LAN with 2 internet access points ?

My company is operating a LAN for about 30 users with 1 internet
broadband modem (1 Mbps). Internet access is slow at times with many
users on-line.

It is very expensive to increase the speed over 1 Mbps (some extra
wiring is required, I think).

The boss is toying the idea of adding a so called 3G wireless internet
by another internet access service provider, which purportedly
provides access for up to 3/4 Mbps. Please note that the 'wireless' is
for outside internet connection; users are still accessing internet
through LAN.

Question
--------
1. Is it possible to have 2 internet access points in a LAN ?

2. If possible, can the LAN be configured to automatically distribute
the internet traffic so that both are equally utilized ?

Thanks.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> My company is operating a LAN for about 30 users with 1 internet
> broadband modem (1 Mbps). Internet access is slow at times with many
> users on-line.
>
> It is very expensive to increase the speed over 1 Mbps (some extra
> wiring is required, I think).
>
> The boss is toying the idea of adding a so called 3G wireless internet
> by another internet access service provider, which purportedly
> provides access for up to 3/4 Mbps. Please note that the 'wireless' is
> for outside internet connection; users are still accessing internet
> through LAN.
>
> Question
> --------
> 1. Is it possible to have 2 internet access points in a LAN ?

Yes

> 2. If possible, can the LAN be configured to automatically distribute
> the internet traffic so that both are equally utilized ?

My advice is rather than trying to engineer all this yourself, drop an
iptables/routing/shaping wrapper on a linux-based firewall and you're
off and running.

We've had a lot of success with "Shorewall" on CentOS using 3 ISP's all
at the same time. We route the most business critical stuff over the
fastest link (ADSL2+), less-critical stuff over the ADSL1+ link, and all
the other "crap" over the remaining ADSL1 link.

The ToS-based routing is handled using connection marking and then
passing the traffic off to a specific routing table based on it's mark.
Sounds all complicated but Shorewall makes it easy.

The users still only see the one gateway (the inside of the
Linux+Shorewall box). So from a user perspective it's dead easy to
set-up manually or via DHCP, etc.

HTH,

James

PS: Contact me off-list if you want some working Shorewall config to
start with james <at> "domain of the news server that first go this
post". Check the headers.

On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:18:13 -0700 (PDT), (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> My company is operating a LAN for about 30 users with 1 internet
> broadband modem (1 Mbps). Internet access is slow at times with many
> users on-line.

> It is very expensive to increase the speed over 1 Mbps (some extra
> wiring is required, I think).

> The boss is toying the idea of adding a so called 3G wireless internet
> by another internet access service provider, which purportedly
> provides access for up to 3/4 Mbps. Please note that the 'wireless' is
> for outside internet connection; users are still accessing internet
> through LAN.

> Question
> --------
> 1. Is it possible to have 2 internet access points in a LAN ?

> 2. If possible, can the LAN be configured to automatically distribute
> the internet traffic so that both are equally utilized ?

> Thanks.

This is most easily done in the router. There are commercial routers
which do this; for example, the Linksys RV042. It's also possible
to use two ISPs from one Linux machine used as a router. See the
advanced routing howto.

In either case, the other machines in the lan just use one gateway
router which distributes the traffic as automatically as you want.

--
Dale Dellutri <(E-Mail Removed)> (lose the Q's)