Dial Up Modems

[jcoultas]

Will the Cisco 2509 Router allow me to have a pool of modems to dial to our ISP (through PPP) and connect to our ethernet network to allow access to the internet by any machines. I would like to be able to dial when needed to the internet with the modems and allow seemless access to the internet.

Current configuration is a shiva box using the dial out. We are looking for something that will have better overall speed than the single modem. Also, we will purchase new 56k modems for connecting to the ISP which will help (current shiva has 33.6k modems).

We are considering a higher speed internet connection, but would like something to use in the meantime.

Thank You,

Jesse Coultas

[mmikhail]

Yes you can hook up modems to 2509 async ports and use NAT/PAT and dialer(s) to ISP.

[jcoultas]

Will it use all of the modems for connection? Can all machines have their default gateway set to the router (fake ips) and the 2509 will automatically dialout when needed (without users having to dial out like with the shiva).

I want to be able to have 10 users double click their outlook icons and check their pop3 email from ISP without having to dial. The dialing functions should not be a function of the client. The router needs to know when it need to dial and how many modems to dial (depends on amount of traffic at one time).

Can the 2509 be configured to do that?

Thanks,

Jesse Coultas

[mmikhail]

Yes. The router is to be configured to dial out through the modem to the ISP when there's interesting traffic. Interesting traffic definition to be configured on the router, as well as password, idle timeout, and other parameters. Simply, yes, but need to be configured of course.

[jcoultas]

Thank you very much. Going to give it a try.

Jesse Coultas

[jcoultas]

one more question...

Does the ISP have to setup anything special on their end? We already have multiple dialin account with them.

Thanks,

Jesse Coultas

[mmikhail]

No. The ISP's receiving end wouldn't differentiate if you're calling froma Shiva or a Cisco. You need to use the same configuration parameters though.