I had a crazy idea, and now I'm wondering if it could work. I currently have a net connection through cable. What would happen if I added a DSL connection to my network? I have two routers/firewalls, so I could plug one in each modem, and connect the routers together.

Now AFAIK, in *theory*, the bandwitch should combine, because the TCP/IP packets would journey through both connections, back and forth. But would residential lines allow for such things? Would the bandwitdh be really combined?

If this is possible, not only it could be a cheaper way to increase bandwidth, but I would get some kind of "always-on" service (since the probability of both connections failing at once to maintenance or high usage in the area are low, plus each technology has its own ups and downs).

I know it's crazy, and probably too expensive to be practical (there must be deals to getr higher-speed connections for the same prize), but I just can't stop wondering... :) Though after all it's not that much, it's about the same price as getting cable internet + cable TV. :)

> Now AFAIK, in *theory*, the bandwitch should combine, because the TCP/IP packets
> would journey through both connections, back and forth. But would residential
> lines allow for such things? Would the bandwitdh be really combined?

The matter is that under Windows, as far as I've seen, address ranges are "bound" to one network interface. For different address families the OS assigns routes to different interfaces, and you can see it by typing "route print" in a command prompt.

I really don't know what happens to the routing table when you have two working internet connections, could be that the last one overwrites the table, or maybe it just adds routes. At any rate you shouldn't have clashing rules: as soon as a rule matches, everything else is probably discarded.

What you CAN do is add your own routes to the table, so that you will use one connection for a set of addresses, and the other for the rest. Using both connection to reach the same target is probably possible, after all you'd appear as two different IPs to the other end of the cable, but not easily done on your side: I doubt Windows is able to manage multiple connections to the same internet aread to take advantage of them. Maybe Linux? But I can't help you there, ask Halcyon maybe.

Post your progresses, however.

I found exactly what would take care of the situation.Linksys sells a VPN device with 4 ethernet ports in output and TWO in input. The device automatically does the load balancing between connections, and so for your PC or network there is only one access point (eliminating worries if Windows will handle it or not).

Anyway this is all hypothetical at this point. Besides, to get DSL I would have to get a "landline" phone subscription, which I don't have right now to save all the useless fees and "taxes" they add to even the cheapest option (its like $20 extra).

If anybody's interested, the linksys box retails at $99 for the 4-port option, they have 8 and 16 too.




[download a life]

They also make (well, some company, not sure which) NAT router boxes with dual WAN ports, that will do load-balancing. Probably cheaper than the LinkSys model, if you don't need the VPN endpoint capabilities.