Bonded Lines

Hi everyone,

I have a good understanding of networks, but my knowledge of ADSL is quite basic.

If i order two lines from two ISPs and load balance them LAN side using EIGRP, will the result be equal to that of bonded ADSL? i.e. the sum of the speed of both lines.

If you bond two lines with the help of an ISP do you get one virtual IP address? Do they terminate them as one PVC at their point of presence.

Can anyone explain exactly how ISPs do this and the benefits/pit falls?

Thanks
Marc.

Edited by yoof (Mon 24-Aug-09 22:15:32)

bonding via MLPPP gives you a single IP but needs the traffic to terminate on the same kit at each end ie usually the same ISP.

3rd party solutions like Sharedband operate over multiple paths and combine on a remote server to give a single IP.

Various VPN solutions will operate over multiple paths.

You can load balance over two lines without combining into a single stream but this won't give full throughput to a single process / application.

There's usually some overheads invovled so throughput is a bit less than the sum of the parts.