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I have two separate internet connections, one through WiFi and other Wired.

However, generally I have observed that Windows try to use only one ( mostly faster one/ Or Wired by preference - I am not sure).

Is there a way I can take advantage of having both ? For example I can have my web browser use the wired one and my torrent software use the Wifi One.

PS: This question may be regarded as duplicate but reason I am posting it again is I have not found any concrete answer for it.

Two internet Connections, one LAN - how to share?

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You could use the route add command to set static routes to certain IPs or IP ranges, if you know what you would like to go where. One thing to check though, would be can Windows actually use both or is the wireless disabled when you plug in a wire? Some BIOS or driver options force the wireless card to be disabled when the machine is directly connected. Also, are these two connections actually going through two different paths to the Internet, or do they both end up at the same gateway? If the latter, then custom routing your traffic will confer no benefit. – Iszi Dec 22 '10 at 7:13
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I believe this is still a duplicate, because the solution is the same as the listed question, however, I am not closing it and leaving it to the community to decide, since there may be enough of a difference not to make it one. However, @Madhur, in future post a bounty on a question that does not have enough answers, which will avoid posting duplicates. – Diago Dec 22 '10 at 7:14
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Thanks, I do not have enough points to start bounty :) – Madhur Ahuja Dec 22 '10 at 7:22

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

This blog here http://bora.bilg.in/blog/04/multi-wan-load-balancing-under-windows-with-pfsense seems to be describing similar scenario, you can give it a try.

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This link is giving me a malware warning. (I'm using Opera) – Ryan Clarke Sep 30 '11 at 13:30
Account suspended, pity =\ – Brad F Jacobs May 20 at 17:03
up vote 3 down vote

http://www.r1ch.net/stuff/forcebindip/ This is used to assign a specific program to a specific interface, so both nets can be used at once, it couldnt be smaller or cheaper :-) It might not work with W7, or 64bit.

It was suggested to use an Iphones connect and a wired connect at the same time.

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Wonderful tool, unfortunately it doesn't (currently) work under Win7 64-bit :( – glenneroo Oct 4 '11 at 15:47
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@glenneroo: it does (partially) work. I successfully launched a 32-bit application (Putty) from Win7 64-bit. The ForceBindIP.exe is installed to %WINDIR%\SysWOW64\ForceBindIP.exe – Leftium Nov 8 '11 at 5:52
up vote 1 down vote

If you are on Windows 7 / Vista, then the answer is "no way". Windows will decide during startup on using one and only one interface for the Internet, and that's it. It will normally prefer wired to wireless, even if wireless is faster.

The only way I can see to use both wired and wireless would be inside a virtual machine (or XP Mode), such that one physical/virtual machine will use one adapter while the other machine will use the other adapter. Admittedly, that is not a very easy or useful solution.

In any case, your wired connection can probably use your entire bandwidth as available from the Internet supplier, so the wireless connection cannot improve the throughput.

Some routers support Quality of service (QoS) that you can use to limit the speed of some types of connections by port number. Most torrent software also support limitations for up and down total bandwidth and number of parallel connections.

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You can't assume the wired connection utilizes the entire bandwidth. In my case I get 500-600KB/s wifi and 250-500KB/s wired. – glenneroo Sep 28 '11 at 12:49
This is low for wired. An ADSL2 router should deliver full bandwidth to the wired connection, so maybe you should check for a firmware upgrade or replace some hardware. Otherwise, you would need to disable the wired adapter, since Windows will absolutely not let you use both. This can be done via batch files using netsh interface set interface <interface name> DISABLED or ENABLED. – harrymc Sep 28 '11 at 13:27
It's the maximum achievable bandwidth via that particular provider. The other provider (via wifi) is somewhat faster but also considerably less stable e.g. when the line is near 100% saturation, sometimes all connections are dropped and the line resets (~10 seconds). This scenario was worse before they turned our speed down (and thus the monthly bill became somewhat cheaper). – glenneroo Sep 28 '11 at 14:46
Ah, so I understand you have two routers for two ISPs. Why no wired connection to the 2nd ? You are maybe looking for Load Balancing Router or dual-WAN router. – harrymc Sep 28 '11 at 15:06
Well one of the connections is via my Android phone using either Wifi or tethered via USB. The router only has 4 plugs and there are 6 people living in the house so it's a fight to get ethernet. – glenneroo Sep 28 '11 at 15:19
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up vote 0 down vote

Cisco routers are able to make two connections to one device, depending on the types of connections it's either unequal cost path load balancing, or equal cost path load balancing. The router will transfer the data through both connections, it'll increase file transfers, maybe downloads depending on your connection to the modem, what your plan with the ISP is, but it should increase your download speed, most slow connections are a result of the wireless connection.

You usually find this being used with servers, or NAS devices, usually where multiple users or other devices are sending/receiving data from the storage devices. If it's set up properly, it will make a noticeable difference. If you want maximum speed for a laptop, you're best bet is getting a Cisco Gigabit router with wireless-N, or wireless-AC, unless you're using a desktop, then two cat6 connections would really fast

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