Rv042 dual-wan threshold based load balance?

Question

I have an RV042 (it's old, silver/dark grey plastic front one) w/ firmware 1.3.13.02-tm.
The reason we bought this (long ago) was to balance two WAN connections, one with unlimited data and one capped monthly.  It did that once, but for a couple years both connections have been unmetered so it's just been balancing them 50/50.  As of today one WAN connection (the new much faster one) is back to being metered but I can't figure out how to configure the RV042 as it once was to prefer sending traffic over the slow, unmetered connection first, and only use the faster metered connection when necessary.
It's been a long time and honestly I only vaguely remember the ability to prioritize a connection based on % of bandwidth used so that all traffic would go over the unlimited connection 1st until it was flooded, and only then fall over to the metered connection.  This is totally different than the weighted round robin, or smart link backup.
I found this 3rdparty pforum post that supports that vauge memory and suggests this was eliminated netweem firmware 1.23 and 1.3:
http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/rv042-load-balancing-options-from-the-manual-where-to-find.15512/#post-69948
So I humlbly ask...  Is it possible to replicate this functionality with the current firmware? if so how?  If not, how to do roll back to firmware 1.23?
It sounded like perhaps I could assigned WAN1 a bandwidth of 100000 (even though it's really 1500) and then assign WAN2 a bandwidth of 1 (even though it's really 20000) and the result might be the prioritization I'm looking to achieve...  but I feel like I'm stumbling in the dark at the point.
Just FYI, I'm not at all opposed to buying new hardware to acheive this if it's not terribly expensive (ie. <$200).  I'd rather not, but I've got to solve this quick.

Answer 1

Hi Jon,
I Also have one of these routers.
On the bottom mine says (v02) which means its hardware version is 2.
I just got this one brand new for home as I have been using them for a very long time now. However I have been using them for VPN and now I am needing the same functionality as you.
I am currently running Firmware Version: 1.3.12.19-tm
If you login to the web management (eg 192.168.1.1) and go to System Management > Dual-WAN
Down the bottom you will see "Protocol Binding".
This is all I know of to send specific ports or applications via a specific WAN.
I'll give you an example of how I am using it currently.. (BTW it seems to be working OK, But you are on a higher firmware)
eg: WAN1 is more reliable than WAN2 which is a cheap unlimited service.
So I bind port 5060 (sip), port 80 (http) and port 443 (https) to WAN1 so that my VOIP phone is on the good service and so is all web traffic.
so all the other stuff can use the unlimited connection.
Also, My current bandwidth settings are
WAN          UPSTREAM          DOWNSTREAM
1                384                       8000
2                384                       10000
And Under: System Management > Bandwidth Management you can also prioritize those ports.
This may help you in some way, So maybe you can help me..
Your post has made me not want to upgrade the firmware.. Can you please confirm that this functionality exists still?
Thanks