Festa FR205 | Multi-WAN Wired Router | Up to 3 Gigabit WAN Ports & One USB WAN | Self-Organizing Network | Free Cloud | Load Balance | OpenVPN/IPSec/PPTP/L2TP VPN | Does not work with Omada

I use this router to broadcast my AT&T / Optimum internet connections. It is simple to set up and works well with both internet providers. I have had each of these providers lose connection (their issue, not this router) and the household network stayed up with no issues. This is a great, low cost unit to allow a wireless backup for your cable internet connection. I have both providers feed the router. The router feeds my MESH network. Works great.

The TP-Link Festa FR205 is a solid router that impresses with its ease of installation and overall performance. Setting it up was straightforward: I connected it to my network, logged in to create a user and password, and enabled the "Managed by Cloud" option. The whole process was seamless and user-friendly. With a 950Mb/950Mb internet connection, I’m able to achieve those speeds reliably with this router, which is a huge plus. However, one of the biggest drawbacks is the reboot time—it takes up to three minutes to reboot, which is quite lengthy for a router in this category. The cloud interface is another strong point. It’s easy to manage, and I have two access points (APs) along with this router configured within it. However, the cloud app isn’t without its limitations. It lacks some advanced options, which may be a drawback for more tech-savvy users. Additionally, I’ve encountered an issue where I’m unable to see wired devices connected to the router, even though they receive an IP address from the DHCP server. A major downside, and a reason why I’m considering giving this router a four—maybe even a three-star rating—is the lack of an easy way to contact support through the cloud interface. You would expect a simple option for sending issues or feedback, but it’s noticeably absent. Despite these issues, the TP-Link Festa FR205 is still a good router, especially given its price point. I’m yet to explore the VPN options and other advanced features, but so far, with over 50 devices connected, I haven’t experienced any major issues. I would love to see TP-Link enhance the support options and add more advanced features in the cloud interface (even with the "Advanced Menu" enabled, it’s still somewhat limited). In summary, if you're looking for a router with strong performance and ease of use at a reasonable price, the TP-Link Festa FR205 is a solid choice. Just be prepared for some minor inconveniences and limitations in the cloud interface.

Good functionality, no features. I’m replacing an old Peplink SOHO load balancing router which was becoming a bottleneck I use that for redundancy on my FIOS and Comcast WAN links. The TP FR205 was much cheaper and has similar functionality. Out of the box you can see the limitations. The web interface is bare bones. After assigning two WAN ports and setting it up the proper IP range I swapped out the Peplink. It took a few reboots of the device and the modems but eventually it connected to each WAN and my network came back up. The good news - the immediate increase in speed was noticeable. My old WAN router maxed out at 50Mbps. Now I’m seeing 200-300Mpbs. So far it’s been very stable. Now the bad news: no port prioritization. Both wan ports run simultaneously. You can’t prioritize one over do failover. Not a big problem in my configuration but might be for others. Also, no reporting. The Peplink had great status reports including port by port latency and throughput i realtime and historically. The TP just has “connected” and “disconnected”. No metrics at all. The router is extremely limited too. You can only set IP range. No firewall or other typical features. There is a VPN capability but I don’t need that so haven’t tried. I updated to new firmware ware and the interface is the same. Bottom line - if you’re looking for an extremely barebones WAN load balancing router this gets the job done and 20% of the price of the new Peplink. Just don’t expect any features.

Trying out this new Festa FR205 device from TP Link. IMO it's not entirely clear from the marketing material, this device MUST be configured and managed using TP Link's controller interface. This is typically cloud based. There is a web-based interface on the device itself, but the options there are extremely limited. It apparently CANNOT be managed using Omada software, although interestingly there is a setting for the controller IP in the on-device web interface. At the moment I am managing it through the cloud interface. I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I would be in using this in production, seeing as TP-Link stores all configuration information in their cloud. There is a warning that the cloud service is free but that TP-Link "reserves the right" to start charging for it at some point in the future.... Anyway, I have done a basic WAN/LAN IPv4 configuration and it can NAT ~937Mbps through the device consistently. I set up a rudimentary IKEv2 site-to-site IPSec with my Linux router appliance, and I am getting roughly 280-300mbps of AES256-SHA256, in the ballpark of what they claim in the datasheets. I will say that the cloud interfaces looks EXACTLY like Ubiquiti's web interface, even the logos for "Connected" and "Provisioning" are identical. Almost looks like IP infringement if you ask me.......

it works wonderfully; you must follow the manual to the letter, and if you notice that nothing happens when you turn it on, you need to wait approximately 2 minutes for the system to start and network activity to appear. It was a surprise for me since I was used to connecting and immediately seeing network activity. What I liked the most is that the USB works as a WAN if you connect it to a MIFI from a service provider and activate it in the interface. To get gigabit speeds, don’t forget that the network cable must be category 6.