[KLUG Members] RE: Re: Connection Teaming multiple Internet

[Adam Williams]

> I have been trying to get some kind of broadband for three years. Cable
> finally comes through and intermittently it sucks.

Yep, I hear that alot about cable.

> My management doesn't like the numbers for even a partial T1 unless we move
> our 800 number and 5 phone lines onto the T1. Only problem is, our PBX won't
> take a T1 module. So, when I throw in the cost of a PBX upgrade they won't
> buy in.

The phone company won't provide a channel bank to convert some of the T1
channels back to voice?  Even some Cisco routers can do that - tell it
channels 1 - 8 are voice and it provides RJ11s (with dial tone) on a
card.

> Management is happy with a dedicated 56K dialup for an SMTP server and screw
> the web, until the accountant can't connect to the US Gov disbursement site
> over satellite, the receptionist can't do FedEx Airway bills online, etc.
> Then they want to know what the problem is.

That they are a bunch of tight-asses.  Jeeesh, I love it when management
does this.  "Here is no money, crappy resources, and we won't stand
behind you... And why does this solution suck?"

Have you consider co-oping?  Is there another business next door that
needs i-net access?  You can get a T1 and charge them some fee to share
it with you.

> I found references to two Windbloz based products that do connection teaming
> but have not found any references to Linux apps that might accomplish this
> same thing. One of the winbloz links was 404. The other, Vicomsoft InterGate

Beware!  Don't make any promises based upon such products.

> basically seems to do stateful routing of requests. A long download stays on
> one connection, but when viewing a web page, for example, each http GET can
> go out on the fastest connection.

How do they determine fastest connection?  See, without a BGP feed or
some similiar metrics coming from up-stream - they can't!  I'd want to
test the crap out of something that claims it can, and I'd wager lunch
it wouldn't work.  As Gandalf said - 'Not even a wizard can burn snow'.

> I was kinda hoping Squid might be smart enough to do this same thing. Squid
> and I had a disagreement a couple of years back and it left a bad taste in
> my mouth :() I was hoping someone else would break the ice for me.

Squid would help either way, and is probably a good idea for liability
reasons alone.