TL;DR: Is there a way to have two different (unreliable) ISPs connected to a single network switch, so that when one drops out, the home network is automatically switched to the other ISP?
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Hi all!
I am a networking hobbyist, and I built out a home network for a family friend of mine living in Mexico. They have an ISP reliability problem I have not encountered before. Their service frequently cuts in and out, and thus they have two separate ISPs to ensure connectivity at all times.
I currently have both ISP’s gateways plugged into the same unmanaged network switch. The hope is that if one ISP goes out, the switch will be smart enough to use the other one. In practice, when both ISPs are up and running, the network switch seems to flip randomly between the two of them which causes interruptions on the home network.
I would like to have both ISPs plugged in at the same time so my customer does not have to walk down to the switch swap inputs. Is this functionality I would need a mananaged switch to accomplish?
Let me know what you think, and thanks for your help!
AF
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You just need a router / gateway that supports load balancing across 2 WANs.
I know that the UI UDM-SE supports this, dont know about others.
Good video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHp0FA9yAKE&t=42s
This a good explanation on how to proceed.
https://packetpassers.com/multiple-isp-connectivity-redundancy/
This how to set it up
https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClElCAK
These are firewalls to buy. Fort iNet looks like the best to use for dual isps because it offers load balancing to get the best signal and quick switchover.
These are the ones to buy/choose.
https://www.allconnect.com/blog/the-4-best-hardware-firewalls-for-home-wi-fi
Not by a switch. You’d need a multi-WAN port router. Something like the ER605 will do failover.
Araknis has one that can do this
Ddwrt can do this with switching gateways via a script that pings thru each ISP. I do it this way with the other isp in a house a block away connected via Ubiquiti litebeams.
Use a multi WAN firewall and plug all three ISP into it. You can build one yourself using opnsense or similar.
Get a TP-Link ER605 multi WAN router which is designed to do load balancing or failover with multiple WAN inputs.
something like TP-Link ER605 router, allows 2 wan links
Switch, no, router, yes. I used to run an old Linksys wifi router with DD-WRT firmware on it that had two WAN ports, one wired and one wireless. The wired was to my ISP, and the wireless was to my neighbor’s, with his consent, of course. If mine went down, I could easily switch to his.
We use an Edgerouter-X for this.
https://youtu.be/Fg8GRRUfUVw?si=nI9Y4zkEE3wOiZ-Q
Check this guy out. Might help
This is something a router would do, not a switch. You would need to have a router with multiple WAN ports so not most consumer routers
Look for a router with multiple wan ports. I used a Luxul XBR-2300 for this style setup for years. My current Araknis AN-310 will do up to 3 Wan ports for fail over. It really depends on how much you’re willing to spend.
synology routers do this OOTB.
I use the EdgeRouter Lite. You can configure the 3 ports as you like, I use 2 for WAN and 1 for LAN.