Dual WAN router for two ISPs

[Dan-in-VA]

I currently have Verizon FIOS, but I've found them to periodically drop service. Since I rely on this service for work, I was thinking about getting COX Internet and installing a Dual WAN router with load balancing. I have an Asus AC mesh network, and I could replace my core router with an AX router like RT-AX88U.

Has anyone done this (Dual WAN with two ISPs), and what has been your experience?

Also, I have a network monitor appliance from Monitor IO running to help me detect outages. It's just a convenience. It's going out of service on April 15. Is anyone aware of a similar inexpensive service with a visual indicator? It saves me from having to continuously answer family member questions as they can see when an outage is occurring.

 

[Tech9]

Dual WAN on Asus routers doesn't work reliably and Load Balancing is very basic up to the point of breaking Internet use. There are multiple threads around with hardware suggestions for Dual WAN. The cheaper options under $100 are entry-level business routers like TP-Link ER605, Ubuquiti ER-X, MikroTik hEX. You use a cheap router with proper Dual/Multi WAN for managing the ISP connections and whatever you prefer home router behind it.

 

[Dan-in-VA]

Dual WAN on Asus routers doesn't work reliably and Load Balancing is very basic up to the point of breaking Internet use. There are multiple threads around with hardware suggestions for Dual WAN. The cheaper options under $100 are entry-level business routers like TP-Link ER605, Ubuquiti ER-X, MikroTik hEX. You use a cheap router with proper Dual/Multi WAN for managing the ISP connections and whatever you prefer home router behind it.

Are there dual WAN routers that support incoming 2.5GB speeds? I'm not looking to buy something cheap, but will work under heavy load for the next 5 years. Thanks

 

[Tech9]

You'll need something better than a home router like x86 appliance with 2.5GbE ports. Commercial ready to use appliances are available as well as cheaper DIY options. If you are going to do work under heavy load and you expect to be heavily paid for it - look at Netgate appliances with pfSense.

 

[tgl]

One angle to think about: if you set it up like that, then the router becomes your single point of failure. It's worth considering using two routers, one per ISP, and doing load balancing in a more-or-less-manual way (that is, point some of the client machines at one router and some at the other). When service X goes down, you can re-point machines you need to use at router Y. I have an arrangement more or less like that, and while it's frequently tedious to manage it's awfully handy during outages.

If you like to tinker with your network, you could also consider trying to build some semi-automatic load balancing on top of this sort of infrastructure.

Or, if you're really intent on using one dual-WAN router, better keep some spare hardware on hand.

 

[Tech9]

then the router becomes your single point of failure

The reason you don't use cheap home routers for business.

that is, point some of the client machines at one router and some at the other

You have devices on two different networks unable to communicate with each other.

 

[tgl]

You have devices on two different networks unable to communicate with each other.

No, they communicate with each other just fine.

Everything in my house (ignoring guest net) is in the same 192.168.1/24 LAN address space. Some of the machines think the external gateway is one router, some think it's the other, but that doesn't hinder intra-LAN communication.

As for whether business-grade hardware is immune from failure ... just remember that whatever is hooked directly to your ISP's endpoint device is at most risk of lightning surge damage.

 

[Tech9]

In the last 8 years I was using 3x Cisco RV345P routers with Dual WAN + 1x spare pre-configured and never used. I also still have in use one Cisco RV320 in Dual WAN for I don't remember how many years. There is no guarantee any equipment will survive direct hit lightning strike including your two routers. Even if they are not physically connected they may get hit through the power supplies connected to the same power circuit. Good Multi WAN routers can use simultaneously 2x or more ISPs in load balancing or do fail over/back in 30 seconds. Yours is a workaround for missing proper equipment.

 

[tgl]

Sure, keeping a spare dual-WAN router is a legitimate solution, if you don't mind parking that much cash on your shelf. I'm just pointing out that if you're going for dual WAN in hopes of getting more reliability, this is an issue you'd better think about.

 

[Tech9]

One of my business locations is 24/7 operation. This is much different than home use and I have thousands in spare equipment, network protection equipment plus pay for service contracts. If the router blows at home you just go to the local computer store and get another one.

 

[ForkWNY]

I'll vouch for x86 mini-PC mutli-WAN appliances (running pfSense or OPNsense) working very well for multi-WAN. That's what I run on my home network now, where I have 1Gbps fiber and 1Gbps cable both coming into the house, OPNsense handles the load balancing and failover perfectly. I would never go back to ASUS after having this setup in place for a few months. A decent x86 miniPC with a N5105 CPU loaded up with 16GB or more of DDR4 RAM and 128-256GB NVMe SSD storage will run you $300'ish depending on where you buy it. Compare that to the cost of many of ASUS's flagship products and the price point is very reasonable/affordable for a router + firewall that'll do a lot more than what you can buy off the shelves for a similar price at the local electronics store. If you have the benefit of 2 ISP's coming into your home or business, and they're relatively the same speed/throughput, why not load balance them in addition to having failover?

Many of the mini-PC's available (see Amazon, AliExpress, etc. - or search for OPNsense/pfSense firewall mini-PCs on ebay, though those are often overpriced) come packed with 4-6 Intel 2.5Gbe NICs and muti-core Intel CPUs. Load them up with DDR4 RAM and a SSD or NVMe SSD, and they're tough to match with any consumer-level network product out there. I'll credit Tech9 with putting the idea in my head in the first place, and making my network reboot/troubleshooting life a lot more boring lately (though I've had plenty of fun tweaking the configs and adding VLANs).

I'll add that I do have a full backup mini-PC router/firewall running OPNsense...for $150 on Aliexpress plus another $50 for a 256GB SSD + 16GB of DDR4 RAM, PLUS the cost of what I spent on my current OPNsense x86 mini-PC, I'm about at the price of what I spent on my ASUS GT-5300AC a few years ago not long after it launched. I basically bought 2 loaded x86 mini-PCs for the cost of 1 substandard ASUS device.

 

[Tech9]

making my network reboot/troubleshooting life a lot more boring lately

I'm so sorry. You can keep an Asus router for reboot and reset purposes. This is what I did. Now I can enjoy Internet plus reboot and reset at will.

 

[Tdobb]

At first i had terrible results with Dual WAN Load Balancing on my ASUS router. Then i changed the secondary WAN dns to the same as the primary WAN dns and the results have been great so far. No more weird disconnects. Ping is still relatively low (below 20). My upload speed increased noticeably. I run a 3:1 ratio. One thing I failed to realize is when setting up dual wan load balancing or fail over is you have to configure your secondary WAN too. So in the WAN category you can select WAN in the drop down and configure that but then after configuring that select the Ethernet LAN option in the drop down and configure that one too (make sure to hit apply after configuring each. So far so good.

 

[mxyz]

I've used OpenMPTCProuter on a raspberry pi 3 to combine three 2.5 Mb DSL connections and it worked really well. Failover instead of aggregation on better hardware should be easier.

 

[bboncorr1]

I currently have Fidium (they bought out Verizon Fios locally) & Xfinity setup on dual WAN with a Asus router. Using dual wan for failover mode I’ve read is more reliable. I currently have it set for load balancing with is buggy at times but it’s helped me keep my internet use under the data caps. Xfinity and other providers will throttle back your connection if you go over their monthly limits.

Basically if you can get it to work it’ll be a good option. Expect headaches learning the quirks.

 

[Tech9]

Using dual wan for failover mode I’ve read is more reliable.

Good luck with this reliability.

 

[coxhaus]

No, they communicate with each other just fine.

Everything in my house (ignoring guest net) is in the same 192.168.1/24 LAN address space. Some of the machines think the external gateway is one router, some think it's the other, but that doesn't hinder intra-LAN communication.

As for whether business-grade hardware is immune from failure ... just remember that whatever is hooked directly to your ISP's endpoint device is at most risk of lightning surge damage.

So how do you have this setup? You can't use DHCP unless you are manually configuring some of the PCs to use a different gateway. Both routers will be in the same broadcast domain with PCs using different gateways.

 

[tgl]

Yeah, my DHCP-using machines all get pointed at the same gateway, and the ones using the other gateway are manually configured. I could probably configure that all from DHCP if I wanted (maybe not with an ASUS DHCP server, but dhcpd looks like it could cope); but I don't find that either simpler or more reliable. My critical servers all have static network configurations so that the DHCP service isn't an additional point of failure for them.

 

[drinkingbird]

Yeah, my DHCP-using machines all get pointed at the same gateway, and the ones using the other gateway are manually configured. I could probably configure that all from DHCP if I wanted (maybe not with an ASUS DHCP server, but dhcpd looks like it could cope); but I don't find that either simpler or more reliable. My critical servers all have static network configurations so that the DHCP service isn't an additional point of failure for them.

Time to upgrade to a setup that supports a virtual/floating IP. HSRP/VRRP/etc.

You can actually hand out 2 gateways via DHCP. Windows seems to handle it well (at least when I saw it done in the past) using one then using the other if it can't reach the first, but I'm sure not all devices can handle it that way.

 

[coxhaus]

In the old Cisco days we had a gateway in the routers and gateway of last resort as an alternate path.