Wifi роутер dual wan

How To Choose the Best Dual WAN Router

Your online business is only as strong as the network behind it. A disruption can hinder your ability to offer better products, solutions, and customer service. At the heart of the network is your wireless router, and dual WAN routers are increasingly becoming the right choice for your business’s success.

Tired of network issues and resetting your traditional router to factory defaults? Read on to learn how to choose the best dual WAN router for your home.

What Is a Dual WAN Router?

A dual WAN router has two wide area network ports for connection to different Internet providers. With features such as WAN failover and load balancing, a dual WAN router can be a lifesaver in areas with frequent network outages.

WAN Failover

You should invest in a dual WAN router if you need internet all the time. They offer WAN failover that protects your network connection from outrages and disruption. With a dual WAN router, you can rely on two different ISPs. The WAN failover router feature then monitors the connection health, identifies a failover event, and reroutes traffic to an active connection.

The dual WAN router is your best bet if your area has an unreliable internet connection. With two connections, you can configure one as the primary and another as the backup. The dual WAN failover will switch to the backup connection in case of a disruption to ensure continuous internet access.

Depending on the router, you may have even more options for routing rules. For example, you could direct different devices or types of traffic to other ISPs.

Load Balancing

Dual WAN router load balancing allows you to share the bandwidth load of applications such as web browsers, emails, VPNs, and streaming services between two internet connections. These applications consume incredible internet bandwidth, and the network load increases exponentially with each additional user.

A dual WAN router can spread the load across two ISPs instead of being passed to a single ISP. Simultaneous sessions are also balanced and spread across ISPs. As a result, you get a reliable internet connection and better performance with greater speed.

What To Look For When Choosing the Best Dual WAN Router

From USB ports to firewall rules and bandwidth aggregation, here’s what to remember when choosing a dual WAN router.

Manages Network Traffic for a Better Internet Connection

A dual WAN router manages the WiFi and/or Ethernet network network traffic at your home or workplace to ensure a better internet connection. It also enables you to connect network devices and enforce content filtering.

Depending on the router type, you can control how your traffic is prioritized. You can filter URLs and establish rules for administrators to regulate the network traffic. With load balancing, you can also distribute traffic across wireless and wired WAN paths.

These routers can sport intelligent WAN link controller that enables you to use the maximum bandwidth and spread the traffic across all communication links.

Allows You To Split Between More Than One IP Address

Some traditional routers can have broadband bonding service with an elastic static IP at the relay. Advanced dual WAN routers, however, can aggregate the downlink traffic without a relay. With passthrough technology, the router can assign the mobile WAN IP address to another device on the local area network.

However, the router should be able to automatically bundle specific sessions onto one IP address. For secure sites like banking, separate sessions over two IP addresses can break the application. Your router can avoid this issue if it features advanced load balancing or the network administrator has access to reassign traffic to the chosen IP.

Helps With Bandwidth Management To Eliminate Downtime

Bandwidth management controls and measures communication over traffic or packets to avoid network congestion. The process allocates the bandwidth to the critical applications on the network by application and service types.

Managing your bandwidth is especially important if your network is an intranet. In particular, corporate networking uses an intranet to share information and navigate the web, putting a massive load on the bandwidth. Since more than one user shares nearly all the links, adequate bandwidth availability is crucial.

A dual WAN router can reduce bandwidth load concurrently on a system. These routers can balance network load with built-in DNS, network redundancy, packet/traffic shaping, tunnel reliability, and optimization. You can also use various tools to monitor and manage the network.

You can also pair your dual WAN router with a traditional router; if the latter loses connection, the former will take over because of automatic failover.

Provides Greater Security Through Firewall Rules

Dual WAN routers can feature L2TP VPN, providing security to anybody connecting to your network. It allows you to encrypt traffic over public networks, reducing the possibility of hacking or unauthorized reading of transmitted content.

L2TP, or Layer2 Tunneling Protocol, is used in creating VPN connections. It bundles up the data for private transportation over public networks. That means even if a network can’t support specific protocols, L2TP will help transmit the data securely.

The protocol pairs up with IPsec, which performs the security association between your device and the CPN server. Effectively, your data is bundled twice by the L2TP and the IPsec.

Check if your dual WAN router has a built-in firewall with IP address filtering, MAC address filtering, URL filtering, and WEB contents filtering. These features control what IP traffic will be allowed into and out of your network. You can also ensure that your firewall has a default gateway so your machines can communicate with those on other networks.

Integrates Multiple Configuration Options

Along with multiple carrier support, check if your router supports multiple WAN connectivity options, either by Ethernet or cellular.

Some models have a client bridge mode that extends wireless connectivity to multiple wired Ethernet devices. This feature is particularly beneficial in a home entertainment system with numerous network-enabled media devices that require internet connectivity. After establishing connectivity with the wireless network, it can bridge the connections to devices with a network cable.

Also, look for multiple configuration AP (access points) support that will allow you to manage remote APs outside the local LAN.

Offers Optional Add-On Like USB Ports

USB ports and interfaces will prepare your router for various industrial applications and scenarios. External USB storage devices such as flash drives and external HDDs can be connected and used as a network share and expansion slot.

Do You Need a Dual WAN Router?

A dual WAN router can empower your network, whether it’s your online business or your at-home entertainment setup with gigabyte-speed connections. The choice of multiple ISPs will keep the demand on your bandwidth low, while failover features will protect you from outages.

Looking to upgrade your router? Choose Novotech, a leading Internet of Things hardware and services distributor in North America. Our range of cellular consumer routers includes brands such as Sierra Wireless, InHand, Teltonika , Cradlepoint, Digi, CalAmp, and Perle.

Check out our list of the best failover routers and find the perfect dual WAN router for your home or workspace in our online store .

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