For redundancy, can I hook my network up so that all computers can use both modems at the same time. It should increase overall available bandwidth, and of course if one connection goes down then the other could carry the load until the failed connection comes back up.
Can two Linksys router/switches be connected through their Uplink ports to hook the two modems together for sharing?
Is this a totally outrageous idea or is it do-able????
Hooked up at the same time could be troublesome. The best bet would be to get a broadband sharing router (Linksys or Netgear, whatever) and hook the WAN port to the DSL modem. You might have to set the PPPOE settings to get the router to maintain the PPPOE connection for you. Then have the cable modem installed right next to the DSL modem, but don't hook up the cable modem to your network. If DSL goes down (highly unlikely), just switch the WAN cable on the router from the DSL modem to the cable modem. Then power up cable modem, router and computer(s) in that order.
The reason for using the cable modem as backup is : a) DSL will give you more consistent speed at all times of day (more predictable, though usually a tad slower) b) For emergency use, swapping from DSL to cable modem will be a lot easier than the other way around. That is, when trying to get your Internet back up in a hurry, cable modem will be easier to accomplish that goal with. When your DSL comes back up again, it might take you some effort to get it working with your network again. But there is no rush on that, as (presumably) your cable modem should be working fine.
Your routing table is going to prefer one gateway over the other. I have no real knowledge of setting up routing; you are going to need that kind of knowledge to run two gateways in parallel.
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