Member Avatar for jmarcini

The company I work for currently gets it's internet connection over T1. The T1 comes in straight to a Netopia router, and from there is plugged into a Dell Powerconnect 2716 gigabit switch. We are planning on purchasing a cable internet subscription and adding a cable modem to the mix to increase bandwidth.

How would I go about adding the cable modem to our network as an additional internet connection? Would I have to have the netopia router and cable modem going into a router, then into the gigabit switch? Or can i just plug the cable modem into the switch?

If anyone has any ideas please help, I can provide additional system information if necessary.

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Dani AI

Generated

Summary and recommended architecture

described a T1 terminating on a Netopia router with that router feeding a Dell switch, and plans to add a cable modem for more bandwidth. The clean, supported way to have both links active (load‑balancing or automatic failover) is to put a multi‑WAN edge router or firewall between the two ISP links and the LAN switch. That device accepts the T1 and the cable modem on separate WAN ports, performs NAT and health checks, and presents a single LAN gateway to the switch.

Why not just plug the modem into the switch

A cable modem left in its default/router mode on the switch will hand out public IPs or conflict with the Netopia DHCP/NAT and expose internal hosts. Also, without a multi‑WAN router there is no sensible way to split or fail traffic between ISPs, preserve session affinity (important for VPNs), or control inbound NAT/port forwarding consistently.

Practical options and cautions

  • If the Netopia supports a second WAN or built‑in failover, it can be reconfigured to use the cable as backup; otherwise replace or add a dedicated dual‑WAN appliance.
  • If the cable modem is a modem/router combo, set it to bridge mode when it feeds an external router.
  • Inventory items that affect design: whether ISPs provide static IPs, existing VPN endpoints, servers requiring inbound NAT, sticky sessions, and whether load balancing or simple failover is desired.
  • Expect to reconfigure port forwards and VPNs when changing the edge device. Test failover by unplugging each ISP once the new device is in place.

If cost is a concern, an inexpensive multi‑WAN router or a small firewall appliance (Linux/pfSense or commercial boxes) will provide the necessary control without exposing the LAN.

Member Avatar for zenie

hi,

i want to know more about this....pls tell me....


______
zenie

Edited by crunchie because: removed plug
Member Avatar for jmarcini

I'd be glad to provide more info but can you be a little more specific about what you want to know?

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