Dual Ethernet connections

[flyingmunky25]

Hi,
I live in the dorms here at college and there are two ethernet ports, we are capped off at 5mb/s. I was wondering if there is any software for windows that i can combine these two ethernet connections into one to have double the speed.
I have one with wireless, and one wired.

I have looked at routers with 2 wan ports, but thats not really an option.
I have a spare computer with dual ethernet cards too if that would work, I even have a 3rd card laying around.

[mountain_rage]

Better question would be whether or not your campus allows you to be logged into two connections at once using the same log in credentials. My university blocks multiple connections.

[flyingmunky25]

yes, they do allow multiple connections with the same login here

[mountain_rage]

Well then, unless I'm mistaken, you can simply connect to the wireless router while your Ethernet is plugged in. At one time I had two Ethernet ports on my computer and I believe I was connected to both through windows.

[wapazoid]

I'm assuming the two ports in your room are to accomodate for two internal IP addresses assigned by your college ISP. Even if you were to bridge your cat5/6 and wireless connections, I don't think it would double the bandwidth on your single system. You may be better off utilizing one of your spare systems for two separate 5Mbps connections.

[flyingmunky25]

anyone know of anything for linux?

I tried having both connections connected with vista, and vista simply used one or the other.

[notbob]

you need a program that can load balance, or a router that does that. look up "load balancing"

[flyingmunky25]

would "network load balancing" under windows server 2003 do this? would it just split up the connections to two different connections or would it actually combine the two?

[notbob]

there are routers and switches that do it, i suppose a linux box could be rigged to do it, but i have no idea how.