Find out if your local ISP supports Muti-Link accounts. If not,let them know that they can have a market from those without the access to broadband for better connection speeds over rural areas. This is how to setup a home PC and/or network with two modems and a phone. This can increase the speed of dial-up users in remote areas.It requires a minimum of Windows 98 or above, two phone lines, one dial-up connection with two logs-ins allowed.
Steps --
Almost all computers come with one modem installed. It is best to have matching modems for the best connection speed. This means you will have to get another using a version of Windows or Linux. I have connected at a steady rate of 64K with two Rockwell based 56K modems, at a distance of about 25 miles from a local town. You will also need two separate phone lines for each modem. I am including a list of steps to take to set it up, and dial away.
Under the Windows Xp version I have tested, I use the dial-up creation dialog.
Click next, and it will ask for what network type. Just leave it at the default setting (connect to the internet).
Click next, and you can choose the type of service you would like to use. I chose to setup my account manually, and that works under both Windows and Linux.
Click next and select connect using dial-up modem.
Click the next button, give the dial-up connection a name which can be anything you care to name it.
Click next, and enter the telephone number needed to access the net. Make sure that it's not a long distance number or toll charges will mount pretty quickly.
Click next and enter the user name and password, which will be used for logging in to their server. Most any service provider uses PAP or CHAP authentication, though you may have to manually setup the primary and secondary IP addresses again depending on the type of service they are willing to provide.
Click next and make sure that the check boxes are setup the way you want them to stay. I chose to allow anyone dial-up access on the computer.
With a family living in a rural area, it can take over TV time and sometimes make it hard to have time when sharing just one computer.
The last step in the dialog process is to create it. You can also put a check in the box to have windows create an icon to launch it from the desktop.
Make sure both phones are clear in tone with no noticeable static or wavering noises.
Connect the phone lines to each phone line junction box. Click finish.Now we are ready to edit the dialog for a specific setting. I chose to create an icon to place on the task bar under the quick start menu.
Double click on the name of the icon created for your connection. You will default to the general tabbed window of another dialog box, it is here that we want to change some settings.
Since I have two computers I have hooked them up using CAT5 cable through a 5 port Switch. Setting up a local address should be in the range of 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.0.10. Although it is a very long subject, each network card should have its own IP address.
Now click on the properties button on the connection dialog. Click on the networking tab in the dialog box and click on the settings button right below the "Type of Dial-up" settings. Another smaller dialog box will appear with three check boxes. Only two should be set and they are:
Enable software compression, and negotiating multi-link for single dial-up. Leave "enable LCP extension" alone unless required by your particular service.
Click the ok button, and if needed now you can setup whatever IP address is used for your connection. Some are best left as default unless you need to setup a separate DNS number such as a static IP address on your local internet service.
Under the advanced tab of this dialog, you must setup one computer for the gateway dial out. This is the one with the two modems. With the phones connected to the modems going to their own jack,dial up your service for an attempted connect. It should login with one of the modems first and then it will negotiate a multi-link session. If everything is setup correctly at your ISP, and you have followed these steps both modems should connect. Now if you would like to test the speed, go to Google (Google is your friend) or which ever search engine you choose. Look for the phrase test my connection speed. Several sites will give you the chance to test your download and upload stats in a couple of clicks, or if you’re a privacy nut, you can just find a single big file and download it. The download dialog may start out at the max speed that you can expect from this particular session. I downloaded Firefox and received a steady 64Kbps rate for just over 4 minutes. (With two external USR modems, I can achieve the rate of 80Kbps and have it steady. Using Suse Linux version 9, and with Fedore core three. Compare this to the normal connection rate of 32 to 40K for a single dial-up. It's right up there in cost with cable or DSL and in some instances can be a little more expensive. With initial cost of setting up two phones costing( in my area) 70 dollars for the connection fees, 29.00 for a matching modem to the one computer dial-out machine. 30 dollars a month from my local ISP, and the need to study online for classes at my local university, it makes good sense to bite the bullet, for the extra bandwidth. The small boost in speed helps when your average time online can be 10 to 15 hours per week.
Tips --
Two of the best modems I have used were both USR external 56K modems. You may have to go through the pains of writing an initialization string into each modem to tame them down a bit, as they are aggressive connecting devices.(continued)
Warnings --
Unless you have a need for faster connection speeds this can be cost prohibitive.
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