Benefit of plugging in super WiFi booster?

[feet]

When my contract came up for renewal earlier in the year, I was offered to continue the superfast 2 I had, and to add a super WiFi booster with 4G back up for no extra charge.

I have had outages in the past, and as I work from home alot these days, I agreed. 

Having received the booster, I think I have realised that the 4G dongle will only work with the super WiFi booster, not with my current Vodafone router (the square standing up superfast one). Is that right?

I really don't need the WiFi booster as I have a ceiling mounted access point serving the whole house, cabled to the router. I don't really want another device plugged in and drawing power just for the 4G backup.

Am I losing anything by not plugging in the super WiFi booster? 

Ideal scenario would be that I can plug the USB 4G dongle into the router and send the super WiFi booster back for Vodafone to send to someone else. 

If it can't be used in the router, I guess I might keep the booster and dongle in case of an outage and keep it in a cupboard until needed, and then power it up. 

Any clarifications appreciated. 

[network123]

I believe you plug the dongle into the USB ports on the router itself. Once you do this, check the router settings (you may need to be on the 'Expert Mode,' then Status > Mobile Status, and check if you have mobile signal). The 'Super Wifi' boosters, which are just mesh boosters, just extend the hub's Wi-Fi network.

[Jayach]

As @network123 says the 4G backup dongle plugs into the USB socket on the router. It's usual to use the socket behind the slide off panel on the left, although it will probably work in either USB.

The dongle has nothing to do with the extender, and from what you say your Access point is probably a whole lot better than the booster. (which as far as I know is definitely not a mesh, even if you had multiple ones)

If you keep the dongle plugged into the router it should take over automatically if the broadband goes down, although I believe it will reboot the router to do so,

[CrimsonLiar]

It's worth pointing out from reports on these boards:

The later USB dongles will only work with the router, so if your internet goes down you can't get the dongle to work by plugging it into a computer.  That would obviously be open to abuse.

It's more likely that you can just plug the dongle into the router and leave it there (there really ought to be instructions).  If your main broadband goes down, then it's likely that the router would automatically go into failover mode, no reboot needed, and hopefully you should be back online within about 5 seconds.

[jamesnemo90]

The 4G backup will only kick in when your Vodafone service is down for whatever reason. It works via USB to your router so if it has a USB input, plug it in to that. Otherwise if you're sure it only works with the booster and you don't see the benefit of it just yet then I wouldn't worry too much. Though for those times where you lose service, you'll need that 4G backup.

You're not 'losing anything' if you don't use the booster as it sounds like your home network set-up is already meeting your needs with your ceiling mounted access point. All the booster will do is repeat your wifi signal to any Wi-Fi black spots in your home so if there's any areas of your home where your ceiling mounted access point doesn't reach, put the booster in that spot if you're desperate. But if your day-to-day needs are sorted, then yes, just get the booster and 4G backup dongle out as and when needed.

Though, maybe do some tests with and without the booster connected to the network and see if it adds any benefit to your set up? If it does, keep it in place and if not, then no harm done. You just use it as and when.