With OpenWrt, it is possible to combine two Internet connections, which not only increases availability, but also bandwidth: In the test setup, the download and upload rates added up, the Internet connection thus becomes twice as fast and should one connection fail: the Internet simply continues to function over the remaining connection.

OpenWrt is available for a variety of routers as an alternative operating system: Alternative Router Firmware : OpenWrt

I tested the Load Balancing feature with the already existing WAN cable connection and a mobile WLAN router (hotspot).

Connecting to the hotspot

The router additionally connects as a client to the other WLAN router (hotspot). To separate the WLAN path to the hotspot from the other WLAN devices, it is advantageous if the router has several WLAN modules installed.

So for the setup I used a free WLAN module:

“Network”, “Wireless” under Wireless Overview on the desired WLAN module and on “Scan”.

Join Network

The name used under “Name of the network”, here “WWAN”, will be used later as “Interface” name.

LoadBalancing Package

For the actual LoadBalancing function the package multiwan is required: luci-app-mwan3

see also openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wan/multiwan/mwan3

After installation, the metric should be set to the same value for all WAN interfaces used for the Internet. If the same metric is used, the bandwidth is bundled: active / active.

You can find the setting under “Interfaces”, then for “WAN” and “WWAN” under “Advanced Settings”, Use gateway metric to 10.

Then under “Network”, “Load Balancing” I removed the interfaces with “Disabled” and created an additional interface:

In the settings of the interfaces I used different DNS servers as “Tracking hostname or IP address” and selected “Check link quality”.

For members, create 2 members as follows and assign the interfaces:

Now we need a policy for the members:

at this point the predefined policy “balanced” is sufficient, in it store the previously created members ...