# Is it possible to combine 2 cable internet connections via load balancing router?



## bud951 (Dec 5, 2009)

I would like to purchase two fast cable internet connections at the same location (my home) and combine them into one super fast connection using a load balancing router. I have heard of this being done but I was hoping to hear from someone actually doing this. The Netgear FVS 538 router seems to be capable from what I have read but I am not sure. Does anyone have any info on this subject? Thanks.


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## MohawkAngel (Dec 5, 2009)

It could be the same as putting 2 ethernet ard on your computer. The speed would remain the same...just when one of the port lose packets the other one isthere to transmit them.


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## newtekie1 (Dec 5, 2009)

I believe Win7 has built in load balancing, so you can always just connect the second connection directly to the computer that needs all that bandwidth and save yourself a buttload of money.


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## angelkiller (Dec 5, 2009)

Why not just get 1 faster connection?


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## bud951 (Dec 5, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> Why not just get 1 faster connection?



I am already on the fastest that Time Warner has to offer and they offer the fastest speeds in my area which is San Antonio TX. No Verizon fios here yet. Dont get me wrong.. my connection is fast but I want to run a file server, game server and I can use more bandwith.


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## bud951 (Dec 5, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> I believe Win7 has built in load balancing, so you can always just connect the second connection directly to the computer that needs all that bandwidth and save yourself a buttload of money.



I am not looking just to share connections. I would like to double my speed and I am willing to pay for two connections if its possible to do so. Thanks


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## Athlon2K15 (Dec 5, 2009)

what sucks is time warners upload speed is capped around 1mb


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## bud951 (Dec 5, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> It could be the same as putting 2 ethernet ard on your computer. The speed would remain the same...just when one of the port lose packets the other one isthere to transmit them.



Thats more redundancy correct? I would like to get the speed of two connections on one connection. Doesnt a load balancing router take the two WAN's and combine them to one ip address and alow them to split the packets? Then I could connect my LAN with a much faster connection?


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## newtekie1 (Dec 5, 2009)

Like I said, Win7 does load balancing I believe.  So, connect both connections to the computer that you want to have all that speed, and it will do exactly what you want.

A load balancing router, or any load balancing, does not combine the two connections into a single IP.  Externally, you would still have two IPs.


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## bud951 (Dec 5, 2009)

So if for say I am downloading a 25gb file from a news group will my bandwith double to receive the file at 4 megabytes per second instead of my normal 2mbs? If I am hosting an online game will the amount of players that my server can handle also double? Thanks so much for the input.


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## AsRock (Dec 5, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> Like I said, Win7 does load balancing I believe.  So, connect both connections to the computer that you want to have all that speed, and it will do exactly what you want.
> 
> A load balancing router, or any load balancing, does not combine the two connections into a single IP.  Externally, you would still have two IPs.



Don't you just bridge the 2 connections in Vista\Win7 ?.


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## newtekie1 (Dec 5, 2009)

bud951 said:


> So if for say I am downloading a 25gb file from a news group will my bandwith double to receive the file at 4 megabytes per second instead of my normal 2mbs? If I am hosting an online game will the amount of players that my server can handle also double? Thanks so much for the input.



It depends on how you are downloading the file.  If you are using something like Bittorrent, then yes, since it makes multiple connections to multiple different sources to download the single file.

If you are downloading it via something like an FTP or through the web, then generally no.  Since these methods tend to only create one connection to the source to download the file, it would only use one of the internet connections.

If you are hosting servers, then to anyone connecting to your servers, you would have two IPs.  That means they would have to connect to either or, but they couldn't connect to both. 



AsRock said:


> Don't you just bridge the 2 connections in Vista\Win7 ?.



No, bridging just connects the two network segments.  Think of bridging as taking the two ethernet cables coming into the computer and connecting them directly together.


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## MadMan007 (Dec 5, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> Why not just get 1 faster connection?



I know you already answered negative to this but in this vein, have you looked in to a business package? It might cost around the same as 2 consumer-grade connections that you're considering anyway and you'd get better guarantees for uptime, better support etc.


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## Disparia (Dec 5, 2009)

Load balancing 'single tasks' would require bonding on your side (router) as well as on the ISP side. I've never seen that offered by an ISP except for higher level lines such as T's, or way back in the day with modem bonding (dual 56K yeah!! ).

Couple options that I can think of with two separate lines is relying on DNS round robin or segmenting your services.

The first one means assigning two IP's to a single domain name (yourdomain.com). The DNS server  handling your records will return the IP list in response to a request, with the order switched each time.

The second is to simply advertise your game server on one IP and the file server on another. Neither get the benefit of both lines, just the benefit of having their own lines, which is step above sharing a line. Probably the best option if both services are to run 24/7.

Though having said all that, I agree with MadMan. Look into a business class line first. Unlike consumer packages, they're more likely to customize your speeds depending on how much you want to spend.


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## bud951 (Dec 6, 2009)

Thanks for the info, I will defiantly look into the business plan. I have heard this can be done with two commercial lines using a dual WAN router in XP and Vista but I have been poking around and found this thread which is interesting. 

http://www.overclock.net/windows/449391-windows-7-break-through-excited-load.html


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## Batou1986 (Dec 6, 2009)

The real issue you will have with this is no cable company will allow you to have 2 cable modems in one residence.
There is no logical reason for this but they simply wont allow it, ive hooked 4 cable modems up at one time to my single cable line, since there MAC Add is whats registered with Comcasts servers once one is registered and the bill is being paid it will work in any house with service.
I know this first hand as my roommate was going to get his own cable modem to eliminate us lagging out the connection by us both downloading stuff.

Now if you where to get a dsl/Other  line you could bridge that with your cable on Vista/7.


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## bud951 (Dec 6, 2009)

Batou1986 said:


> The real issue you will have with this is no cable company will allow you to have 2 cable modems in one residence.
> There is no logical reason for this but they simply wont allow it, ive hooked 4 cable modems up at one time to my single cable line, since there MAC Add is whats registered with Comcasts servers once one is registered and the bill is being paid it will work in any house with service.
> I know this first hand as my roommate was going to get his own cable modem to eliminate us lagging out the connection by us both downloading stuff.
> 
> Now if you where to get a dsl/Other  line you could bridge that with your cable on Vista/7.



This is something that has crossed my mind, whether or not I could even get two commercial lines in my home. I was going to use the roommate scenario to see if it could be done. I guess it would not hurt to ask but the business line option looks to be my best bet. Its weird, others are doing this and Win7 allows for this so I would assume Cable companies would want to make more money. What is the problem? I am willing to pay for the extra line. On the dsl/cable binding, would that be efficient enough to make a big difference in DL speeds or server performance? Wouldn't the delay from grabbing packets from two different isp's slow it down? I am not as knowledgeable as others on this board. Thanks for input.


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## zithe (Dec 6, 2009)

bud951 said:


> This is something that has crossed my mind, whether or not I could even get two commercial lines in my home. I was going to use the roommate scenario to see if it could be done. I guess it would not hurt to ask but the business line option looks to be my best bet. Its weird, others are doing this and Win7 allows for this so I would assume Cable companies would want to make more money. What is the problem? I am willing to pay for the extra line. On the dsl/cable binding, would that be efficient enough to make a big difference in DL speeds or server performance? Wouldn't the delay from grabbing packets from two different isp's slow it down? I am not as knowledgeable as others on this board. Thanks for input.



Think of it like RAID. You now have two copies of the same set of information that you need and can now access the files from both HDDs. The system accesses different files from both drives at the same time to allow something to happen faster.


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## Batou1986 (Dec 6, 2009)

I don't quite understand the cable company's view point on this either besides the fact they would like it better if we all used less bandwidth hence most isp's enforcing monthly caps.

Business route is most likely a no go if your at a residential address i tried saying i was running an at home business even and they still wouldn't let me get business class service.

Tho this topic did present an interesting though is there any software available to control the windows load balancing so i could per say assign utorrent to use a cable connection and have firefox use tethered internet from my phone?


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## bud951 (Dec 6, 2009)

"Tho this topic did present an interesting though is there any software available to control the windows load balancing so i could per say assign utorrent to use a cable connection and have firefox use tethered internet from my phone?"

Sorry, I didn't quite understand that last paragraph.

I would hope that Time Warner could sell me business class internet speed. I guess I will find out on Monday.  Is anyone on this board getting business class speed from thier ISP or pairing via dual WAN router or Windows 7? Thanks for the info.


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## TheCrow (Dec 6, 2009)

I used to use a program called wingate, you can use this to configure two modems for use on one pc.

It is complicated to use tho. And some things dont work as you would expect, but for torrents and the like it worked well.


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## TheCrow (Dec 8, 2009)

After reading a few posts all over it seems a lot of people found windows se7en can load balance to a certain degree.

So i thought i would give it a bash. I used two seperate cable modems. One is configured for 20mbps and the other for 10mbps. All i did was plug both modems straight into the dual lan ports on my mobo. Win 7 assigned them ip addresses, etc. Here is my results.







Obviously both connections were maxed out and added together!

Now don't expect internet browsing, speed test or anything like that to double i speed. At the end of the day you still have two ip address's. Only things that can handle multiple connections from multiple ip address's will work. For example torrents and newsgroups.

Oh and I deleted the torrent afterwards. Not that im against piracy lol, i just cant stand cameron diaz!


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## Mussels (Dec 8, 2009)

> *Now don't expect internet browsing, speed test or anything like that to double in speed*. At the end of the day you still have two ip address's. *Only things that can handle multiple connections from multiple ip address's will work*. For example torrents and newsgroups.




i came here expecting to have to say that, so thank god! you saved me from saying it all myself!


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## TheCrow (Dec 8, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i came here expecting to have to say that, so thank god! you saved me from saying it all myself!



HaHa i'm one step ahead of you lol!


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## mrhuggles (Dec 8, 2009)

http://www.ezplanetone.com/xwiki/bin/view/Router/

is this relevant?


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## Disparia (Dec 8, 2009)

bud951 said:


> I would hope that Time Warner could sell me business class internet speed. I guess I will find out on Monday.  Is anyone on this board getting business class speed from thier ISP or pairing via dual WAN router or Windows 7? Thanks for the info.



I do. Originally was getting 15/2/static ip for $95 when the fastest resi package was 10/512K. Now even the resi's can get 15/2, but I'm only playing $65 now with only the benefit of static IP and business class service. Though the value of service is questionable... but that's a story for another thread.



TheCrow said:


> After reading a few posts all over it seems a lot of people found windows se7en can load balance to a certain degree.
> 
> So i thought i would give it a bash. I used two seperate cable modems. One is configured for 20mbps and the other for 10mbps. All i did was plug both modems straight into the dual lan ports on my mobo. Win 7 assigned them ip addresses, etc. Here is my results.
> 
> ...



Cool! Though that could be replicated in a lot of OS's, not just se7en, if anyone was wondering. Haven't been able to find anything that suggests that it handles this type of situation any better than what would be expected.

Back in the day when a friend and I were living in an apartment we did something similar. Each unit had three Ethernet ports, one in each bedroom, and one in the living room. 10Mb port to port speeds in the complex, and 1.5Mb to the internet. So we got a box together with three NIC's and shared the connection through that. Torrents were a pretty new thing back then (to us at least) so it worked well  And we were just so happy to get out of the Keys and away from our 56K modems that 4.5Mb was mind-blowing for the time.


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## bud951 (Dec 10, 2009)

Could this be done with two wireless connections?


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## Mussels (Dec 10, 2009)

bud951 said:


> Could this be done with two wireless connections?



yes, with the same limitations.


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## bud951 (Dec 10, 2009)

I was just thinking.. Would Win 7 recognize two wireless connections or would it just lock onto one?


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## Mussels (Dec 10, 2009)

bud951 said:


> I was just thinking.. Would Win 7 recognize two wireless connections or would it just lock onto one?



supposedly windows 7 has the ability for one wireless adaptor to connect to two networks simultaneously, but my wireless USB dongle isnt compatible with that feature.


Even if windows wont allow you to connect two devices simultaneously, i'm sure using windows to connect to one network and the software that came with your (second) adaptor to connect the other, would work.


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## bud951 (Dec 10, 2009)

I just ordered a second 15/2 mbs cable internet connection at my residence with 2nd modem and wireless router so I will see if this works. I will post my findings here ASAP. Newsgroup and torrent downloads are where I hope to double my speed. I would be happy with that plus the ability to run a server on one line and have the other line free for pure usage.


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## bud951 (Dec 10, 2009)

I forgot to ask.. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium. Do I need the Win 7 Ultimate version to use load balancing? When my pc discovers the two connections do I use the "Bridge connections" option to combine them both into one connection? Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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## bud951 (Dec 12, 2009)

I do now have the two 15/2mbs connections in my home. I dont have a desktop with Win 7 right now. I am trying to connect to both with my laptop which has win 7 64bit. I am wired into one router and connected wireless to the other. The pc only seems to be using the wired connection or if I choose the wireless it uses that one even in usenet. Is there a regedit or something I need to do to get load balancing to work?


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## TheCrow (Dec 13, 2009)

To be honest i just plugged both of mine in wired and windows set about working straight away. I didn't have to bidge connections or anything.

Try both of them wired if you can.


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## bud951 (Dec 13, 2009)

TheCrow said:


> To be honest i just plugged both of mine in wired and windows set about working straight away. I didn't have to bidge connections or anything.
> 
> Try both of them wired if you can.



Are you seeing a difference in speed? Do you d/l torrents and whatnot? how about speedtest.com? Any improvement there?

Also, are you using Win 7 64bit Ultamate? Is this the only version it works with?

Does anyone know if I can split one cable output and run both modems to get two IP connections? Thanks.


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Dec 21, 2009)

you guys got me thinking now.  I have to identical time warner cable modem.  my upload sucks threw this time warner,  im now in palm springs.  the old time warner I had in los angeles was a hell of alot faster.  Would it be possible to hook both modems up to a switch and then send the switch to my router?  Ive got 4 computers on my home network and would like to speed them up as much as possible.


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## TheCrow (Dec 21, 2009)

You would need a dual WAN router to do it. And the only time you would see an increase in speed would be when using torrents or something that can connect with multiple ip addresses. Normal web use wouldn't speed up.

I think you best bet would be to have each modem run two computers. The simply bridge the two routers so all 4 computers can still talk to eachother, etc.


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## Disparia (Dec 21, 2009)

^ I'd personally prefer the dual WAN router in that case. While improving the internet performance of 1 computer with multiple connections is situation specific (though not that hard to do IMO), he has 4 computers to utilize those 2 lines.


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## TheCrow (Dec 21, 2009)

Jizzler said:


> ^ I'd personally prefer the dual WAN router in that case. While improving the internet performance of 1 computer with multiple connections is situation specific (though not that hard to do IMO), he has 4 computers to utilize those 2 lines.



I see what your getting at, and kinda agree. But dual wan routers aren't cheap. I'm not sure it's worth the extra investment.


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## 95Viper (Dec 21, 2009)

Jizzler said:


> ^ I'd personally prefer the dual WAN router in that case. While improving the internet performance of 1 computer with multiple connections is situation specific (though not that hard to do IMO), he has 4 computers to utilize those 2 lines.





TheCrow said:


> I see what your getting at, and kinda agree. But dual wan routers aren't cheap. I'm not sure it's worth the extra investment.



How about multi-WAN:http://www.workman-engineering.com/elephant.html


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## TheCrow (Dec 22, 2009)

Wow they are some extreme prices!!!!!


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## Mussels (Dec 22, 2009)

TheCrow said:


> Wow they are some extreme prices!!!!!



load balancing is not something consumers normally benefit from, so they're only made into high end equipment.


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## TheCrow (Dec 22, 2009)

Your not wrong. Although i thought you could mod some linksys routers to do load balancing, but then im not sure how reliable they are.


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## Trigger911 (Dec 22, 2009)

You guys got me interested too... Check out the WRT firmwares I use DD-WRT its pretty good mod firmware to run on routers.


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## ShiBDiB (Dec 23, 2009)

To the OP, wouldnt it make more sense to if your set on buying 2 overpriced TW connections to have one go to your box while the other goes to whatever your using as a server. I feel like your trying to over complicate this, and if you only have one box that your trying to do all that on, theirs half your problem.


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## Bubble07 (Jan 15, 2010)

Batou1986 said:


> *The real issue you will have with this is no cable company will allow you to have 2 cable modems in one residence.*



not really. I have TW and i ordered 2 cables under ONE account, SAME address. No problem.

to OP: i bought Cisco dual WAN router RV042, connect both modems in. Not double the speed as i expect either.


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