Combining multiple network inputs

[Alec19]

I've got a strange networking question. My internet is managed by my apartment complex and every device is hard capped at 5mbit which is often just too slow for a lot of things. There is ethernet all over the apartment, is there any way that I could combine multiple inputs to one device to circumvent the speed limits? Like a switch but in reverse. I know it would only give me slightly less slow but still slow internet. This is mostly an academic question. Unless there actually is a non cost prohibitive way to do this.

[Livin]

There are few ways you could accomplish it, but in your particular scenario none are really very practical.  There is something called "teaming" that you can do with network cards to effectively run multiple adapters together as a a single connection, but this also requires the other side (in your case, the apartment networking) to also be aware of this (either through manual configuration or other protocols such as Link Aggregation Control Protocol or LACP).

There are also other ways to "bond" multiple connections together as well through software or hardware but it comes with a lot of challenges in routing traffic.  Depending on the solution as well, you may not be able to use it as one big pipe but only as multiple small pipes (5 x 5Mbps wouldn't give you 25Mbps for one service, but you would have access for 5 different services to use 5Mbps).  Having no control over the other side very much limits your options here as well.  This is also assuming each port you have access to has its own 5Mbps allotment and isn't capped across multiple ports as well. 

 

So yes, it is something that is possible from a technical standpoint but not really feasible to accomplish what you would be looking for in your situation. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

11 minutes ago, Livin said:

So yes, it is something that is possible from a technical standpoint but not really feasible to accomplish what you would be looking for in your situation. 

 

44 minutes ago, Alec19 said:

I've got a strange networking question. My internet is managed by my apartment complex and every device is hard capped at 5mbit which is often just too slow for a lot of things. There is ethernet all over the apartment, is there any way that I could combine multiple inputs to one device to circumvent the speed limits? Like a switch but in reverse. I know it would only give me slightly less slow but still slow internet. This is mostly an academic question. Unless there actually is a non cost prohibitive way to do this.

There are definitely very hacky ways you could do it, though I wouldn't really advise breaking the terms and conditions of your apartment complex, which also means we can't help you as its against forum rules.

 

Do they allow you to get your own service?  That's really the only practical solution here.

[Alec19]

8 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

There are definitely very hacky ways you could do it, though I wouldn't really advise breaking the terms and conditions of your apartment complex, which also means we can't help you as its against forum rules.

No worries at all. I did check and there actually isn't any formal terms of service for the internet here. The only official documentation about it is the lease and it just says that the service is provided and payment is included in the rent. I haven't found anything else referring to the internet. Besides, they say we get a gigabit and they don't have any language giving them an exception to that. Seems like they should write a terms of service so they can cover themselves against that.

 

13 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Do they allow you to get your own service? 

They don't. This is a recently built apartment complex but they decided not to run wired internet infrastructure because they didn't want to dig under a small creek. The internet is bounced off a bunch of dishes on buildings all over town. Literally everywhere else in town has can get fiber and we're stuck with legally actionable (according to my roommate that is a lawyer) false advertising.

[Eigenvektor]

36 minutes ago, Alec19 said:

Besides, they say we get a gigabit and they don't have any language giving them an exception to that.

So does it actually say that you, as a tenant, get gigabit or does it just say that the building as a whole has a gigabit connection? Meaning, do they actually promise you any specific bandwidth, or are they just bragging that the building itself gets a certain bandwidth, but make no promises as to how much of that each individual tenant gets?

 

Even if you could combine multiple ports, biggest question to me would be whether these are all serviced by the same device that is the limit. If you connect multiple computers, does each get 5 Mbps or does it split those 5 Mbps between them already?

[Alec19]

11 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

So does it actually say that you, as a tenant, get gigabit or does it just say that the building as a whole has a gigabit connection?

The advertising is pretty murky which probably helps them cover their butt. All of the advertising just says gigabit internet but there isn't anything about how they get that number and they don't have speeds on the lease. I assume it is a gigabit for the entire complex but I think the advertising pretty much makes it seem like you get a gigabit.

 

14 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

If you connect multiple computers, does each get 5 Mbps or does it split those 5 Mbps between them already?

Every device that connects to the network gets a full 5mbit. It often dips far below that but that is the cap for each device.

[Eigenvektor]

6 minutes ago, Alec19 said:

Every device that connects to the network gets a full 5mbit. It often dips far below that but that is the cap for each device.

That makes me suspect they have gigabit as a whole and purposely limit individual ports to be "fair", in the sense that individual tenants can't use all of the bandwidth on their own. As you said, depending on how they worded it, it's most likely just meant to sound good at first glance, while actually promising nothing.