Dual Wan Router (TP-Link ER707-M2) with Netgear RS700 as Primary
I should say up front that I am a dilletante when it comes to networking. I have played around with it, but I do not truly know what I am doing. I am currently using a Netgear RS700 as primary router. However, it has not native failover or load balancing. I am considering adding aTP-Link ER707-M2 or similat TP-Link dual wan router to create failover capability. However, I would prefer to keep the RS700 as it is current setup. Is this possible and, if so, can you give me some guidance as to how to set it up? All thoughts appreciated. BTW, the main pirpose behind this is to eliminate/reduce current ISP instability.
You can do it by putting TP-Link between your Netgear and ISPs:
Then in TP-Link settings you have to mark, which ports are supposed to be WAN porta (those that are connected to Internet - your ISPs), and configure those ports (usually it's Dynamic IP, but some ISP may have differen way of connection - like PPPoE):
Once you set up your WANs, you can configure Fail Over feature:
<I can't upload the screenshot at the moment -_->
Transmission => Load Balancing => Link Backup
You can also configure Online Detection - which DNS server to use for that.
If it's configured properly, when primary link (ISP #1) goes offline, then the TP-Link will switch whole traffic to ISP #2. And once ISP #1 is back online, it will switch back.
The Netgear router you just connect as standard LAN device. (LAN port on TP-Link, WAN on Netgear).
Just make sure that subnets of TP-Link and Netgear's are different.
Also this will create double NAT in your network. Some TP-Link routers allows you to disable NAT on them - so you could do that. Or you can forward needed ports from TP-Link to Netgear.