Setting up wireless network with 2 possible broadband connections -

Apologies for asking simple-ish questions straight off but having
looked through various sites and also through the google groups
archives I have a rough idea what i think I need but due to odd
requirements I'm not entirely sure.

To simplify the equation it is easiest to say I have 2 broadband
connections. One is via an NTL set top box(no seperate cable modem)
with the normal ethernet cable to my PC. The second connection is a BT
business ADSL line. This has a Draytek Vigor 2600 router which acts as
modem/router as it is used for work purposes and I need to keep that
as part of the connection.

What I want is to set up a network that can use either of the two
connectionsas the gateway. I.e. I will either connect the wireless
router/access point(thats my first bit I'm not sure of) to the NTL
box, or sometimes I will connect it to the Vigor router-->BT ADSL.

My first assumption is that the NTL set top box is performing a
similar role to the Vigor router on the BT ADSL connection, albeit
with less outputs? Is that correct, or am I way off the mark?
If that is right do I use a wireless boradband router or access point?
At most on the network I will have a desktop PC (probably with a USB
adaptor) and in future I may have a laptop with a wireless card (my
works PC gets wired directly to Vigor router when required so that
isn't part of the equation, just the reason why I need to retain the
router.

Also is it best to buy transmitter/receivers of same make, or is it
simple enought o mix and match, i.e. if in future I do get the 2nd
laptop, buy it without a wireless card and purchase the right matching
make one myself when I have it?

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this. If I haven't
made any sense at all feel free to fire back any questions. It would
all be so easy if I could choose either of the connections on it's own
but potentially I may have them both or only one in future so want to
try and make it as future proof as possible right now so I'm covered.

Cheers

On 5 Jan 2004 14:41:57 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) (Woby Tide) wrote:

>What I want is to set up a network that can use either of the two
>connections as the gateway

I did something broadly similar with an ISDN line and an ADSL
connection. I made sure all the LAN side ports had addresses in the
same range (10.0.0.x or similar) and to switch connections I just
changed the default gateway in the PC to the 10.0.0.x address of the
relevant external network device.

I'm not sure if this will work with a cable modem - do they not pass
on the external IP address to the connected PC ?

If one box is responsible for all the routing or the DHCP allocation
you could change over the default route in that. Do you want this to
be dynamic ie change at will or jsut occasional ie backup conneciton.

Phil