Combining Internet Lines

[CBuxton]

I'm in need of a higher bandwidth connection. Currently I have a T1, but my ISP only has 1 - T1 to the internet shared by thousands of people, so my performance is very low. I'm in a rural town and do not have access to many other options, but I do have access to a 1Mbps DSL line. Does anybody know of a way that I could use 2 internet connections and have them "load-balance" without the users knowing which one they were using? I was thinking about setting up 2 - MS ISA Servers using Win2k Adv. Srv. and then setting up NLB. Would this work? Any other ideas? Is there a router of some sort that would do this sort of thing? Thanks.

 

[pcmark]

That doesn't sound quite right. Your ISP must have more than a single T1 to the internet. If they are really cheap,they probably have at least an OC-3. Anyway,you could get a second T1 and load balance them. It's a piece od cake if you have a Cisco router with two serial interfaces(2500 or 2600). The load balancing is built into the Cisco IOS,just a few commands to enable it.

 

[sygyzy]

I've wondered the same thing. I have an RJ45 port in my room and one in my living room. Why can't I put two NIC's and get double the bandwidth? But everyone I asked said no 🙁

 

[CBuxton]

I know it doesn't sound right, but in fact my ISP DOES have only 1 T1 to the internet. I work at a school district, so I get my T1 for very cheap, but I have to go through and area education agency to get it, and they only have a T1. My problem is that every school in my area goes through this agency so we all compete for the bandwidth. If I'm in early in the mornings or after school, my speed is fine, but during the school hours the speed is VERY bad (ping times of 500 - 600ms!). Adding a 2nd T1 wouldn't help either for this situation. Basically what I need is some way to "load-balance" over two different ISPs and connections. More ideas? Thanks

 

[obenton]

I've heard there's a Cisco router that can do this sort of load balancing, but prob expensive.

 

[JackMDS]

Take a Look here:

http://www.ragula.com/

 

[CBuxton]

That's exactly what I need....except it's $10k! Any other products like this?

 

[pcmark]

What you want to do is called Multi-homing. You can do it if you get a second T1 form another ISP and set up BGP(Border Gateway Protocol).This needs to be done on your end and the ISP'S. You need a decent router to do it. It's not cheap or easy to set up.