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Telmex and Telecable at same time?


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Does anyone know the feasibility of getting both Telmex and Telecable into your house then putting them into the same router so you have twice the  internet  power as before? Or, maybe someone is already doing this? How is it working?  When they are both up and running, do you have available their combined internet signal?

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The quick answer is "sort of, but mostly no"

The medium answer is that using two separate connections like this doesn't gain much benefit from single high use options like netflix or other video streaming. Each "application" you're using will only be able to use one of the internet connections at a time. The good news is that you can still get benefits of multiple connections if you have a multi user household, or are doing multiple things with your connections (netflix while checking e-mails and performing a backup).

 

So, having identically capable telmex and telecable connections can theoretically achieve twice the capabilities of one, in practice it will be much closer to the capabilities of just one of the connections, and only starts getting better with multiple users or multiple simultaneous uses of the internet connections. 

One of the other side benefits is automatic failover. When one of the connections dies, you can continue on within a few seconds instead of having to make changes in software or network hardware. It happens fast enough you likely won't know one of the connections dropped. 

If you're still interested I'd be happy to provide more information about the hardware available to do it, and some of the other drawbacks. 

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I used to have a very stable 10 Mb/sec down by about 0.8 Mb/ sec up Telmex connection. It had been great although earlier at slower speeds for the last maybe 10 years. Now the speeds set in my modem are half as much and I loose internet for periods of several hours to days about once per week. In my case it is time to sign up for Telecable internet as well for the reasons explained by others above. (I already have digital cable so I suspect that I should easily be able to get telecable internet.)

I will turn the wireless option off on my Telmex modem and get a wired Telecable modem and using (Cat 5?) attach both internet modems to a product able to have two internet sources and then have that product deliver internet to me wirelessly.

What is this product called and what brand would you recommend?  I am in Seattle right now and will be able to pick up what you recommend.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Pete

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OK, so with 2 connections coming in (to the same router?) if 2 users are using Netflix, we`ll have (something like) twice the bandwidth available.  If one user is streaming at a time, no increase in internet power.  If 2 users are on email there wouldn`t be much increase in application speed because email uses so little bandwidth anyway, right?

 

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18 minutes ago, johanson said:

I used to have a very stable 10 Mb/sec down by about 0.8 Mb/ sec up Telmex connection. It had been great although earlier at slower speeds for the last maybe 10 years. Now the speeds set in my modem are half as much and I loose internet for periods of several hours to days about once per week. In my case it is time to sign up for Telecable internet as well for the reasons explained by others above. (I already have digital cable so I suspect that I should easily be able to get telecable internet.)

I will turn the wireless option off on my Telmex modem and get a wired Telecable modem and using (Cat 5?) attach both internet modems to a product able to have two internet sources and then have that product deliver internet to me wirelessly.

What is this product called and what brand would you recommend?  I am in Seattle right now and will be able to pick up what you recommend.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Pete

You're right on track. I'd recommend turning off the WIFI on both the Telmex and Telecable, connecting them both to a new "Dual WAN" router with wifi capabilities using an ethernet (Cat 5) cable just like you are saying. 

I haven't used the consumer grade routers that can do this for years. They don't make a lot of models with this capability because there aren't a lot of people interested in paying for 2 internet connections. I'll do some research today and get back to you. I've been wanting to go this route myself, so it's no trouble at all. 

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20 minutes ago, bdmowers said:

OK, so with 2 connections coming in (to the same router?) if 2 users are using Netflix, we`ll have (something like) twice the bandwidth available.  If one user is streaming at a time, no increase in internet power.  If 2 users are on email there wouldn`t be much increase in application speed because email uses so little bandwidth anyway, right?

 

You've got it. 

One caveat that I'd like to throw in (because dual internet connections is never "perfect") There is a chance that if the "smarts" of the new router isn't very good that it would route the traffic for BOTH netflix users over the same connection. It's not likely, but it is possible. I'll look into how good the "load balancing" algorithms of the current generation routers are and report back today. 

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A dual WAN input router is what one wishes to use to load balance two internet sources. I brought one down over eight years ago, and it was several hundred dollars. I used internet inputs from TeleMex and TeleCable. TP-Link now has versions which are less than two hundred dollars.

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Ok, so you have to buy extra hardware of at least $200 (giltner68`s router is selling at near $400 at Amazon) to do something that given the eccentricities of the internet signals in this area may or may not work very well. Got it!  The overwhelming lesson of life in Mexico is presented once again: acquire more patience and learn to live with less!

Thanks everyone for your amazing input on this!

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It looks like most vendors don't advertize "Dual WAN" as a selling feature because there are so few people looking forward to it. The following routers don't break the bank, support Dual WAN, and people online seem to have success with the feature: 

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-N900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B006QB1RPY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1462570732&sr=8-5&keywords=asuswrt

http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC68U-Wireless-AC1900-Dual-Band-Gigabit-Router/dp/B00FB45SI4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1462570732&sr=8-3&keywords=asuswrt

Both of them have wifi performance that's overkill for our limited internet connections here. If someone is on a sub $100 budget there's likely a router out there from an older wifi standard that would still be more than needed here in the Lake Chapala area. 

 

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I have been using a TP-Link TL-R480T+ router here for about 3 or 4 years with a Telmex and Telecable connection. These are pretty cheap now, about $45 on newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704101

They also sell them on Mercado LIbre, so you can get one here in Mexico, but of course for a bit more

http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-553952448-tp-link-router-balanceador-de-carga-tl-r480t-alta-potencia-_JM

My unit looks just like the one on Mercado Libre, and the one on newegg must be somewhat newer as it looks a bit different. These do not have a wireless connection, so you have to supply your own wireless access point as well.

The load balancing works when having both Telmex and Telecable connected, but as pointed out, you are directed out over one or the other. There is no increase in total bandwidth but just an increase in shared bandwidth. I also find that things aren't as reliable with both Telmex and Telecable connected at the same time. I think it is because Telecable connection often fades out for a short time which the router doesn't detect. So you may get shot out that way and just get hung in the telecable ozone. So for this reason most of the time I just keep one, usually Telmex connected.

It does still have advantages though using it that way. If Telmex goes off, like it did yesterday, then it is a simple matter to just plug Telecable into the router and I'm off again. Telmex and Telecable use very different IP subnet ranges so there are many configuration changes needed to switch from one to the other, but this router hides all of that. Telmex comes in on one ip subnet, Telecable in its, and then my internal home network is on another. I have several security cameras and a file server that I like to keep on fixed ips and this makes it all transparent and workable to switch between the two connections. So if you are paying double for Telmex and Telecable I think one of these boxes is worthwhile though not perfect. You also have to understand a bit of basic networking to get them configured.

I just looked very briefly at those two wireless routers that ryanv just posted as the post came in while I'm writing this. I could be wrong, but it looks to me like those just have 1 WAN input. They are dual band wireless, meaning 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz, but from just looking quickly I only see one WAN input. You need 2 WAN ports to connect Telmex and Telecable.

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Oasiscloud is right to be skeptical of the single WAN listing. The routers I linked have specs that show only 1 WAN port, but you enable the second WAN port in the software interface. I made sure people online have had success with each of the models using the load balancing feature.  One of those problems with us being a small market. Here's a blurb from the ASUS site that applies to both of the routers: 

"Dual WAN support allows you to configure two separate internet connections on the same router. Load balancing and failover modes give you extra reliability and redundancy to ensure uninterrupted internet access. Even better, you can check the status and configuration of WAN connections instantly via the ASUSWRT Network Map."
 

Here's an example of how the feature is enabled: 

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1005714/

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I have a motherboard that will accept two inputs and Microsoft has a way of tying them together from W7 up.  As best I understand this, the mother board will go to the best service and auto swap over if one line drops out.  

If you are downloading just one stream, it will just use one line.  However, if you are downloading more than 1 stream, it will potentially use both lines.  

The only real way to get what you want is a dual input box and you have to read the specs carefully.  Some will only swap over if you lose a line and some of the more expensive ones will actually use both lines. giving you better speeds especially if you are downloading something like torrents.

From what I've read, the best feature is on upload.  The box will actually divide the upload into chunks and you really can get much better upload speeds.

When I started looking at this Telmex was giving me 4mb down and 170 up.  Then they went to 6mb down and now I have 10 down/700kb up so I quit looking.

I think the best way to get better service the cheapest is to go bitch at Telmex and see if they can do better

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is all good info and I think that the bottom line is that there is no perfect solution (at least not a cheap one). I'd sure like to think that I could bitch at Telmex and it would do some good, but don't think so. That said, I'm now getting 20mb down and 1mbs up with Telmex so pretty happy. When they do go out I have Telecable.

If you are doing torrents then the load balancing over multiple connections is great. A torrent will spin up many connections and could possibly utilise your full bandwidth on two connections. There are other benefits as well, such as being able to see how much bandwidth each individual connection is using, so it can help diagnose where actual problems are.

For example, I have found that if you have something that is saturating your upload bandwidth then it will likely bring everything else pretty much to a halt even though there isn't much download bandwidth being used. That isn't very hard to do with our very limited upload speeds. With these slightly more advanced routers you can see what is going on and figure out where the problem is. Without them it all you know is that it isn't working.

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Yep, the problem is upload speed.  My router says it is set for 700KB up and it will do that for a second or so and then throttle back to less than half of that.  Sending anything to the cloud takes forever.

Telecable has much better up load speeds and they are pretty consistent.  Not very reliable but consistent when it works.

The only real solution is to move NOB.  In Chattanooga, TN Google is furnishing 1TB down and 100MB up.  Now, that is trucking.

 

 

 

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If you live in Chapala Haciendas, Telecable does not offer their service.  I hoped that was going to be the answer to Telmex' very slow (.4mbs, that's POINT 4) internet speed.  It usually takes around 10 reloads to get a url to open.  Conversations with Telmex and Mexico city have done nothing to increase the speed.

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Yeah, gotta be careful where site yourself around here. The other side of the lake is the other side of the moon for internet. I wonder what folks in Mezcala have for internet.

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FWIW, I use the Asus N66U router ryanv referred to above. Yes it has a single WAN port but it supports Dual WAN thru the router software by identifying a LAN port as the second source of WAN.

As oasiscloud mentions, I find that using Telmex in the primary WAN port as more than adequate, with the current 10mb bandwidth update. Adding the Telecable WAN seems to hamper the overall throughput, so I too swap the CAT5 Telecable cable to the WAN only when Telemex is problematic, otherwise Telecable is disconnect. 

YMMV

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I ran across a very interesting VPN service with a twist the other day: http://speedify.com/desktop/. Speedify provides a Windows or Mac app that will combine (bond) multiple internet connections. This is what they say:

Channel bonding is a method for utilizing multiple Internet connections for increased throughput and redundancy. Our implementation uses a cloud server component to seamlessly combine all the data transferred across your various Internet connections. Channel bonding makes it possible to spread individual packets amongst multiple Internet connections. By splitting all your web traffic at the packet-level even large single socket transfers such as VPNs, streaming movies, and uploading and downloading files can be given a major speed boost!

They have a free plan that gives you 1gb a month that is mainly for testing. I tried it out with a wired connection to Telecable and a wifi connection to Telmex and here's a sample speedtest.

5314740559.png

I usually get about 18mb with my Telemex and 8 - 15 with Telecable, so I'm not getting the full bandwidth at once but it is a bump. I have also started several downloads and the app shows that I get up to about 30mb down at once.

Also note the Server is Dallas, TX. This is a VPN and they have a number of servers around the world. Dallas is the closest and so probably gives the best access. I have accessed Netflix and Amazon Prime Video through this with no complaints.

They say the unlimited bandwidth plan is supposed to be $252 a year, but have a 75% off special now so it is $63. They say that price includes future billings as well. Most normal VPN packages are in that price range just for the VPN.

I went ahead and paid for the plan and have been using it for about a day now. Even under normal browsing use where you aren't using anywhere near your full bandwidth things seem snappier and web pages seem to load faster. You can only log in from one computer at a time, but can use it on multiple computers.

I've only used it for a day, so can't fully endorse it yet, but so far it looks very good.

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  • 1 month later...

It is possible to combine a wireless and an ethernet connection,  however you cannot connect 2 ethernet connection or 2 wifi connection, because one willl cancel out the other, unless you have a special load balancing router.
I use 2 telmex connection that are each 1.8mbps.  One modem is hard wired to my computer, via cat5 ethernet cable....the other modem i receive via a steren USB WIFI adapter.
I combine them together using a 3rd party software called  Connectify Dispatch.  Speedify used to be Connectify Dispatch, but they scrapped their in house program ( Dispatch), that sold for 40 dollars and turned it into a very expensive monthy service ( speedify).
The program " Dispatch ", however is still floating around cyberspace..... If you are familiar with Torrent files and Utorrent, a fully working "evaluation"  copy of Connectify Hotspot and Connectify Dispatch are available here.
https://thepiratebay.org/search/connectify%20dispatch/0/99/300
Follow the installation instructions.

Install Notes:
1] Install Connectify
2] Run the "Connectify 8 Crack.exe" from folder 'Crack'
3] If needed, Browse and select Connectify installation path
4] Click Activate PRO button and wait till a message box comes up
5] OK it and close the crack
6] Run the 'BLOCKHosts.bat' file as ADMINISTRATOR {**THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT**}
7] Now restart your PC
8] Enjoy LIFETIME CONNECTIFY PRO LICENSE :)

Install Notes: 1] Install Connectify 2] Run the "Connectify 8 Crack.exe" from folder 'Crack' 3] If needed, Browse and select Connectify installation path 4] Click Activate PRO button and wait till a message box comes up 5] OK it and close the crack 6] Run the 'BLOCKHosts.bat' file as ADMINISTRATOR ( by right clicking the file named BLOCKhosts, and choosing 'run as Administrator") {**THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT**} 7] Now restart your PC 8] Enjoy LIFETIME CONNECTIFY PRO LICENSE :)

 Please purchase the service if you find that it works for you.
It is a little bit finicky, but I have achieved combined speeds of up to 4.6mbps (460kbps) by combining two 180kbps connections. More than double the combined speed.

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Are you saying you have two TelMex modems? And or two TelMex contracts? " I use 2 telmex connection that are each 1.8mbps.  One modem is hard wired to my computer, via cat5 ethernet cable....the other modem i receive via a steren USB WIFI adapter."

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Yes,  i have two separate Telmex  accounts  each with a different phone line and modem.
One modem i have wired directly...the second modem/account is connected via a USB wifi adapter.

Follow the install instructions carefully and install the crack, before restarting your comp, which it will ask you to do after you install Connectify......tell it NO i want to restart manually later.....then run the crack, and run the BLOCKhost file AS ADMIN.....then restart.
Again, it's all a little finicky, because it .....is what it is  =).
But i'm getting some great speeds, when it works.........I have had to uninstall and reinstall Connectify, so don't delete the install files....and i recommend using Ccleaner to clean the registry between reinstallations.
I don't know why, but occasionally it simply stops combining your connections....or one connection will cut to half speed...and it needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled.  ( also....it worked much better with Windows 7, than with 8 or 10...so if you have not upgraded....you might not want to.

One final note....once you get it all working great......do yourself a favor and create a restore point.
=)

 

 

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