Configuration of home WIFI with second line and router

[#1]

Hi all,

I have a complex house but using BT Wholehome discs (6 of them) I have managed to cover every part of it. I have one internet line on a 65mb service from Plusnet.

In order to increase bandwidth, I have ordered a second phone line into the house, with a second router and service.

Is there any way to configure the lines/routers so that all users can use the existing Wholehome configuration to access both lines.

I'm ideally looking for both increased bandwidth and better resilience if there is a failure on one of the lines.

Any experiences with using 2 lines into the same property?

Many thanks

[#2]

Hi,

you need to investigate load balancing.

[#3]

Yes I agree.
But at the moment it seems that I just split the load between 2 routers. But there must be a way to load balance and share the two lines, maybe needs more hardware?

My wholehome network is sound and provides access to all devices throughout the house. They don't care where the internet service comes from.
I will have two internet lines and two routers. How to connect the wholehome network to both of these? And balance the load? Double bandwidth but where is the load balancing done?

[#4]

There are devices which allow for your solution, hence my suggestion to do some research

You will need a router which allows for this.

Take a look at https://www.draytek.co.uk/products/routers/load-balancing-routers

Hope he doesn't mind but Super User @MisterW might give some help

Dan.

[#5]

Yes, one of the draytek routers should do the load balancing. You should be able to connect one of the fttc lines directly to a vdsl input but you'll need a separate vdsl modem  to connect the 2nd fttc line to the wan input.

Not sure how the whole home wifi works though, if it connects to the routers lan as a wireless ap then it should just work, since there is only one router  and thus only one lan

[#6]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Broadband to Everything Else

[#7]

Have a look at the Draytek router comparison chart, they don't come cheap though.

https://www.draytek.co.uk/products/comparison/router-comparison 

[#8]

OK so I have purchased a load balancing router - a TP Link model TL-R470T+

The reviews on Amazon etc indicate that some people have been successful in combining the 2 lines to work with the router.

Is there anyone in this community that has succeeded - and can advise?

Many thanks!

[#9]

Whilst the R470T does appear to support load balancing, it is just a router. You will need a VDSL modem for each FTTC line in front of the r470T. In addition the R470 is not very future proof , it only has 100Mbit ports.

[#10]

@brico I may be too late to this but, for example, a Draytek 2860 (available second hand for a few 10's of pounds) will do what you want.

As you have WiFi coverage you just need a version without WiFi and follow Draytek's load balancing instructions.

Ir works fine, I've done something similar and the bandwidths add.