The FortiExtender is a Fortinet indoor 5G and LTE cellular gateway that adds wireless WAN connectivity to your network. It can act as a primary internet connection for locations without wired broadband, as a failover backup link for an existing connection, or as out-of-band management access to a remote FortiGate. Once connected to a FortiGate, it appears as a regular network interface in FortiOS, so there is no separate dashboard to manage.

Dual-SIM models (such as the FEX-101G, FEX-211G, and FEX-511G) hold two SIM cards but use one modem. The second SIM is available for automatic failover if the primary carrier loses signal or exhausts its data plan. The dual-modem FEX-202F-AM has two complete modems, each with its own SIM slots, so both cellular links can be active at the same time. This enables active-active load balancing, traffic isolation, and faster failover without waiting for a modem to switch carriers.

No. FortiExtender can run in standalone mode using Enhanced LAN Extension, which creates a VxLAN tunnel back to a centrally located FortiGate over the internet. This lets you deploy security at a remote site without placing a FortiGate at that location. In LAN Extension mode, the FortiExtender extends the Layer 2 broadcast domain of the central FortiGate, and one FortiGate can manage over 1,000 FortiExtender units this way. A local FortiGate is only required if you need on-premises firewall enforcement at the branch.

Four models in the current lineup support 5G. The FortiExtender WAN 50G (FEW-50G-AM for North America, FEW-50G-EA for EMEA/APAC) delivers the highest throughput with up to 7 Gbps download in 5G Sub-6 SA mode and 8 internal antennas. The FortiExtender 511G and 511G-WiFi both use a 5G Sub-6GHz module with 4x4 MIMO, add an SFP port for fiber runs over 100 meters, and the 511G-WiFi also includes concurrent Wi-Fi 6 for local wireless coverage. The remaining models (FEX-101G, FEX-201F, FEX-202F, FEX-211G) are LTE only.

Yes, and this is one of the most common deployments. FortiExtender integrates with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN so the FortiGate can monitor both your primary wired WAN and the cellular link simultaneously. When the primary connection drops or degrades below a defined threshold, FortiGate automatically routes traffic through FortiExtender without manual intervention. Because FortiExtender uses PoE power and a standard Ethernet cable, it is easy to add to an existing site without rewiring. Models with an Ethernet WAN port also allow you to combine a wired ISP and cellular for additional redundancy from a single device.