[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by vinu_h

I am looking for a load balance + wireless router. I have 2 broadband connections at home to support my professional life.

I have searched the usual e-comm sites extensively and I have yet to come across a LB + wireless combo, but, I see them being available independently.

I welcome any guidance in this area.

I have had this setup on my Netgear router but with a custom 'tomato' firmware on it. May I know the intention of using multiple connections? I tried it as a failover mechanism but let it go as VPNs anyway get disconnected when networks change over. But I am curious to know your reasons to load balance.

Bottom line: If there are no good routers giving you the native support for load balancing, would suggest to use custom fw such as tomato/ddwrt/openwrt to get these done. However, all of these are going to need some level of patience and ability to work around with Linux (most routers run some variant of Linux) and follow guides from the net. In other words, YMMV.

Would be happy to assist with settings for Netgear N300 if required.

[varkey]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

I’m looking for a router that can accept a Jio or Airtel sim and work on LTE/4G/5G and work for a few devices that will need internet (Apple TV, laptops, phones) as I’ll be in a remote location and there is no hard line Internet available.

You can look at this model as well - https://www.moglix.com/tp-link-arche...msn39yrvv0625q It comes with a category 6 LTE modem, so can potentially get a bit higher speed.

5G routers are bit expensive, if you have the budget, there are options in the 20k-30k range. I am currently using Yeacomm NR610, had imported it from China last year. Ended up costing me around 24k incl everything. I have it mounted on the roof on a pole, powered by POE. I have a separate router and wireless access points, so this device is used only as a 5G Modem/CPE.

With my previous LTE device (Mikrotik SXT LTE6), I was barely getting 20-30 Mbps, and sometimes 50 Mbps if its late night. With the 5G device, the speeds go to 500 Mbps easily. The 5G signal is not great at the location, so on a mobile device, I don't get good signals everywhere, but this device being mounted on the roof, provides a stable signal/performance.

I use 5G/LTE only as a backup though, I do have wired internet options which remains the primary. So in case of failure, it falls back to 5G/LTE.

[varkey]

Originally Posted by vinu_h

I have searched the usual e-comm sites extensively and I have yet to come across a LB + wireless combo, but, I see them being available independently.

While there are all in one options (mostly with custom firmware), why not just get a dedicated multi WAN router for example the TP-Link ER605. You might already have an existing wireless router, which you can continue to use as an access point. If your existing wireless performance is satisfying your needs, makes sense to get only the LB device separately.

Now, if you are particular on the all-in-one device, you can look at Mikrotik hap ax2, it is not a consumer model, and there can be a bit of learning curve, but the performance is pretty good. You may not see it advertised as a LB/Multi-WAN router, but it comes with RouterOS, so you can pretty much do anything with it. I use Mikrotik routers and I find the performance and stability really good.

[vinu_h]

I am currently using a Netgear RBR50 mesh router. The coverage is excellent but lacks load balance and multi WAN functionality. I have also not seen updates for over 2 years now.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

My router does have some such capacity. It is an Asus RT-AC86U. Have had it a few years, don't know if it is still current.

Here's the support page for the function.

Looks like one of the WAN connections has to be via usb.

The AC86U comes with great reviews and with advertised load balance + wireless routing functionality. Thank you.

Originally Posted by deep_bang

I have had this setup on my Netgear router but with a custom 'tomato' firmware on it. May I know the intention of using multiple connections? I tried it as a failover mechanism but let it go as VPNs anyway get disconnected when networks change over. But I am curious to know your reasons to load balance.

Bottom line: If there are no good routers giving you the native support for load balancing, would suggest to use custom fw such as tomato/ddwrt/openwrt to get these done. However, all of these are going to need some level of patience and ability to work around with Linux (most routers run some variant of Linux) and follow guides from the net. In other words, YMMV.

Would be happy to assist with settings for Netgear N300 if required.

The intention of load balancing is to be ONLINE when a connection drops instead of having to switch manually. ACT drops for about 3-5 seconds at power failure. AirTel isn't stable where I live and Jio is 2 years away from my apt. My 2nd connection is a local player, but, rarely goes down. My current employer does not mandate the use of a VPN, so I am hoping the load balance route should work. The N300 comes with a single WAN, how did you have it work like a load balancer ?

Originally Posted by varkey

While there are all in one options (mostly with custom firmware), why not just get a dedicated multi WAN router for example the TP-Link ER605. You might already have an existing wireless router, which you can continue to use as an access point. If your existing wireless performance is satisfying your needs, makes sense to get only the LB device separately.

The ER605 is a good find. Very economical and only needs a wireless router in front of it. It does multi WAN and load balance. The AX1800 on the other hand is a uni WAN, happy to be corrected.

[varkey]

Originally Posted by vinu_h

The AX1800 on the other hand is a uni WAN, happy to be corrected.

The Mikrotik hap ax2? You can have any number of WANs with it. It is configurable however you like it, you can have 4 WANs if you'd like. As I said, you would NOT see it advertised that way in the product page, as its not a consumer/home focussed device. All features of RouterOS would be available, so you could look for RouterOS/Mikrotik documentation on how to configure things as it remains same for all their products. It's mostly the hardware features that differs (ports, CPU/memory, POE etc) between different products.

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/displ...lity+Solutions

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by vinu_h

The N300 comes with a single WAN, how did you have it work like a load balancer ?

One of the LAN ports will need to be designated as a WAN port in that case. This is a feature of the tomato fw and will not work on the stock fw.

I see you found a multi-wan router at a reasonable price. If that works, I think its the easiest way forward. However, looking for a model that can accomodate custom fw may useful later in case you want to do more - for example route all TV content over a certain wan versus other content over the other wan.

[Sebring]

Please help me here. Will Jio come home and change their router with what I supply to them? What they have provided is of terrible quality.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Please help me here. Will Jio come home and change their router with what I supply to them? What they have provided is of terrible quality.

I would always suggest to have your own router after Jio's router connected via ethernet. That way, if things dont work, you will not have to troubleshoot Jio's problems. If they change their router with yours then any issue may end up being attributed to possibly a 'bad router' response from Jio. Why complicate things?

Btw is this for Jio fiber? Do they have a seperate fiber modem and router? If so is the concern about having a 3rd device to the chain? Even if this is the case, I would say keep the jio setup as is to ensure jio can support any issues.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Please help me here. Will Jio come home and change their router with what I supply to them? What they have provided is of terrible quality.

No they won't. Connect your own router to the Jio router and disable wifi on the Jio router.

[atulsian]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Please help me here. Will Jio come home and change their router with what I supply to them? What they have provided is of terrible quality.

Also, please note you need a router which has access point option. If otherwise, you will have double nat which will slow the down the internet.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by varkey

You can look at this model as well - https://www.moglix.com/tp-link-arche...msn39yrvv0625q It comes with a category 6 LTE modem, so can potentially get a bit higher speed.

5G routers are bit expensive, if you have the budget, there are options in the 20k-30k range. I am currently using Yeacomm NR610, had imported it from China last year. Ended up costing me around 24k incl everything. I have it mounted on the roof on a pole, powered by POE. I have a separate router and wireless access points, so this device is used only as a 5G Modem/CPE.

With my previous LTE device (Mikrotik SXT LTE6), I was barely getting 20-30 Mbps, and sometimes 50 Mbps if its late night. With the 5G device, the speeds go to 500 Mbps easily. The 5G signal is not great at the location, so on a mobile device, I don't get good signals everywhere, but this device being mounted on the roof, provides a stable signal/performance.

I use 5G/LTE only as a backup though, I do have wired internet options which remains the primary. So in case of failure, it falls back to 5G/LTE.

Thank you, have shortlisted the Mr600. Since this is just a temporary requirement I do not wish to spend so much. Plus I doubt there will be 5G coverage in the remote areas of Uttarakhand. I already have a Ubiquiti UniFi wireless Dream Machine and other Unifi APs around the house and love that setup.

[ex-innova-guy]

Guys, I've been facing a weird issue with my Airtel Xstream fiber WiFi lately. Whenever I connect any smartphone to the WiFi, the internet doesn’t work on it. Whereas, it works flawlessly when connected to laptops. I contacted customer care yesterday, and he suggested changing my WiFi name and password, which I did, but the issue persists.

Any idea what might be the solution to this?

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by ex-innova-guy

...

Any idea what might be the solution to this?

Do the phones connect to other Wi-Fi networks elsewhere, and work normally? If yes, try forgetting this Wi-Fi and connecting again. Also, make sure that the router does not have MAC Address based whitelist for allowed devices. If the phones are more than a couple of years old, make sure the Wi-Fi authentication password type is WPA2 Mixed (options could be TKIP/ AES/ Mixed). If these are Android phones, try doing a network reset - this will probably result in all remembered Wi-Fi networks being forgotten.

If the phones doesn't connect to other Wi-Fi networks too, then the issue is not with the router - and it's a whole other can of worms!

If the issue persists, do reply with phone models and OS versions.

[ex-innova-guy]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Do the phones connect to other Wi-Fi networks elsewhere, and work normally?

I did reset WiFi again few minutes earlier and it is currently working on all devices. I shall post the answers to your diagnostic questions if the issue persists.

Thanks a lot ph03n!x !

[bejoy]

I need to replace my 10-year-old ASUS RT-N66U. It runs fine, but there are occasional glitches needing a reset. I would love to replace with an ASUS, but lately has become very expensive, and the availability is also very less. What I like about the ASUS is the Merlin software and the hosting of ad blocker script in the router. The router is having some 20 devices connected and on a 100Mbps Airtel FTH in bridge mode. Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Picked up a TP Link AX55 Router to replace our aging Huawei router which started to reboot a few times in a week.
AX55

How is it holding up? And how is the software updates and patches from TP-Link. Also how is the third-party firmware support?