BleepingComputer.com: 2 ISP's on 1 network?

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to BC, thanks for reading my post.

I want to run have 2 internet connections working over 1 network so that I can have my own internet connection while the other people have theirs while still being able to access everyone's PC's over the network. I can think of 2 scenarios...

1) Cable modem plugs into belkin router's WAN port and this router dishes out DHCP to most of the PC's on the network, while keeping several spare for static IPs. Any PC set to use DHCP will see this router as the gateway. The belkin router has a static IP. Into the belkin, I plug a Billion ADSL modem-router. The Billion has DHCP disabled and also has a static IP on the same network as the belkin. I set my PC with a static IP with its gateway set to the IP of the Billion.

I'm not sure however, if this will lead to problems or not - I assume it wont? I am concerned that the 2 routers might not like each other especially if one of them has a smaller NAT table than the other. Or is it the case that the belkin will simply pass through traffic to/from the billion and the belkin's NAT table wont be used by my traffic and only by the traffic that uses its WAN (which isn't the billion)

Another option I am considering but dont want to use is:

2) I install 2 NIC's in my PC - 1 for the internet and the other connected to the LAN. I'd then use DHCP from the billion and a static IP for the belkin since if I used DHCP on the belkin my gateway would go to the wrong internet connection. My question here though, is would the PC look to the billion or the belkin for network shares? I suppose in a worse case situation I could always map drives or whatever via direct IPs. Also, what do I set as the gateway for the NIC on the belkin network if I want the PC to use the Billion for the 'net? I don't like this configuration though because I'd need to run another 30M of network cable under the house and frankly I'm a fat man who don't fit so well under the house!

Thanks for reading my post and for any comments if you have them,

Ady.

Hi Ady,

Its an interesting question, and it looks like you have gone a good deal of research on this issue. I can see one problem with the setup though. ISPs will set up internet access to the home/business through the box on the wall. As far as I'm aware it would be impossible to setup without an additional line to the second ISP.

There will be 2 separate external data lines - one for optus cable, and the adsl will use the phone line. Further investigation has made me aware of RIP, which would probably make things work, but I'm still of the opinion that the routers will literally ignore oneanother.

I'm interested if other people agree with this hypothesis.

I can't think of an example where it has been done before, but hypothetically it does look like it could work. I would make sure the two routers are both the same make and model, this should theoretically increase the chances of them communicating, and reduce the bottleneck should the network infrastructure grow.