A client of mine recently told me that he wanted to use his two phone lines and two 56K modems to form a single, 112K Internet connection. I smiled. Having heard dozens, if not hundreds of "speed up your connection" gimmicks, I told him that it was not possible. "Oh yes it is," he said, "and I intend to do it".

Needless to say, my interest was sufficiently piqued. Although I enjoy high speed Internet, many of my clients live in the sticks and have no access to broadband service. I know many people who would die to double their connection speed!

It turns out that not only is it possible to "bond" or "shotgun" two or more modems together, but in fact most ISP's already support it. I guess I am just the last guy to hear about this technique. I am told that it is possible, although not exceptionally easy to set up.

On Monday I'll be heading out to the home of another client who lives/ works in the backwoods of Winlaw, BC. I will attempt to set up his two external 56K modems using Multilink PPP. If it works, maybe I'll convince him to get 6 phone lines. <g>

And now I pass it over to you, my amicable visitors. Is there anyone reading this page that is already shotgunning their modems? Has anyone set it up before? Please, by all means, share your advice with me!

Suggested by: Bill Dennis of Playmor, British Columbia, Canada

06 February 2003  |   permalink