# utilizing 2 internet connections separately



## Darkgundam111 (Jan 30, 2011)

is there a way to do this: have 2 different internet connection sources connected to a computer. one source will be used for downloading, the other for gaming. note: the two sources are completely different one is dsl while the other is 3g network.


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 30, 2011)

You could trick Windows into doing it by starting a transfer, then changing your DNS/gateway settings and starting a game.

There may be other ways, but I can't think of them right now.


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## Darkgundam111 (Jan 30, 2011)

can you explain a little further i do not understand


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## Kreij (Jan 30, 2011)

You can have multiple ethernet connections to the internet on a single computer, the problem is how to tell a certain application to use a specific route to get there. Not sure on this one.


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 30, 2011)

Aight, so you have two ethernet adapters in order for this to work.  Let's say E1 (ethernet 1) is attached to DSL, and E2 (ethernet 2) is attached to 3G.

So you want to start a connection using nothing but E1.
Open E2's properties and make it look something like this:





Notice how DNS and Gateway are blank?  Windows is going to think that E2 can't connect to the internet so it's going to use E1.  Start the transfer and now that transfer will be running on E1.

Once the transfer is started using E1, go back to E2's properties and change it back to default.  Then go into E1's properties and do the same thing as you did to E2.  Then start a transfer and it should be using E2.

A problem might be that changing E1's IPv4 settings after you started the transfer on it will stop the transfer.  Dunno though.  You're also going to have to copy down all the IP info off your adapters so you can do these changes manually.


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## EastCoasthandle (Jan 30, 2011)

Didn't someone create a thread saying they did this with no problem in XP but when they went to Vista (or was it win7?) they had problems?


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## Darkgundam111 (Jan 30, 2011)

only one part i dont quite know, what do you mean by "change it back to default"?


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## streetfighter 2 (Jan 30, 2011)

Darkgundam111 said:


> only one part i dont quite know, what do you mean by "change it back to default"?




Honestly, I was afraid of writing up those instructions because I don't know your tech level.  Not to say that in anyway reflects negatively upon you, it just means that a method or procedure I suggest may be inadvisable if it's outside of your comfort zone.

Anyway, default is most often "Automatic".  If you look in my picture (the same one I posted earlier), you'll see "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically".  The vast majority of the time those two are your default options.  If they are default then in order to manually change the settings as I described you'll need to note the gateway, IP, subnet mask and DNS server(s) prior to making changes.

If instead the "Use the following IP address" and "Use the following DNS server addresses" are already ticked then you'll need to note just the DNS Server and gateway address so that you can revert them.

Also, as I was eating dinner it occurred to me that there may be another method of doing this.  One which is harder to set up, but easier to use once configured.  It would be a combination of hardware profiles, user accounts, (perhaps) group policy and the runas command.  Unfortunately I can't come up with a way to set this up without testing it... Which I'm not going to do right now.  Sorry.

Yet another method would be with route add in the command prompt.  This might be a pain in the ass though because you'll need to manually route a lot of the hosts you're connecting too.

Perhaps another possibility is NLB (Network Load Balancing), but I don't know much about that.


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## Mussels (Jan 31, 2011)

its possible, but only if your download programs let you choose what network card/IP address to download from.


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## Darkgundam111 (Jan 31, 2011)

it didn't work for me. tried it for awhile, but had no success  the program didn't allow me to choose so i guess ill just have to stick with it.


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## hat (Jan 31, 2011)

If you're that into downloading, you could always build a dedicated download machine that gets connected to one, and your main rig connected to the other... or, you can do away with one of them and upgrade the one that's left to have better speed, then use something to restrict the bandwidth used. Utorrent has this feature, but obviously that's only good for torrents... you would need to look into something that can limit the bandwidth on normal HTTP downloads if that's what you mean.


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## wahdangun (Jan 31, 2011)

there are 2 option :

1. if your browser is opera or firefox you can configure the proxy to use internet 3G, and configure windows gateway to use dsl, so if you are browsing or downloading with opera or firefox, it won't affect your game connection because games will use dsl.

2 or you can use expensive router that have capability of load balancing, or you can go hardway like using thirdparty software that have loadbalancing like : kerio winroute or wingate


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## exodusprime1337 (Jan 31, 2011)

can load balance with at wrt54gl and ddwrt full as well, works wonders


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## Mussels (Jan 31, 2011)

load balancing doesnt do what he wants, since he wants downloads on one and games on the other - there is no automatic way to do that. he'd need to set up specific ports per connection and some kind of failover should one connection drop... would be quite difficult.


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## wahdangun (Jan 31, 2011)

Mussels said:


> load balancing doesnt do what he wants, since he wants downloads on one and games on the other - there is no automatic way to do that. he'd need to set up specific ports per connection and some kind of failover should one connection drop... would be quite difficult.



thats why i recomend option number 1, because its simple. Just insert your 3G ip on opera proxy. And insert modem dsl ip to your gateway internet seting on windows


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## yogurt_21 (Jan 31, 2011)

wow none of you have ever heard of a traffic shaper?

on a network you would utilize a dedicated machine for this but for a single machine you could simply download some software that will do this.

I don't have any specific one to recomend as I usually setup a linux box on the network for this. but there are plenty out there, search for traffic shaping software, there are even several freeware versions.


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## exodusprime1337 (Jan 31, 2011)

this might work::  Traffic shaper for windows


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## ron732 (Jan 31, 2011)

You could also do it with a virtual machine. Have your host machine use the DSL connection while the VM uses the 3G or the other way around.


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## Darkgundam111 (Feb 1, 2011)

hmm i think i might be able to use the proxy method. so how do i figure out which proxy is the one that i am to input into my downloading options?


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## Mussels (Feb 1, 2011)

yogurt_21 said:


> wow none of you have ever heard of a traffic shaper?
> 
> on a network you would utilize a dedicated machine for this but for a single machine you could simply download some software that will do this.
> 
> I don't have any specific one to recomend as I usually setup a linux box on the network for this. but there are plenty out there, search for traffic shaping software, there are even several freeware versions.



i run two, a PFsense box and shaping controls in my router as well. they still wont help him use two connections as he wants, on one machine.


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## Completely Bonkers (Feb 1, 2011)

How serious are you about wanting to run two internet connections? Would you be ready to dedicate some hardware to this? It's a bit OTT for a simple home setup, but can give you "pro grade" management feaures: http://www.astaro.com/landingpages/en-worldwide-homeuse

Read
https://support.astaro.com/support/index.php/Configuring_WAN_Uplink_Balancing
https://support.astaro.com/support/index.php/Policy_Route_Proxied_Traffic_to_a_Second_WAN_Connection

This software is free for home use and can run only any old x86 box which now becomes a dedicated router/firewall.


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