utility to let users change their gateway

[ZippyDan]

I have a remote office site with 3 horribly unstable connections (all wireless) shared on 3 different routers (I have tried connecting all three connections to a router that supports auto-failover, but this just makes things worse as the router is constantly switching connections and it makes everything feel MORE unstable).

I want to install a utility on each of my user's computers that lets them manually select their own gateway.

Requirements:

1. Can run under a Standard User account without asking for Admin privileges (I will install as Admin of course)

2. Allows user to select from a predefined (by admin) list of gateways (in this case 3)

3. Noob-friendly. I'm thinking 2-clicks would be great - like on icon on the task bar that lets you quickly change from a list. Control Panel -> Network Center -> Change Adapters -> Right Click -> Properties -> TCP/IP -> Properties -> Change Gateway -> Accept is NOT noob-friendly.

 

[sswingle]

http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/317737-how-create-network-profile-shortcut-win7-pro.html

 

[ZippyDan]

That link talks about 1. a script that disables one interface and enables another and 2. how to enable multiple gateways (at the same time) on one interface. Neither of those are what I am looking for. I'm looking to let my users manually switch from one predefined gateway to another on the same interface without Admin access.

 

[John Connor]

Will this work? I've used it before. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/netsetman.html

 

[Mushkins]

I'm not sure this really addresses the issue, it just adds another layer of complexity to users trying to do their job. You want users to actively be trying to switch to the "best" connection? I'd say that's going to be less reliable than the auto-failover solution.

Why not just put a proper wired connection in the office instead of playing pattycake with three separate wireless connections that don't work?

 

[ZippyDan]

I'm not sure this really addresses the issue, it just adds another layer of complexity to users trying to do their job. You want users to actively be trying to switch to the "best" connection? I'd say that's going to be less reliable than the auto-failover solution.

Why not just put a proper wired connection in the office instead of playing pattycake with three separate wireless connections that don't work?

My god. You have opened my eyes! Why didn't I think of that?

Sarcasm aside, it is a remote location in the mountains of Colombia. A wired connection is not an option.

Additionally, auto-failover is failing due to the complexities and unstable nature of the wireless connections. When using auto-failover, how do you determine that a connection is working? Some systems use a simple ping to an external server, but on these high-latency wireless connections, sometimes the ping fails (times out) even though browsing works, albeit slowly. This means that the router won't switch to that connection even though it is working. Alternatively, I've had situations where ping does work, but browsing does not, presumably because the DNS servers can't be reached?

There are other variabilities to the status of the wireless connections, where sometimes some types of packets are going through, but other types are not.

I also have other issues where the connection is unstable and so is constantly dropping and reconnect, but is still usable, but the auto-failover treats it as down.

All that said, what inevitably happens with the auto-failover is that:

1. It switches connections way too damn much, causing problems with open connections to remote servers
2. It stays stuck on a connection that is not working for the user, even though it "passes" the auto-failover "tests".

Over all, an intelligent user, and these users are, would be able to manage the idea of changing connections manually much more effectively and efficiently.