TP-Link TL-R470T+ Load Balance Broadband Router 1 x 10/100Mbps WAN Ports 1 x Fixed LAN, 3 x Changeable WAN/LAN LAN Ports

Pros: I concur with all the good points mentioned in these posts. Also, there are 2 revisions to this model TL-R470T+. They are revision 1.x, and revision 2.x, and I mention this because 2 of the features that I needed are available only on the more-recent revision 2.x devices. The revision 2.x models have at least 2 additional capabilities that the older revision 1.x does not have. These are fail-over capability, which the router calls Link Backup, and port re-routing (if that's the correct term). With the Link Backup feature, instead of using the router for Load Balancing, you can instead set one WAN port as the primary WAN, and the other WAN port as the backup WAN. When the primary WAN goes down, the backup WAN is automatically used, until the primary WAN comes back connected again, at which time the router automatically switches back to the primary WAN. If you use more than 2 WANs, then you can program in various rules to handle your backup rules for all your WAN ports. The port re-routing setting allows you to have something that comes in on a certain port be routed to a different port internally. An example of this could be so that you can have RDP access to more than 1 PC internally, as follows (and yes, I know that RDP is not very secure ;-): If something comes in on port 3389, route it to port 3389 on internal computer # 1 If something comes in on port 3390, route it to port 3389 on internal computer # 2 If something comes in on port 3391, route it to port 3389 on internal computer # 3 If something comes in on port 3392, route it to port 3389 on internal computer # 4 If something comes in on port 3393, route it to port 3389 on internal computer # 5

Cons: None (so far).

Overall Review: Pokey, which Revision is your hardware (noted on bottom of unit, after the model number)? To set DHCP Reservations based on MAC addresses, if your model is Rev 1.x, go to the DHCP link on the left, then the Address Reservation link below that. If your model is Rev 2.x, go to Network link on the left, then LAN link on the left below that, then the DHCP Reservation tab at the top.

Pros: My setup includes 4 WAN connections, all wired into the TL-R470T+, with 1 LAN port connected to a gigabit switch. The TL-R470T+ has exceeded my expectations with an abundance of built-in features. I even reluctantly removed a few older 1800 Cisco routers and allowed the TL-R470T+ to do all of the heavy lifting, and it continues to do so without any fuss.

Cons: I have not had any problems with this device, but from previous experience know that TP-Link customer support is not for the faint of heart. The technical manuals could use some work, but easy enough to figure out if you're geeky enough; nothing some trial and error won't resolve.

Overall Review: Incredibly fair bang for the buck! I suppose gigabit ports would help future-proof the device, though (unfortunately) for me, I am not pushing any boundaries.

Pros: I have a lab where each test bench must be connected with a wired router to the building network. We started using the R470T routers about a year ago and now have about 10 in operation. They have preformed flawlessly. They are replacing Cisco RV180 and RVS4000 routers as well as Linksys BEFSR41 and BEFSR81. These TP routers boot up quickly when we need to, but we have not had any cases where they have gone down unexpectedly. I like that they have a built in power supply so no bulky plug in supplies are needed. They are have about every configuration option I could think of using. They are the best thing I've found for our application and happen to be the least expensive.

Cons: These routers have a lot of options, and that means that there is a lot to figure out on the user interface. It did take me some time to figure how to set up things like port forwarding.

Pros: Has all the features I needed and more. Has the ability to use more than one WAN at the same time.

Cons: LAN communication to the switch (a Netgear M5300) will break down once a week. The device can still ping outside websites from the UI, but will not route any outside traffic to devices. Requires a reboot and then it works just fine again. This simply will not suffice in any network to be rebooting a device every week. UI is difficult at times. Very unintuitive placement of some items. DHCP reservation is wonky. You can only reserve an IP address that is in the DHCP range. Who thought that was a good idea? Workaround is to set the DHCP range low, reserve the address you want, and then set the DHCP range above it again. Works just fine when you do that.

Overall Review: Device is on the newest firmware build. I had bought two of these for two different environments. FedEx failed to deliver one of them, thanks so much. Testing worked very well and did exactly what I wanted. In practice, the device could not last more than a week without locking up.

Pros: delivered on bonding two cable modem connections VLAN creation was grade school simple good statistics CPU util meter

Cons: none

Overall Review: I bought this device to bond two cable modem connections. I run a small office (less than 10 employees) however we do serve some online apps from our environment. The bonding worked as advertised. I also wanted to create a private network from one pool of IPs, the VLAN creation was super easy and worked perfectly. Was able to bridge a wireless router as well to the LAN side and create a firewalled wireless network. A++

Pros: The TL-R470T+ has proven to be an awesome device that I wish I was aware of sooner. I bought it to load balance my (2) Clear home modems, which don't individually burn up Speedtest.net, but for what I pay, they work decently. I was initially struck by the feel of the device, as it appears and feels quite well made. Upon firing it up, it proved to be quite easy to set up and had a simple and intuitive UI. Some settings needed to be adjusted in order for it to function appropriately with my TP-Link Archer C7 that is actually pulling routing and AP duties. After installation and configuration, I went to Speedtest.net, tested, and was very impressed with the results. I did get roughly double the bandwidth and noticed no overhead in terms of latency. The "feel" of browsing is much snappier. I would highly recommend this router for multiple WAN configurations, especially at it's price point (ridiculous compared to it's competitors).

Cons: Absolutely none.

Overall Review: This is a great product and the price can't be beat. If you are considering a home or small business load balancing router, order this already. The reviews aren't undeserved. For those who are curious, the router I received is a version 3.

Pros: I can't believe how cheap this router is going for, AMAZING load balancing, we ran a LANparty off of 3 cable modems with this and the speeds were excellent. This router is the best bang for the buck you can get and was extremely stable.

Cons: 100Mbps, but I have it hooked up to a 24 port gigabit switch so the WAN is the only thing that is on 100mbps. The settings can be a little confusing but after some tweaking here and there I was able to get it all right after about 30 min.

Pros: 1) Does exactly what it's supposed to do, with high stability and reliability. 2) Multi-WAN capability provides for high network availability at a very low price point. 3) Flexibility: one dedicated WAN port, one dedicated LAN port, and three ports configurable for WAN or LAN. 4) WAN load balancing and failover capability. 5) Good user interface for configuration and status monitoring. 6) Flexible configuration and extensive security provisions. 7) High throughput under load. 8) Metal case and internal power supply. 9) Low power consumption. Runs cool. 10) Flexible port forwarding ("virtual servers").

Cons: All are relatively trivial: 1) Ports only 10/100 Mbps, which may limit future growth. Gigabit capability would be nice. 2) No rack-mount option. 3) No IP-based or protocol-based QOS (quality of service) functionality provided. 4) Flexibility of configuration can be daunting for users without substantial networking knowledge and experience. On the plus side, the factory defaults will be appropriate for most installations. 5) Can configure static routes, but cannot view the full routing table.

Overall Review: Problem free and rock stable over more than three months of operation. I just hope that any successor product will include gigabit ports. Highly recommended.