Dual WAN routers are a strong failover solution for business networks

Enterprises large and small have come to greatly depend on reliable internet access to conduct daily business. For remote workers, small businesses, and multi-national corporations alike, maintaining continuous connectivity to a high-bandwidth, low-latency Wide Area Network (WAN) that provides that access is paramount to maintaining business continuity.

One of the key network elements that enables continuous connectivity for many businesses is a Dual WAN router. These routers have two WAN/LAN ports, allowing them to either simultaneously or alternately connect to multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Traditional routers with only a single WAN port can only connect to one ISP. With multi-WAN ports, businesses have more flexibility. They can establish a primary and backup connection to a single ISP to ensure continuous service at all times. Alternatively, they can maintain connections to two different ISPs, thereby greatly enhancing their flexibility and allowing them to use different ISPs for different requirements.

Today’s Dual WAN routers are powerful devices that offer both built-in advantages as well as providing a foundation for businesses to leverage even more advanced technologies should the need or opportunity arise.

Dual WAN routers offer cost-efficient reliability, performance, and security

Simply making use of the Dual WAN capabilities of these routers delivers several benefits for businesses large and small.

Reliability & failover of Dual WAN routers

First, two connections ensure reliability should the main ISP connection fail, slow down, or otherwise be subject to downtime. Whether this is planned or scheduled for network maintenance or updates or unexpected because of a cyberattack or natural disaster, having a backup connection greatly reduces the chance of complete network failure.

Performance of Dual WAN routers with load-balancing

Similarly, by connecting to two ISPs, businesses can take advantage of load-balancing techniques to manage network traffic. While there are a variety of load balancing types and methods, at their core they all enable Dual WAN routers to shuttle traffic between ISPs evenly. This ensures each connection performs at maximum throughput, avoiding bottlenecks that slow down traffic and responsiveness and ensuring businesses get their maximum return on investment for each connection. By rerouting traffic from a slowed or failed connection, these routers ensure high network performance even when uptime is suboptimal.

Security features of Dual WAN routers

Finally, most Dual WAN routers come fully equipped with a range of advanced security features, such as VPN support (including IPsec VPN and OpenVPN), firewalls, and VLAN segmentation, ensuring networks stay protected from external threats. Enterprises integrating these routers benefit from superior security even without investing in additional and more advanced methods.

Enhance operations further with advanced capabilities

For enterprises looking to get more from their networks, Dual WAN routers also provide a foundation for integrating more advanced capabilities.

For example, link bonding, or bandwidth aggregation, integrates both internet connections into a single, unified data stream. With this approach, total available bandwidth is increased, as is network reliability and performance. A popular choice for remote offices, especially in areas with limited ISP options, this technique allows for data-intensive and latency-sensitive applications such as video calling, large file transfers, or cloud service access to be used with minimal latency or interruption even in areas with comparatively poor connectivity.

Likewise, advanced traffic management and routing capabilities allow enterprises to set specific rules for routing traffic through a specific WAN connection. This makes it easier to prioritize critical business applications or VoIP calls, allowing crucial tasks to always receive the bandwidth they need.

Beyond traditional routing capabilities, Dual WAN routers increasingly leverage Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology to further enhance traffic management. SD-WAN uses software-based controllers to intelligently direct traffic across multiple WAN connections based on real-time performance metrics and predefined policies. This means that traffic is dynamically steered over the most efficient path, optimizing both cost and performance. For example, high-priority applications such as video conferences or critical data transfers can be routed over faster, more stable connections, while less critical traffic can be assigned to alternate routes.

In addition to these traffic management measures, Dual WAN routers can incorporate advanced security techniques, such as Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and zero trust security models for enhanced protection. ZTNA shifts the focus from simply guarding the perimeter to verifying the identity and health of each device or user attempting to access the network. Under a zero-trust model, no entity — whether inside or outside the network — is automatically trusted.

Evaluate your use cases for optimal setup

Dual WAN routers are highly flexible and can be configured to address specific network and business needs. Therefore, to get the most benefits of the technology, consider the use cases a Dual WAN router will have to serve in your network.

For example, businesses reliant on cloud computing services or running online stores, or public service entities, might need a Dual WAN to provide more network reliability. For these requirements, a Dual WAN router should be configured to deliver maximum, effective failover to ensure the business can maintain seamless continuity. However, businesses that have to support remote workers may need failover and effective load balancing to ensure different employees can access network services as needed, but leave those services free for others when they’re not being used.

Different considerations will apply in other industry sectors. Retail stores and the hospitality industry, for example, need internet access for both staff and guests. To do this effectively, the network must be able to ensure business-critical applications such as point-of-sale machines and inventory management operate uninterrupted. A Dual WAN router can ensure customer traffic, which is transient, is efficiently balanced between the networks to ensure business operations aren’t interrupted. Similarly, educational institutions need to balance the network needs of both staff and students, while also ensuring access to data-intensive applications. Load balancing and SD-WAN integration can ensure access is intelligently routed as needed to meet changing network demands.

Inseego offers industry-leading dual-wan routers

Inseego is an industry leader in high-speed wireless 5G connectivity, and our wireless routers offer high-speed internet connections, robust failover functionality, and advanced security features, ensuring your business always remains connected and secure.

Our FX3000 indoor cellular router series and FG2000 indoor cellular routers are designed with advanced Dual WAN capabilities, ensuring seamless internet connectivity, optimum performance, and robust security. Designed to meet the demanding requirements of SMBs and larger enterprises, both our FX3000 series routers and FG2000 routers provide features like load balancing, bandwidth aggregation, and advanced traffic management to optimize network performance.

Our Inseego 5G SD EDGE cloud management platform further enhances the utility of our routers by providing comprehensive SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) capabilities. Inseego 5G SD EDGE simplifies the deployment, management, and optimization of Dual WAN networks and intelligently routes traffic across multiple WAN connections based on real-time performance metrics, optimizing cost-efficiency while ensuring critical applications receive the bandwidth they need. SASE allows for easy integration of network security functions — such as secure web gateways, firewall-as-a-service, and zero trust network access — into a unified cloud-based platform, adding an extra layer of security to your network.

Contact us today to find out more about how to choose a Dual WAN router solution for your business.