Simultaneous links in action
Simultaneous links in action
Switching networks is simpler than distributing traffic, and your current connections aren’t strong enough to justify load balancing.
I would expect after establishing a link to an IP via one WAN port, the gadget maintains all subsequent links on the same WAN port for a period—perhaps 10 to 30 minutes. Once that remote IP connection is dropped from internal records, the device removes it from its list. For instance, a torrent client handling many remote IPs would likely spread those simultaneous links across several WAN ports, keeping each one active on just one port until it waits 10–20 minutes before reconnecting to the same source IP to fetch another chunk. If you stream content from a single website and pull files from the same domain or IP repeatedly, all transfers stay on the identical WAN connection. I’m unfamiliar with this setup and haven’t reviewed the manual, so my understanding comes from general assumptions.
Understanding the IP addresses Steam uses can help you configure routing for specific connections. It seems these addresses point to the same destination for downloads. The main concern is whether these servers allow connections from any IP or if they need proper authentication. Authentication usually ties back to your original Steam connection IP, so using a different ISP might cause issues. Another challenge is that you generally can't control which servers choose for downloads; they often operate randomly, possibly routing all through the same provider. You might try setting up a round-robin rule so connections are distributed evenly across known IPs.
It’s really better when the connection is limited. Loading your typical web page can significantly improve load times if media uses multiple WANs. Steam performs exceptionally well when configured at the router. I direct all regular traffic via my FTTP, but apply policy routing for Steam servers to balance that traffic—often pushing my 5G backup and FTTP together simultaneously. When not using a router, the quickest option seems to be https://speedify.com/
You can't merge various ISPs into one combined connection, especially on the most common ones we use. This means you're essentially setting up a VLAN across two separate lines, needing a point at each end to balance the load. Data must be split, sent, and reassembled on the device side. It's hard to picture how SSL would handle this—probably it would need to work at the network layer because some protocols can't be broken into smaller chunks. I've seen similar setups with single ISPs that maintain multiple lines for backup, but it's easier there since they manage traffic splitting and reassembly on their own servers.