The Peplink works best when it can see the source IP addressing of individual devices so you can build rules and route traffic based on sources IPs you’re right, but it doesn’t need to be the DHCP server (or even doing NAT) to achieve that.
Sadly google Mesh is very limited when it comes to interop with other routers because it needs to be doing NAT to support its remote MESH APs.
If they go into bridge mode roaming is essentially gone from the system. Devices wont handoff or handoff properly
So now with load balancing looking like the only option is there a way to not let it handle the dhcp requests so my mesh system will not loose its roaming capabilities and also do i have to set rules for each device and device of the future. Also note that each of my google mesh points is hardwired back to the switch. none of them rely on wireless to one another. each has cat 6 run to them
Unfortunately google mesh wifi has been designed with very limited network topologies in mind. Most users end up settling for double NAT but it is far from ideal.
Some Peplink products support drop in mode. So you could put the Peplink between your ISP router and the google mesh main node. That way the google mesh gets a public IP on its WAN - so single NAT. However if you want to use the 2nd ISP connection then you’ll be back to dual NAT again.
If you have runs of CAT6 everywhere, i would suggest that you just use the google mesh for smartphones and tablets (which will likely be fine with double NAT) and then hardwire everything else to the Peplink LAN.
That way the google mesh gives you building wide wifi coverage for portable devices but the Peplink can do all its clever stuff for your bandwidth hogging NVR and the other servers you need inbound access to as they are not stuck behind the google mesh NAT router.
Well I don’t have any isp based router. My fiber to the home just connects to the router PPoE and the cable connection is just a modem.
In short it will be extremely difficult and expensive to bond your two quite fast internet connections together. The only two models which I could find which would support > 800Mbps of bonded throughput (without encryption) were the Balance 2500 (2Gbps) and the EPX modular chassis with appropriate expansion cards (2Gbps).
Bonding is the only way to combine your two pipes and make them look like a virtual single pipe which has the capacity of each of the pipes combined. The downside is that you have to some other place to connect your virtual pipe which then dumps it back out onto the internet. Even with a Peplink HomeFusion Solo license you’ll still have to pay for the bandwidth fees where ever you’re connecting it. The WAN IP of the Home Fusion Solo will then become the WAN IP for your entire network (vrs the IPs of each of your internet connections).
It’s possible to do as I said, but at your speeds it’s extremely cost prohibitive. With peplink devices you can leverage the outbound policy to get “balanced” use (well as balanced as anything in the internet can be) of both WAN connections for outbound only traffic. Inbound traffic would be pinned to one or the other WAN connection unless you do some magic with DNS to balance inbound traffic yourself.
While you will not get 100% of the aggregate bandwidth of both of your WAN connections I do think you’re after WAN outbound balancing options vrs bonding. In this case you can set it up where your connections are evenly split between the WAN connections unless one fails (as in your fiber outage) in which case the connections are automatically failed over to the working WAN connection and then once the failed fiber WAN comes back new connections can go back out through it.
For inbound access presuming you have control over the DNS records you’re connecting to you can register both WAN IPs (also considering they are relatively static) in the DNS records which should allow you to always connect inbound by one or the other WAN IPs at any given time.
Just my 2 cents.
I’m currently trying to bond 3 DSL WANs, 2 LTE WANs and 1 satellite WAN to get something usable and let me tell you it’s quite the balancing act to get it all working in a way that is transparent to the LAN clients!
Thanks for all the info and digging around product wise for me. Greatly appreciated. Cost sure does climb quick in the pepwave product line. Quality products so that’s understandable.
The only reason this is a pursuit of mine is becuase I thought the equipment from an estate sale would but sadly it wont but still purchasing new isnt that big of a deal for me becuase both internet connections are essentially free. The cable gig is included with my hoa dues and the fiber 100 is paid for by my company.
Drop in mode looks attractive. Does that mean my main google wifi mesh router can still handle port forwarding and dhcp or no?
I have cat 6 everywhere. I ran it to every room myself. Each google router is hardwired back to my switch instead of the routers wireless connecting to one another.
Also, can anyone explain why my fiber upload speeds are not concurrent to the 100 download. 50 to 60 is the max on many different servers.
I may open up the fiber box and make sure inside the element sealed box where the actual fiber wires themself are exposed and spliced and make sure the installer didn’t put excessive loops in them. The light output was awful. Within limits but awful.