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Forum Discussion
ant
Dec 03, 2025Prodigy
Is there a way to connect Orbi Netgear Orbi RBK753S-100NAS to an iPhone's cellular Internet?
Say my cable Internet goes down. Is it possible to use the wifi router to the iPhone's cellular? Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
CrimpOn
Dec 03, 2025Guru - Experienced User
Netgear routers connect only using their Ethernet WAN port. This is what sets "WiFi Extenders" apart from the previous WiFi Access Points (which also required an Ethernet uplink connection).d
Netgear does market systems which connect to both cellular and traditional internet sources and can switch automatically from one to the other, such as the RBK753:
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/NBK752/NBK752_NA_DS.pdf
The obvious drawback to this sort of product is that it requires a subscription to 5G cellular service (i.e. a monthly charge). Also, customers have to be careful about the firmware release installed on the router and satellite as sometimes Netgear will update one (or the other) without ensuring that they continue to operate correctly in this configuration.
- antDec 04, 2025Prodigy
Interesting. Eh, I don't want to add another line and change carrier. The need is very rare too, but could be useful when there's an cable outage.
- StephenBDec 04, 2025Guru - Experienced User
ant wrote:
The need is very rare too, but could be useful when there's an cable outage.
as CrimpOn says, there are some routers out there that will fail over to mobile data, but all the ones I am aware of require their own data plan.
Your Orbi requires an ethernet WAN port. I guess you could get an extender that can connect to your phone's hotspot, and then connect its ethernet port to the Orbi WAN port when your ISP service fails. Very ad-hoc, but could be made to work.