Connecting two broadband connections

[Fat Bob]

OK, been thinking about getting the hubstation for a little time now, and one thing that is good is that you get free cable broadband.

The download speed is nothing special (1Mbs) but the upload is equivalent to my current MaxOnline Express upload speed of 256kbs.

Now, I know if I was using a pc with two network cards I could easily hook up two network cables and use both to upload and download.

Is this possible wirelessly? Can I conect to two networks at one time? Or would I have to have one router attached to one box and be the primary network, and a second router attached to the second box and be a subnetwork or something?

Cheers

[SunshineAfterRain]

Is this possible wirelessly? Can I conect to two networks at one time? Or would I have to have one router attached to one box and be the primary network, and a second router attached to the second box and be a sub-network or something?
Cheers

FB, I reckon wireless can be done on both and yes, your laptop/pc will prompt you to select a network each time you want hook up to the internet. Hence, routers and sub-network (whatever you called it) sounds right.

I am a user, not really an IT geek.Don't quote me if I am wrong! But this is the way it works for my laptop/pc.

[Fat Bob]

Hmmmm, not sure about that SAR. Your method would mean I would only be allowed to run one network at a time at a time, and just read somewhere it's not possible to connect to two wireless networks at the same time.

Seems the best way to go is to get a dual-WAN router, which allows two Internet cables to be attached to the router. There's no wireless on most of these, but not a major hassle.

I know the Apple Airport Express I use can be connected as a Wireless Extender or as a Wireless Router. Was wondering if you could get two up and running to combine an extension and routing capabilities. Doesn't look like it though!

[Burbage]

Hmm... I think you'd need to get hold of some software, I don't think windows will want to do it. I connect my laptop to the network at work via the wired connection, and at home via the wireless connection. If I forget to turn off the wireless at work (where we also have wireless access) it gets confused with the twio choices.

I don't really understand why you'd want to do it. Are you saying that you want to connect to multiple uploads and downloads?

[Fat Bob]

Nope, I want to connect to two internet connections to one computer, wirelessly.

One is my Starhub MaxOnline service, which provides me with "upto" 8Mbs download and 256 kbs upload speeds. The second will be a second broadband connection that Starhiub give free from their Hubstation, giving 1Mbs download and 256 kbs upload speeds.

Now, I don't give a crap about the extra download speed, but if I can use both upload speeds, I'll be twice a quick in connecting to the net for any application that I need to upload.

I know it's possible to do it using a combination of net work connections, eg, if I could use the ethernet for one connection and the wireless for the secondand get Windows to bridge the connections. I might try that originally to see if things do improve. But if it does work, I know my wireless can handle it, so would like to use both wirelessly. Just looking at options.

Was wondering if I could do it using two wireless boxes linked in a network and slave network setup, or if I would have to have a box to combine the internet connections and a wireless box connected to that.

Seems the Dual-WAN router is probably the easiest but as I do have two wireless boxes I might try that first. Well, after I get the Hubstation!

[baloo]

Speaking of the hubstation, they just pushed a firmware update down the wire enabling twice the disk capacity and the ability to record by series as opposed to a once off programme.

[Fat Bob]

I think you've just convinced me to buy one.

You ever thought of doing this baloo? Or would the extra upload speed be irrelevant?

[Burbage]

What do you upload? Do you have some kind of media heavy website?

You will certainly need two wireless cards. Otherwise the only way to do it would be by switching the connection and you'd lose any advantage of being able to connect to two networks.

But your upload speed won't become faster, because whatever it is you are uploading to the net will have to choose one network or the other, and in the end it will depend on the download speed of the remote computer/server anyway.

[Fat Bob]

Yeah, know if you are uploading a single file, then it can only go via one of the pathways. The next step will be to find a program that will split my single file into several files, upload them using both network connections, then combine them at the uploaders site.....

[baloo]

I think you've just convinced me to buy one.

You ever thought of doing this baloo? Or would the extra upload speed be irrelevant?

I have ultimate so I have 1mb upload already. Not sure it would be worth the effort to try this. I've been trying to work out what I can use the freebie 1mb connection for. I might borrow a wireless router of you and setup it up as a wireless access point for guests.

[Burbage]

What are you uploading? Is this work? Why not get your IT people to fix it?

[baloo]

I think FB is trying to keep with Upload/Download ratio up.

[Fat Bob]

Yeah, I've got a spare wireless router somewhere.....will drop it around one-time.

Burb, it's not work. I don't have a Starhub MaxOnline or Hubstation there....yet. Isn't it just good to know that somene wants to do it without knowing the reason why?

[Burbage]

I just can't imagine having so much stuff to upload that it becomes a problem. File sharing? Selling home made porn movies?

[Jedi]

Isn't this what network bridging is for? Go to Control Panel\Network Connections. Click on your LAN connection, now control+click on your wifi, right click and select Bridge Connections. I thought that would create a combined network. No idea how/if it works with BT though.

[Burbage]

But bridging will not double the speed. If you bridge two 256mbps connections you'll end up with one 256mbps connection.

Essentially, to take advantage of two connections you'd need software that recognises two connections as separate entities, not a single bridged entity.

I think you need server software and have the connections on different ports or something. But it's not something I'd everhave a need for. If I needed greater upload speeds I'd be getting a commercial connection instead of mucking about with two domestic ones.

[Fat Bob]

Jedi, I'm under the impression that the bridging works when you have two different network adaptors, e.g. a wireless one and a ethernet. Then if you have two physically separate internet net connections, you should be able to use the download/upload speed of both and not just one. I've done this previously when testing out my mobile as a modem, worked quite well and things like messenger and skype didn't drop anything even though I switched off the wireless etc etc.

However, the only way I can see linking up to two wireless set-ups and bridging the connection is by having two wireless cards in your PC. That is a non starter.

I know wireless devices that can be used as wireless extenders, so was thinking about a system set up where the pc communicates to one wireless box and the second wireless box links into the first. However, I'nm unsure if the second box (if that is the extender) can be used also as an internet portal.

The final option would be to have something link the two internet cable together and then running my wireless network off that. The Linksys RV042 seems to do this and it can be purchased for $220.

And why would I do this? Hardware costs would be minimal (total $400 including the Hubstation) and there would be no subscription increase (Hubstation gives your free internet, even though download is slow). Installing a T1 line, which is a commercial connection would be rather expensive and might not be possible, and subscription would go up quite a lot.

I could also turn off the MaxOnline Express service once in a while to see if the Hubstation 1Mbs download is good enough for me, and if it is, I'd have potential savings of $50/month.

OK, looks like I've got to "just do it".....will sign up for the Hubstation asap and go forward from there.

[Burbage]

If you want to connect to two separate wireless access points with one computer you must have two wireless adapters or a multi-port wireless card (which is presumably so little in demand it would cost a fortune). It is impossible otherwise.

Then you need to get windows to recofgnise that it is connected to two seperate networks simultaneously, which it isn't designed for.

The best way to do it would be to have two separate computers, one for each network, and connected to each other via the wired LAN and solve the problem of managing files between the two.

[Fat Bob]

Hmmmm....still think the best way of solving this is with a Dual-WAN box, such as the one supplied by Linksys (RV042). That seems a lot cheaper and more easily upgradable.

Will play with it and get back to you. First gotta get Hubstation.....

[Burbage]

I think the dual WAN box is only to give two wireless networks, but it would still use one access point.

It just seems an odd thing to do. Are you really uploading that much stuff?

[baloo]

The dual wan box will accept two WAN connections. one from his normal Starhub broadband and one from the hubstation. The wireless router plugs into the RV042 sending out one wireless network his laptop will connect too. The RV042 will then manage the load balancing between the wan connections.

[Burbage]

There you go. But surely this will give more bandwidth rather than more speed. The two services are the same upload speed.

But seriously, you'd need to be uploading stacks of stuff to the internet to make it worthwhile.

[baloo]

Effectively twice the upload bandwidth. Two pipes of 256Kb instead of one. Not sure how well it will work with BT.

[Fat Bob]

Burb, I think this is the issue about being too techincal. You are right, I'm looking for increased bandwidth.

I'm also not looking to upload a single, big (300MB) file to a single person. I'm looking to upload one, two or more small (1-20MB) files numerous times to many different people.

Being able to upload to two people rather than one person at the same bandwidth means I will be able to increase how quickly I can upload a certain amount of data (for instance, 1GB, made up of 50 uploads of 20MB or 1000 uploads of 1MB files).

Baloo, I think it all depends on the tracker and whether it allows multiple IP addresses. We'll see...........

[Burbage]

Another possible alternative is to consider renting web server space so that you only have to upload any one file once, then your recipients go to the web server and download from there.