Using two cable modems one one PC ?

#1 p0rnflake

stranger

Group: Members
Posts: 6
Joined: 14-February 01

Posted 14 February 2001 - 12:14 PM

I was wondering if it's possible to use 2 cable modems with the same PC (running w2k). And thereby getting 2xbandwidth ??

The modem in question is the SurfBoard 3100 - Splitting the coaxial cable should be easy enough - and by adding an extra network card it should be possible to connect both modems to the PC - but can W2k use'em ??

------------------
The box said "requires Win NT 4 or better" so I installed Linux.

#2 OLEerror

enthusiast

Group: Members
Posts: 326
Joined: 29-September 00

Posted 14 February 2001 - 04:04 PM

I seriously doubt that will work. Being connected to a cable modem is the same as connecting to a WAN. W2K can connect to multiple networks thorugh different NICs, but you would effectively be connecting to the same WAN twice. First, I doubt your ISP would appreciate this and would probably charge you for two connections (especially if you have to supply them with a second MAC address). On top of that, Windows would treat it as two seperate network connections. So it wouldn't split a data transfer between the two.

Now, this would possibly allow you to have more consecutive downloads/uploads happening since you could have them going on two independent connections. But the bottleneck there would be your hardware.

#3 Intlharvester

journeyman

Group: Members
Posts: 90
Joined: 25-April 00

Posted 16 February 2001 - 05:20 AM

I'd hate to disagree, but 'load balancing' NICs is fairly common in server environments, so there has to be a way. What it is, I don't know! - maybe it's automatic if both NICs have the same gateway address.

#4 SHS

veteran

Group: Moderators
Posts: 1245
Joined: 16-July 99

Posted 16 February 2001 - 07:16 AM

I'd hate to disagree you Intlharvester, but that call Channel Bonding that give you 2x bandwidth as for Load Balancing it dosen't give you 2x bandwidth.
Some 101 on it
http://www.internetwk.com/reviews/rev012599.htm
http://www.bankruptcylawclinic.com/~dwhite/184rept.html

#5 clutch

Carpal Tunnel

Group: Moderators
Posts: 3859
Joined: 29-March 00

Posted 16 February 2001 - 08:15 AM

Channel Bonding=Multi-Link in 98 and 2K (like the Diamond "Shotgun" modem) for most of us modem users out there...

BTW SHS, in your second link, it states that load balancing is the same as channel bonding. Doesn't that counter your statement?

------------------
Regards,

clutch

[This message has been edited by clutch (edited 16 February 2001).]

#6 SHS

veteran

Group: Moderators
Posts: 1245
Joined: 16-July 99

Posted 16 February 2001 - 10:53 AM

#7 clutch

Carpal Tunnel

Group: Moderators
Posts: 3859
Joined: 29-March 00

Posted 16 February 2001 - 04:51 PM

#8 p0rnflake

stranger

Group: Members
Posts: 6
Joined: 14-February 01

Posted 16 February 2001 - 06:12 PM

This only applies to regular modems right ?

------------------
The box said "requires Win NT 4 or better" so I installed Linux.

#9 SHS

veteran

Group: Moderators
Posts: 1245
Joined: 16-July 99

Posted 16 February 2001 - 06:56 PM

clutch channel bonding need load balancing for it work with out it dosen't work

#10 OLEerror

enthusiast

Group: Members
Posts: 326
Joined: 29-September 00

Posted 16 February 2001 - 09:50 PM

Load Balancing is a server function. The ISP's server is using Load Balancing. But for a client I don't know of any way this would work. Unless a.) there is software running that specifically supports it and b.) the ISP permitted it. A is a possibility somewhere down the line, B will probably never happen.