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Can I use two internet connections at the same time

Hi

I have two broadband connections at home:

1. DSL 1500KB down / 384 KB up

2. Cable ~ 4-5 MB down / 150 KB down

My DSL connection is great when I need to do uploads to my server back at my ISP, but nothing to get excited about with respect to download speed. My cable connection on the other is extremely good for surfing and downloading large files with it's technically unlimited download speed, but pathetically slow when trying to upload anything with it.

My question is, is it possible to combine the two connections and thus utilize the download speed of cable and the upload speed of DSL at the same time (through the one hardware connection).

Thanks for any help

JFrederick29

Take a look at the Linksys RV042 router with two WAN connections for load balancing and failover.

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=34&scid=29&prid=639

mikebernhardt

The thing is, you're asking to use 2 different ISPs at the same time. You can control which link you download on only if you use BGP, and you can't do that on low-end routers. You can control which link you upload on by configuring a static route. But on low-end routers you can't failover if the primary upload link fails.

mikebernhardt

Actually, the router suggested may address the failover issue, and you may be able to share the links for uploads. But you still can't control which link your downloads arrive on with 2 ISPs- it will have to be one or the other at any given time and unless you choose a primary link with failover, you won't be able to control which one it is. So you may end up still downloading on your DSL a lot and having a lot of spare bandwidth on your cable line.

mikebernhardt

Are you and your server using wireless or wired? I was looking at some notes about making sure that the router and the wireless clients are set up as "infrastructure" and not "ad hoc." Ad hoc is a point to point connection.

mikebernhardt

I was just thinking- have you tried rebooting your PC (client) or otherwise clearing it's ARP cache?

georgep7

ASKER

Hi Mike - which router would you suggest for what I'm looking to do? From what you are saying, I assume they are very expensive?

mikebernhardt

You know what? My last 2 comments were posted on the wrong question! You were probably wondering what the heck I was talking about :-)

But as for your question, I think you'd do best to just pay for a commercial grade of service from one of the ISPs that gives you higher speeds in both directions. The problem is not so much that the routers I'm talking about are expensive- you can get one for a few hundred bucks- it's that the setup is more than you're probably willing to do, and you'll still need a higher level of service from your ISP(s) to get what you'd need from them.

georgep7

ASKER

Thanks Mike - yep, the last two posts had me scratching my head :-) As far as the higher speed service goes, I'm afraid I'm in an area with an exchange that does not support DSLAM high speed DSL - hence why I have the cable, but I still have DSL as well as I need to have some reasonable upload speed when I send files up to our server. I was doing a search on the web and came across this http://www.xincom.com/twr602.html - would this be along the lines of what you are recommending?

mikebernhardt

Yes, but that's a more sophisitcated version of what was recommended earlier. Note that for 2 ISPs, they talk about failover, not load sharing. So you still have to pick your primary link.

If you dropped the cable and got 2 DSL circuits, you'd have 3mb down and 768 up... you could then use either of the 2 routers to support that.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

mikebernhardt

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