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2.6 Sharing - Mult. Connections or ISPs

There are several ways this can be achieved I will touch upon load balancing and connection teaming in this answer.

Ok there are several cheap ways to add bandwidth to your company for under $150. Surfdoubler (www.vicomsoft.com) is a software solutions. The nexland pro800turbo www.nexland.com is a hardware solution.

To use a software solution you need 3 NICs in a server comp. 2 to connect to the dsl/cable/etc and 1 for your network.

This type of setup will be more reliable than single isp because you can use 2 different ISPs. This is not bonding, so depending on your application you may not get full bandwidth out of the dual connections. But a cable modem and DSL load balanced is a powerful setup and will keep you running when others fall short including expensive solutions with guaranteed uptime.

There are also some complex linux solutions that can be compiled into the linux kernel.

With the software you can also add additional NICs and connections as you see fit. So a person with 2 phone lines could order dsl on both and then order cable modem. The other bonus of this approach is when company XYZ goes out of business you are not out in the cold since you have 2 or more providers.


Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
  • midpoint.com is now a currency conversion site... looks like a dead link. Thanks, Matt

    2008-11-20 20:58:15

  • We need real links to the software. Browsing those sites is a pain.

    2008-02-05 13:54:23 (DaMaGeINC See Profile)

by Freezone See Profile edited by SYNACK See Profile
last modified: 2008-11-23 03:37:40


The midpoint software uses an advance feature of http spec to split file request up among 2 or more connections and this is down transparent to the user.

The is a good solution, but the best way to achieve a great throughput on a single download is to use midpoint software www.midpoint.com or surfdoubler www.vicomsoft.com along with download accelerator plus.

I stumbled upon this solution by accident actually. While using the surfdoubler software, I downloaded the windows 2000 sp2 in 1/2 the time. I looked at the software and realized to my total surprise that both connections were being used for a singe download.

How? Well it is simple. Download accelerator breaks an ftp download request into equal parts. Using the ftp resume feature it ask for each part of a file in a separate request. The surfdoubler software load balances each request over two connections. When DAP is done with the download it puts the file together as one.

But what really makes these two stand out together is the fact that DAP searches out mirror site for each part of the file. What this means, is that even if the ftp site you are downloading from is not fast enough, the mirror sites will add to the bandwidth of the total download.

For the life of me i do not understand why these two companies do not enter a partnership or merger.


Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
  • I want load balancing in my machine with 2 wan connections ...Wanted to use teql queuing discipline for load balancing ..actually this is kernel module ..how to write python script for using this c-module

    2014-02-06 09:53:59 (Vidyadharh See Profile)

by Freezone See Profile edited by graffixx See Profile
last modified: 2003-02-05 12:24:02

This question has been raised numerous times regarding multiple DSL/cable connections.

Load balancing is the process of spreading out data streams across different connections. For example, say that we are on a two user network and user one is downloading an ISO. His data will go through connection one (assuming two ISP connections). When user two tries to use the internet, the load balancing router/software senses that connection one is busy and routes user two's data across the second ISP connection. In this situation, having two 1024kbps circuits does not mean that each computer has 2048kbps available to them, only 1024kbps (each computer only can use only one ISP circuit).

Circuit bonding*/muxing is a very different approach to increasing your bandwidth. Unlike load balancing, the bits of all clients are spread across all connections. So, unlike the above example, two 1024kbps circuits will equal 2048kbps (and each computer has all of that bandwidth available, unlike above). However this approach is much more expensive. Circuit bonding requires two routers and two devices called "muxs". One router and "mux" is placed at the ISP end and the other router and "mux" is placed at the customer end. You ISP must support this configuration as well, and often times providers will only do this type of connection with T1 circuits.


*Channel bonding is actually not what happens. Channels refer to a different aspect of communications.


Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
  • THis is a silly FAQ that doesnt belong here. Its a wikipedia entry at best. What is needed is a simple title that says. BONDING DUAL-MULTI WANS A FALLACY. THe text as follows. It is not possible to bond connections from two ISPs or two separate lines from a single ISP at the home. Only if the ISP(s) can and are willing to provide Bonding services will this be possible. If available from the ISP it is likely to be an extremely expensive proposition (enterprise business costs). Suggest simply asking your provider for a bigger pipe. Using two or more ISPs is a viable option via a dual or multi-wan router. They are designed to primarily provide redundancy (24/7 internet access) or to have more overall throughput available to share amongst users or services. Most routers of this ilk have the ability to push data (users or services) through a specific WAN. They also are able to load balance as per the admins direction so that usage of the two connections is optimized iaw requirements.

    2014-09-05 07:06:50 (Anav See Profile)

  • The above information is not quite correct. There are multiple forms of load balancing. Some are "per session" and work as described in this section. However there are others such as "per packet" that allow the bandwidth of both circuits to be available to a single machine or session. source http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk365/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094820.shtml

    2013-06-21 15:05:09

by bmn See Profile edited by graffixx See Profile
last modified: 2002-10-27 19:11:41

Symantec VPN 200
Nexland Pro800
BroDigit NFR3024
Hawking FR24
Xincom XC-DPG402
Xincom XC-DPG502
Xincom XC-DPG602
OvisLink MN200
HotBrick Firewall VPN 600/2
HotBrick Firewall VPN 1200/2
ZyXEL ZyWALL 35
ZyXEL ZyWALL 70
Netgear FVS124G
Linksys RV082
Linksys RV016
Linksys RV042
Edimax BR-6104K
Xterasys XR-4106
Pheenet BIG-02/4
Dlink DI-LB604

Thanks to tarzanroute See Profile and jdepew See Profile for the list


Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
  • List is woefully out of date. Zyxel USG 40/40W/60/60W/110/210

    2014-09-05 06:56:40 (Anav See Profile)

  • [code]List of Dual-WAN capable appliances (2013) Netgear SRX 5308 Netgear FVS336G(V2) Negear UTM series DLINK DSR-500(N) Zywall USG series Cisco Small Business SA5xx series Cisco Small Business RV016 Cisco Small Business RV042(G) Cisco Small Business RV082 Draytek Vigor series Peplink.com Cisco 89x router Cisco 181x router Juniper SSG series Sonicwall TZ series TP-link TL-R470T+ [/

    2013-01-07 23:23:17 (HELLFIRE See Profile)

  • This list is getting a little dated with Xincom being (I think) out of business. I tried and failed to get support for my Xincom. I posted here WRT Draytek: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20862084-Router-WANLAN-Throughput-Issues-Due-to-PowerBoost You might want to consider adding them to this FAQ. They have a number of Dual WAN products and I'm very satisfied with the Draytek Vigor 2930. Thanks - appreciate the forum and the recommendation that came to me saved a lot of time. Regards - Wayne Kirkwood mediadialup@mindspring.com

    2008-08-12 15:14:05

  • hi, I am using a dual wan router called PePLink Balance 200. I think it's a great router that should be included in the list. Some router listed in this FAQ is no longer available. For example, Ovislink seems to be changing their product line. Thanks, Matthew

    2007-10-30 01:06:09

by drew See Profile edited by SYNACK See Profile
last modified: 2007-01-30 11:35:32