OK, one more time..
Any kind of "broadband combining" router will simply allow you to use two different connections for two different things at once - If, for example, your cable company has a 1Mb/s cap, you won't suddenly start downloading a single file at 2Mb/s. You might be able to download from two different places at 1Mb/s, assuming there's that much available bandwidth. Uploading works exactly the same way - Upload at 200Kb/s to two different places, but not to ONE place at 400Kb/s. The real place for these routers is to provide a bit of redundancy - If you have a DSL line and a cable modem, if one dies, you're still browsing.
The biggest killer is that you really won't see any speed difference, unless downloading from different sites. Most download "caps" don't kick in until you've downloaded a couple hundred KB of the file, which takes a second. This means you're getting the best performance possible on the network - Having two connections to it won't do a thing for you. For average web browsing, you won't notice any difference.
The cable segment that you're on has finite capacity. It's really just a network segment of it's own, with limited bandwidth and a limited amount of upstream connectivity to the Internet. This is just like putting two separate NIC's into a computer. Does it work? Sure. Does it really gain you anything? Not really. Unless you're downloading things constantly and can't handle a 1Mb/s (or whatever) cap, you're just going to waste $40 a month and about $400 up front.
Think of it as two feeder lines from the water main in the street into your house. When you take a shower, can you tell the difference? Probably not. But, if TWO people take a shower, you might notice something.
Remember, the fundemental rule of networking is to keep it simple. Figure out what you need, find the simplest way to do it, then put it in. Unless you really need to make it complicated, don't, as you'll end up paying for it in downtime or in cost the long run. I'vehad to do things the hard way once or twice and usually ended up paying for them in the long run.
- G
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