Bandwidth Question

K

kamitristan

New Member
If my cable internet provider allows me to authorize 2 Mac Addresses and both are modems, can I hook both of these modems through a switch to the Wide Access Network on my Gateway/Router? If I can, will my computers connected to my Gateway/Router be able to use the bandwidth of both modems thus doubling my total bandwidth?
 
Is there a way to use both modems in conjunction to increase my total bandwidth, or would it be easier to have one computer on each modem?
 
One computer on each modem. You can't have two internet connections on one computer at the same time.
 
that is not true, yes you can do it.. you have 2 options hardware or software. I recomend hardware

you need a Dual WAN Load Balancing router

or you can use WinGate (program)

I currently run 2 modems

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I used Wingate (software) to combin my conection but I recently upgraded to a hardware solution.. the problem with wingate is you will not increase you donwload speed when downloading from a FTP or any single source (nor will is show on a speed test), but with torrents and things with use multiple connection you will see a gain.. with hardware it truly uses 50/50 to increase speed.. Let me know if you need help setting up wingate.. you will need either 2 network cards or one network card and one USb modem.. but they do both need to be online.. let me know.. Thanks



Here is the Dual Wan Load Balancing Router I use.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2203381&CatId=584
 
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but you still aren't going to go any faster than your download cap, if i'm understanding this right, it simply helps you do more things at once. Say downloading a game from newegg and surfing the web. So what i'm getting at is, are you saying you can actually increase the max download speed, or are you just allowing yourself more room to move around when it comes to doing several things at once? Either way, the concept seems pretty interesting as i've never heard of such a thing.
 
From the sounds of it your basically just increasing the width of the pipeline, your not able to download faster. All it's doing is splitting the load up between two modems.
 
well It goes both way and alot of it depends if you are going to use a software or a hardware solution, with software you are correct that you are basicly making a wider pipeline.. but thats only if you are doing thing that use one connection (surfing the web, downloading from a FTP).. in that case you will not get any faster speeds on any one download you are attempting (this also means that using a software solution will not show a faster speed on a internet speed test).. But while using software and download from multiple sources (torrents, newsgrops) will make that one thing you are downloading twice the speed (provided the download can be hosted that fast) because it can max out both connection when trying to download one thing.

on the other hand when you use a hardware solution (Load balancing dual WAN router) you will actually increase the speed of your connection (and it will show on a speed test and when downloaind from a ftp or single source) because the router takes everything and divides it up evenly between the two. A GREAT example is RAID, if you max out one connection with half the data, and max out the other connection with the other half of the data it will get there twice as fast.

I have heard that you get what you pay for when it comes to load balancing routers, the $120 router will not do a very good job (when compared to a $1,000 business grade router). So knowing that to save money alot of people "build" routers out of old pc's using linux and some software. for some reason linux is much better and working with connection that windows, and you can acutally build the equivelant of a very expensive and acurate Load balancing router. The pc must have atleast 3 network interface cards (two to connect the modems, and one to connect to the pc or router), another advantage of using this method is you can add as manny modems as you want just by adding NIC cards.

--BK--
 
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oh, cool i get it now. it all makes so much sence. and that's very cool, but would it work in this situation. Say you have a 10 meg dsl connection, since phone line is essentially 10 base T networking cable if you maxed out the connection you wouldn't have enough additional bandwidth available for a second modem to do any good. Am i right? so in this unlikely situation you wouldn't see any bosted speed.
 
well I dont know about DSL, but yea if you are reaching the phisical limites of the line with one modeem then they is no way to get faster even if you use 10 modems.. but most of the time (99%of the time with cable) there is much more bandwith to be had (Im not sure about dsl).. but the max speed that your allowed to get is a preset limit in your modem that your ISP sets when you hook it up, if there was a no limit in the modem you would be able to get much fast speeds. so as long as your not hitting the phisical limits of the line your on you will see a gain. I guess the only way to know is getting two modems online. (even if its form 2 computers, try to suck up the bandwidth on both computers and see what the combined total is)
 
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well, i'd be able to get more because the physical limitations of my connection would be 10megabit and i only have 1.5 megabit service, but unfortunately i think verizon locks me down to only allow one mac address to be connected to them at a time. Too bad though since they won't give me the 3megabit connection i've been asking for since we got the service.
 
subdude199 kudos for an excellent thread and great attitude. Really enjoyed reading it.

Nearly all uk DSLs only allow 1 mac addy at one time. Or at least so they say.
 
Thank you very very much that means alot to me apj101.. I am glad I could share this with you all. I was just looking threw the older threads and I found this. Thought I would comment on it even tho it was a month old or so.

I dont know why they would limit one mac.. if you nebighor wants internet they give it to them, why not just give you two. Sure it will doubble your bill but I dont see why they would have a problem. if you only have a 1.5meg connection then a better idea would be to call the isp and see if you can get a faster plan. but if they wont then this is a good idea. Like for me, the highest plan my ISP offers is 15meg down / 1 meg up for $60/month. They will not sell me anything faster, so I ordered 2 of that service and now:
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This mean that I may be reaching the phisical limits of the line because I pay for a 30meg total and only get 29. I am happy tho!!




Its to bad the creator of the thread has not been here to see the update.
 
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Its to bad the creator of the thread has not been here to see the update.
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agreed, my position allows me to see his email address, but as a point of principle we never send out emails. So unless he checks i guess he'll never know
 
oh well, Im sure he will see it soon.. or maybe he moved on to a diffrent solution or he let it go. not many people are willing to pay over $100 a month for internet. I love this forum, I spend alot of time on here gettin alot of valuable info, and giving it when I can.. thanks ComputerForum!!
 
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