Can I have cable broadband and BT broadband in one house?

KPG · 24 Dec 2021 at 10:15

I currently have a BT business broadband package. It's been pretty good for my needs, but with WFH likely to be the norm for some time to come, I'm tempted to get an additional cable package to keep work and family requirements separate (and to have an additional back-up in case the former fails, unlikely as that seems).

There are some nice-looking deals in my area at present for Virgin cable. No need for a phone line. No cable at property as yet.

I know it is technically feasible to have both types of broadband running simultaneously and separately, but are there any likely drawbacks (apart from extra monthly expenditure, but that would pay for my peace of mind) or complications? I'd have to keep the BT hub running, so there'd be two routers on the go - would signal interference be an issue? I haven't thought yet where the cable will enter the house, but this could be in a different room from where the hub is located.

Thanks for any advice.

Andre · 24 Dec 2021 at 10:23

Switch both routers to modem only mode, then get a load balancing router (Linksys LRT-224 is what I use with a Unifi AC-Pro for Wifi)

Scania · 24 Dec 2021 at 10:34

When I switched from EE to Virgin I had both for a while until my EE contract ended, never had an issue (although wasn’t using a separate router) just had two available Wi-Fi signals.

The only downside to Virgin is the Wi-Fi signal is pants even with their latest Hub4.

In modem mode I’m getting a consistent 1+ Gbps, otherwise (in router mode so I have Wi-Fi) it’s around 750 Mbps on a good day.

KPG · 24 Dec 2021 at 13:08

Andre said:
Switch both routers to modem only mode, then get a load balancing router (Linksys LRT-224 is what I use with a Unifi AC-Pro for Wifi)

Is it necessary to get a load-balancing router, or more of a convenience? Otherwise, can both boxes do their own thing?

MissChief · 24 Dec 2021 at 13:10

KPG said:
Is it necessary to get a load-balancing router, or more of a convenience? Otherwise, can both boxes do their own thing?

They can do their own thing but WiFi devices will stay on one network.

Duke · 24 Dec 2021 at 15:36

If you're using BT for work can you just cable that in instead of using wifi? Or if you need it then maybe set one to 2.4GHz and the other to 5GHz.

Selekt0r · 26 Dec 2021 at 13:38

I have worked from home for years and have had Virgin cable + ADSL/FFTC (currently from Zen, but used BT and Plusnet previously) as a backup after a period when Virgin had a few issues. I have the Virgin hub in modem mode, hooked up to a TP-Link router and providing DHCP but no wifi. The Zen router (an excellent Fritzbox 7530) plus another couple of 7530s that I bought off ebay provides mesh wifi. Both routers are set with static IP addresses in the same subnet range. This works really well for me, as I can have specific devices pointing to each ISP (e.g. backups from my home server run on the Zen line as it has faster upload) and if one goes down a quick config change (either at device or router level) points everything to the working line.

I may look a a dual WAN load balancing router at some point (probably along with an upgrade to FTTP, as I just had an email from Openreach to say it's now available

) but this existing setup has worked well for a long time and is pretty low-cost/complexity.

Turn · 27 Dec 2021 at 00:35

Make sure only 1 router is running a DHCP server, by default both will have it enabled, also ensure both routers are on the same subnet.
As an example you could set the BT hub to 192.168.1.1 & the VM hub to 192.168.1.2.

Use the DHCP server to assign which gateway you wish as a default for clients, so it'd be 192.168.1.1 for the BT router & 192.168.1.2 for the VM router, so choose which one you want clients to default to.
To avoid using the default gateway (the BT hub) you've set on the DHCP server, simply set a static IP on that device and you'll be able to change it to the other IP (192.168.1.2 / VM Hub in this example) and vice versa.

In terms of WiFi and interference, make sure the two are running on different channels, so for bgn, pick out of channels 1,6,11 what's best for you. This is something that everyone should do anyway to make sure there's no

KPG · 5 Jan 2022 at 11:07

Many thanks everyone (and happy new year). Not the straightforward solution I imagined it might be - that's my limited knowledge and experience coming into play - but good to know it can be made to work if necessary. I always try to minimise the number of devices whenever I make a change to the domestic set-up, but I realise that's not always possible (or desirable).