If you have two internet connection and want to connect it on one router, then you need a dual wan router. Normal router can only support 1 internet connection.
How use two internet connections on one router simultaneously
To setup and use two internet connections at the same time on a router, you need a device which is capable of providing this functionality. These devices are called Dual WAN routers
What does dual wan mean
These routers have two or more WAN interfaces on them. This makes it possible to connect two or more internet connections. Note that a normal router will not be able to accomodate two internet connections as it has only one WAN interface.
A good Dual WAN router would be the TP-Link ER7206 | Multi-WAN Professional Wired Gigabit VPN Router
This router has 4 gigabit WAN interfaces. This makes it possible to connect two or more internet connections.
You can connect two internet connection to two WAN interfaces on the router.
Two internet connections are used on a network for load balancing and backup. The two scenarios where this is deployed is explained below.
Automatically switch between two internet connection for Backup
One of the internet connection would be used as a backup connection. All internet traffic would be sent through the primary internet connection. On the event of a failure, the secondary internet connection would be used. The switch over would be automatic and users on the network would not be aware of the failure of the primary internet connection.
Load balancing two internet connections
In this scenario, the two internet connections are used simultaneously. The internet traffic from the network is equally balanced across both the connections. This would ensure that both the connections work together and would help achieve significant internet performance on the network.
How the setup works
There would only be one LAN network for the the two internet connection. For example, lets assume that there are 100 users on the network. The IP address for LAN users can be assigned in the range 192.168.1.2 – 192.168.1.100. The IP address 192.168.1.1 is reserved for the router.
This IP address would be the default gateway for the devices on the network.
As mentioned above , the router can be configured in load balancing and backup mode. When configured in load balancing mode, all internet traffic from the internal network would be equally balanced between the two connections. The best connection based on the traffic would be used.
When configured as a backup, all internet traffic would pass through the internet connection which is configured as primary. When the primary internet connection fails, the backup internet connection would be used for internet traffic.
TP-Link ER7206 | Multi-WAN Professional Wired Gigabit VPN Router additional features.
1. The router also has VPN capabilities. You can setup a VPN tunnel to the router and remotely access any resources on your network using VPN. In addition , you can setup a site to site tunnel if you want to link up two locations.
2. The router has firewall features which protects the network from various internet security threats. It also provides protection for DOS and provides filtering based on IP and mac-address.
FAQ
1. How do I know if the TP-Link ER7206 | Multi-WAN Professional Wired Gigabit VPN Router supports the WAN settings provided by my ISP.
The device supports almost all WAN protocols by ISP’s. To verify, you can check the manual.
2. Can’t I use two wifi routers separately. What is the benefit of using this device ?
When you are using two wifi routers your will have two different LAN networks. This would create management issues. Also it would be difficult to confgure devices which are on the same network like printers, wireless access points, extenders etc.
Also load balancing and back up will not be available in this setup.
3. Does Dual WAN router increase speed
A dual wan router increases the performance of internet and the speed in load balancing mode. In this mode, the internet tarffic is split between two internet connections. This would increase the speed and improve the performance of the network users.