Sharing two internet conections

My Host PC has two internet connections - one (A) uses a PCI network
card to connect to an external antenna that receives internet via RF,
the other (B) uses a USB antenna that connects to a local broaband
mesh network with satellite on thebackhaul. I can flip from one to
the other by enabling and disabling the relevant connection in the
"Network Connection" settings.

B is a faster connection that I tend to use for large file downloads,
but the satellite latency on the browsing speed drives me mad, so I
tend to use A for normal browsing. Its also a useful backup when one
or other of them is experiencing technical problems, which isn't that
unknown.

The internet connection is shared around the house via a wireless
network, but Win XP only seems to tolerate one shared connection at a
time in its settings, so when I enable B, for example, I also have to
change the ICS settings so that B, and not A any more, is the shared
connection. But when I do this, it doesn't seem as though other users
on the wireless network can access the internet. ie, B isn't actually
being shared.

Is there something I'm not doing that I should be? Or is there a
better solution all round?

Brian

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 16:26:39 +0100, bigbrian wrote:

>
> My Host PC has two internet connections - one (A) uses a PCI network
> card to connect to an external antenna that receives internet via RF,
> the other (B) uses a USB antenna that connects to a local broaband
> mesh network with satellite on thebackhaul. I can flip from one to
> the other by enabling and disabling the relevant connection in the
> "Network Connection" settings.
>
> B is a faster connection that I tend to use for large file downloads,
> but the satellite latency on the browsing speed drives me mad, so I
> tend to use A for normal browsing. Its also a useful backup when one
> or other of them is experiencing technical problems, which isn't that
> unknown.
>
> The internet connection is shared around the house via a wireless
> network, but Win XP only seems to tolerate one shared connection at a
> time in its settings, so when I enable B, for example, I also have to
> change the ICS settings so that B, and not A any more, is the shared
> connection. But when I do this, it doesn't seem as though other users
> on the wireless network can access the internet. ie, B isn't actually
> being shared.
>
> Is there something I'm not doing that I should be? Or is there a
> better solution all round?
>
> Brian

You can indeed have more than one connection, but you will need to get to
grips with routing tables. You set your primary connection with a metric
of 1 and your secondary connection metric 2. Thr primary connection will
be used first, if it fails or becomes too busy the secondary connection
will come into play. Whole books have been written on the subject. The
preferred method is to use a router. I'm not sure how well WinXP can
handle this sort of thing. Linux can, I have a linux box here that handles
4 connections, Modem, ADSL and two virtual connections.

Graham

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 20:36:31 +0100, Graham <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 16:26:39 +0100, bigbrian wrote:
>
>>
>> My Host PC has two internet connections - one (A) uses a PCI network
>> card to connect to an external antenna that receives internet via RF,
>> the other (B) uses a USB antenna that connects to a local broaband
>> mesh network with satellite on thebackhaul. I can flip from one to
>> the other by enabling and disabling the relevant connection in the
>> "Network Connection" settings.
>>
>> B is a faster connection that I tend to use for large file downloads,
>> but the satellite latency on the browsing speed drives me mad, so I
>> tend to use A for normal browsing. Its also a useful backup when one
>> or other of them is experiencing technical problems, which isn't that
>> unknown.
>>
>> The internet connection is shared around the house via a wireless
>> network, but Win XP only seems to tolerate one shared connection at a
>> time in its settings, so when I enable B, for example, I also have to
>> change the ICS settings so that B, and not A any more, is the shared
>> connection. But when I do this, it doesn't seem as though other users
>> on the wireless network can access the internet. ie, B isn't actually
>> being shared.
>>
>> Is there something I'm not doing that I should be? Or is there a
>> better solution all round?
>>
>> Brian
>
>You can indeed have more than one connection, but you will need to get to
>grips with routing tables. You set your primary connection with a metric
>of 1 and your secondary connection metric 2. Thr primary connection will
>be used first, if it fails or becomes too busy the secondary connection
>will come into play. Whole books have been written on the subject. The
>preferred method is to use a router. I'm not sure how well WinXP can
>handle this sort of thing. Linux can, I have a linux box here that handles
>4 connections, Modem, ADSL and two virtual connections.

Whoosh!!!

Brian