Using 2 ISPs to ensure 100% uptime, possible??

Using 2 ISPs to ensure 100% uptime, possible??

Is it possible to use 2 ISPs to ensure 100% uptime? If so, how?

1) Do I need to buy a dual-WAN router to use 2 connections (1 as main; the other as backup)?

What dual-WAN router should I buy? How much? Is there any wireless dual-WAN router available (I would like to have wireless connection for non-trading purposes)?

My budget is about US$100. I'm not sure if it's enough. I want my router to support ASDL/VDSL/optical fiber connection.


2) If I don't go for dual-WAN router method, what else can I do to use 2 ISPs to ensure my computer 100% uptime?

Letting 1 computer to have both connections all the time would be fine. But I would like all my computer have such protection, if possible and is not costly to implement?


3) Let's say I have 2 ISPs connection and one fail. Will my broker software like IB TWS disconnect? Is the computer fast enough to switch so I can still keep logged in?

If not, how long do I need to reconnect to IB TWS? Do I need to do anything manually to switch connection?

Thanks a lot.

Not a lot of good without two independent carriers and two independent physical phone lines.

Just have your broker's number handy and your account number plus any relevant telephone password in case you need to close a position.

Even then it may not be as redundant as you might think. Construction work can take out whole groups of lines. If you are routing to an overseas destination, then two independant ISPs may still be running thru the same international link. Plenty of other points of failure too including computer kit, brokers, exchanges etc.

The bottom line - 100% up time not possible at any reasonable cost (or perhaps at any cost), and ones trading strategy has to take into account outages.

One of the wireless broadband adapters they sell for laptops would probably be your best bet for a backup connection. However, expect to have to switch over to it by hand if your primary connection dies; it's not impossible to have systems auto-switch connections and maintain the whole lot, but... infeasible, in this case, at least.

Short version is that the Internet needs to know where to send traffic for you, to. Which means you'd need to have all sorts of weird routing set up so that traffic can get to you in two ways. Which means a business grade Internet connection, and a router that'll probably cost a lot more than $100.

When it comes to daytrading, every second is important.

Calling broker is the slowest method. You have to tell them your account information. What you want to do. They confirm and start acting it. The delay time is still too much. Sometimes if the market moves too fast, the broker is unable to close the trade quick enough.

I would be better off if I reconnect to another ISP manually (of course it has separate lines) and close the trades myself.


Yes downtime is still possible. But if we have two separate ISPs, we reduce the risks of the normal downtime that every ISP has. An ISP will always be down some time for their own reasons. It may happen 2-5 times per year.

The major downtime which affect all ISPs is much rarer, and nothing we could do to help it. So we simply swallow it.

If $100 is not enough, how much is enough? I only need a failsafe and seamless connection. I don't need any advanced features. A simple dual-WAN router is just what I want. I don't need any business-grade router.

I'm willing to invest on it if it can provide what I want.

I want to make sure I can close/manage my positions *immediately* when one ISP is down.
No reconnection from my broker's software! My broker's can still be kept online in such an interruption. I don't need to wait to re-login from my broker's.
I don't need to wait or manually login to another ISP.

I would accept any solution which can (nearly) achieve it. But if they are still slower or about the same speed as I manually connect -> relogin my broker's -> close position, I won't bother.

You're looking at multihoming then: Multihoming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . I can't give you an exact cost, but what I can tell you is that when our department looked at multihoming, it was written off as too expensive (and we're basically network critical; network dies, everyone stops and gets coffee).

As a close second, something like a Cisco 881 router: Cisco 881 Integrated Services Router - Cisco Systems should be able to keep a second connection live, and in case the first fails you re-login to your broker. It won't keep the first connection to your broker live, as you basically instantly re-appear at a different IP address, but you won't need to manually connect the network.

How about something like Netgear FVS336G? Under £200 with good reviews.

PC Pro: Product Reviews: Netgear FVS336G