Dual Link Experience w/ RT-N66u or RT-AC66U

[jlsenter1]

Looking to purchase one of these two units with a primary mission of running dual Ethernet WAN links. I am remote with only "Wireless DSL" services. They are problematic because of operating in unlicense spectrum with weather related outages. Hence two vendors. One link I am using a Netgear WNDR3700, and the second link is an ASUS RT-N16 running DD-WRT. I have been tempted to try the dual links on the ASUS RT-N16, but it appears that it maybe a bit too experimental.

1. What has your experience been with Asuswrt-Merlin dual option turned on?
2. Is the operation identical in both the RT-N66U and RT-AC66U?
3. Does it take one primary link? Does it seamlessly change?
4. Or does it use both simultaneously?
5. Do you get combined bandwidth for FTP / downloads?

Thanks for the guidance.

Respectfully,

 

[RMerlin]

Note that Dual WAN is indeed experimental, since Asus hasn't finished developing this feature yet. Also, I will disable Dual WAN in future RT-N16 releases due to receiving numerous reports of issues specific to that router, and I have no way of testing it myself.

2) Yes, N66U and AC66U both share the exact same code in this aspect.

3 and 4) It supports both Load Balancing and Failover mode. However some people reported that it wasn't always properly switching back from Secondary to Primary when first connection gets restored.

5) No, load balancing doesn't work that way. Load-balancing will merely spread connection attempts between both connections. One FTP download = one single connection, so it will only use the full speed of whichever connection it went through. If you had 2 or 3 concurrent downloads, only then they might be on separate connections, and each would get the full speed of whichever connection it went through.


As a final reminder, Dual WAN remains an entirely experimental feature in Asusrt-Merlin. Asus hasn't officially started enabling that code in any of their routers, and that feature still gets many code changes between every new release they make, so it's still being actively developed. I am only enabling it for people interested in playing with it. If it works for them, good. But honestly, I wouldn't currently base my purchase specifically on that feature alone, because there is no guarantee it will work properly for you.

 

[jlsenter1]

RT-N66U Dual WAN Links

Thank you RMerlin. I wonder if the code ASUS uses come from the Dual WAN router, RX3042H?

Another question on the dual WAN links. How do you set the WAN links? One link I have today is static, while the second is DHCP. Can you point to the link you wan to use?

Kind Regards,
jlsenter

 

[RMerlin]

Thank you RMerlin. I wonder if the code ASUS uses come from the Dual WAN router, RX3042H?

Seeing how regularly they seem to be changing the code and how old that RX router is, I doubt it.

Another question on the dual WAN links. How do you set the WAN links? One link I have today is static, while the second is DHCP. Can you point to the link you wan to use?

Each WAN is configured separately, the same way you would normally configure your main WAN interface. So first, you define which interface the second link will use (LAN port 1 through 4 or USB for example). Then on the usual WAN page, you select which WAN interface you are configuring (primary or secondary), and proceed like you would do normally.

 

[jlsenter1]

Can you change the MAC address on the secondary link?

Tx,

 

[RMerlin]

Can you change the MAC address on the secondary link?

Tx,

Yes, you can.

 

[gregnukem]

Just to chime in... Mine doesn't fall back to the primary link once it's on the secondary. (Using 3.0.0.3.178.15 - Merlin build and Huawei 1550 as a backup).

 

[jlsenter1]

So I presume you use the USB in the backup function? How do you return to the primary link?

Regards,
jlsenter

 

[jlsenter1]

No WAN configuration for 2nd Link

I purchased the AC66U and received today. Flashed to 3.0.0.3178.16_Beta1. Went to configure secondary link and optioned it for dual wan. I configured the Primary WAN link, but I do not see any way to program the second link. I have enclosed snap shots of my screen. If I go back to the main WAN page as suggested, you have the choice of "WAN and LAN" in the WAN type. Selecting LAN for the WAN type does not present any new WAN IP settings (have secondary set to port 1). What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

 

[RMerlin]

Change "Wan Type" on the first page to select your secondary link (LAN), then configure it on that page.

 

[jlsenter1]

When I change the drop down to LAN, it still shows the static ip settings for the primary WAN link.

 

[RMerlin]

When I change the drop down to LAN, it still shows the static ip settings for the primary WAN link.

Try entering the second connection settings anyway and saving them. It's possible it might just be displaying a copy of the primary settings by default.

 

[jlsenter1]

Running into some strange behavior. I was able to program as you said. The default from the primary showing up......cosmetic bug. Then I was able to program the secondary link. Then I looked at the links in Internet Status. THe secondary link shows the "WAN Type" as LAN4, while the "Connection Type" states USB Modem. I think this may be more than cosmetic as I lost my Thumb Drive mount on the USB. I turned off the secondary link. USB thumb would not mount. Power Reboot and drive mounted (software reboot would not mount drive). I have tried cycling this process a few times with strange behavior. I lost my primary connection when I programmed a secondary connection with nothing connected. Initially when programmed, primary link was up.....then went away (maybe because its optioned for load balancing?????). I removed the secondary link. Software reboot would not bring primary link up. Power cycle does. I will try some more trouble shooting later. Definitely some puzzling behavior.

 

[RMerlin]

I think that someday I'll ask Asus what are their plans regarding Dual Wan. If it's a feature they are actually actively developing, then maybe I can suggest them to get some actual betatesting group organized to help them develop this feature which could be (IMHO) a killer addition to their routers. Maybe once the focus on AiCloud is gone.

 

[phyxsius]

Hi,

I have two internet connections (one Static and one PPoE) and I would like to buy an RT-AC66u model.

Do you know if the problems with the dual link are fixed? I saw multiple firmware updates on Asus's website for this model, but none of them had in the description something regarding the dual link support.

Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Dual WAN support still hasn't been finalized by Asus.

 

[demonx]

Dual WAN support still hasn't been finalized by Asus.

Thank you for work. I don't found answer for my question. Does your firmware dual wan hardware acceleration nat?

 

[RMerlin]

Thank you for work. I don't found answer for my question. Does your firmware dual wan hardware acceleration nat?

AFAIK CTF does work with Dual WAN, so long you don't enable any of the incompatible features, of course (such as QoS, URL filtering, IPTraffic, etc...). It might require you to use a LAN port-based interface, it won't work with a USB modem since these are not using the Broadcom interface.

 

[Adduxi]

Hi all, I'm new here, but have tried without success to find answers to the following relating to Dual WAN.

I've just bought a new RT-N66U to replace my RT-N16, and also have installed BT Infinity along side my existing Virgin Media Cable.

So, I can set the MTU for the PPoE for the BT Infinity, but to get all traffic to the same MTU I can't see anywhere to set the MTU for the Cable, which is Automatic setting under WAN.

Also what is the "Load Balance Configuration" setting? It defaults to 3:1 in the Merlin Firmware. If I want an even spread, should I set this at 1:1 ?

And a big thanks to RMerlin for all this firmware work !!!

Sorry if I come across as daft, but hey, I have to start somewhere

 

[Kushan]

Dual WAN doesn't work yet for anything other than USB backup, I'm afraid.