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Usually a home router has only one uplink connection, enabling a single internet provider at a time. But suppose I hack my router (ie. installing linux), could I use 2 internet providers then?

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4 Answers 4

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You could use a linux router to load balance and share 2+ connections across a LAN.

This article explains how to edit your route tables and /etc/rc.local file to do this.

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    I'm interested in doing the same thing, but I already have a linux server set up as a router. I'd prefer not having to use a separate machine to install Vyatta, since it appears to require the whole machine, and not coexist with an existing linux setup. So this answer is useful to me.
    – davr
    Jan 4, 2010 at 18:08
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"hacking" the router may not suffice, you'll need 'load balancing'.

a spare old computer with 2 NICs and Vyatta Community Edition is certainly cheaper solution than a modern Multi-WAN router.

When you run Vyatta on a standard x86 hardware system, you'll create a powerful network appliance that can run circles around proprietary systems.

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  • o0 interesting. +1.
    – RJFalconer
    Jan 4, 2010 at 17:34
  • beats the heck out of some $$$$ enterprise routers :)
    – Molly7244
    Jan 4, 2010 at 17:37
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Only if it has two physical ports, and you've got two separate lines coming into your house. If that's the case, take a look at this topic on the subject.

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Windows can load balance 2 connections. If you have a machine with 2 NICs, you can edit the registry to enable this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]
"RandomAdapter"=dword:00000001
"SingleResponse"=dword:00000001

This isn't useful if you want to share the connections with a network though.

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