Looking for a router with three WAN ports, ensuring at least two have 2.5Gbps capability.
Looking for a router with three WAN ports, ensuring at least two have 2.5Gbps capability.
Hello everyone, I'm facing a tricky situation here. I currently have three WAN connections: a coaxial line with a Motorola modem (2.5G port, ~1100Mbps from ISP), a second DSL connection (1G port, ~125Mbps), and Starlink (1G port, ~200Mbps). I'm thinking about merging them into one network for load balancing, preferably using the coaxial and Starlink together. My main concern is stability—my coaxial provider has a history of outages and slow speeds, so I want to rely on the second DSL connection.
My current setup works fine with an EdgerouterX, which handles two DSL lines and Starlink (~400Mbps). However, after switching to the new 1G coaxial port, performance drops significantly. On speed tests, it reaches about 99% CPU usage at throughputs of 300-350Mbps, and even without load balancing it caps around 600-700Mbps. That's frustrating because I'm hoping for better reliability and higher bandwidth.
I'm looking for a router that can handle this load balancing and maybe even support dual WAN ports. A budget-friendly option around $500-$700 would be ideal. Ideally, I'd want a device with a 2.5G port and a 1G port, capable of distributing traffic evenly. If I stick to the basics, link aggregation could work too. I'm open to higher-end models if they're available, but I don't want to overspend or risk missing out on bandwidth. Let me know if anyone has suggestions!
It could be possible with a setup like this. You mentioned 1x gig WAN and 2.5GB WAN inputs, but it looks like only 4x 1GB outputs are available. The link you shared seems to point to a router model that supports dual WAN connections, including 2.5GB output. If you're aiming for a network switch with similar specs, there are likely more options available beyond what was shown.
You may encounter challenges because load balancing works better when WANs have similar latency. Another issue is handling uploads—standard load balancing sends all uploads to one WAN, which can lead to uneven traffic and poor performance if upload speeds vary significantly between the networks.
And also pfSense. Check the review there. It might be better to perform a failover.
Sure, I was checking that too. I think using the 2.5gb model would turn off the load balancing feature. That might be my next choice to try if Best Buy has it in stock, since it's simpler to get back to them than Amazon.
I’ll definitely check it out—it seems promising. As long as the UI (routerOS7) works well enough for me, I’ll be fine! Maybe I should just get a 10G port for my server.
Load balancing can be unpredictable... It's functioned well for about two years without any problems, but bandwidth has been lower than expected. I'm not keen on enabling failover since Starlink is costly. Perhaps assigning devices manually (using VLANs) that don't require low latency could work instead of relying on load balancing. That would eliminate my failover choice, though. Upload has remained stable for sharing, which was similar to using two DSL lines at the same latency. DSL ~30 ping, Coaxial ~15 ping, Starlink ~40-80 ping – these are the numbers I've observed.
I've tested pfSense and have a backup machine ready. The settings seem really complex. I'm struggling to set up Plex outside my local network. I'm considering failover, but Starlink is costly—especially if you lose service, you might not get back in. I plan to use it soon while traveling.
It seems there may be some setup challenges here. You’re encountering issues with managing multiple internet connections simultaneously, as switching between them can cause problems. Could you confirm whether you’ve checked the expected speeds for each connection? Also, please share details about your ER-X configuration and how load balancing was set up.