laptop?

[gofopod]

I have NBN Business with the Telstra supplied Netgear modem and the Huawei E8372D 4G failover dongle. 
I want to unplug the dongle from the modem, and plug it in to my PC to use it as a standalone mobile broadband device when I am out of WiFi range on my property. 
The dongle is working correctly and connects to the 4G network, but I can't get my PC to connect to the internet through this device.

What am I doing wrong?

[cf4]

The dongle is only for use with the modem as a backup incase main link goes down. Even  if you could get it to work plugged directly into the PC you would be breaking one of the conditions of your contract with Telstra.

[SteveW_52]

For the dongle to become active while attached to your modem/router, you might need to unplug the internet service (DSL or WAN) from your modem so that it correctly detects loss of internet rather than a degradation.

How do you know the dongle is connected and working? when you say you can't get your PC to connect to the internet, are you trying to do that with the laptop connected to the modem, or with the dongle instead?

[gofopod]

When my laptop is out of wifi range (in my shed out the back) I tried unplugging the dongle from the modem, and plugging it directly into my laptop.
The Telstra 4GX USB PRO icon loads, and shows that the dongle is connected to 4G, but I can't get my laptop to recognise the dongle as an internet connection.

[SteveW_52 · Accepted solution]

That sort of use is outside the terms of your contract I think.

In my experience, the USB dongles intended for that sort of use, as a portable internet connection, have software on the device that you access through a file manager (Windows explorer) and install. But that probably isn't an option for the business backup purpose with the modem.

If you are connected, then you can check your network connection to see if you have a valid IP address and Gateway IP. For Windows 10, right click on the Network icon in the Task bar, select open Network and troubleshooting, then click on Properties of the connection. Scroll down to see the connection properties - if the IP address is 169.???.???.??? then you don't have a valid network connection. Which probably means you can't use the dongle that way

[gofopod]

Thanks Stevo,

I was trying to stream KAYO to watch Bathurst in the shed!

In the end I used the SIM from the dongle in an old phone, and connected with a mobile hotspot. There must be something preventing the dongle being used when not plugged in to the modem.

[SteveW_52]

Most likely the device configuration and APN etc.