Smart Switch - Starlink + BT Line - NOT WORKING!
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Good morning, I am seeking some help/advice on the following. I have both Starlink and a BT line live at the minute. Starlink being in beta has its regular dropouts and with me playing online games it disconnects me from the servers which becomes very annoying, so here is my question. Internet 1 - BT line - 25mbps Down - 5mbps Up Internet 2 - Starlink - 150mbps Down - 20mbps Up Can I use a Gigabit smart switch in order to merge these signals so that when Starlink drops out the BT takes up the slack until starlink reconnects, normal dropout is only around 20 to 30 seconds. Smart switch - TP Link Jetstream 8 port - T1500G-8T (TL-SG2008) I have plugged both the BT and Starlink into the smart switch and setup using quick setup but I get speeds around 20 Down and 0.4 Up, Have I done something wrong? Is Starlink and BT able to be merged using the smart switch I have. Please someone help. Thanks Jake
Hey Jake
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but using a switch for this purpose wont work 
Switches are not that smart (despite the name). Switches just look at the MAC address of the device and send data too it.. therefore it will only be aware of a "device" being plugged in and will do nothing to offer any routing or fall over decisions.
You would be better looking away from the home grade stuff and into a Business Grade option, something like the TL-R605 Router.. I live in Ireland and use one of these with my BT connection / 4G Dongle so it works fine :)
The R605 is a load balancing router, so basically it does what you need.. When both connections are live it will allow you the capacity of both combined (170 down / 24 Up) and if one drops out it will redirect all the traffic to the remaining link.. etc etc.. This is primarily a router function and not something a switch can do..
Time wise, it takes around 3-5 ping requests to determine the 2nd line is dead so ~10 - 15 secs maximum before it makes the call that the 2nd line is dead. You honestly wouldnt notice it from experience.
Price wise its around £50 and it got it from Box.com
Hope that helps and any questions just reply :)
Phil