When our DLS connection failed a couple of weeks ago, it became clear to me that we needed a backup of some sort. I looked into business DSL subscriptions, but if you need a fast guaranteed repair time, the monthly rates start to look like mortgage payments. That’s why I decided to get a second consumer broadband line and hook try to somehow tie them together into one, easy to use local network. Thanks to a great router by Draytek and some clever tips from various forums, this turned out not to be very difficult at all. Here’s what I did.

First, get a second line

My primary connection is a DSL line, so I decided to get cable as a backup. A single telephone line can only be used by one provider at the same time, so I wouldn’t be able to get another DSL connection. But a more important reason is that even if you have two telephone lines, any failure in your local telephony network will probably still knock out both. By going for a completely separate infrastructure, I hope to avoid this.

Another option is to get a 3G USB modem. The Draytek router can use most of those as the backup connection, but since portability is not an issue for my home network I decided to go for a speedier cable backup.
[Read more...]