[SOLVED] Two modems, one internet

[jdlech]

Hi,
I have 2 internet connections - one is ATT DSL, and the other is comcast via my own Motorola modem.
I also have a main computer, an entertainment computer (serves music and movies), and an assortment of computers, ipads, phones, laptops, etc.. Only the ATT router has wireless networking. The Motorola has just a single ethernet connection.

In order for my main computer to "see" the network, it must be connected to the ATT router via ethernet. For some strange reason, it cannot discover the network when connected wirelessly. But that's OK. Because I ordered an ethernet card and ran a second ethernet cable. Now, I have two cables running from my main computer to the modem/router. I intend to have two ethernet connections - one to each modem/router.

My intention is to have my comcast internet dedicated to the main computer, while the second connection is to "see" the rest of the network. But this also means that I do not want my main computer using the ATT internet. That will be for the rest of the household.

So the question is... is there any way with windows 10 home x64 to connect via ethernet and prevent it from using the internet? Maybe block that one computer via the router's firewall? I want it to see the network, but not the ATT internet connection. The ATT modem/router is:

Manufacturer	ARRIS
Model Number	BGW210-700

 

[kanewolf]

Hi,
I have 2 internet connections - one is ATT DSL, and the other is comcast via my own Motorola modem.
I also have a main computer, an entertainment computer (serves music and movies), and an assortment of computers, ipads, phones, laptops, etc.. Only the ATT router has wireless networking. The Motorola has just a single ethernet connection.

In order for my main computer to "see" the network, it must be connected to the ATT router via ethernet. For some strange reason, it cannot discover the network when connected wirelessly. But that's OK. Because I ordered an ethernet card and ran a second ethernet cable. Now, I have two cables running from my main computer to the modem/router. I intend to have two ethernet connections - one to each modem/router.

My intention is to have my comcast internet dedicated to the main computer, while the second connection is to "see" the rest of the network. But this also means that I do not want my main computer using the ATT internet. That will be for the rest of the household.

So the question is... is there any way with windows 10 home x64 to connect via ethernet and prevent it from using the internet? Maybe block that one computer via the router's firewall? I want it to see the network, but not the ATT internet connection. The ATT modem/router is:

Manufacturer	ARRIS
Model Number	BGW210-700

Yes there is a way. On the ethernet that is connected to the rest of the home network, you DISABLE DCHP and set a static IP address. DO NOT enter a gateway IP address. If your other connection has a gateway IP address, then all internet traffic will use that connection.

You also need to ensure the IP range on the two connections are different. You can't have 192.168.1.x on both connections. One would have to be set to 192.168.2.x (or something else different in at least the 3rd number).

 

[SamirD]

Ironically you have a similar isp setup to what I will be doing at one of my sites that currently only has comcast. But I think the current way you are doing it is leaving a lot of performance on the table.

Ideally, you'd want to run a multi-wan capable router and manage the different isp connections there (static binding, etc), and then have a separate wireless access point(s) for the wireless. This way your entire network will be seamless and also benefit from all that yummy bandwidth.

 

[jdlech]

Ideally, you'd want to run a multi-wan capable router and manage the different isp connections there (static binding, etc), and then have a separate wireless access point(s) for the wireless. This way your entire network will be seamless and also benefit from all that yummy bandwidth.

Yeah.... about all that yummy bandwidth.
A $14 card and a 50ft cable is a lot cheaper than another router. But I'm open to convincing.

 

[SamirD]

Yeah.... about all that yummy bandwidth.
A $14 card and a 50ft cable is a lot cheaper than another router. But I'm open to convincing.

So I'll use my setup as an example--currently only 600/15 comcast but plan to add a gigabit att plan. Using a multi-wan router, I will have a combined 1.6Gbps/1.015Gbps available bandwidth to the network. So for example if you have multiple video calls going on simultaneously in the house, each one will use either isp as the router deems best based on current isp utilization and you can max out to more video calls than on either isp alone. For smaller transfers, imagine it to be akin to raid 0 for isps--since a web page is up to hundreds of tiny requests, those requests generally 'stripe' across both isps.

The biggest benefit imo though is seamless redundancy. I have 2x isps where I currently am and when one goes down, even for just a minute or so, I don't feel it at all--no one on the whole network does. This varies with how good the multi-wan router is because before I was using enterprise equipment it would take a bit, but this was also <2010 when multi-wan was still not as mature as today.

Multi-wan routers are a bit of an investment, but they're a good on imo. And stepping into mutli-wan a lot of times is quite easy with smb/enterprise routers as many can treat any port as a wan or lan port.