I need to have two separate DSL connections on the same network

[BirdDad]

I do not mean bonded together. I mean two independent of each other connections one for me the other for my dad. I have never set up this kind of network before. What kind of router do I need that will handle the two different wan connections and route my stuff to me and his to him?
Thanks

 

[matricks]

First of all you need two DSL modems. If having two is fine, that part is easy. If you want one device to handle both, see Router that supports 2 adsl broadband connections where that exact issue is discussed at length.

Then you need a router to control it all. You want two separate networks, each tied to their own internet connection. Most consumer devices aren't designed for that, you may be able to work something out with routers that have guest networks and such (most consumer routers revolve around one internal network).

My suggestion is to use OpenWrt. It can fulfill your requirements with inexpensive hardware, but it obviously involves flashing third-party firmware. I could suggest a supported router for you if you give some more details of hardware requirements (2.4/5 GHz wi-fi, gigabit ethernet, expected NAT throughput and so on).

OpenWrt comes with a WAN and LAN defined as default, like most consumer routers. However, you have full control of the switch in most devices, and you can split the available Ethernet ports in as many networks as you require. Think of the default WAN and LAN as WAN1 and LAN1 in your case, and they will be for you. WAN port goes to your DSL modem (modem 1, for simplicity). Then, configure a WAN2 interface and add an Ethernet port to it, this Ethernet port goes to modem 2. Add another network LAN2, and configure it the same way LAN1 is configured, but obviously using WAN2 in place of WAN1. Add one Ethernet port to LAN2, and you are left with one free Ethernet port (most devices have 5 ports) which you can configure for either network.

You can of course use dumb switches to add more ports in each network if needed. You can also configure multiple virtual access points, so that you have wi-fi access to both networks.

 

[JackMDS]

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/create-a-network-bridge-windows

 

[azazel1024]

Wow, seriously. Lets just get an inexpensive dual WAN router and then setup on the router which connections to the router go over which WAN. Then you just need the two DSL modems.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005SYQBN8/..._t2_B00A8NWU70

There you go, that'll do it for ~$60 for dual WAN. You don't have to do load balancing on it, you can set which IPs go to which WAN. Then either set static IPs on your stuff and your Dad's stuff, or on the router's DHCP server, set reservations for your stuff and his.

I would double check in the user manual the later to make 1000% sure that it can be done on it, but I know it can be done on some other TP-Links other dual WAN stuff. No worrying about routing between networks if you want everything able to see each other.

 

[avos]

If you really want separate and easy just buy 2 routers.

For this example lets Say we have Router A and Router B. They each have their own internet connection going into them.

Router A we can leave pretty much at factory defaults. Which I'll assume is 192.168.1.1 with DHCP turned on.
For Router B, turn DHCP off and set the LAN address to 192.168.1.2.
Then make sure there is either a cable connecting router A and Router B by one of their LAN ports or that they both feed into the same switch.

By default any device that doesn't have an IP set statically will go out Router A. Any device you want to go out Router B just set the IP statically and use 192.168.1.2 as the Gateway.

Local traffic will work fine. You can even have a device connected directly to Router A use Router B for internet. It all depends on what they have as their Gateway.

Obviously the single dual wan supporting router approach is cleaner and could support failover/loadbalancing, but that requires at least a little understanding of routes and how to distinguish and separate traffic.

There is nothing inherently wrong with having 2 routers on a single subnet.

 

[azazel1024]

If you really want separate and easy just buy 2 routers.

For this example lets Say we have Router A and Router B. They each have their own internet connection going into them.

Router A we can leave pretty much at factory defaults. Which I'll assume is 192.168.1.1 with DHCP turned on.
For Router B, turn DHCP off and set the LAN address to 192.168.1.2.
Then make sure there is either a cable connecting router A and Router B by one of their LAN ports or that they both feed into the same switch.

By default any device that doesn't have an IP set statically will go out Router A. Any device you want to go out Router B just set the IP statically and use 192.168.1.2 as the Gateway.

Local traffic will work fine. You can even have a device connected directly to Router A use Router B for internet. It all depends on what they have as their Gateway.

Obviously the single dual wan supporting router approach is cleaner and could support failover/loadbalancing, but that requires at least a little understanding of routes and how to distinguish and separate traffic.

There is nothing inherently wrong with having 2 routers on a single subnet.

You'll need to disable the DHCP server on one of them. You may also need to assign static IPs to some of the clients that use the .2 router as some OS require you use whatever is .1 for the gateway if you use DHCP to get the IP.

 

[BirdDad]

edit

 

[BirdDad]

The two DSL modems would be in different rooms so I would have to go with the two router setup.
Thanks every body for the good information.