Can you have have more than one internet provider?

Tringa

Tringa

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Dave
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I asked a question here about broadband last year - https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/advice-on-fibre-broadband-please.698729/ and therefore I think I know the answer to above question but I'd like to check with those who know more than me(ie just about everyone).

Currently we have BT broadband via copper wire. Virgin Media fibre is installed in the road.

As the current broadband is copper cable and any Virgin Media broadband would be fibre; and a reply to my previous question said Virgin install all their own cabling, is it possible to have Virgin fibre broadband and still keep the BT broadband? I'm guessing the answer is "Yes" but can anyone confirm this is correct.?

I'm probably being over cautious but I would not like to be without any broadband (even if it is the slow, but otherwise very reliable, BT broadband) if Virgin turns out to be unreliable. I have heard many say Virgin is excellent but also reports of it losing speed or dropping out altogether.

There is also the issue of lack of choice. Although we are only about 7 miles from central London BT have no plans to install fibre in our road. There were plans some years ago but they seemed to stall and as Virgin have installed fibre I can't see BT bothering now. This means if I want a faster broadband connection I have to go to Virgin.

I realise having two providers will cost and I'd have to be careful about how long I had left on any contract but wondered if you can have two internet providers.

Thanks

Dave
 
You probably already do have two providers if you have data on a mobile phone.

Can‘t see any reason why you could not have two suppliers, as long as you have different ways of getting the supply. You could have two phone lines, for example.
 
Mostly no. These particular providers (because Virgin sue their own fibre and BT use OpenReach) yes.

If your concern is never being cutoff then a cheaper solution might be to go with your choice of Virgin/BT and have a 4G modem with PAYG SIM for emergencies. But I'd (practically) kill to have a choice of Virgin fibre.
 
Yes you can have:
1)a bt line and a virgin line
2)have a second bt line put in and connections via two different vendors for resilance over the vendors infrastructure beyond the local exchange.
3) have a second bt line line put in and get adsl rather than fibre on one of them as they connect into the exchange infrastructure differently.
4)invest in a backup mobile dongle and a normal connection as @JonathanRyan says.

you can invest in routers such as the draytek vigor 2960 to load balance or roll over automatically between any of them (including a WiFi dongle plugged into it).

a new bt line may have minimum contract time on it too pay back installation cost.

options 2 and 3 may not be as a resilient against local factors such as cable to local exchange being damaged, power cuts inside the exchange etc.

be aware if you use any business tools such as voip phones or host your own email/servers you may need to research carefully if virgin(or other providers) support static ip addresses and the like.
 
We thought about a second line with virgin, but it was a nightmare, in the end, however 7 Years in the studio with BT business infinity, 2 lines one broadband, total downtime about 6hrs, Same BT business infinity at home 10+ years, downtime none, we decided we didn't need any redundancy based on the faults we don't have.
 
Where I am in rural northern Ireland we are too far from an exchange to get any kind of fibre and were only getting 0.25mbps. We used satellite for a few years but a year ago changed to 4g. We can run everything off a 3 mobile sim card, get between 30 and 40 mbps up and download and it is only £22 per month for unlimited data. We did put a special antenna up outside to boost signal, have a router with the sim card in the roof space and a normal wifi hub in the house. Cost £400 to install. Just a thought
 
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You can have 2 separate providers on two separate lines quite easily, however:

Almost all broadband services are delivered via BT copper, so even if your 2nd supplier is (for instance) Sky, although they provide the PSTN (telephone) line, it is in fact, owned by BT and rented to a "reseller". So if there was an issue at the local exchange, it could affect both services. Your other option is to get a service that does not require a BT PSTN, such as Virgin who deliver over their fibre network.

These days, the most obvious thing to do as a backup is to utilise a 4G/5G router if you have a decent signal. I have a SIM in my iPad, so if I were to lose my broadband, I could at least get Internet & email via the 4G network.
 
phil_b said:
Where I am in rural northern Ireland we are too far from an exchange to get any kind of fibre and were only getting 0.25mbps. We used satellite for a few years but a year ago changed to 4g. We can run everything off a 3 mobile sim card, get between 30 and 40 mbps up and download and it is only £22 per month. Just a thought
Click to expand...

^^^^^ this

I would buy one of these before committing to another contract, great reception and fast speeds.
eg: We can't get the 3 network here on any of our phones but we can via this dongle!

s-l1600.jpg
 
As others have said you would need a separate line installing with its own distinct telephone number - therefore is no difference to your house and your neighbours house having different service providers.

If having 24/7 broadband is absolutely necessary, you could end up with downtime if there was some sort of local works requiring to dig up the road, so you'll need to have satellite broadband as that won't rely on underground cables in your locale, but then what happens if you have a power cut, so you'll need back up generators too.

Simplest answer is to have a 4G mobile phone or dongle, PAYG or contract and if your broadband goes down you've got something is moderately speedy, and the cost of hammering the bandwidth for a short duration, even if you exceed your data allowance, is probably a lot less than the connection fee and monthly subscription to Virgin.
 
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Many thanks everyone. I had not thought about using a mobile/dongle; going to have a look.

Cheers

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Many thanks everyone. I had not thought about using a mobile/dongle; going to have a look.

Cheers

Dave
Click to expand...

FWIW both Three and Vodaphone have cooling off periods - though they may only apply if you buy online. Check their T&Cs. That will allow you to check that it actually works in your house.
 
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