dual-wan router choice

[nunu]

hello everybody !

i'm looking for a router with a fine support of dual wan.

i had a synology rt2600ac (flash issue, poor ovpn performance, but good dual wan management).

i have bought a asus RT-2900ac but dual wan management is not reliable (even with wan-failover script that improves a lot this functionality).

So my question: do you know a model of router, with reliable dual wan (load balancing / failover), routing options (like asuswrt) with good vpn performances ?

regards

 

[glens]

Check out the gl-inet Flint 2 maybe?

 

[Tech9]

i'm looking for a router with a fine support of dual wan

The Omada ER605 for $60 is the cheapest popular solution. It has standalone mode with own GUI and does multi-WAN properly.

It can do up to 4x WAN connections with load balancing and fail back/over.

GUI emulator here:

Opening...

emulator.tp-link.com

 

[Tech9]

i have bought a asus RT-2900ac

By the way, this router (RT-AC2900 or RT-AC86U) was one of the most unreliable Asus models and is facing End-Of-Life soon.

 

[nunu]

Thanks @Tech9 and @glens for your answers.

For the moment with fail-over script it is not so bad with RT-AC2900. (I have identified an other issue in a specific case).

Do you know which kind of issues was met on RT-AC2900 ? (2/3 most big issues?)

regards

 

[Tech9]

Do you know which kind of issues was met on RT-AC2900 ? (2/3 most big issues?)

This router is more popular as RT-AC86U model and radio issues and overheating are common as well as sudden death due to blown IC inside. Mostly production quality control related issues and units manufactured in some years are statistically more affected. Many forum members lost one or more routers of this model. It also has unresolved software issue that may affect some of the firmware features. Asus actively EoLs AC-class routers and this model is next on the list. Getting a new one (mostly old stock) now is a bad investment. Getting one used is not recommended.

 

[sfx2000]

i had a synology rt2600ac (flash issue, poor ovpn performance, but good dual wan management).

i have bought a asus RT-2900ac but dual wan management is not reliable (even with wan-failover script that improves a lot this functionality).

Moving from Syno RT2600ac to Asus (anything) is likely a step backwards...

VPN - use their solution for VPN (inbound) - it performs quite well, and they've given everyone with an RT2600ac a free license for their clients and servers...

 

[nunu]

hi,
RT2600ac crashes due to the flash issue... openvpn performances are bad ( 30 Mbit) as the cpu has no hw accelerator (AES-NI). Only one openvpn instance etc...
RT-AC86U has better performance but synology rt2600ac functionnalities are reliable.

 

[nunu]

@glens

it seems that we can't run openvpn client & serveur in same time, nor openvpn & wireguard in same time.

in fact i would like to have:
- multi wan
- multi vpn instance (openvpn/wireguard), client & server in same time
- possibility to select prefered output wan for vpn instances

etc...

asuswrt seems close to these requirement but lack of firmware reliablity.
Is it better with more recent asuswrt routers ?

 

[glens]

I don't know the answer to that question. You've listed mostly stuff I don't use.

The "Pro" model routers lately have or are expected to have a next-level firmware that does VLAN stuff, though again, something I've not needed.

I'd peruse the lists at Merlin and GNUton (covering some models Merlin-proper doesn't) for supported Asus all-in-one devices, if you're shopping.

Though that gl-inet flint 2 sure is attractive...

 

[Tech9]

Is it better with more recent asuswrt routers ?

Supporting @sfx2000 opinion here. Better get another Synology if yours is not working properly. I have one RT2600ac in use and one RT-AX86U on my shelf for experiments. Synology software is way ahead of Asuswrt.

 

[nunu]

@Tech9

yes, it is more reliable but you can't have several openvpn instance (clients & server).

rate performance is low (30Mbits/s) with openvpn as there is no hardware accelerator.

 

[gfondeur]

Your best bet it's to get an GL.iNet router like the GL-AX1800, MT-6000 or even the GL-AXT1800

 

[Tech9]

rate performance is low (30Mbits/s) with openvpn

I don't run OpenVPN client on my Synology RT2600ac, but I remember seeing >100Mbps. If you need >200Mbps - look at x86 hardware based appliances running pfSense/OPNsense. They do proper multi-WAN and can do fast VPN depending on the CPU. If you want multi-threaded OpenVPN - pfSense Plus, but it's not free. Comes preloaded on Netgate own appliances. Has to be higher class one for fast OpenVPN.

hw accelerator (AES-NI)

No ARM CPU has AES-NI. This is Intel instruction set. ARMv8 CPU's have AES instruction set.

 

[Tech9]

Your best bet it's to get an GL.iNet router like the GL-AX100, MT-6000 or even the GL-AXT1800

OpenVPN performance of GL.iNet devices here in the comparison chart:

Product Comparison

Home Products Comparison Mango GL-MT300N-V2 Shadow GL-AR300M Series Opal GL-SFT1200 Beryl GL-MT1300 Slate Plus GL-A1300 Slate AX GL-AXT1800 Beryl AX GL-MT3000 Brume 2 GL-MT2500 Puli GL-XE300 Collie GL-X300B Spitz GL-X750V2 Spitz AX GL-X3000 Puli AX GL-XE3000 Mudi V2 GL-E750V2 Cirrus GL-AP1300...

www.gl-inet.com

I have one GL-MT2500. Good price/performance device with one useless 2.5GbE port. Good features set, but I don't know how stable it is as network gateway. I just wanted to see what it is. Used for experiments only just like my Asus. Waiting for UniFi Express to become available.

 

[gfondeur]

This one?
https://store.ui.com/us/en/pro/category/all-unifi-cloud-gateways/products/ux

It's been back in stock for a few days, I thought about it but with just 2x2 MiMO, no PoE (for a future more powerful AP) and no USB port for my LTE modem it's a hard pass for me

 

[sfx2000]

@Tech9

yes, it is more reliable but you can't have several openvpn instance (clients & server).

rate performance is low (30Mbits/s) with openvpn as there is no hardware accelerator.

That's out of scope of the orignal question, which was Dual WAN, you asked nothing about OpenVPN support

 

[Tech9]

It's been back in stock for a few days

Perhaps in your place. "Coming soon" in my place.

I see no issues with 2x2 MIMO and no PoE. It's a home device. I'm more interested in software. What good is 4x4 MIMO to 2-stream clients plus buggy or even unavailable firmware for the advertised features? And more expensive on top. I want to see what UniFi Express has to offer.

 

[gfondeur]

Alright you win, I'm out