TL;DR: Is there a way to have two different (unreliable) ISPs connected to a single network switch, so that when one drops out, the home network is automatically switched to the other ISP?

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Hi all!

I am a networking hobbyist, and I built out a home network for a family friend of mine living in Mexico. They have an ISP reliability problem I have not encountered before. Their service frequently cuts in and out, and thus they have two separate ISPs to ensure connectivity at all times.

I currently have both ISP’s gateways plugged into the same unmanaged network switch. The hope is that if one ISP goes out, the switch will be smart enough to use the other one. In practice, when both ISPs are up and running, the network switch seems to flip randomly between the two of them which causes interruptions on the home network.

I would like to have both ISPs plugged in at the same time so my customer does not have to walk down to the switch swap inputs. Is this functionality I would need a mananaged switch to accomplish?

Let me know what you think, and thanks for your help!

AF

  • ElevenNotes@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Use a multi WAN firewall and plug all three ISP into it. You can build one yourself using opnsense or similar.

  • sniff122@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    This is something a router would do, not a switch. You would need to have a router with multiple WAN ports so not most consumer routers

  • rubixd@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I can’t think of a way to do it with an unmanaged switch because, if I’m understanding correctly, it’s going to be a routing issue.

    I think you need a router in the middle so that your entire home subnet has the same gateway. Then, when one of the uplinks goes down you don’t have to change gateways on anything but the primary router.

  • 1sh0t1b33r@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Not by a switch. You’d need a multi-WAN port router. Something like the ER605 will do failover.

  • bigchrisre@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Got an old computer sitting in a corner somewhere? Add a multi-port network card and set up Opnsence. Haven’t done it myself, but there are multiple web pages describing how to do just this.

  • Supergrunged@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Look for a router with multiple wan ports. I used a Luxul XBR-2300 for this style setup for years. My current Araknis AN-310 will do up to 3 Wan ports for fail over. It really depends on how much you’re willing to spend.

  • Oolon42@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Switch, no, router, yes. I used to run an old Linksys wifi router with DD-WRT firmware on it that had two WAN ports, one wired and one wireless. The wired was to my ISP, and the wireless was to my neighbor’s, with his consent, of course. If mine went down, I could easily switch to his.