TP-LINK TL-ER5120 Multiwan Router (350MB throughput for $250) - Anyone use this?

[agoro]

I've been looking for a multiwan router for some time that has enough throughput to handle the speeds that are available in big cities. For example in DFW where I live, I've got a 35 up and down Fios connection. I also have a 100 down and 5 up cable modem. My understanding of the bandwidth that I would need to support this speeds is the total of all the upstream and downstream together so that would be 35+35+100+5=175. Peplink Balance 380 will just about cover it, but we're talking $2300. The TP-LINK TL-ER5120 will do 350 worth of throughput for $250 which is quite attractive. I can't find any reviews of the product though anywhere on the net. Anyone use this one before? Thanks.

 

[claykin]

I've been looking for a multiwan router for some time that has enough throughput to handle the speeds that are available in big cities. For example in DFW where I live, I've got a 35 up and down Fios connection. I also have a 100 down and 5 up cable modem. My understanding of the bandwidth that I would need to support this speeds is the total of all the upstream and downstream together so that would be 35+35+100+5=175. Peplink Balance 380 will just about cover it, but we're talking $2300. The TP-LINK TL-ER5120 will do 350 worth of throughput for $250 which is quite attractive. I can't find any reviews of the product though anywhere on the net. Anyone use this one before? Thanks.

agoro

I think you have some of this misunderstood. None of these dual WAN routers will allow you "bond" the connections. They will allow "failover" in case of a dropped WAN connection or some other algorithm such as "round robin", "least Load first" or "spillover".

In your case I would look at a Zyxel USG 50/100/200. The USG100 will likely work well for you. They are reliable, support is good and Zyxel does a good job supporting them with upgrades (at no charge).

 

[scoudi]

TP-Link TL-ER5120

I just purchased this and plan on using it load balancer for my 3 broadband connections, I'll reply back with results..

 

[scoudi]

TP-LINK TL-ER5120 Dual Wan Router Month 1

I found the TP-Link ER5120 on Newegg for about ninety dollars under the MSRP. For me comparing the other units (Syswan, netgear, cisco, Zyxel, peplink, duolinks, and vigor) I found the ideal of multi wan router (max of 5 WAN/LAN ports) most useful.

I use the router in a SOHO environment, I have 3 WAN connections (Cable Modem, DSL Modem, LTE Modem) The router is a Gigabyte E compliant on all ports. Although this does no good on the WAN ports currently in the future I believe it will be handy.

I was looking for a load balancing function with out bonding (that gets pricey). This means something that could hop traffic over to my other WAN connections when the first is saturated. I happy to say the TP-Link does that well. I have just begun diving into the feature set so this is just a brief review.

Thus far I have found customer support really helpful, the documentation is fair and the user interface is plain but easy to get around. I'll post more as my network takes shape.

 

[dx2]

I use the router in a SOHO environment, I have 3 WAN connections (Cable Modem, DSL Modem, LTE Modem) The router is a Gigabyte E compliant on all ports. Although this does no good on the WAN ports currently in the future I believe it will be handy.

Thank you for your post.
I'm using a 100Mbit fiber to my main provider and another 50Mbit cable modem as backup from a neighbour.
I'm want to upgrade my Draytek 2950 to something more powerful because I'll get soon a Gigabit fiber connection. Probably it won't get over 200Mbits (It's a best effort line) , but my router handlea now only ~80 and it will be a waste.

Please share other aspects as stability(hopefully not encountered yet), how long does it take to complete a reboot, how long to change WAN's if one fails, how long to return from failed wan.

 

[lizaoreo]

I too am interested in this. I live out in the middle of nowhere and am looking at adding a separate equal line through the current ISP, more interested in "speed" increase than anything. Of course, by that I mean that my wife can be in the other room watching Netflix and I can be playing a game without us killing each others connection. We can do either/or without problem, but if we try to do both, we max out our connection and both get a lot of buffering.

So, what have been the results of this router?

 

[scoudi]

TP-LINK TL-ER5120 6 month history

This an update to my original post, I have been using the TP-ER5120 for 6 months and I have added the following:
TL-SG 1024 ( 24 port gigabit switch)
Avocent DSR 1022 (Remote Server Control Unit)
Synology DS411+ (NAS)
2x Cisco E2500 (Wifi )
7x PC's
4x Mobile Devices

I have encountered no issues with the ER5120.. usage has been heavy.
-On average I move about 800 Gigs internally across the router
-On average I move about 100 Gigs externally across the router

As mentioned I have dual Internet connections (DSL & Cable Modem). On average I have had a failure once a month Comtasitic! The router takes about 5-10 seconds to redirect to the available WAN port.

I am planning to add an additional redundant WAN option such that I have 3 available outbound WAN connections.

On the subject of Internet performance.. I have a VPN running consistently that consumes about 1mb up and down, Stream audio 2mb down, Wife and Kid each watch Streaming services, Nanny steams music etc.. We have no issue with jitter or buffering. My Wan 1 is 50 mb and Wan 2 is 5 mb.


Thus far my favorite feature is the saturation mechanism, which forces traffic to another available WAN port. This can cause issues though with streaming services.

Also I am planning to bring up the following additional components

• 6 x POE IP Cameras & POE Switch
• A security system to IP bridge
• Home Automation Interface

I'll provide an update when I add those devices

 

[lizaoreo]

Thanks Going back and forth between the TL-ER5120 and the TL-R470T+, which is considerably cheaper at only $50. I'm really thinking of starting with the R470T for now, and upgrading later.

Your comments are greatly appreciated though, the products themselves seem to be fairly similar in quality.

 

[tipstir]

TL-ER5120 this sounds interesting I might ditch those wireless routers for this one I need something stable and don't start to seizes up over heating issues and glitches in the hardware and now privacy issues.

TL-R480T+ and 470 both are lower but the 470 is only $50 online free shipping. 10/100 is really 6/66mbps not going back to that. I'll spend the extra $130 to get a gig network.

That's for the info so far though.. How's the GUI on this..

 

[tipstir]

There seems to be ER6120 out... The emulator looks like this below us this link:

http://www.tp-link.com/resources/simulator/TL-ER6120(UN)/userRpm/Index.htm

ER5120 Load Balance Router
PERFORMANCE
Concurrent Session 120,000
NAT Throughput 350Mbps

ER6120 VPN Router
Concurrent Session 60,000
NAT Throughput 350Mbps
IPsec VPN Throughput (3DES) 130Mbps

I going to order ER5120 to replace EA4500..
I've ordered the ER5120 on prime so I'll get that on 7.7.12
It was just $19 more than the WD N600 HD which still iffy
since WD is just getting into the network router side.

 

[lizaoreo]

Yeah, on TP-Link's site the 5120 is listed with the load-balancing routers while the 6120 is listed with VPN routers.

The 10/100 kind of bothered me, but I plan on using it outside of my router to load balance the DSL/Cable lines and pass them into the router through the WAN port. I won't have anything fast enough to max it out as far as my combined Internet connections, so that's not a concern for me right now.

I figure the 470 is a good entry point to start working and learning with. Then, later on, I can upgrade when I feel my network gets to a point where I "need" the extra capability.

There seems to be ER6120 out... The emulator looks like this below us this link:

http://www.tp-link.com/resources/simulator/TL-ER6120(UN)/userRpm/Index.htm

Seem like it's a been higher in ER5120 though
PERFORMANCE
Concurrent Session 120,000
NAT Throughput 350Mbps

ER6120
Concurrent Session 60,000
NAT Throughput 350Mbps
IPsec VPN Throughput (3DES) 130Mbps

 

[tipstir]

Best get one then.. These plastic home Wireless router are not hold up so well I have got through them like a slice of butter which melts with heat and they seem to not do well with the small heat sink on them or they use some sort of ceramic over them chips. Although that WD N900 HD with the fan and 7x LAN Gig ports might have done the deed. Just too bad the info on the CPU is removed off the net. The games these companies play.

Anyway the Hardware Engineers at TP-LINK TW have been very good with me with their prior home routers. This one is a better investment. Since I've already spend over $380 on Cisco Linksys E4200 and EA4500 in less than year. Just to manage what I am using here. Managing 7 forums daily, and request for software, Access 2010 database, IIS Web Server, File Server, Media Server, HD Netflix and HD Amazon Instant Videos, SiriusXM Internet Radio, plus all the Tablets streaming Geekbeat TV, USA Today for Tablets Videos.. It's a lot going on. Plus some heavy BT downloading but not like prior years.

To me not even the best home router can keep it going without breaking down so quickly.. The room where these are kept the temp is 76 degrees so there shouldn't be an issue with OH but there is! OH = overheating.

I hope the TL-E5120 can be up to the task!

 

[tipstir]

Found the simulator for the ER5120
http://www.tp-link.com.cn/pages/smb/simulator/ER5120-web-page/userrpm/

The above is not in english..

Below is more info..


TP-Link TL-ER5120
details: Gigabit Load Balance Broadband Router
hardware type: Multi-WAN Router
date added: 2011.10.06


The TL-ER5120 features one fixed Gigabit WAN port, one Gigabit LAN/DMZ port and three free changeable ports that can be set to either LAN or WAN, allowing the router to support up to four WAN ports to satisfy various Internet access requirements through one device.

The Intelligent Load Balancing function can distribute data streams according to the bandwidth proportion of every WAN port to raise the utilization rate of multi-line broadband. With IP-based Bandwidth Control and Session Limit functions, network administrators can flexibly manage network bandwidth to optimize bandwidth usage.

For defense against external threats, TL-ER5120 features an automatic protection to detect and block Denial of service (DoS) attacks such as TCP/UDP/ICMP Flooding, TCP Scanning, Ping of Death and other related threats.



TL-ER5120 Features
General
Availability: currently available
LAN / WAN Connectivity
WAN ports: 1
3 changeable LAN/WAN ports
WAN port(s) type: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45)
WAN port auto cross-over:
LAN ports: 1
LAN ports type: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45)
LAN ports auto cross-over:
Auto-failover connection:
Load Balancing:
Router
NAT routing:
Multihomed:
DMZ:
Port forwarding:
Port triggering:
DHCP server:
DHCP client:
Dynamic DNS client:
UPnP:
Routing Protocols: RIP v1 (static routing, RFC 1058)
RIP v2 (dynamic routing, RFC1389)
VLAN tagging (802.1q)
VPN
IPSec
IPSec passthrough:
L2TP
L2TP passthrough:
PPTP
PPTP passthrough:
Firewall
DoS / DDoS protection:
Filtering: Domain/URL blocking, IP Address filtering, MAC Address filtering, keyword/content filtering, Java, ActiveX, Cookie
Device Management
Default IP address: 192.168.0.1
Default admin username: admin
Default admin password: admin
Administration: Web-based (LAN)
Remote configuration (WAN)
Telnet / CLI
Firmware upgradeable:
Event log:
Usage Statistics:
Diagnostic functions:
ping, traceroute
Misc hardware info
RAM: 128 Mb
Flash Memory: 8 Mb
NTP client:
Notes: The router features 1 Console Port (RJ-45 On RS232)
Links
Product page: http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/detai...
Datasheet: http://www.tp-link.com/Resources/documen...
Manual: http://www.tp-link.com/Resources/documen...
Quick Install Guide: http://www.tp-link.com/Resources/documen...


I see it has a console interface. Boy I know I should have packed those. I doubt it will come with one. Still WebAdmin UI should be good enough for now..

 

[tipstir]

More info.. Seems it has a dual core now I can't comment on that feature but would be nice if TP-Link can comment on it.. Dual core 2x @ 250MHz = 500MHz
Very robust two-way level firmware and hardware, has a dualcore processor 500MHZ MIPSC64 and 128MB of DDRII rAM, capable of supporting up to 120,000 concurrent sessions which could translate into about 200 ~ 300 pcs

 

[dx2]

I have encountered no issues with the ER5120.. usage has been heavy.
-On average I move about 800 Gigs internally across the router
-On average I move about 100 Gigs externally across the router

Thanks for posting.
What do you mean by 800 / 100 Gigs "on average"? Monthly (I presume)?

I saw TPLINK come up with another model TL-ER6120, which is a little bit more expensive, but is less flexible on assigning ports: 2 fixed WAN ports and 3 LAN (or 2 LAN and 1 DMZ).

I'm wondering if somebody can test the full power (hundreds of Mb/s) of both 5120 and 6120 and see if there is a performance difference between them.

I saw also NETGEAR SRX5308, which is very impressive, but is almost three times the price of 5120.
http://netgear.com/business/products/security/wired-VPN-firewalls/SRX5308.aspx#two

I'd love the flexibility of having (if I'll need it sometime) 3WAN's (this means 5120).

 

[dx2]

Hello!
I saw the simulator but it doesn't show a second core. Where did you get the info with DUAL Core? It's also bad that they don't specify the power requirements either (how much it draws), so we can compare with others or have an ideea of the electricity bill.
As far as I understand, 6120 adds VPN functionality, but looses flexibility of assigning ports. Also it has a lower concurent sessions limit.
I suppose they both (5120 and 6120) have the same hardware (CPU/RAM) but if they need to enable VPN on 6120 it loads the CPU/RAM a little more and have some limits for flexibility of the ports (only 2 fixed WAN ports).

 

[tipstir]

Thanks for posting.
What do you mean by 800 / 100 Gigs "on average"? Monthly (I presume)?

I saw TPLINK come up with another model TL-ER6120, which is a little bit more expensive, but is less flexible on assigning ports: 2 fixed WAN ports and 3 LAN (or 2 LAN and 1 DMZ).

I'm wondering if somebody can test the full power (hundreds of Mb/s) of both 5120 and 6120 and see if there is a performance difference between them.

I saw also NETGEAR SRX5308, which is very impressive, but is almost three times the price of 5120.
http://netgear.com/business/products/security/wired-VPN-firewalls/SRX5308.aspx#two

I'd love the flexibility of having (if I'll need it sometime) 3WAN's (this means 5120).

That netgear is a VPN router but be more over kill to run. Both the 5120 and 6120 uses the same chipset and ROM/RAM still if you need full blown VPN management then you loose out of features that are in the new 5120 which are not in the 6120.

 

[tipstir]

This one arrived.. It's huge too.. Makes the EA4500 from Cisco Linksys look like a tiny oval box. But in all it's up and running. I like the way you can configure the ports to whatever you want from LAN, WAN, ports can go from auto, 10mb hd (HD=half duplex) no HD High def.. FD = full duplex. 10, 100, 1000 either fd or hd. Other than that not that complex. I use work on Cisco Catalyst switches this device is about almost the same size very close to the 35000 series. Setting up VLAN for upgrade and Network Switches refresh for covering over 5,000 Cisco Switches. Don't want to do that again. So setting this one up wasn't too hard at all.

TP-LINK I think has got a bad rap with networking gear!. This enterprise router (yes it's enterprise router) very well built. I had to mount it though otherwise it would have fell out of the rack I had to use. I see I have some wire manage to contend with too.

So far it's very quick to load this site and my forums, where the EA4500, E4200, all the rest seem to lag behind. I'll have to keep on configuring this one too.

This Firewall and Web Content Filtering puts EA4500 to shame but you know you're not using a home router here.

More to come later on. I have to decide what to use for Wireless 802.11n @ 40Mhz and 802.11g @ 20MHz. I have some TP-LINK gear left over from last time they are more configurable that the EA4500 and E4200 are. ESR600H here too along with ESR300H. I'll have to wing it for now..

More later on...

 

[tipstir]

Okay.. After 2 days I've notice it was going very slow in downloads but upload it was fine. Made some changes to WAN1 and Load Balance rules and now this router really springs into action. Now this is based on what my ISP plan is your ISP plans my tread differently. Then you have to fine-tune the settings. Any of you buy this router I'll check back here and then to shed some light on it.

There is a matching managed switch called Jet Stream adds another 2-layer support but with that you can get out the auto mode for your LAN connections only if you using 100mbps and 10000mbps. You might not even need it. But working on corp enterprise networks change the ports from auto to 10mbps, 100mbps even pushing it to 1000mbps you do see a difference 1GBps and even on 10GBps side.

 

[tipstir]

I've heard back from TP-LINK TW Hardware Engineer. As I did a broad base email throughout that company to get some needed answers. But again they don't have the answers I had requested. It's shame how this company operates.

Well I did my own digging about the Network Processor and it was very close to the specs I had. So HE confirm it was Cavium used in there.

What I found:

OCTEON™ CN30XX Single Core MIPS64 Based Embedded Processors
So this is a RISC 64-bit Processor running at 500MHz.

16KB Instruction Cache
8KB Data Cache
2KB Write Cache
128KB L2 Cache