Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion

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Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion

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Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion
Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion
2022-07-02 06:44:34 - last edited 2022-07-05 19:54:04
Model: ER7206 (TL-ER7206)  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

Hello Folks,

 

I wanted to get a second internet connection for the house. This is partially to increase the bandwidth but really for robustness. We currently have Comcast and are getting Starlink. The current setup I have is mostl Netgear. I have a mix of Insight managed WIFI access points (WAX610 and WAX630. The current WAN interface is a Nighthawk (RAX120) which also serves as a DHCP server among other things. The house is wired for Ethernet and it all terminates in a small cabinet in the garage. So I'd like to keep the WIFI access points and replace the RAX120 with a router that has at least a dual WAN option. I don't really want a router that has WiFi and all that. I want a simple box that I can put in the cabinet with all the other networking stuff.

 

A summary of what I'm looking for is:
- Multi-WAN or dual-WAN inputs
- Provides DHCP and other services
- Form factor that fits in a rack system

- Some kind of convenient management (web browser preferred but an app will work too). 

 

From reading I think I could use either a TP-Link ER605 or a TP-Link ER7206. It seem the ER7206 has more memory, but other than that I'm not really sure of the practical differences between the two of them. So I guess my question is will either of these serve my purposes? Is there perhaps something better I could consider? Can you think of any other aspects I might be missing?

 

Thank you for your time,

JohnW

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Re:Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion-Solution
2022-07-02 20:09:01 - last edited 2022-07-05 19:54:04

  @AbuMirchi 

 

For most home use cases, the ER605 is enough.

 

You may want the ER7206 if any of these apply to you:

  • Wanting significantly more than 1Gbps aggregate routing through multiple WAN connections (due to more CPU)
  • Wanting more VPN sessions or better VPN throughputs (due to more CPU)
  • Wanting more sessions or a lot of devices using WAN (due to more CPU and RAM)
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Re:Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion-Solution
2022-07-02 20:09:01 - last edited 2022-07-05 19:54:04

  @AbuMirchi 

 

For most home use cases, the ER605 is enough.

 

You may want the ER7206 if any of these apply to you:

  • Wanting significantly more than 1Gbps aggregate routing through multiple WAN connections (due to more CPU)
  • Wanting more VPN sessions or better VPN throughputs (due to more CPU)
  • Wanting more sessions or a lot of devices using WAN (due to more CPU and RAM)
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Re:Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion
2022-07-04 20:36:55

  @AbuMirchi 

 

Agree with above, ER605 should suit you fine.  Be aware that Starlink doesn't allow ESP packets, which tends to break IPsec/L2TP connnections...ask me how I know :)

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Re:Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion
2022-07-05 00:42:40

  @d0ugmac1 

 

So would this ESP issue break VPN completely or would it just limit it to WAN connections that support ESP?

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Re:Multi or Dual-WAN router suggestion
2022-07-05 01:05:52 - last edited 2022-07-05 14:29:56

  @AbuMirchi 

 

The L2TP tunnel will work just fine over the Starlink WAN port as will routing of multiple private subnets, however you won't have much joy encrypting the contents with IPsec.

 

FWIW, Cisco's AnyConnect VPN seemed to work fine over the Starlink connection.  It is more of a limitation with TPlink routers as the only working (currently) site-site VPN option when both sides are NOT static IPs is client-site L2TP where the initiator is the client on the NAT'd IP. 

 

We all await the full implementation of OpenVPN!

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