TP-Link ER7206 Multi-WAN Professional Wired Gigabit VPN Router Increased Network Capacity SPI Firewall Omada SDN Integrated Load Balance Lightning Protection

Works great for a home network. Needed a more robust router than the usual consumer-grade stuff, as I work from home. I've owned it for almost 2 years now, and I have only needed to reboot it a handful of times (usually for a firmware update, but also every few months to clear the cache). I use this with a TP-Link 24 port switch (TL-SG1024DE) and a TP-Link AXE5400 Deco XE75 Pro (3 access points). I have a very reliable network!

I used to be pretty tech savvy…back in the day I upgraded RAM, added a secondary hard drive, partitioned a hard drive to run two different operating systems, and set up a home network with router, hubs, and switches.Notice I said used to be…over the last 10 years or so I haven’t had a need to do any of those things. I bought my computers configured how I wanted them. I used the router provided by my ISP.Last year, we were running in to signal/coverage problems with our home Wi-Fi. I’d been reading about the mesh Wi-Fi systems, and when I found a killer deal on Woot, decided to give the Deco system from TP-link a try. The setup was easy, and it solved our coverage problems.In the last 3 years our ISP has had two major outages due to lines being cut by construction crews. These were both multi-day outages. The first time was annoying. The second time was a problem because I was working remotely that day, and had to get ready and drive in to work in the middle of my shift.After the second time I decided to sign up for a secondary ISP. Overkill? Probably…but I hated always worrying about whether the internet would go down again.With two inputs, I wanted a way to be able to use both of them, without having to physically disconnect one and plug the other in. I’d read about load balancing routers. I did a lot of research, and finally decided on the TP-link ER7206. It looked like it would do everything I needed. Well…it kind of did…Once it came and I started to install it, I discovered that you need a controller to utilize the load balancing and multiple input features. You can either use a physical controller, or the cloud-based software. I was going to opt for the software, but then discovered you had to run it on Windows or Linux…and I have a Mac 🤦🏼‍♀️So…I got back on Amazon and purchased a hardware controller (TP-link OC200 in case you wanted to know). The main difference between the OC200 and OC300 is the 200 is POE (power over Ethernet…I.e. no power cord…it gets its power from the Ethernet cord).Ok, sounds like I have everything I need…router, hardware controller, and mesh system. We finally got the second ISP installed today, and I decided (on 3 hours of sleep) to bite the bullet and set up the new router. I started plugging things in, and was confused when the hardware controller didn’t power on when I connected the Ethernet cable…. Yeah, about that…the hardware controller can be powered by POE, but the new router ports aren’t POE.I thought I was going to have to buy yet another piece of equipment and was getting quite frustrated at this point. Then I noticed there was a micro USB port in the back of the hardware controller…hooray! I tracked down a cord, and realized I didn’t have any outlets left in the install area. That was an easy fix though, I grabbed a power cube and got everything plugged in! Whew! I called my first ISP to approve the new router, and had one input running through the setup.Next came the truly mind numbing steps, because I was about to jump off into the unknown…setting up the router and hardware controller. I ended up in a 3 hour long chat with TP-link tech support. During that time I also had to call my second ISP to authorize the new router. And I had to change the configuration of the primary Deco from router mode to access point mode.But, after more than 4 hours total, we now have TWO internet services, running in to one router, with load balancing controlled by the hardware controller, and a mesh system for coverage. If the first ISP goes down, within 30-60 seconds the load balancing will automatically switch the network to the second one.I knew I’d be sailing into uncharted territory, and didn’t expect things to go smoothly, but I’d hoped that I’d watched enough YouTube videos that I’d be able to figure it out...notsomuch. Huge shout out to TP-link tech support for literally walking me through the set up and making sure everything was working as is should be!

It takes some time to get used to the configuration of Omada gear. It's not normal and doesn't quite make sense. I've worked on networks and routers and switches for over 40 years, so I know what i'm talking about. Overall this gear works great, just a bit weird to configure, some of the controls and how and where you setup things, example: like static DHCP clients, sucks. I still don't think I could find where you set up a static DHCP, without going through 20 screens. All the normal network concepts are there for a business, but just in some odd places and the flow of the config doesn't always make sense. Once this is set up it working it's great. I put in this ER7206 and it has double the throughput of my old Meraki (end of life MX64). So I got a nice speed increase on my home internet using the Omada. Overall I prefer business grade equipment for my home use and I'm happy I went with TP-Link Omada great price for performance, but at the cost of odd configuration and setup.

I've been running this router for about 1 month. It was relatively easy to install and get going and has worked without issue since. A few things to make note of:This device has both a 'stand-alone' mode (typical web UI) and a controller mode for management. You cannot easily switch from standalone mode to controller (or back); doing so resets the entire device. The software controller runs on a Java platform so it requires a JRE. I found lots of issues with the software controller (it wouldn't display correctly on my laptop) and I didn't care for the experience. However, if you're new to Omada hardware decide early on whether you're going to run in standalone or controller mode and stick to whichever. Ideally the controller mode gives you a 'single pane of glass' view of your network infrastructure to let you configure your router, switches, access points etc... from a single interface.The vlan port tagging UI on this router is extremely un-intuitive in stand-alone mode.Wireguard VPN server was extremely easy to configure and is very fast. Dynamic DNS updater was also extremely easy to configure. I think for the price this is very capable gear for a small office or home enthusiast use. An average home user would be better of with an 'easy-button' router.

These work great and have a marvelous software interface for management. With this you can hook up by wire avoiding the danger of wifi.