Recommended Tests

About a month ago, I got frustrated with the limited bandwidth Smart Bro offers.  I should mention that I had no issues whatsoever with the connection - it works as advertised - i.e. >384Kbps connection.  But I wanted more!   

Research pointed me towards a DUAL WAN Router solution.  I wrote to Smart and asked if there would be compatibility issues with having a second connection installed and linking them with a Dual Wan Router.  After having to explain to the first level of customer service what a DUAL WAN Router was, they forwarded my query to technical support. The answer came back that Dual Wan was not compatible with Smart Bro, and if I wanted great bandwidth I should subscribe to their business services. i.e. SMART BRO Enterprise 1Mbps/256 for a mere P18,000 per month (that's US$360 per month).  They were unable to explain why it wouldn't work, which made suspicious, and after google searching led me to discover that Canopy had no problems with Dual Wan configurations,  I smelt a rat.

I decided to try it anyway.  I bought a Edimax BR-6624 Dual Band Router, had the second Smart Bro connection installed (I hid the router just in case it confused the technicians during the install!) and then connected the router hoping for the best, but expecting the worse. A Smart Bro Portal page appeared, I reactivated and could connect, but then another portal page appeared. 
The router had tried to use the second connection I guessed and it hadn't been activated. I was right, so I unplugged WAN1 and reactivated SMART Bro on WAN2 (login details for new account), I then plugged WAN1 back, unplugged WAN2 and reactivated Smart Bro (login details for older account) - plugged back WAN2 - bingo, I could connect to the net with out problem.  I checked load balancing was enabled and then set about speed tests.

Internet bandwidth tests (such as testmy.net) don't appear to show the pooled bandwidth of a dual wan connection.  This is because (to my understanding) only one broadband connection is used to transfer the test file.  Dual Wan will only show its colors when a file can be downloaded in multiple parts - i.e download manager, uTorrent etc.    So I tried to download a couple of lunux iso files using Getright and ran uTorrent and this was the result:

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s290/mangtomasito/Smartbro-DualWAN.jpg

OK - this doesn't show the best average I have achieved so far - I'll try to get another capture when the rates are faster - and they have been > 1Mbps d/l and 1.4 Mbps u/l.

If you get a DUAL WAN router - be sure to configure port 443 to go to only one WAN connection, otherwise you'll not be able to use sites that have https://   - i.e. hotmail

Otherwise - I think it's worth the cost of the router to increase speed.

so you combining two connection in one machine ?

can you post some speed tests?

Ok.  So here are a few results that appear to reinforce what I meant....  The standard speed tests only use one stream whereas the FTP file download test which was handled in this case by Getright Pro used four streams across the two connections.

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I'm not really a gamer - but I will experiment with game server configuration and report back.  Any suggestions of how I can do this and give meaningful data to readers that are gamers?

While I don't notice the speed increase if try to watch a Spiked Humour video as only one steam, I can download the video using get right and use the full bandwidths.  The analogy with dual core processor systems in one of the background links I gave earlier is very good - I can be viewing a single video stream, but don't notice a lag if my Anti-Virus decides to update or I'm check mail etc. 

Mangtom seems like a good set up anyway for what you want to achieve

as long as you know the limitations before you go into it

how did you find the installation of the Edimax BR-6624 Dual Band Router,

how much do you pay per line ?

i am asking this questions not for me
but for other members really who might want to try this out

i am in the uk no smart bro here we have real internet connection HEHEHEHE

Blunted 2 - You might have a point about the ips - but here's the oddest thing - both of my internet connections present to the world on the same IP - such is the nature of Smart Bro's public IP ad NAT I guess.  However, that strangeness in configuration maybe the real downfall for the game server.  Already, Smart Bro subscribers are limited by the set-up for a single connection - things such as Remote Desktop Connection (incoming), Ipv4 web hosting, open ports for eMule and Bit Torrent direct peerconnections and others which are listed on elsewhere in the Smart Bro forum is impossible.  However, five years ago  - a reliable dial-up connection here for less than £20 was hard to find so I am happy to see progress on the broadband front. 

Just-.  I knew there would be limitations and frankly, I am shocked it works as well as it does. 

Each 384Kbps line connection/line costs Php999 per month - that's about £10.60 or US$21.00 - not that bad for an ex-pat and far less than the Php18,000 1Mbps connection Smart had suggested I go for.   But if you factor in that average annual Philippine household income is somewhere between US$3,000 and $4,000 - $42 per month for internet a ton of cash.  Even one connection is somewhat of a luxury for many.

The Edimax was quite simple to set up - a couple of essential settings that I have mentioned earlier in this thread need to be set - but it's nothing difficult.   It is a powerful router, but most of it's more sophisticated functions can be ignored for a standard home setup.  A  I'm still making adjustments but once I am entirely convinced that my router is set for optimum - I'll post a guide. 

My dual wan, dual base station approach was working fine until Maundy Thursday when the antennae pole holding the two subscriber modules collapsed. The installer had used to the existing poll to hold both SMs and I suspect it wasn't strong enough; the engineer that has re-erected it says that a screw had failed but the poles are strong enough to hold more than two SMs.  I won't complain as I availed of the free installation promo for the second connection - but if you are planning to install a similar dual wan system and are paying the P1,000 install fee I'd suggest you insist upon separate poles and have each SM connecting to separate base stations (if practical).

 I also advise you that if you have experienced the  hardships of dealing with Smart Bro's telephone support with one connection - ask your doctor for Valium before attempting to report a problem with your TWO connections.  I wish I had recorded the conversations - they would make for a great sit-com.  I felt sorry for the staff as they obviously had no prepared response that would fit my situation!

Download Connection is:: 425 Kbps about 0.43 Mbps (tested with 579 kB)
Download Speed is:: 52 kB/s
Upload Connection is:: 373 Kbps about 0.4 Mbps (tested with 748 kB)
Upload Speed is:: 46 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net (Server 1)
Test Time:: 2007/04/29 - 6:44pm
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-JAPZ6LMTO
U-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-0I275BOUW
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.11) Gecko/20070312 Firefox/1.5.0.10 [/size]\

are these good numbers for a smart bro subscriber. this is really getting awkward....

interesting stuff

Using a router would solve the problem. then configure your router to use different IP's sample is 192.168.1.xx - 192.168.1.xx to any IP you desire. The "x" is the only thing you can change. But pls take note of sharing connection to the original IP add may cause differently in connection speed. This is applicable for Linksys router.

 

hmmm, got an idea id still use my legal smart bro connection and purchase the tech's that offers me their own version of smart bro ha ha paying 999 with 2 connections!