Sharing Bandwidth

[Mortiffer]

Short: Is there a way to share bandwidth from 2 or more internet connections onto one computer?

Longer: I was thinking of a client on one machine that connects to lets say 3 other computers running a server and all 3 are connected to the client through lan or Wlan but have a second connection to their own isp. A RL example of this could be i have a friend that lives near me and i set up his wireless router so i know his wep key or he just gave it to me. When he is sleeping or is not home i could be using his unused bandwidth or the other way around. He would not even have to be my nextdoor neighbor since we don't need the full 58mbs. To actually speed up downloads of websites or larger files, the client would have to ask the server to download one part of a file and the client uses its own connection to download another. This is the part where I'm not sure if this can work or not, is it possible to download only parts of a file? I'm sure this would work for torrents and for webpages(by splitting up the image downloads to different connections).

A simpler version of my idea is just setting up a proxy on the "server" computer , downloading some stuff on that connection and then switching to your normal connection for some gaming.

Does what i am describing here already exist?

is it even possible ?

[SomeoneE1se]

If i'm not mistaken if you connect you're computer to your router AND his router at the same time you computer will automatically use both connections

[VaKo]

You could just load balance the 2 connections? Or buy/make a dual wan router? Then just setup some rules for the traffic.

[Freakish]

The only thing that I can think of is to pause your download, switch connections and resume your download. I'm sure that there are static connection programs out there.

[Guest ABC]

Sorta linked .. can you set usage for certian pcs .. ie pc1 5 kbps .. pc 2 10 kbps pc 3; rest

[cooper]

How would this internet connection load balancing thing work?

Like say you're somewhere and there are 4 open access points within good reach. How difficult woult it be to use all 4 simultaneously to get more effective throughput.

Yes, a single download would still go to one link, but when you've got a torrent going it's not hard to imagine the incoming data arriving across 4 pipes, resulting in a higher (effective) speed.

[Mortiffer]

If this works you could also use it to get around download caps, since they allow 500kbs per connection you could get 1mbs.

......

@VaKo are you saying that if you set up a router on some old box that supports dual wan input, then the r0uter would do all the work. Work as in spliting up the data coming downfrom the 2 connections and puting it back together then feeding it to lan ?

..

I wonder if any torrent clients already support the use of several proxies

[VaKo]

I don't know exactly how you could do it, but I assume some kinda iptable/pf/ipfw rules would do it. You could basically hook in the 2 wan inputs, and then specify that traffic for torrents is sent down one pipe, and that gaming traffic would be sent down a 2nd. You could extend this as far as you wanted to, ie if work was paying for a fat pipe but specified no porn and no warez. You could get a 2nd pipe plumbed in, and specify packet content inspection rules or similar so that adult content or warez would use your personal connection. The dual wan part is probally the easiest, setting up the rules isn't something I can offer advice on.

A long time ago, some nice people from the dd-wrt camp helped me setup my wifi connection as a 2nd WAN connection. (I also installed dd-wrt on a random router somewhere). It worked, in a fashion, and let me torrent at 150-170% of my normal speed. Then I think they got wise, as the AP vanished and there was a NTL van parked down the street.