4. Bring on the reinforcements!

Since the FR24 is Hawking's first experience with a dual-WAN router, it's safe to say that they'll probably be learning a few things once they get the product out into the real world. Dual WAN routers can help provide a busy LAN with more bandwith in their "load balance" mode, but it's important to realize that they have their limitations and may not suit your needs.

The Secondary WAN setup screens are the same as the Primary WAN's, but as Figure 3 shows, you first must make some additional choices.

Figure 3: Secondary WAN selection screen
(click on the image for a full-sized view)

The second WAN connection can be set to one of three modes: disconnected; use when Primary WAN disconnected (auto-failover backup) and ; use when Primary WAN busy (load balancing). Since the FR24 Quick Start guide contained virtually no information on how these dual-WAN capabilities come into play, I had to contact Hawking for an explanation. The resulting Q&A was very helpful, so I've posted it as a Troubleshooting FAQ so as to not clutter up this review. If you are considering getting an FR24, however, you really need to read it.

The lack of good documentation of the dual WAN features isn't the only weakness in the documentation. I found the manual to be generally weak on explanations of how many of the advanced router features work. You also may find yourself searching for the missing section that should have explained the WAN setup selections provided on the Setup Wizard screens. Hawking also committed one of my pet peeves of not including the information contained in the FR24's on-line Help in their Quick Installation Guide. In my opinion, a manual should be the one place where I can look to find an answer. Other information sources can contain duplicates or subsets of the information, but everything should be in the User Manual!