Bonding analog modems.

[stas5]

Hey everyone.
Where can i get some information on bonding 2 analog modems into one connection? For the past few months i have been trying to get a dsl or cable, but there are still no such services provided in my area. I know there is a way of bonding modems into a single connection. Can someone point me to some information about it, or explain briefly how it works. I figured that this is probably the only way to increase my connection speed.
Thanx any info would be greatly appreciated
stas

 

[Supergax]

What OS is it? The first thing you need to do is find an ISP that support modem bonding, or else it's a no go. Basically, both modems dial in; the first modem will dial in and connect and then the second modem dials in. Win98, Me and 2k have support for modem bonding, and it's pretty simple to setup. There are a few complications with it; for example, most of the time if you dial in and both modems dont' hit the same modem pool (caused by something like your ISP being extremely busy), the 2nd modem will usually drop. It's not all tha complicated, even though Microsoft reports there are problems sometimes if you are bonding two 3com winmodems.

 

[mgpaulus]

There are 2 ways to channel bond. One is to get 2 different ISPs, and then use a piece of software that "switches" your route statements in a fast loop to send one message out one modem, and then another message out another modem, and back and forth. This makes the 2 modems look like to independant pipes for up/downloads, but sort of seamless for browsing.
Makes things quicker when browsing, but not much improvement when doing large downloads.
The other method is to do channel multiplexing. Microsoft supports this with their multilink PPP protocol. However, your ISP has to have a WinNT server that also supports Mulitlink PPP (apparently Linux now also has MPPP support). Anyway, to try that out, you have to go into network properties, and add a second network adapter for VPN support. Then you can go into your dial-up properties for your ISP, and the last tab is for Multilink PPP. Enable to "use additional device", and point it to your 2nd modem.

When I used this (before broadband), I had 2 different icons to dial my ISP. One of them would use one modem, and I would use this during the day, when I needed the phone available. The 2nd icon would use both modems, and I would use this after 10pm, when I didn't care if the main phone line was tied up. This also helped not clog my ISP during peak hours. So, I never got anything from my ISP complaining about using 2 channels/modems.

If you need more info, drop me a note, and I will try to help as I can.

 

[Supergax]

The second method, using Windows to bond the modems, a lot of ISP's need to know you plan on doing this, or else it won't work; the one I work for we have to set something special on the account to allow it, or else we think your just trying to dial in twice with the same account.

 

[Barrak]

First, talk to you ISP and see if the will give you dual dial-up, this enables you to log in more than once with the same username/password. Once you sign up for that (will cost a few dolars more) you have to set it up on your computer. If you have 98 or ME (possibly other OS's not sure) Just creat a normal Dial up connection in Dial up Networking. Right click and go to properties of that connection, go to the multi link tab and ADD another modem to the connection. You will need two phone lines and 2 modems installed to do this. I do it at home and often connect at 95kbs.

 

[stas5]

Thank you everyone for your info. I wil check with my ISP tomorrow to see if it supports dual dialup (it's earthlink/mindspring btw). If i will need more information i will post again.
thanx again
stas

 

[Barrak]

Sure, if you need any help send me a private message. I have set many of these up and run one myself. I work at a local ISP so should be able to help you with any settings

 

[fivepesos]

if u run linux it's very easy. compile equal cost multipath routing. boot to the new kernel. add two default routes (route add default gw XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX). this alternately sends packets out both interfaces. ive done this with dual cable modems (true ethernet not PPPoE crap) but never dual PPP connections. linux route command should be transparent to the medium, but i have never ran a modem on linux. always had a fat pipe to sit behind.