Network teaming

[oversky]

My dorm has fast but unstable 802.11g and slow but stable ADSL(only 1M/128k). Is it possible to do network teaming(bonding) on my T42( Intel PRO 1000 / MT and Intel 2200BG) such that I can enjoy the best of the two world?

 

[scotty]

Sort of.

Windows itself isn't going to do this well, but what you could do is set up a multi-wan router like pfsense that can handle 2 wan connections. From there, you could set up some multi-wa goodness. Just keep in mind that if the wireless connection is unstable, that will still show through on your connection, depending on how you have ti set up.

This is probably the easist thing I can think of to do it, I don't know of any programs off-hand that could do this for you otherwise.

 

[Tamarin]

The short version is not without more toys.

The longer version is basically what scotty said, but be aware that it's very tricky to properly balance connections.

Maybe you should see about having the dorm connect their wired plugs to the same back-end network the wireless uses. It might be easier and then everyone can benefit.

Tam

 

[msabo]

Bonding a fast but unstable bandwidth to a slow but stable bandwidth most often will yield a very slow connection. In many cases you could end up with even lower performance than simply the ADSL line alone. This has to do with how the TCP windowing works. The unstable bandwidth will cause TCP timeouts, for example. The TCP protocol will then close down its window to recover thus taking your throughput with it.

The other question is how fast is the Internet connection on the other side of the WiFi anyway? For this application, that is the gating factor.

Is the ADSL a university provided service to get you to their backbone router? Or is it a service provider service which takes you off campus to the ADSL service providers router? If the later, then is it possible to simply contract for a faster ADSL service? Or, optionally, would it be possible to bond two or three of the ADSL lines together using the pfsense router Scotty mentioned?

 

[oversky]

It seems to be the worst of the two worlds. Fortunately, the university just announced that they will upgrade the ADSL in the next month. This will be the best solution.

Bonding a fast but unstable bandwidth to a slow but stable bandwidth most often will yield a very slow connection. In many cases you could end up with even lower performance than simply the ADSL line alone. This has to do with how the TCP windowing works. The unstable bandwidth will cause TCP timeouts, for example. The TCP protocol will then close down its window to recover thus taking your throughput with it.

The other question is how fast is the Internet connection on the other side of the WiFi anyway? For this application, that is the gating factor.

Is the ADSL a university provided service to get you to their backbone router? Or is it a service provider service which takes you off campus to the ADSL service providers router? If the later, then is it possible to simply contract for a faster ADSL service? Or, optionally, would it be possible to bond two or three of the ADSL lines together using the pfsense router Scotty mentioned?