Network bridging two cable connections. Worth it?

I tend to be a bit (okay excessively) power hungry. My apartment complex provides a free shared wireless cable connection. I found it to be not reliable with uptime and was forced to get a dedicated cable line for myself.
Then I had this thought: when there are times when this wireless and free connection is up and running, would it be worth it to bridge the two connections on my desktop? One would be wired, the other wireless. I haven't yet purchased the wireless card since I'd like some input on this first. Both are cable connections at around 6 mbps (Comcast). I'm fairly savvy with networks however not so much on this concept of bridging in home computing. I use the Internet for large downloads, FTP, SSH, and web design, and I'm just power hungry , so I'm curious what the bandwidth and speed increases would be on this.
My desktop is very powerful and new, if that were to at all be a concern. Any thoughts, experiences, or input on this?
Last edited by jskier (2007-08-15 12:22:37)

Lone_Wolf wrote:
It sounds like you want to combine both physical nics into 1 virtual, this is called bonding.
Download the kernel sources and check Documentation/networking/bonding.txt .
I've done a bit of searching and it seems that downloading large files , ftp and such don't benefit from this as they only can make one connection.
Everyhting that uses multiple connections like p2p should benefit from it.
If you're going to use this, you should consider installing a downloadmanager like prozilla or aria / aria2.
Hmm, me thinks I'll play around with it, thanks!

Similar Messages

Connecting two networks with two internet connections

Hi All
The situation is this. Two firms situated next door to each other and linked by their businesses and by their family ties, wish to connect their two networks together. They both have internet connections. The reason is for security, in the event of one internet going down they can use the other one.
As I see it, we could use a wireless bridge/repeater to connect the two ethernets together, turn off DHCP in both networks, and manually configure the IP addresses on one network to say 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.100 and set the gateway as the router address in that network, again manually allocated. Then on the other network set the scope to 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.1.200 with the router on that network set in this range.
In the event of failure of one internet connection, it would just require the gateway to be changed for those pcs to access the router on the other network. I know of a little program which would do that automatically.
Would this work? If so which Linksys equipment would I need to bridge the two networks. I know some equipment will do the bridging and allow wireless clients to connect, so that would be useful, I know it slows it down by half, but this might be acceptable.
Will there be other problems rearing their ugly heads which I haven't considered.
The networks are not large, so manual IP configuration is not a problem.
Thanks

I presume both networks are using wireless connections. If you can see your neighbour's network on your computer and vice versa, all you need is the passphrase to connect. You may have to disable filter mac address in your router.
Greetings from Northern Ontario, Canada

Can I configure a wireless home network with two cable routers (both with separate connections to the same cable company)? Issue is poor signal strength even with multiple Airport Expresses added to the network.

I have a wireless home network consisting of a time capsule, two airport expresses and a cable modem. Even with this configuration I get a very weak signal in much of be condo - the walls, etc. are solid concrete. I want to see if I can add another separately connected cable modem and connect one of the existing airport express to it by Ethernet cable. If so, this would give me two wired hubs and greatly improve signal strength. I do not know if this configuration will in fact work or if I will just wind up with two, separate and unrelateable networks. Unfortunately, there is no way to run any additional Ethernet cable and I doubt simply adding more Airport Express will help. Thanks.

Try Ethernet over Power adapters.. these are very popular for your kind of environment.. being able to make non-wireless link to another area where you can setup a wireless access point.
Airport Express are not great for wireless power.. if you really have issues with wireless strength in a bad environment apple stuff is not the way to go.
The comparison chart here.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/58-2_4-ghz-dn?see=P_F
This is their worst test location you can also see averages.. the latest airport extreme.. is there a long way down.. and that is a much better wireless device than Airport Express.
The Ubiquiti power AP is small cheap and designed for precisely this duty.. useless in an apple wireless network.. you will need to run ethernet or EOP adapters back to the main router.. but if the normal omni directional antennas don't provide enough signal you can get directional ones.. I suspect you can cover your whole apartment with a pair of these and high gain directional antenna.

How do I use my wireless Led TV as a second monitor using my home network without any cables? Both of them are connected to home network

How do I use my wireless Led TV as a second monitor to my mac book pro using my home network without any cables? Both of them are connected to home network

Having a gateway there is not going to be a problem. We just need to configure the Time Capsule correctly to work with the 2Wire.
You will need one ethernet cable to connect the 2Wire to the Time Capsule and a second ethernet cable to temporarily connect your computer to the Time Capsule so that it can be configured.
The 2Wire you have now should already be broadcasting a wireless network, so once you have the Time Capsule setup, you will actually have two wireless networks there.
Here's how to configure the Time Capsule to work with the 2Wire:
Connect an ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the 2Wire to the WAN (circle icon) port on the Time Capsule.
Connect another ethernet cable temporarily from your computer to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule
Open Hard Drive > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click Manual Setup
Click the Base Station tab below the row of icons to assign a name for the Time Capsule, a device password (write this down) and adjust time zone settings
Click the Wireless tab below the row of icons
Wireless Mode....Create a wireless network
Wireless Network Name....Your choice
Radio Mode....Automatic
Channel...Automatic
Wireless Security...WPA/WPA2 Personal
Wireless Password....Your choice (write this down)
Check mark next to....Remember password in keychain
Click the Internet icon
At the bottom, change the setting for Connection Sharing to "Off (Bridge Mode)"
Click Update at the lower right and the Time Capsule will restart after 20-25 seconds and you should get the green light.
You should now be able to connect to your Time Capsule wireless network.
I'm not clear on whether you have tried to setup the Time Capsule to backup your computer. Post back if you need some info on that. We may need to start another thread for that as that will be a different subject.

Network problem - two Macs running Leopard won't connect or share

We've just bought a refurbed Mac book Pro since our HP notebook is so bloody unreliable and I suspect is about to cark it through overheating/inadequate cooling. The only problem is that networking it with our G5 is turning into a real nightmare, and embarrassingly both the HP and an old desktop PC can not only see and share with each other they can also see and be seen by both Macs and use the printer connected to the G5, and absolutely everything connects to the internet and shows up in the DHCP list on the router. Even more annoying was that the Macs connected initially this morning when we got the Macbook Pro out of the box, but after we'd done the initial round of software updates (10.5.2 was installed on the MBP) we've had nothing but trouble. Quite often they'd be in the shared list in the Finder window but wouldn't connect when clicked. Other times they wouldn't be there at all. We've even tried connecting the two over firewire, which worked for the G5 but not the MBP although the MBP could see the folders on the external hard drive we use for Time Machine backups of the G5.
File sharing is on for both Macs (and printer sharing for the G5 obviously), AFP is enabled, firewall settings have been moved to Allow All... everything looks right but it doesn't work right. Right now I've managed to get the G5 to connect to the MBP using the Go>Connect to Server method mentioned elsewhere here, but it's one way only. It didn't work when we tried it on the MBP.
The network is part cabled, part wifi. We've got a Motorola Surfboard cable modem/gateway/wireless router, both notebooks are connecting wirelessly, both desktops are cabled. If it makes any difference both Macs are on 10.5.5, the old desktop is Win2K (please don't laugh) and the HP notebook is Vista.
Any suggestions?

Well, it all seems to work now though I can't explain why and have no idea if it would work for others generally. But what we did, having reinstalled 10.5.2 and got the MacBook Pro back to exactly how it was when it arrived, was to install one update at a time checking that the two Mac could still communicate after each stage and with regular backups to be extra safe. The order we did the updates in was:
Airport Utility
Remote Desktop Client
iTunes
Front Row
Mac OS X Combined
Migration and DVD/CD Sharing
Java
Airport Extreme
QuickTime
QuickTime H.264 Compatibility
Security Update
Safari
Maybe the order doesn't make a difference, I really wouldn't know. But then it doesn't make sense to me that updating one item at a time would make a difference either. However, we now have the network working properly with the same network settings used before when it was hit and miss at best. Glynn, maybe it's worth giving it a try on yours though without a clue why it's now working here I couldn't call it a solution as such.

Time Capsule and Linksys router bridging two networks

I have set up a Time Capsule on a small business network and have made use of its dual wifi to set up guest access to the internet separate from our private network. It defaults to IP address 192.168.1.1 which conflicts with a computer that must be assigned that address so I have given it the IP address 192.168.0.1. I was hoping to bridge between the 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x networks using a Linksys BEFSR41 router. I have been able to get internet access from the 192.168.1.x network and port forward to our Windows e-mail server but can't get individual computers to see each other from one network to the other.
Can I set the Time Capsule IP to anything other than x.x.x.1 or alternately use it or another router to bridge two different networks?

Ethernet speed on your local network is determined by the slowest connected device which most likely will be the LinkSys router or your computer.

Connecting a AX-G to Join a network with a cable to another AX-N

1)   Airport   AX-G (Base Station) connected to a cable modem
2)   Another AX-G ( Remote) Both are on the same network all set on a WDS
3)   I want to join the network with a 150 Ethernet cable connected to AX-G (remote) to another AX-N to get more wireless signal from the AX-N.
     Is this Possible i have tried everything and have had no luck. Can i make the AX-N be the base station and then used the AX-G's with the cable to join
     the network.
Any suggestion feel free.
THX

You would not want to setup the AX-N to "join". It provides no wireless coverage at all in that setting.
Here is how your settings should look on the AX-N:
Open AirPort Utility - Click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the row of icons
Wireless Mode = Create a wireless network
Wireless Network Name = Same name as your "main" network if you want the new AX-N to act as if it were part of the same network. Otherwise, assign a different wireless network name (which will require that you log on to the AX-N network separately)
Radio Mode = 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible) a good choice
Channel = Automatic
Wireless Security = Exact same setting as your "main" network
Wireless Password = Same password as your "main" network
Confirm Password
Click the Internet icon
Connect Using = Ethernet
Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)......(you may be a bit surprised to see that the AX-N was likely not in bridge mode as you thought)
Update to save settings and allow 40-45 seconds for the AX-N to restart
You should have a green light
Then, power down the entire network....all devices....order is not important
Power up the modem first and let it run a few moments
Power up the "main" AX next and let it run a minute
Power up the "remote AX" next the same way
Power up the AX-N the same way
Power up other devices one at a time the same way
You should have one large wireless network if you chose to assign the same wireless network name to the AX-N device.
Please post on your results

My 2012 Mini OS 10.7.5 cannot see the Ethernet connection to my Actiontec GT701 WG. The Network Preferences says "cable unplugged". The WiFi connection is working fine. Please Thank You

My 2012 Mini OS 10.7.5 cannot see the Ethernet connection to my Actiontec GT701 WG. The Network Preferences says "cable unplugged". The WiFi connection is working fine. Please Thank You

Never mind, problem solved. When I retunred to the Network tab the message had changed to "connected, no IP address" so I got that from the WiFi tab and configured the Ethernet manually. Have a nice day @:-)#

Do I need a cable connecting my Time Capsule to Airport Express if I want to use the AE to extend my wifi network range?

I'm a bit confused by conflicting advice given by my local Apple shop and my internet provider.
My cable modem is plugged into a Time Capsule which I use to access the net wirelessly almost all over the house. The one spot the wireless doesn't quite reach is (of course) where I now need my office and iMac to be.
I thought I could just plug in an Airport Express somewhere in the middle to extend the network's range but the guy at my local Apple shop said the Airport Express would need to be connected not just to power but to the Time Capsule, via a cable. That's fiddly and would involve cables running under the floor or along walls and ceilings, not something I can or really want to do. It's not really practical to try and move the cable connection point either.
My internet provider suggested a netgear wireless extender and said that would only need to be plugged into power. The reviews of the netgear product I found comparing it to Airport Express suggest that the Express doesn't need to be connected to anything other than power either to extend a network range (which was what I originally thought).
So I'm wondering which advice is correct? I've also read that the netgear product isn't all that easy to set up so I'd rather stick with. Apple if it will do what I want.
Thanks for any help out there

I thought I could just plug in an Airport Express somewhere in the middle to extend the network's range but the guy at my local Apple shop said the Airport Express would need to be connected not just to power but to the Time Capsule, via a cable.
I'm sure that the guy at the Apple shop means well, but he is not correct.
While it would be preferable to connect the Time Capsule and AirPort Express using a wired Ethernet connection, the Express can connect wirelessly and extend the wireless signal the same way....IF...it is located where it can receive a good wireless signal.

I am having difficulty connecting apple tv to our network via ethernet cable.

I am trying to connect to an apple tv on our office network. It seems to pick up the network configuration but doesnt connect when I turn on home sharing. We have a proxy server for connections to the internet so I dont know whether this is the show stopper or something else like incorrect setting of date and time. I thought I could set up and use the apple tv without a connection to the internet. Any advice would be appreciated. If an internet connection is absolutely necessary may be I could set up an Airport that talks to our proxy server.

COMPUTERS SETTINGS means AppleTV is not accessing the Internet network.
By "changing the lead" I assume you mean you've made certain you are using a proven / known working Ethernet cable and you've also attempted, unsucessfully, to connect via WiFi ?
If those things are true it sounds like you need to consult the school network administrator for onsite assistance.
I ran into this problem once but did not have time to work through it. I will duplicate portions of your problem today to see if I can better resolve your question

Can I connect a 5th gen extreme as a bridge/repeater to a non-apple router without an ethernet cable connection? How?

I currently have a motorola surfboard cable modem/router (dual N) that works for all our wireless devices (PCs and MACBOOK) except that our ipad 2 which drops video streaming in the livingroom (works great in the office and bedroom). I'm hoping to purchase a new 5th gen airport extreme and set it up in the living room for the ipad 2 as a repeater/bridge (I think that is the same function) but don't want to have a ethernet cable connecting the motorola to the airport extreme. Is it possible? How? Since the ipad 2 works in other rooms, I don't think it is the ipad 2.

Sorry, but Apple products would not be compatible with your Motorola modem/router using wireless only.
If you need to do this using wireless only, you might want to check with your Internet service provider to see if they have a Motorola product that would be compatible for the purpose that you need.
If you are able to permanently connect the AirPort Extreme to the Motorola modem/router using a wired Ethernet connection, the AirPort Extreme could be configured to provide more wireless coverage that way.

What is the process for connecting ethernet. Have ethernet cable connected to stereo received for internet radio and Blue Ray. However Network System Preferences indicates ethernet not connected and has red dot to left. Note Airport wireless is working.

What is the process for connecting airport extreme ethernet? I have ethernet cables connected to stereo receiver for internet radio and another to blue ray player. The system preference network indicates "ethernet not connected" with red dot to left of this message. The airport wireless works and has green dot to left of it. The stereo receiver and blue ray player do not respond and give message not connect to internet. Thank you. / cfpirate

It worked for me finally. I took out the DNS numbers in airport admin utility, and restarted the airport express. I do not remember putting the DNS numbers in, I wonder from where the airport express got those numbers.
After restarting, it worked.
Thanks!

Is there a cable with two Apple connections and one USB connection?

Is there a cable with two Apple connections and one USB connection?

it would be possible without damage to the phones if only the charging pins was used
but it would mean the 2 phones would charge 1/2 as fast as normally

"added time cap to existing network" and can't get Ethernet cable connection to Time cap to work...

I added a new time capsule to my existing wifi network. Everything initialized well and time machine could see the TC. I tried to connect a cable directly to the TC for the first backup... But the cable connection doesn't see the TC. Ideas?

If you used join a network then the TC turns off its ethernet ports.

HT4262 I have two networks one each in two cities. Both are named the same but require different passwords. I am at my second location but cannot connect to his wifi network. How do I delet one network so I can connect to my second network?

I have two networks one each in two cities. Both are named the same but require different passwords. I am at my second location and cannot connect to this wifi network. How do I delet one network so I can connect to my second network?

Just go to the wireless network preferences and empty out all the stored wireless networks.. then scan and connect to the local wireless.
Select them and tap the - button below it.
Once they are emptied out.. it might be good to reboot the computer with the remember networks unchecked.
Start with a clean slate.

Network bridging two cable connections. Worth it?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for