How do I "queue" my ISP connections?

[Nobody Important]

Hi guys and girls,

I'm not too clued up on the correct terminology so please excuse me as I try to explain.

I currently use FNBConnect ISP (R69/gb) and entered the settings into the router (Telkom Billion 400G) and all has worked well these past 6 months.

Today I signed up for the AfriHost special (R29/gb). I would like to set-up my router such that it 1st uses the AfriHost ISP's 2gb and once the connection fails (hits the CAP) it must automatically switch to the FNBConnect ISP.

I've googled and read lots of the posts here where it's suggests to use "bridging" mode and have the PC offer you two connections when you start browsing but this isn't ideal as I also use the wi-fi facility on the router so that my cell (Nokia 5800) can access teh interwebs via the ADSL too and there is no way to enter ISP settings in the phone. It's dumb (I know, I know its a "Smartphone") it just relies on the settings in the router.

All tips appreciated. Even the criticisms. ;-P

Ta,

Kiran

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Yes, the best option would be to set up your router to bridged mode and then use a dlal up (PPPoE) approach. This is how I set it up at our house too, everybody can get their own account and we don't have to worry about somebody using all the cap up.

All you would do is set your router to bridged mode (check your manual - not familiar with that router) and then if you are running Windows, all you have to do is go and create a new connection to the internet under Connections, the one option will be PPPoE connection - select this one and enter your ISP login details and you're done. You can create multiple connections and also connect to multiple accounts simultaneously (splitting local/international traffic - there are plenty of post's on this forum about that).

I don't know if there is a way to get the accounts to change over automatically though - suppose if you can code an application in windows or if you using linux, create a script for this. But it's easy if you have both connections already, as soon as the one doesn't work anymore, change over!

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Mo_Og]

An alternative set up would be to set your router in half-bridge mode. Use afrihost/fnb on the router and "dial up"(PPPOE) on your pc. This way, you can still browse the net using your nokia. I'm guessing that you wont use up your quota by browsing on the your phone. When your "dial up" account has been capped, you can browse the net using the other account without having to "dial up"...the beauty of half bridged mode.

Also remember that if you put your router in bridge/half-bridged mode, there is a higher security risk. You should look at a third-party firewall, etc etc.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[acidb]

An alternative set up would be to set your router in half-bridge mode. Use afrihost/fnb on the router and "dial up"(PPPOE) on your pc. This way, you can still browse the net using your nokia. I'm guessing that you wont use up your quota by browsing on the your phone. When your "dial up" account has been capped, you can browse the net using the other account without having to "dial up"...the beauty of half bridged mode.

Also remember that if you put your router in bridge/half-bridged mode, there is a higher security risk. You should look at a third-party firewall, etc etc.

Hope this helps a bit.

Quite insightful, learned a thing here, dunno how I missed that important piece of information trolling the forum before, so thanks

 

[Nobody Important]

Thanks for all the tips guys. Well just to test AfriHost out I just entered all the details into the router as a single connection and will use it like that for a few days and then see what to do.

I noticed while fiddling with the router settings that it supports multiple sessions. Have a look at this screenshot.

See it takes multiple login details. How would I configure that as in my 1st post?

 

[Nobody Important]

Okay just got an email from Billion support regarding the multiple session option.

Unfortunately, the multi-session feature cannot be setup to fail-over/queue the ISP accounts. You can specify routes to each account, in other words you can setup one account to access certain web resources and all other resources will be routed via the other account.

So basically it does what RouteSentry does just "in-house" I guess. Too bad for me. Well that's how the cookie crumbles.

 

[Pada]

From the E-mail you got from Billion support, your router should be able to do exactly what you can achieve with RouteSentry, however it would be much better, since you don't have to run any applications on the PC to do the traffic splitting.

I've never used the 'Dial on Demand' feature on my friend's D-Link DSL2640U, but I'm pretty sure that you can use that feature to have a Fallover/Queue effect. Unfortunately the DSL2640U doesn't support multiple PPPoE accounts like the D-Link DSL2500U.
I'm currently dialing multiple PPPoE accounts from my MikroTik RB750G, and then I've also configured 1 additional (fallover) PPPoE connection, with the 'Dial on Demand' option selected, so that it will dial as soon as my other accounts are depleted/disconnected I've only recently set it up like that, so I haven't seen it in action yet.

 

[czc]

Do you need anything else to use the RB750 G?

 

[Mier]

Hi guys and girls,

I'm not too clued up on the correct terminology so please excuse me as I try to explain.

I currently use FNBConnect ISP (R69/gb) and entered the settings into the router (Telkom Billion 400G) and all has worked well these past 6 months.

Today I signed up for the AfriHost special (R29/gb). I would like to set-up my router such that it 1st uses the AfriHost ISP's 2gb and once the connection fails (hits the CAP) it must automatically switch to the FNBConnect ISP.
I've googled and read lots of the posts here where it's suggests to use "bridging" mode and have the PC offer you two connections when you start browsing but this isn't ideal as I also use the wi-fi facility on the router so that my cell (Nokia 5800) can access teh interwebs via the ADSL too and there is no way to enter ISP settings in the phone. It's dumb (I know, I know its a "Smartphone") it just relies on the settings in the router.

All tips appreciated. Even the criticisms. ;-P

Ta,

Kiran

Take note that Afrihost allows you to overun your cap and they then deduct it from your next topup or next months' cap. So I suggest you use FNB first, if they hardcap properly.

Secondly, regarding failovers, I think a router will only failover if the first (primary) link FAILS. However, afaik when you reach your cap you're still connected, but just cannot send/receive data (I've never been hard-capped, so I may be wrong). Therefore, from the router's point-of-view the link is still UP, because the link doesn't actually DISCONNECT.

 

[Pada]

Do you need anything else to use the RB750 G?

The RB750G is the faster (gigabit) version of the RB750. It doesn't have wireless either.
To have Wireless access to ADSL via the RB750, you would simply need an ADSL router with WiFi that can be configured in (full) bridge mode OR you could have your ADSL router (also in bridge mode) and a separate WiFi AP connected to the RB750.

Take note that Afrihost allows you to overun your cap and they then deduct it from your next topup or next months' cap. So I suggest you use FNB first, if they hardcap properly.

Secondly, regarding failovers, I think a router will only failover if the first (primary) link FAILS. However, afaik when you reach your cap you're still connected, but just cannot send/receive data (I've never been hard-capped, so I may be wrong). Therefore, from the router's point-of-view the link is still UP, because the link doesn't actually DISCONNECT.

I'm pretty sure that my Afrihost connection actually disconnected once the cap was depleted. If it's not disconnecting, then you'll have to write a script that to ping a fixed (and reliable) destination to check if you ran out of cap. Of course this method won't work either if its going to run into the next month's cap.
The first method that I suggested (using 'Dial on Demand') would only work if the connection actually disconnects, instead of simply denying access.

 

[Mo_Og]

I read through a couple posts about users running over their cap, a guy went over by 27gig...I'd suggest you manually disconnect. Monitoring bandwidth via the isp client zone is a good habit to have, if your pc picks up a virus/trojan...there tends to be a spike in usage and you can switch over manually without having to dish out for extra bandwith used (I failed to mention this in my previous post)

 

[Nobody Important]

I read through a couple posts about users running over their cap, a guy went over by 27gig...I'd suggest you manually disconnect. Monitoring bandwidth via the isp client zone is a good habit to have, if your pc picks up a virus/trojan...there tends to be a spike in usage and you can switch over manually without having to dish out for extra bandwith used (I failed to mention this in my previous post)

Ja I also read about that. The thing is the ISP's don't seem to cap properly. As mentioned earlier you'll still be connected but just won't be able to send/receive so any fail-over you set-up won't work. Also with AfriHost it seems they'll let you go over the cap and re-coup from the next month's allowance.

Guess I'll just do it manually. The benefit with FNB is roll-over. I've measured my usage over the past 6months and it averages about 2.3gb/month (home user). So I just load any amount I want whenever I want. Usually R50 at a time but maybe the odd R20 towards month end . And I don't have to worry about using it all up coz I know it will just roll-over.

Now I've taken the 2gb package from AfriHost coz its so cheap, once the 2gb runs out I'll swap over to FNB for the rest of the month. I know you can manually top up on AfriHost too but only in 1gb increments! Do they do roll-over? Coz maybe I'll use 300mb from the top-up for the rest of the month and come 1st of new month is it all forfeited? If they do roll-over than I don't even need FNB any more.

Those that use AfriHost can you pipe in with your 2c here?

 

[Nobody Important]

Now I've taken the 2gb package from AfriHost coz its so cheap, once the 2gb runs out I'll swap over to FNB for the rest of the month. I know you can manually top up on AfriHost too but only in 1gb increments! Do they do roll-over? Coz maybe I'll use 300mb from the top-up for the rest of the month and come 1st of new month is it all forfeited? If they do roll-over than I don't even need FNB any more.

Okay as I was typing this I got an auto-email from AfriHost "Bandwith Notice" that I'm almost done with my allocated gigs:

Once you have reached 100% of your bandwidth your account will be
capped and you will no longer be able to connect to the internet until
the 1st of next month.

What can you do to avoid being capped when you reach your limit?

If you wish to keep connecting to the internet after you have reached
your limit you need to buy a Top-Up. You can do this by logging in to
your Client Zone , clicking on the 'MyConnectivity' link in the 'My Products'
section and then clicking on the 'TopUp' link to purchase a TopUp Bundle
before you run out of bandwidth.

Please note that your TopUp bundles do not carry over into the new
month - any unused bandwidth expires at the end of the month.

So the 1st part is contrary to popular opinion in that now they say they will hard cap. So maybe fail-over will work? I'm getting confused. :/

And the second part answers my q's regarding roll-over. So I just won't top-up using Afrihost, will use FNB for the rest of month.

P.S. Don't take this as a rant at AfriHost. I'm really enjoying their prompt service at the moment and think they're great esp. at this price point. Only asking all these q's so that I can get a better understanding.

 

[Pada]

With the RB750 (or any other device running RouterOS), you can simply run a script to "hard-cap" the connections yourself.

Here's a script of mine that would hardcap my IS connection at 10GB.

# Derived from http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Automated_Usage_Script_without_usermanager
/interface
:local i [find name="PPPoE IS local only"]
:local content [get $i bytes]
:local posSlash [:find $content "/"]
:local bytesup [:pick $content 0 $posSlash]
:local bytesdown [:pick $content ($posSlash+1) [:len $content]]
:local bytestotal ($bytesup + $bytesdown)
:local megstotal ($bytestotal/1048576)
:if ([$megstotal] > 10240) do={
disable $i
:log info "Capping at $megstotal MB"
}

 

[snail112]

From the E-mail you got from Billion support, your router should be able to do exactly what you can achieve with RouteSentry, however it would be much better, since you don't have to run any applications on the PC to do the traffic splitting.

I've never used the 'Dial on Demand' feature on my friend's D-Link DSL2640U, but I'm pretty sure that you can use that feature to have a Fallover/Queue effect. Unfortunately the DSL2640U doesn't support multiple PPPoE accounts like the D-Link DSL2500U.
I'm currently dialing multiple PPPoE accounts from my MikroTik RB750G, and then I've also configured 1 additional (fallover) PPPoE connection, with the 'Dial on Demand' option selected, so that it will dial as soon as my other accounts are depleted/disconnected I've only recently set it up like that, so I haven't seen it in action yet.

Pada, will this be possible with the D-link DSL2540U?

How can I explore all the options of my D-link DSL2540U? I could only find the basic working options for my D-link DSL2540U and 2640U

 

[Pada]

Snail, I'm not sure if it would be possible to do that with the DSL2540U. If you can add 2 PPPoE WAN interfaces, where the fail-over account has the 'Dial on demand' option enabled, then I'd guess that it should work.
The 2640U that I had didn't allow me to have 2 PPPoE WAN interfaces with the VPI/VCI set to 8/35. As soon as I created the second interface, it ruined the settings of the first.