3GWireless WAN High-Speed WAN Interface Cards

[scott.rutledge]

Can this product be used as a Point-to-point connection to a particular network? An example would be that the WIC card is installed onto a remote node and needs to connect to a core ISR.

[Richard Burts]

Scott

The 3G wireless connects the router to the provider network and is inherently not a point to point connection.

There may be a way to achieve this effect even though it is not inherent to the connection. You could configure the router with the 3 G card to connect to your head end router using an IPSec tunnel with GRE. The router would need a static route to the tunnel end point so that it could bring up the tunnel. You could then run a dynamic routing protocol over the GRE tunnel to advertise a default route (or you could set a static default route pointing over the GRE tunnel). This results in an environment in which traffic from the router LAN is effectively going over a point to point connection to your head end router. I have implemented this kind of thing, except not on a 3G connection, and it works quite well.

HTH

Rick

[scott.rutledge]

How about using a VPN tunnel to my ASA?

Scott

[Richard Burts]

Scott

You could certainly use a router with a 3 G wireless card to establish a VPN tunnel to your ASA and all the traffic to the ASA would be protected. But without the GRE I am not sure that you have the ability to send traffic only to the ASA.

With the GRE you can point a default route to the GRE and all traffic goes over the (virtual) point to point connection (you have effectively eliminated any other way to get out). Without GRE I do not see much alternative to having the default route just point to the outside interface with the G 3 provider as the next hop. And then you have lost the restriction to point to point. Or did I not understand correctly what you need when you described that you wanted a point to point to a particular network?

HTH

Rick