ADSL / Cable at the same time - Gaming / Downloading
 

Hi Guys,

Interesting one for you all. maybe =)

I like Virgin Media for their download speeds and unlimited usage, I'm on 10Mbit and nearly always get 1.0 - 1.2mbps on my downloads, which is fantastic. What they don't provide is good latency and ping times, which as an avid gamer in a well performing clan, I need good latency.

Therefore, as my parent's (yes, I'm 22 and living at home), are paying for the Virgin Media line, I've decided and can afford to get an Aquiss ADSL 8mb at £24.99 being installed sometime this week which I have read nothing but excellent reviews about - especially where gaming is concerned and latency.

I will end up with two routers - ADSL router and DSL router.

I'm wondering if it's possible, and how it would be done, to configure a Windows XP machine to work with two different networks, but based on application use a certain connection.

I'd like my surfing and downloading to be operating on my Virgin Media connection, and using my Aquiss ADSL connection purely for game server connectivity.

I have two Gigabit NICs on my motherboard.

I know a simple method would be to disable one connection and use the other as and when needed, but I'd like to run both simultaneously based on usage requirements.

Currently I have a Linksys DSL router hooked up to my VM cable modem, with one ethernet cable going off to my parents PC in the living room, and another ethernet cable that goes up through the walls and in to a panel in my bedroom. The panel has an ethernet cable in to a Gigabit switch, and the switch feeds my Linux box, my gaming PC and a laptop I use for programming.

I've had a BT phone point installed by a family member who works for BT in my bedroom, which will have an ADSL filter on it, and connecting to the provided ADSL router when it arrives.

Any idea's?

Cheers guys!

Re: ADSL / Cable at the same time - Gaming / Downloading
 

from what i've attempted in the past, you can route traffic based on its IP to a different gateway (ie the DSL connection). Now if you play on the same servers all the time, that'll work "fine". If you play on different servers and so routing by IP or an IP range isn't possible, you could possibly route all the UDP traffic over the DSL connection but put in a rule that ignores DNS traffic. AFAIK you can't do this on windows by default and would need the router to do it, or more easily, a linux box that connects to both connections

Re: ADSL / Cable at the same time - Gaming / Downloading
 

If you have a linux box, make it do the routing, set up shoreline firewall and then set up multiple providers and routes based on a marking in the IP headers. You can mark IP packets based on ports, which should be enough to discriminate your download traffic from your gaming traffic.

Re: ADSL / Cable at the same time - Gaming / Downloading
 

kpanchev - that sounds excellent.

I have laptop which runs Ubuntu and use a KVM switch with my keyb/mouse and two monitors, I'll look in to shoreline firewall - which sounds great anyway as a good form of protection, and routing.

I'll post back and let you know the details of the setup if I pull it off right :)