Load balancing routers distribute network sessions across multiple active internet connections, helping share bandwidth and manage traffic. Routers that use a secondary connection only for failover keep the backup link inactive until the primary connection goes down, then switch traffic to maintain connectivity.

Choose a load balancing router by adding your internet connections’ expected bandwidth, then selecting WAN and LAN ports that support the required speeds, such as Gigabit, multi-Gigabit, or 10 Gigabit connections. For network size, consider the number of users, devices, VLANs, VPN connections, and bandwidth-heavy applications, along with the router’s throughput and management capacity, so it can support current traffic and planned growth.

Many load balancing routers also support network segmentation through virtual local area networks (VLANs), firewall policies, and traffic controls. VPN features, including site-to-site and remote-access options, can connect separate locations or users securely while the router manages multiple internet connections.

Plan around the number and type of internet connections, expected traffic, device count, and whether the site needs active/active load balancing, link failover, or both. For residential, commercial, or high-bandwidth installations, confirm WAN and LAN port speeds, then account for VLANs, firewall policies, VPN connections, traffic segmentation, rack or tabletop placement, and remote management needs.