2 Internet Connections

N

Not Bman

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So eventually I would want to have 2 internet connections. One being Cable and one being DSL, or something to that effect. I have searched google, but all I can find is information on combining 2 to increase bandwidth, or using wireless and lan together, and things like that.

I would want to use one connection, say Cable to browse the internet, play games, and do the normal stuff. Then use the other connection, say DSL to download files, Newsgroup/torrents.

Is this possible, How do I go about doing this.
 
yes its possible, but it'd require the co-operation of the two providers - it's how the internet works. The domestic providers are not making enough money off of you to make it worth while to them.

You're better off finding a DSL provider that offers bonded DSL.
 
Yea..... to do that, it'd have to communicate with both modems, constantly relaying information back and forth about what has already been downloaded through one connection, or what hasn't been downloaded at all yet. I could just imagine that being one corrupt file riddled mess.
 
Using FreeBSD/OpenBSD with pf you could tell it to do round robin over multiple different outgoing IP's.

See the PF manual website for more information: http://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/pools.html#outgoing

Using rules based on port address's you can set it up the route-to to use your Cable for example for all port 80/443 outbound traffic (now all web traffic will go over your Cable), then you can tell it to re-route traffic bound for 6xxx to 9xxx over your DSL, if that is what you set up for your Bittorrent traffic.

You can also just let round-robin loop through the two connections.
 
yes its possible, but it'd require the co-operation of the two providers - it's how the internet works. The domestic providers are not making enough money off of you to make it worth while to them.

You're better off finding a DSL provider that offers bonded DSL.

No, it does not require co-operation from the providers. Doing exactly what he wants may not be possible (in that downloading files goes over one, but the standard web goes over the other), but you are able to round-robin outgoing connections without any issues what so ever, and if your outgoing connection is round-robin'ed, and the return stuff will automatically be routed over one or the other, just because of the way the internet works.

Yea..... to do that, it'd have to communicate with both modems, constantly relaying information back and forth about what has already been downloaded through one connection, or what hasn't been downloaded at all yet. I could just imagine that being one corrupt file riddled mess.

No. TCP has state. Which means NAT is able to select one outgoing gateway and then come back over that same connection. So only the router/NAT needs to know what connection it sent the connection over. You are unable to switch a connection mid-connection to a different IP, or use both at the same time for the same connection.

UDP is a bit harder, but generally the NAT will make the connection between the outgoing port number and the incoming port number thereby making sure all the packets leave over the same connection for as long as the connection is open.

Yay for round-robin.
 
So I thought I knew some things about internet, clearly I do not. Because basically I did not understand anything you guys just mentioned and talked about. I get the drift, but that is about it.

Let me get simple.

On most motherboards there are 2 Ethernet connection on them. Why are there 2 if you can't just plug to things into them?

Second, I guess this goes along with your guys suggestions. I was trying to ask more on how to use 2 connections not how to get them (though obviously there is more to it then that). To use only one program and not another on one of the connections. Clearly that is even more complicated. lol I'll have more questions to your guys posts soon..
 
Typically the two network ports on a motherboard are for improving your network connection. Rather then connecting to an ISP.

I think the biggest question would be...

Why in the world you would NEED the bandwidth from two different providers combined?
 
multi homing improves the robustness of your ability to connect to something :)

I wasn't aware you could round-robin connections as X mentions though - that is an option as well then and I believe a machine with say pfsense would allow you do to that - it has support for mutliple WAN (internet) links.
 
wasnt there a router that featured this? mm.. lets see if i can find it again
 
Typically the two network ports on a motherboard are for improving your network connection. Rather then connecting to an ISP.

I think the biggest question would be...

Why in the world you would NEED the bandwidth from two different providers combined?

Two ethernet ports on motherboards can be utilised if 'that' system is used as a server.

@BMan
Not quite sure why anyone would want two different ISPs/internet connections on 1 PC but at the same time go through the hassle of splitting up the two connections so that different apps use a different connection.
Although it makes sense in the case of people only owning 1 PC, but wouldn't it just be easier to have one machine dedicated to downloads and another for daily use?
If you really do want two connections on 1 PC, wouldn't the easiest thing to do be to Set (Windows) Firewall to disable network connections on certain ports for each application... i'm sure there's an option for 'Network Connection Settings' for each network adapter (be it wired or wireless).

Most people would utilise two connections either for increasing bandwidth.
 
So would this all be much more simple, if I used one computer to download, and one to do the rest of the things, instead of the same system?

And if I got the suggestion about bonded DSL?

Yea, it would seem most want to increase bandwidth from what I have been reading. Let's just go that direction for a bit, say that is what I wanted to do, with the 2 connections. How much does it improve it, what are complications....etc
 
In order:
Mb were originally given 2 network connections because they were virtually free. One 10/100mb came with the standard chipset and then they added a gigabit LAN chip. That allowed a PC to bridge 2 networks providing "top end product differentiation". Now dual LAN seems to be expected.

I assume BMAN wants to not have his gaming PING ruined by long downloads running concurrently with game play on the same network connection. In which case using a separate, el cheapo PC, to do the download would be the best bet to maintain gaming, or even video playback performance if the video is on the HD. Use a KVM switch to save space and money for controlling the two PCs. If you try and seperate the functions on one MB there are still memory and I/O bottlenecks to contend with.
 
My router has QoS and I can set priority to the bandwidth.
Hence, I can play games and download at the same time as the game has bandwidth priority over Reget (download manager) or Utorrent.
 
downloading won't affect ping times, uploading will.
Did you not see Utorrent listed in my post?

The QoS works for downloading or uploading.

From the router setup page:
Use this section to configure D-Link's QoS Engine. The QoS Engine improves your online gaming experience by ensuring that your game traffic is prioritized over other network traffic, such as FTP or Web.
 
Yes but QoS only dictates what you already have correct? I would want a 1Mb/s down connection for downloading, and have the exact speed for gaming/serfing/etc. Not a lowered speed for both.
 

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