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Currently we have a T1 feeding into a router. This router connects to a switch for our small office clients. Our T1 really sucks, and since no one offers any decent service in our area, my boss decided to get a couple 3G USB modems from Verizon and get a Cradlepoint router to connect them to.

Right now we are all still connected to the T1, but we want a way to connect to the Cradlepoint for internet connections, and still be on the wired switch at the same time so that we can all use the LAN for our network drives and so on. I tried to just connect directly to both, but when I go to speed test my connection, I see that I'm just using the T1 connection.

So is this possible, or do I need to disconnect the router from the T1 modem and connect it directly to the Cradlepoint to use the 3G modems?

HopelessN00b
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Julian
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  • Are you looking to eliminate the t1 service? – ErnieTheGeek Jul 24 '12 at 16:50
  • It's time to get rid of that aging T1 and get some modern broadband in there; for instance, the local cable company's business-class connection, Verizon FIOS, etc. Not only will you have a much faster Internet connection, but you'll save a lot of money. – Michael Hampton Jul 24 '12 at 16:54
  • @Michael Hampton - There are a still lot of great use cases for t1s. Also, he said there arent any good alternatives available in his area. – ErnieTheGeek Jul 24 '12 at 16:57
  • Just delete the default route that points to the network that has the T1. (This assumes both networks don't use the same LAN IP addresses.) – David Schwartz Jul 24 '12 at 19:24

2 Answers2

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Yes, it's possible, and not all that difficult, but it requires some basic client networking configuration that might be... a bit of a stretch for you.

Basically, what you want to do is use static routes on your client(s) so that all internal traffic (traffic going to an address on you internal subnet) prefers the internal wired switch, and all external traffic (anything not on that subnet) prefers the wifi connection to your Cradlepoint router and its 3G modems.

Not that I think this is a particularly good solution to your issue, but that's the basic approach. Specifics depend on the client OS you're using, which you haven't posted.

And, just so you and your boss know, T1s in general "suck" because they're only 1.5Mbit total bandwidth, which is much slower than an average home broadband connection. Maybe a better approach would be to get a business class RoadRunner connection, or a 10 meg circuit, or a few T1s bundled together for the office.

HopelessN00b
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Yes it's possible but check with your IT dept regarding the security of what you're proposing first.

That said, your workstation has a route table that determines which interface to use. Open a command prompt and type route print to see this table. You probably have two default routes (that look like 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 X.X.X.X). The wired connection will probably have a lower metric due to its speed.

One way you could accomplish your goal is remove the default gateway on your wired connection and add routes to the networks you need to access locally using the route add command.

For example, you are on the 172.16.1.X/24 network and your default gateway is 172.16.1.1. Perhaps there are some servers on 172.16.2.0/24 that you need to access. Enter the following command.

route add 172.16.2.0 mask 255.255.255.0 172.16.1.1 /p

Paul Ackerman
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