Need some advice finding a dual WAN router

[Goofy4TheWorld]

I know there are several tech savvy folks around here and was hoping someone knew of the best product for me. This a very involved router question.

I am looking for a router that I can purchase (since it appears any DD-WRT or Tomato flashed router option requires coding via Telnet which is over my pay grade) that has Dual WAN which can be setup to operate on WAN1 (DSL modem via Ethernet cable) and automatically sense a DSL failure and switch to WAN2 (which will be a Verizon MiFi JetPack connection that is converted to a wired Ethernet port using a separate DD-WRT router) and also automatically switch back to WAN1 (DSL) once DSL service is restored. I do not want load balancing as this would eat up my Data Allowance with Verizon.

I have spent all day trying to find a way to do it using a simple DD-WRT flashed Linksys router, a Tomato flashed router, and also a new factory router with the failsafe switchover to WAN2.

It appears there is not an easy way to use DD-WRT or Tomato, and the only option for these two firmwares is literally written by one Chinese guy who refuses to translate to English or reveal source code, so I do not trust it at all.

The factory options seem like they claim the technical ability to do this out of the box, but the reviews are just horrible for anything less than $500 (one model has a battery that could not be replaced that stored the settings and when the power failed it lost its memory once the battery was depleted, and many reviews talked about auto-switchover not working and requiring manual intervention). I do not want to spend more than $200, and that is pushing it for me. All I need in terms of features is a plain old router that has a DHCP server that can assign IP addresses based on MAC address, AND the “failsafe” switchover between two ISP services, one only being used when the other is down. I do not NEED a VPN router although many of my options will probably be manufactured primarily for that purpose.

I am hoping someone out there has that exact setup at home or work and knows what I need and can help a fellow Disney fan out!!

[DizneyRox]

What about the: TP-link TL-R470T+

Looks like it will do what you are explaining that you want to do.

Amazon has it for like $55. Generally, I subscribe to the notion of you get what you pay for. I'm not sure how something like VPN or other tunneling software would work with such a device in the way, but if all you're worried about is getting out I think this fits the bill. I've never done such a thing myself though....

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Thanks a lot! I too worry about the low price, so I will try to research it to death, but all I need is a very low-use router with the only "plus" being the failsafe WANs. If it can do that without ever needing rebooted then it's a great deal for me.

[DizneyRox]

The theory behind what you are trying to do is pretty simple. Two IPs and route to one until a check against connectivity fails, then use the other one.

I am not sure if there's a Toastman build for Tomato that supports dual WAN, it sortof sounds like it exists, but then it doesn't. I'm not talking about the Chinese build, it sounds like there might be something basic in the wild. I don't have a spare router to play though. I need to get another, so I might play a bit and see what else is out there, but don't wait up for me, it could take a while.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Well I bought the TL-R470T+ last week and have spent the last two full days at work trying to fully implement it. The failsafe setting had to be modified so that WAN1 checked an IP & DNS of some random server to detect ISP failure, and once I figured out how to fine tune that test it worked like a charm...for the devices that I wanted to be fail-safe.

Now I have been consumed by trying to figure out how to make some devices failsafe but not others (so that a computer downloading windows update on the failsafe ISP would not eat up my Verizon GB allowance) while still allowing all devices to still see each other.

But the TL-R470T+ works exactly as advertised, so thanks very much for the tip.

[DizneyRox]

Maybe you can block certain services on different interfaces. Like only allow port 80 and 443 through on the Verizon one. Not sure if that kills Windows Update or not, but it might be one way to skin that cat...

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Holy cow this turned into a bigger project than I planned!

LONG story short, I ended up putting two routers on the same LAN and using two different Gateways. Gateway 1 is the bandwidth-hungry DSL-only devices, Gateway 2 is the TP-Link for the low-bandwidth & failsafe-needed devices. If the Internet goes down on Gateway 1 I have a command line saved on those PCs to change the gateway to the TP-Link. Then I have a Task Manager entry that changes the gateway back to DSL-only every 15 minutes so that it doesn't get left connected by mistake and eat away at my Verizon data allowance. Later I will try to work on blocking some services, but at first glance Windows Update appears to use port 80, so that won't work.

Not one bit of the above did I understand at all just last week, I have been on a crash course in networking, which always reminds me why I didn't major in IT anything! Thanks for the TP-Link suggestion, it has worked like a charm so far.