Topic: wifi dongle question

[daveeb]

hi all, shock horror i have a pc question 

I have two broadband connections (VM cable and O2 adsl). I would like to utilise both connections on my desktop pc at the same time if possible. I currently use the VM cable connection via ethernet cable. The pc doesn't have a wireless card but i was considering getting a wifi dongle to use with my o2 connection. So is it possible for me to open two instances of my internet browser (FF) on the pc, one of which is using VM BB and one using O2 BB ?   

[Simon]

In short, I don't know, Dave.  I have my doubts that you can have two simultaneous Internet connections on the same machine, but from what you've said, they do indeed sound quite separate.  Rik or Sam may be able to give a more definite answer. 

[daveeb]

Cheers Simon, i suppose the obvious thing to do is to buy a wifi dongle and try it. Just don't want to waste my money attempting something if it isn't possible.

[sam]

You can do it. Well I've not done it in this way. I'll look it up later. I've port trunked servers in the past but that's all been for internal networks. I don't see why it would be any different though I've never tries todo this outside of linux.
Depends how much the WiFi dongle will be. Not a bad idea if your main connection ever went down anyway.

[Rik]

I don't think you can do it, Dave. AFAIK, Windows will only accept one network connection at a time, eg if I plug a cable into my laptop, the wireless refuses to connect etc (and that's two separate lines). However, both routers use the same IP range, and I've never needed to try using anything else, so it might just work if you have two ranges, but I don't think Windows is that clever.

[daveeb]

Cheers guys, it's a split verdict then  I think i'll give it a go with low expectations of success 

[Simon]

We'd be very interested to hear the results, Dave. 

[sam]

Its the windows bit that puts me off. I think Rik is probably right on that.

[daveeb]

Well i ordered and received a wifi dongle  Haven't tried it yet but on reflection there is no way i know of to specify to the web browser which connection it should consider to be the active one..i guess it defaults to the first connection used and all subsequent tabs or windows of the browser will use the same connection. 

[Simon]

I would think so, Dave.  The only way I can see of using the dongle, is in the event of a default connection failure, in which case the dongle would become the temporary default connection. 

[daveeb]

I would think so, Dave.  The only way I can see of using the dongle, is in the event of a default connection failure, in which case the dongle would become the temporary default connection. 

Funnily enough my normally rock solid connection is getting rather flakey....keep getting the "limited or no connectivity" message which is usually cured by rebooting the router. Although obviously the dongle will only help if it's the network card that is fubared.

[Simon]

That could also be a router issue though.  Have you tried rebooting / resetting / relocating the router (just a couple of inches can make a difference), or re-establishing a new wireless connection?

[daveeb]

That could also be a router issue though.  Have you tried rebooting / resetting / relocating the router (just a couple of inches can make a difference), or re-establishing a new wireless connection?

it could be the router Simon, as it's getting on a bit, but the pc uses a wired connection not wireless. It seems to be a DHCP/ IP problem, i suspect either the network card or the router. Next time it happens i'll try connecting another device to rule in/out the network card in the main pc.