Is it possible to combine 2 cable internet connections via load balancing router?

[Disparia]

I would hope that Time Warner could sell me business class internet speed. I guess I will find out on Monday. Is anyone on this board getting business class speed from thier ISP or pairing via dual WAN router or Windows 7? Thanks for the info.

I do. Originally was getting 15/2/static ip for $95 when the fastest resi package was 10/512K. Now even the resi's can get 15/2, but I'm only playing $65 now with only the benefit of static IP and business class service. Though the value of service is questionable... but that's a story for another thread.

After reading a few posts all over it seems a lot of people found windows se7en can load balance to a certain degree.

So i thought i would give it a bash. I used two seperate cable modems. One is configured for 20mbps and the other for 10mbps. All i did was plug both modems straight into the dual lan ports on my mobo. Win 7 assigned them ip addresses, etc. Here is my results.

http://img.techpowerup.org/091208/2mod.jpg

Obviously both connections were maxed out and added together!

Now don't expect internet browsing, speed test or anything like that to double i speed. At the end of the day you still have two ip address's. Only things that can handle multiple connections from multiple ip address's will work. For example torrents and newsgroups.

Oh and I deleted the torrent afterwards. Not that im against piracy lol, i just cant stand cameron diaz!

Cool! Though that could be replicated in a lot of OS's, not just se7en, if anyone was wondering. Haven't been able to find anything that suggests that it handles this type of situation any better than what would be expected.

Back in the day when a friend and I were living in an apartment we did something similar. Each unit had three Ethernet ports, one in each bedroom, and one in the living room. 10Mb port to port speeds in the complex, and 1.5Mb to the internet. So we got a box together with three NIC's and shared the connection through that. Torrents were a pretty new thing back then (to us at least) so it worked well And we were just so happy to get out of the Keys and away from our 56K modems that 4.5Mb was mind-blowing for the time.

 

[bud951]

Could this be done with two wireless connections?

 

[Mussels]

Could this be done with two wireless connections?

yes, with the same limitations.

 

[bud951]

I was just thinking.. Would Win 7 recognize two wireless connections or would it just lock onto one?

 

[Mussels]

I was just thinking.. Would Win 7 recognize two wireless connections or would it just lock onto one?

supposedly windows 7 has the ability for one wireless adaptor to connect to two networks simultaneously, but my wireless USB dongle isnt compatible with that feature.


Even if windows wont allow you to connect two devices simultaneously, i'm sure using windows to connect to one network and the software that came with your (second) adaptor to connect the other, would work.

 

[bud951]

I just ordered a second 15/2 mbs cable internet connection at my residence with 2nd modem and wireless router so I will see if this works. I will post my findings here ASAP. Newsgroup and torrent downloads are where I hope to double my speed. I would be happy with that plus the ability to run a server on one line and have the other line free for pure usage.

 

[bud951]

I forgot to ask.. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium. Do I need the Win 7 Ultimate version to use load balancing? When my pc discovers the two connections do I use the "Bridge connections" option to combine them both into one connection? Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[bud951]

I do now have the two 15/2mbs connections in my home. I dont have a desktop with Win 7 right now. I am trying to connect to both with my laptop which has win 7 64bit. I am wired into one router and connected wireless to the other. The pc only seems to be using the wired connection or if I choose the wireless it uses that one even in usenet. Is there a regedit or something I need to do to get load balancing to work?

 

[TheCrow]

To be honest i just plugged both of mine in wired and windows set about working straight away. I didn't have to bidge connections or anything.

Try both of them wired if you can.

 

[bud951]

To be honest i just plugged both of mine in wired and windows set about working straight away. I didn't have to bidge connections or anything.

Try both of them wired if you can.

Are you seeing a difference in speed? Do you d/l torrents and whatnot? how about speedtest.com? Any improvement there?

Also, are you using Win 7 64bit Ultamate? Is this the only version it works with?

Does anyone know if I can split one cable output and run both modems to get two IP connections? Thanks.

 

[ShRoOmAlIsTiC]

you guys got me thinking now. I have to identical time warner cable modem. my upload sucks threw this time warner, im now in palm springs. the old time warner I had in los angeles was a hell of alot faster. Would it be possible to hook both modems up to a switch and then send the switch to my router? Ive got 4 computers on my home network and would like to speed them up as much as possible.

 

[TheCrow]

You would need a dual WAN router to do it. And the only time you would see an increase in speed would be when using torrents or something that can connect with multiple ip addresses. Normal web use wouldn't speed up.

I think you best bet would be to have each modem run two computers. The simply bridge the two routers so all 4 computers can still talk to eachother, etc.

 

[Disparia]

^ I'd personally prefer the dual WAN router in that case. While improving the internet performance of 1 computer with multiple connections is situation specific (though not that hard to do IMO), he has 4 computers to utilize those 2 lines.

 

[TheCrow]

^ I'd personally prefer the dual WAN router in that case. While improving the internet performance of 1 computer with multiple connections is situation specific (though not that hard to do IMO), he has 4 computers to utilize those 2 lines.

I see what your getting at, and kinda agree. But dual wan routers aren't cheap. I'm not sure it's worth the extra investment.

 

[95Viper]

^ I'd personally prefer the dual WAN router in that case. While improving the internet performance of 1 computer with multiple connections is situation specific (though not that hard to do IMO), he has 4 computers to utilize those 2 lines.

I see what your getting at, and kinda agree. But dual wan routers aren't cheap. I'm not sure it's worth the extra investment.

How about multi-WAN:http://www.workman-engineering.com/elephant.html

 

[TheCrow]

Wow they are some extreme prices!!!!!

 

[Mussels]

Wow they are some extreme prices!!!!!

load balancing is not something consumers normally benefit from, so they're only made into high end equipment.

 

[TheCrow]

Your not wrong. Although i thought you could mod some linksys routers to do load balancing, but then im not sure how reliable they are.

 

[Trigger911]

You guys got me interested too... Check out the WRT firmwares I use DD-WRT its pretty good mod firmware to run on routers.

 

[ShiBDiB]

To the OP, wouldnt it make more sense to if your set on buying 2 overpriced TW connections to have one go to your box while the other goes to whatever your using as a server. I feel like your trying to over complicate this, and if you only have one box that your trying to do all that on, theirs half your problem.

 

[Bubble07]

The real issue you will have with this is no cable company will allow you to have 2 cable modems in one residence.

not really. I have TW and i ordered 2 cables under ONE account, SAME address. No problem.

to OP: i bought Cisco dual WAN router RV042, connect both modems in. Not double the speed as i expect either.