I decided several months ago to start looking for a solution plaguing the household: there were many times when my wife and I both wanted to be on the Internet at the same time. I started looking at the various software appli–cations permitting several computers to share the connection, but quickly decided that none of these were (personally) satisfactory. The one common factor was that each program required one computer to act as a "gateway" and as such, needed to be powered on whenever any other computer wanted to connect. There was also the matter of the cost of the license on a "per seat per modem" basis. I started looking for a hardware solution.

Keep in mind that ISP access by the Plain Ol' Telephone System (POTS) is slowly dying away, being replaced by DSL or cable. The sad fact is, my local "Mom ’n’ Pop" phone company isn't going to be able to provide me with DSL anytime soon and I despise my cable company.

I found four units that connect to the Ethernet network and that provide dial-out service. They are Netopia's R2121 and 2020, Netgear's RM356, Atronic's Internet Access 2000, and Ramp Network's WebRamp 310i. Other models by these companies accommodate externally attached 56K/DSL/Cable modems. I chose the 310i because it was the item appearing most often on eBay, and the winning bids were approaching a price I was willing to pay. There is no per-seat or per-modem licensing.

The WebRamp 310i and 315i are dual modem (the i means the modems are internal) units that, when demand exceeds a user-set threshold, provide for dialing out on the second modem (and even a third user-supplied external modem). Each modem, of course, requires its own phone line.

RJ-11 Jack

I discovered that, although each phone jack on the back of the unit has four pins, only circuit A is actually connected. This poses a minor annoyance when using a two-line phone: circuit B isn't passed through.

The 310i and 315i also have a 4-port 10Base-T hub, can be daisy-chained to other hubs, and ultimately provide dial-out access for up to 253 computers. Other capabilities include: Virtual Private Net–working (pass-through on the 310i and client on the 315i), LAN-to-LAN routing and bridging with IP/IPX, and dial-in access for telecommuters. WebRamp also provides DHCP and DNS services and can make parts of your network visible to the outside—your personal Web server, for example.

Access controls, when enabled, can limit up to 75 computers as to which applications each is permitted to use. For example, Users 3 and 4 can only surf the Web and check e-mail, Users 5 and 6 can do that and telnet, and Users 1 and 2 have unlimited access including chat, streaming video, and more.

Hopefully, your office has easy access to all the wiring that may need to be rerouted. In adding the WebRamp to my existing network, I decided to reposition my phone and Ethernet switch. That involved re-routing Ethernet cables, phone lines, power supply connections, and power strips. In other words, a lot of hard work. I hope your installation goes a lot easier.

One thing about the instructions: I know that to add a hub to another hub (or switch), one of the hubs must have a port that can be switched to an "uplink" mode. There is a specific port on the WebRamp that is used to connect to an existing hub, but no mention is made whether the hub must be switched to "uplink" or if the WebRamp automatically configures itself. I had to experiment to determine what was what. As it turns out, the instructions make certain assumptions about the hub: that port 1 on the hub is permanently configured to connect to other hubs (hardwired to an "uplink" state). So, be sure to read the instructions that come with your hub to determine which port can be set to the "uplink" state, and how it is done.

The "EasyStart" program sets each computer it is run on to use WebRamp as the dial-out device. Part of that setup configures the networking protocols to automatically connect (i.e., dial-out) via a gateway address whenever an Internet application starts or makes its initial connection. In such cases, the application must also be set not to timeout too soon while waiting for the dial/login process to complete. Internet Explorer running on W2KPro (in my case) seems to want to try all permutations of a URL, thinking that because there is no immediate response, I must have not entered the entire URL. Additionally, if this doesn't happen, then a general timeout message appears (on my wife's computer, running Netscape 4.5) 12 seconds after the URL is entered. WebRamp's FAQ section lists this as FAQ#1: Why does my browser time out? Their solution is to add a registry key to the TCP protocol that tells browsers to wait a little longer. The only apparent change on the computers in my household is that the browsers wait longer to tell me that the Web site couldn't be found. More investigation is in order. (See the registry change instructions at the conclusion of this article.)

Nearly all interaction with WebRamp is accomplished through your Web browser. I had hoped there would be some sort of command line interface so that certain functions could be executed without having to first bring up a browser. Actually, there is a command line interface: it is accessible through a telnet session or a terminal session (via an RS-232 port). The solution I'm looking for now is a telnet client that can accept command line parameters. The best I've found so far is Telnet Scripting Tool by Albert Yale. The sad part of this story is that, for some reason, WebRamp doesn't want to work with it. I am expecting a reply from support soon.

There is a quick setup instruction sheet, but take note that not all desired settings are listed here. Be sure to read the setup instructions included on the enclosed CD to configure all options. However, the included documentation doesn't include the command line interface (via telnet) keywords.

As opposed to Windows' dialer that can be set permanently to not automatically dial, WebRamp can't. You can configure WebRamp to disable Internet connections—that is, to ignore requests from computers on your network—but you can't permanently configure it for manual-only activation. Once you manually force WebRamp to dial, Internet connections are reset to "enabled." Therefore, there's no way to permanently disable the possibility of rogue applications dialing out.

Since any computer on the network can cause WebRamp to dial, and you may not realize little Johnny in his room has started searching eBay for a PlayStation 2, standard operating procedure suggests that you don't force WebRamp to hang up. WebRamp is set by default to hang up after five minutes of inactivity, but this can be changed via its configuration page. It can also be set to never hang up. So, in order to hang up on demand, I recommend navigating to the appropriate diagnostics page and creating a desktop shortcut to that page (right-click on the page itself and select "Create Shortcut"). When ready to manually hang up, double-click the shortcut, which brings up the browser, which brings up the diagnostic page, which permits you to click the button that commands WebRamp to hang up.

Windows 95/98 lacks an indication on network data traffic. I notice that Win2K has an indicator—it looks just like the dial-up indicator and it is also placed in the system tray. Since I don't seem to find anything like it that comes with W95/98, I am currently trying a product called NetStat Live by AnalogX. It will show, in one of its display modes via an icon in the system tray, current network traffic to or from the machine it is installed on.

The modems used in the unit aren't as good as the one installed in my main computer. With WebRamp, it seems I rarely get 48,000; 46,667 is typical, while the modem in the computer can get 48,000 on a regular basis. I've also had some problems with the unit finishing the login sequence, although that brief problem could have been my ISP’s. On the other hand, Ramp Networks is aware of certain firmware revisions for a 3COM modem bank that ISPs use which can cause this kind of problem. WebRamp’s modems are Rockwell V.90 with firmware V2.210-K56_DLS. They do not have the modem's FAX capability enabled.

The modem bonding technique is called COLT and is not as versatile as Midcore's Midpoint modem teaming: COLT does not split large files into multiple parts. It does, however, parcel requests for individual files—images for example—between the two lines. However, I don't think it works as well as I might have hoped. It seems that text comes in on one line while all the graphics come in on the other. As we all know, multiple graphics usually take more time to download than the text and page layout (infrastructure). In fact (or so I believe), the browser doesn't ask for images until the infrastructure has already been assembled. For example, I asked for a simple page with 50 thumbnail images on it. I observed a brief flicker on modem 1 (the Web page was displayed) then a long period of activity on modem 2 (the images filled in).

WebRamp also utilizes Multilink PPP (MLPPP) but your ISP must specifically provide this capability. Otherwise, you must have access to two separate connections—typically two separate ISPs but if your one and only ISP tolerates your logging-in more than once, go for it. (Most ISPs, when they detect a login attempt when you are already logged in, will trigger Windows to display a "user/pass" message box. This happens when the ISP rejects the user/pass the dialer automatically sent.)

Overall, the addition of the WebRamp solves a lot more of my problems than the minor frustrations I've experienced. Mostly, this has to do with all the networking capabilities it brings and the time spent researching what it all means and how to configure it. (AOL subscribers cannot connect directly. You will need to connect to a real ISP and have your AOL program set to use TCP/IP instead of PPP.)

The registry entry that will delay browsers from timing out is (condensed):
HKLM\Sys\CCS\Serv\VxD\MSTCP
(W98) Add a string data type: MaxConnectRetries = "8"
(W95) Add a dword data type: MaxConnectRetries = 8

This specifies the number of times SYN will be retransmitted before giving up. If not specified, the value is 3.

An application called EasyView that ships with the 350e and 361i purports to display in real time the unit's operational statistics. It didn't work as I thought it would with the 310i.

Be mindful of the thresholds WebRamp uses to determine when the second modem should be activated. If enough requests stack up over a sufficiently long period of time, the unit activates the second modem. But. By the time the second modem dials, connects, authenticates, etc, the need for the second modem may have already passed.

Certain Internet services have restricted access unless you are connected to the ISP offering that service. An example would be Usenet news server access. Nearly every ISP prevents access to their news servers if you are coming in from an alternate ISP. Another example would be downloading software intended for authenticated users. Downloading software purchased under a site license for the benefit of a company's employees (e.g., college faculty, staff, and students) will be denied to those who haven't dialed in to the company directly. So, how well does WebRamp perform in scenarios such as this? My experiments to date haven't produced verifiable results, but I have received a few error messages in my browser and newsgroup reader that normally should never have occurred.

I have also noticed a suspicious increase in the number of times my browser reports that a particular site could not be found. I believe this to be a misconfiguration of WebRamp's DNS server. WebRamp learns the IP number from an external DNS server and stores it internally, but not permanently. I hope to get this configuration issue straightened out soon. This happens especially when I am downloading several files at once.

For other reviews of the WebRamp 310i and similar models, see Modem Help, TargetPC, ZDNet, Internet Week, and Corecom.

WebRamp 310i
RampNetworks, Inc.
3100 De La Cruz Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-988-5353
$750 retail, ($150 winning bid on eBay)