Three WAN router recommendation

After years of inactivity, Openreach finally got around to upgrading the broadband in this middle of nowhere location from fraying copper to FTTP. I have long ago given up on copper and installed two 4g lines load balanced by a Draytek 2926 but have decided to order FTTP anyway.

Being in the middle of two two year 4g contracts I will keep the two lines for load balancing and failover, but to load balance them along with the FTTP line, I need another router as the 2926 will only handle 2xWAN. I can upgrade to a 2927lac, which will handle three, but it comes at a hefty price and, to be honest, i am not that demanding a user. Outside of load balancing, a little port redirection and some MS Team QoS, I don't need most of the features provided.

Does anyone have any views on the Drayteks vs the much more cost-effective TP-Link range of multi-WAN routers? Top of the range is the ER6120, but even the R605 at £40 (allegedly) has almost 1gb NAT throughput.

Any advice or thoughts appreciated!

If you don't want to go the easy but expensive route of getting a higher Draytek, best options are either create a dedicated OpnSense router or buy a Mikrotik RB4011. Both will require a bit of networking knowledge, which you probably already have given your setup.

The TP-links are cheap but very feature lacking, although haven't looked at the new Omada one, but odds are its probably as bare bones as their older models.

In reply to a post by dogcat:

best options are either create a dedicated OpnSense router or buy a Mikrotik RB4011.

2d for microtik versatile but could be a learning curve, i will add pfsence or sophos xg home, both on suitable hardware.

MikroTik routerOS should come with a warning - yes its as versatile and multitalented as a Swiss army knife but the learning curve in many cases will also be Swiss Alp-esque 😎

In reply to a post by dogcat:

If you don't want to go the easy but expensive route of getting a higher Draytek, best options are either create a dedicated OpnSense router or buy a Mikrotik RB4011. Both will require a bit of networking knowledge, which you probably already have given your setup.

The TP-links are cheap but very feature lacking, although haven't looked at the new Omada one, but odds are its probably as bare bones as their older models.

I'll second the PFSense option as that's what i use and it cost me about £100 to build one with 5 gigabit ethernet ports.

Thanks
Dan

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful. Having bought an Edgerouter X a couple of years ago to dip my toe in the waters of 'flexibility' I am wary of going down the path of needing to make extensive use of the CLI with all the possibility for disastrous 'factory reset' screw-ups that brings. My networking skills fall into the category of 'knows enough to be dangerous".

Both my wife and I work from home with the now ubiquitous simultaneous video calls, so whilst I will do a little research on the suggested options, it might be wise for me to err on the side of caution here and opt for the Draytek if nothing similarly powerful but relatively simple exists.

Marc

You only need to know enough to complete the task at hand, you don't need to be a complete expert on every feature.