Small businesses often require quality routers to cater their needs of better network connectivity that can provide high-speed internet and has the bandwidth to handle multiple devices at the same time. Dual WAN router is what you will need to cater to such needs and we are here to help you make the best choice.
Dual WAN routers have various features that help to set up a reliable and secure internet connection for a small business. For example, it establishes multiple links to an ISP which can create a more stable and reliable internet connection. We are now going to look at 10 of the best dual wan routers for a small business.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks for Dual Wan Routers
First, let's understand a few details about WAN Routers.
Comparison of the Best Dual Wan Routers
Product | Rating | Price |
---|---|---|
Cisco Systems Gigabit Dual VPN 14 Port Router | Best Overall | |
TP-Link TL-R600VPN Gigabit VPN Router | Runner-up | |
UTT Dual-Band Wireless AC VPN Router No products found. | Best for the Money | |
LINKSYS Dual-WAN Gigabit VPN Router | ||
Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite ELITE-3 (Black) | ||
NETGEAR ProSafe FVS336G Dual WAN Router | ||
Peplink Balance 20 Dual-WAN Router | ||
The DrayTek Vigor 2926 | ||
ZyXEL ZyWall USG40 | ||
Mikrotik CCR1009-7G-1C |
What is a Dual WAN Router?
A dual WAN router is equipped with two internet ports and such a router can be used to connect with two different internet connections. Such routers are especially essential if there is no scope for you to tolerate any kind of internet outage in your daily works and you don't want to depend on internet connection from one ISP.
Balancing Load
When balancing load is enabled, it is very necessary to set up your WAN router in accordance to the internet speed. The default algorithm to balance a load of dual routers equally caters to supply traffic over both WAN connections. In case the internet connection speeds are not the same, your router will need to know both the connection’s speeds in order to provide for the load of the traffic correctly. Good Dual WAN Routers may contain the features of many load balancing choices.
Failover
To set up your router in case of primary failover means that only the primary Internet will be used and the other second connection will be used only if the primary connection fails. The brighter side of failover is to make sure that all traffic is flowing through a single path. This is useful for connections which are path-sensitive and that includes VPN or other VOIP traffic.
Quick Take - Best Dual WAN Routers
In a hurry? Below are our recommendations for the best dual WAN routers:
Review of the Best Dual WAN Routers
Let's take a look at the best dual WAN routers of the year:
Best Overall:
Cisco Systems Gigabit Dual VPN 14 Port Router
Cisco Systems Gigabit Dual VPN 14 Port router is the best dual WAN router in terms of load balancing and firewall making it the best choice for small businesses.
In the areas of its performance, Cisco Systems Gigabit can reach speeds of 600 Mbps. Additionally, Cisco guarantees that you will not face data loss when it comes to downloading or sharing large files whether at the office or at home.
This business router is also made with processors that are super fast. They ensure smooth data transfer and ensure effortless sharing of large files. These processors can also help optimize the data flow in between users in the network and therefore allocate bandwidth to each and every user in the network so that the work can continue.
Cisco router offers 14 WAN ports to provide multiple connections which are wired. Out of those 14 WAN ports, 2 are high-speed Gigabit ports with load balancing technologies. The dual WAN router comes with VPN capabilities and IP security which are best suited for small businesses.
Runner-up:
TP-Link TL-R600VPN Gigabit VPN Router
TP-Link is a company known to create some of the most popular small business routers. They create different routes with different specifications every time, and TP-Link TL-R600VPN is also no different. TL-R600VPN has five total Ethernet ports which include LAN/WAN Gigabit ports.
Just like other WAN routers of this class, the TP-Link TL-R600VPN also does not have any wireless adapter which means you have to buy a Wi-Fi router separately to have a wireless connection. But its configuration helps you to connect with the cable modem and use it easily it as a wired router.
As far as the routers are concerned, the TL-R600VPN is one of the more credible ones that you can purchase in this segment. This is large because of its load balancing unique feature which spreads data traffic across its dual WAN bands. Load balancing helps reduce downtime if one band fails.
Best for the Money:
UTT Dual-Band Wireless AC VPN Router
No products found.
UTT AC750GW Router is a great router if its your first dual WAN router. The router uses two bands: 2.4GHz and 5GHz to deliver the load and eliminate the interference among the gadgets which are connected wirelessly. Its dual-band feature lets you add much more devices with your network. This is completely impossible with one single frequency.
The router has a total of three detachable 7dBi Omni antennas and uses 802.11ac technology. This is also compatible with all the 802.11a/b/g/n gadgets.
UTT AC750GW uses MIMO technology and can provide speeds up to 750Mbps. This router is compatible with wireless modes such as AP Mode, AP Client Mode, WDS, Repeater Mode, and Bridge Mode. It has a MAC address filter too.
This Router contains 2 WAN 10/100/1000M ports, three LAN 10/100/1000M ports which are WAN/LAN configurable and also 1 USB 2.0 port perfect in order to store something or for file sharing. The configuration which is supported by web browsers offers simple remote access with easy management so that your network can be used even when you’re nowhere near it.
The Linksys LRT224 is a perfect machine for small businesses which needs the best VPN facilities. This router costs less than £150 and comes in a strong steel box build. It is also equipped to handle easily client IP sec and VPN and supplement this with sustaining for Linksys’ own Easylink VPN, PPTP, and Open VPN.
The router has 4 Gigabit LAN ports and also 2 more for WAN links. It can also perform load balancing and connection errors over the mentioned ports. There are also included security features like simple website filtering, DoS protection, a standard SPI firewall and also support for custom access regulations.
Linksys LRT224 features 5 open VPN tunnels exclusively for iOS and Android customers. It also has a stunning 900 Mbps firewall and 110 Mbps IP sec throughputs. It has a vast range of business network indeed.
There are two models to choose from that can provide a reliable and secure network service for staff members whether they are at the office or on the road or working from home.
As the name itself indicates, Ubiquiti ELITE-3 is pretty easy to handle and simple, affordable router that is regarded as one of the most credible routers for small businesses and home use in this range. It carries 3 ethernet WAN ports and all of those three ports are Gigabit rated.
This signifies that this router offers lesser connection points than others like the Cisco which provides 14 WAN ports. But still, you will have to remember that with just these 2 Gigabit ports on the Cisco, the ELITE offers an extra Gigabit port, which means that it is far better at load balancing than the other options such as Cisco.
If we look at the internal hardware, we will see that the ELITE is created with a 512MB RAM option and ROM memory is of 2 GB. And because it doesn’t have a wireless adapter, you will not be able to set up a Wi-Fi network with it. But, that can be easily be reversed as the Ubiquiti router generally uses an Edge Operating System version 1.4.0 for the software. This system supports WAN+2LAN2, WAN+2LAN and also load balancing.
Among all others, The Netgear ProSafe router is one of the costly one models in this range. However, the additional money that you pay for it surely is not wasted as the router is full with a load of useful features. For example, it is equipped with act enhancing features such as WAN Traffic Metering, QoS, failover and of course load balancing capabilities.
Security and other features in the router include impassable firewalls, VPN capability, among others. If these options don’t mean much to you even then don’t worry the best feature is its speed capabilities. The Pro-Safe produces speeds of data transfer that can reach up to 350 Mbps on both of its LAN and WAN channels.
Now coming to the connectivity, this router is fitted with six ethernet ports that mean you only have 6 direct users at one point of time. Another advantage that the Netgear ProSafe Router has over others is that all of its ports are rated Gigabit. Meaning they provide very fast internet connections and other data transfer speeds. You can also use the ports in order to extend your network’s connectivity.
Cisco Systems Gigabit Dual VPN 14 Port router is the best dual WAN router in terms of load balancing and firewall making it the best choice for small businesses.
In the areas of its performance, Cisco Systems Gigabit can reach speeds of 600 Mbps. Additionally, Cisco guarantees that you will not face data loss when it comes to downloading or sharing large files whether at the office or at home.
This business router is also made with processors that are super fast. They ensure smooth data transfer and ensure effortless sharing of large files. These processors can also help optimize the data flow in between users in the network and therefore allocate bandwidth to each and every user in the network so that the work can continue.
Cisco router offers 14 WAN ports to provide multiple connections which are wired. Out of those 14 WAN ports, 2 are high-speed Gigabit ports with load balancing technologies. The dual WAN router comes with VPN capabilities and IP security which are best suited for small businesses.
Draytek is a Taiwanese company which produces multiple products like VPN devices, firewalls, routers and other types of wireless LAN devices. They are known to be one of the first manufacturers to implement VPN technologies in cheap routers. The dual WAN routers don’t have a very dashing and pleasing look but not these babies. Despite being simple they are very pleasing for the eyes.
DrayTek Vigor has four 10/100/1000Mbps Base-TX Ethernet LAN RJ-45 LAN ports and each port has two LED lights and also 1000 Base-TX RJ-45 WAN1 port, a 1000 Base-TX RJ-45 WAN2/LAN port. The router also has two USB 2.0 ports. With such features and a credible brand making it, its a perfect fit for small businesses.
The ZyXEL ZyWall USG40 is a capable router exclusively designed to be used in a small business environment. It looks like an ordinary router but has an overall simple design. The model looks a little outdated because of its dull finishing.
This router has LED status lights responsible for Power (PWR), System (SYS), USB and five Ethernet ports (P1 to P5). Load balancing is one of the most crucial aspects of the router. It features a one-core Cavium CN6010 CPU, backed by 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage memory and a Qualcomm Atheros AR8327-BL1A switch but not wireless connectivity.
It has a 10G SFP+ port, a regular 1G SFP port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port which can create a combo-port. It also has a micro USB type AB port which can be used in various ways like connecting to a storage device or a 3G/LTE modem.
It has a TILERA TILE-Gx9 TLR4-00980CG-10CE-A3a CPU clocked at 1GHz (the CPU core count is 9), 2 GB of RAM (the lighter version CCR1009-7G-1C-PC only features 1GB of RAM) and 128 MB of NAND storage memory.
Conclusion
As per our research and personal user experience, we understand the need for a good quality router for new business and since most new businesses are always on a cash crunch. We want to recommend you LINKSYS dual-WAN Gigabit VPN as the best dual wan router for small business which can cater to your need to better connectivity and quality build that will last for years. While our ultimate choice will always be Cisco Systems Gigabit Dual VPN 14 Port router which makes for the best fit for anyone who is looking for a solution to the best WAN Dual router that has load balancing and firewall capability.