What a strange year it's been. For everyone, of course...
I notice that the pandemic and related changes to our behaviors have affected us all very markedly. One common thread in my little world of photo/IT/technology geeks has been a shift in discussions to off-topics. A lot of my internet 'photo buddies' are now digging deep into ultra high-end audio, pool tables, and winter tires. Odd. And I'll be joining them today:
One way my behavior has changed recently is that I no longer photograph on a regular basis. The other has been our on-going battle for reliable internet.
We've been 'working from home' since way before it was cool [or mandated]...early 2014, and moved three times in that period. Each location has presented its own challenges, and this latest house in rural, coastal Maine has been the worst for internet connectivity in particular.
But good news at last on that front. I've long wished for an 'aggregator' appliance for connecting multiple internet connections into one reliable stream. I finally found it in the form of the TP-Link TL-R470T+ Load Balance Broadband Router. There are newer models of this unit that will handle higher bandwidth connections than the R470...and I only wish I needed them. Our DSL connections barely meet the definition of broadband, and this model is more than sufficient, as well as cheaper.
So, how does it work? Imagine a typical network switch, but instead of one WAN connection coming in and multiple LAN ports going out, it's the other way around. This one supports up to four WAN inputs and funnels them into one LAN output, to which you connect the local network routers and switches of your choosing.
The results are exactly what you'd hope for. Four 3x1 Mbps DSL circuits in, one 12x4 Mbps connection out. The only caveat is to assign all TCP/UDP traffic [think Zoom, Teams, Skype] to just one, fast, port so that voice traffic doesn't get choppy. That's it, and you're good to go. Amazing.
The only other observation I'd make is that this unit will not help with fault tolerance. If you have a shakey connection or two this will not be your salvation. We did have one DSL line that was constantly either down or very slow, and once connected to the R470 it would bring the whole house to a crawl. After 2+ years of trouble tickets and truck rolls I hit upon a solution to this particular headache. I cancelled that line and ordered a new identical replacement. It's been up and trouble-free for many weeks now, and I'm on the verge of announcing 'mission accomplished'.
It is odd indeed to fire up the office machines and NOT wonder if I'll have to call the ISP every day.
I notice that the pandemic and related changes to our behaviors have affected us all very markedly. One common thread in my little world of photo/IT/technology geeks has been a shift in discussions to off-topics. A lot of my internet 'photo buddies' are now digging deep into ultra high-end audio, pool tables, and winter tires. Odd. And I'll be joining them today:
One way my behavior has changed recently is that I no longer photograph on a regular basis. The other has been our on-going battle for reliable internet.
We've been 'working from home' since way before it was cool [or mandated]...early 2014, and moved three times in that period. Each location has presented its own challenges, and this latest house in rural, coastal Maine has been the worst for internet connectivity in particular.
But good news at last on that front. I've long wished for an 'aggregator' appliance for connecting multiple internet connections into one reliable stream. I finally found it in the form of the TP-Link TL-R470T+ Load Balance Broadband Router. There are newer models of this unit that will handle higher bandwidth connections than the R470...and I only wish I needed them. Our DSL connections barely meet the definition of broadband, and this model is more than sufficient, as well as cheaper.
So, how does it work? Imagine a typical network switch, but instead of one WAN connection coming in and multiple LAN ports going out, it's the other way around. This one supports up to four WAN inputs and funnels them into one LAN output, to which you connect the local network routers and switches of your choosing.
The results are exactly what you'd hope for. Four 3x1 Mbps DSL circuits in, one 12x4 Mbps connection out. The only caveat is to assign all TCP/UDP traffic [think Zoom, Teams, Skype] to just one, fast, port so that voice traffic doesn't get choppy. That's it, and you're good to go. Amazing.
The only other observation I'd make is that this unit will not help with fault tolerance. If you have a shakey connection or two this will not be your salvation. We did have one DSL line that was constantly either down or very slow, and once connected to the R470 it would bring the whole house to a crawl. After 2+ years of trouble tickets and truck rolls I hit upon a solution to this particular headache. I cancelled that line and ordered a new identical replacement. It's been up and trouble-free for many weeks now, and I'm on the verge of announcing 'mission accomplished'.
It is odd indeed to fire up the office machines and NOT wonder if I'll have to call the ISP every day.
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