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Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL

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Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-05-05 21:13:21
Model: Archer MR600  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: Beta 1.1.0 0.9.1 v0001.0 Build 200417 Rel.75138n

Hi Guys,


Here is my setup at home if anyone is interested?

 

 

 

I originally only had ADSL at home but because of the lockdown I needed to come up with something else to give me and the others enough bandwidth to use and live with.


I decided on a 4G Max mobile broadband SIM from Vodafone and tried several 4G routers before deciding that the Archer MR600 router was the best for me.  I also purchased an Eightwood 4G antenna and installed in the loft with the Archer MR600 router.

 

The Archer MR600 router has beta firmware installed, so I can configure which bands to use for 4G+.


I then had to come up with a solution to use both of the ADSL and 4G links and make it resilient incase one of them failed.  Funny enough the solution was a TL-R470T+ load balancing router.  This allows me to load-balance traffic using the bandwidth available on both links.  It looks like I currently get 3:1 load-balancing ratio in favour of the 4G.  You can also configure online WAN detection for each link, so if one goes down the traffic is re-routed over the other.


I pretty much only use the firewall as an 8 port switch, but it is occasionally handy to look at the firewall logs to work out what's happening when something isn't quite working as expected?
I also have a WiFi mesh setup which works really well smiley


CheerZ

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33 Reply
Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-05-05 21:44:34 - last edited 2020-05-05 21:45:08

@Fl1nst0ne 

 

Yes same configuration in France witch Tl-r480t load balancing router. 

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-05-06 15:18:35

@Kladz Excellent.  Surprisingly a very cheap solution £30, for the TL-R470T+ load-balancer.  I also looked at the Draytec routers as they also do load-balancing, but you are talking £400 for their router.

 

CheerZ

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#3
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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-05-08 17:49:49

(Update)

 

I accidentally knocked my Eightwood 4G antenna over onto its side and found that I actually get a better signal quality which now reflects on a download speed of 70Mbps and upload speed of 22Mbps smiley

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-05-11 15:53:01

@Kladz I believe the main benefit of using a TL-R480T+ load-balancing router is that the ports are Gigabit as opposed to TL-R470T+ which is FastEthernet, so if your download speed is greater than 100Mbps then opt for the TL-R480T+ load-balancing router smiley

 

CheerZ

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-05-18 14:47:52

(Update)

 

Please use the table below when viewing your signal strength under the 'Advanced' tab:

 

                                            RSRP(dBM)       RSRQ(dB)     SNR(dB)    

(RF Conditions)  Excellent       >=-80                  >=-10            >=20

(RF Conditions)  Good            -80 to -90          -10 to -15      13 to 20

(RF Conditions)  Mid Cell       -90 to -100         -15 to -20       0 to 13

(RF Conditions)  Cell Edge      <=-100                <=-20            <=0

 

I currently get the following:    -97dBM               -8dB             18.2dB

 

This currently equates to approx download speed of 70Mbps and upload speed of 20Mbps in my scenario smiley

 

CheerZ

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-06-04 14:45:52
You noticed a big difference between the standard and external antennas?
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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-06-04 21:39:04

@Piersandro I only had 50% signal strength using the standard antennas and now 75% signal strength.  I found the best signal strength by accident when the antenna was horizontal smiley

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-06-05 06:28:48

@Fl1nst0ne could you write me the exact model of the new antenna? I saw different models from Eightwood. Thank you.

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-06-05 15:28:56 - last edited 2020-06-05 15:29:46

@Piersandro This is the 4G antenna i purchased from Amazon UK:

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Y1N9ZTF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

CheerZ

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Re:Broadband woes in lockdown - Archer MR600 4G+ load-balanced solution with ADSL
2020-10-16 19:06:25

@Fl1nst0ne thanks for sharing! We are looking to do same thing because lockdown has meant more video calls which our current internet is not great for!

 

We've ordered a 4g connection to complement are not so reliable fixed line. I was wondering what your experience was with load balancing on video calls when one of the connection goes down? Does it seamlessly transition you to the working line or do you still get kicked out of the call?

 

Thanks

 

Chris

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