Networking help!

[haroony341]

i was wondering if it is possible to use 2 broadband internet connections with one computer. at my apartment, we were given free dsl internet but it is amazingly slow. this connection is completly seperate from out phone line so we got Verizon DSL. my computer has 2 ethernet ports and i was wondering if there was a program or somethign out there which will allow the computer to use both connections together instead of one at a time. right now the free internet is going to waste and it would be nice to be able to put it to some use.

[whytheheckme]

Hmmm... difficult question. If you simply have the two connections hooked to you computer, I'm pretty sure your computer would pick one to use for the net. Maybe you could find some apps in which you could choose which net connect you want to use.

The other thing I thought of was bridging the connections using standard Windows Bridging. Not sure what this would do, but it might work.

Jacob

[Mike AA]

What ever you do it would only use one connection at a time. I guess just give it as a waste and leave it at that. You could use it to setup a public wifi.

-Mike

[EHaskins]

I don't think you'll be able to do anything with the free internet.

[Tom Schindler]

A simple solution would be to use a load balancing router..

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=452

Good luck.

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by Tom Schindler

A simple solution would be to use a load balancing router..

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=452

Good luck.

YES!!!

We have the mega Cisco version of this at the university. I've run that before. Load balancers rock! (but the hardware can be pricey (the small 2 WAN 4 port that Tom suggested will run you around 100 + shipping (source: froogle)). Not really sure its worth it.

You can also use the free line to run a little web server / file server. You don't need a lot of bandwidth if it's not high traffic, and a dedicated IP/incoming line is perfect for that.

Or Folding@Home. Just a suggestion.

Jacob

[haroony341]

i have looked into the dual wan routers but i was hoping there is some software or somethign i could use on the computer itself.
bridging connections isnt for 2 internet connections, its to allow to networks to communicate with eachother. for example, a computer on connection1 will be able to print to a shared printer on connection2. it doesnt actually do anything with the internet. i wish it did.

[Kyle Fenton]

There was a program that I tried a couple of years ago that allowed different applications to go onto different ethernet ports. For example web page suffering could be on en0 and AIM would be on en1. I forgot what it was called but I think it would help in your situation.

[haroony341]

that would be perfect! let me know if you remember what it was.