Dual Broadband?

antispam246

Probably a stupid question but I've looked everywhere for a definitive answer and can find nothing.

Can a single household have more than 1 broadband service?

I was thinking along the lines of 2 phone lines (different numbers) and 2 different broadband providers.

or

1 dsl and 1 cable connection?

Is it possible to have more than 1 broadband connection in any form in a single household?

I'm sure the answers no but I'd like a definitive answer.

malamute

Can a single household have more than 1 broadband service?
I was thinking along the lines of 2 phone lines (different numbers) and 2 different broadband providers.

Yes it is possible providing spare capacity at the exchange and also on the cabling to your property.
Call BT and insure you say out loud that you require a completely new line (they can put a device that doubles the line and give you another number) you don't want that.

Have a look here http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayCategory.do;JSESSIONID_ecommerce=GVTYGk1FrCMvgH5LFXG6vL2r94xT73m8Lv1HXnZBg3Lp44zf2Krs!-1177737667?categoryId=CON-NEW-LINE-R1
You may get a shock regarding the cost but you need to ask them first for an estimate.

Are you sure you can't manage with one line and use a router to allow internet access for both and then if you still want another number speak to BT who can set up 2 numbers on one line.

Don't have cable, others will be better placed to answer on that subject.

david29dpo

cant see the point of paying for broadband twice. as said above, you can have more that one computer on a line at very little expense.

Godiva500

Hi
Yes you can - we have 2 telephone lines and 2 separate broadband accounts. However it is an expensive way of doing it - cheaper to buy a router and one broadband "line" and still 2 separate accounts. We are on the same ISP though - not sure if it works with 2 separate ISP's.

gavinp

You can have 2 ADSL lines or 1 ADSL and a cable service into your house - I have done in the past - but as already stated, it is an expensive way of doing things.

If you want to share one connection with 2 or more PCs, you need to buy a router. Either an ADSL router or a broadband router suitable for cable.

If you really do want two separate connections, you will probably want a "dual WAN" router which allows you to route over two different broadband connections:

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopSearch.asp?CategoryID=48

I did this when I was only able to get 512Kbps ADSL. I had two ADSL lines to different ISPs and a dual WAN router. We are not in a cabled area. This incurred two lots of BT line rental and two different payments to ISPs.

Whilst downloading files could be split across the connections to reduce the time required, you got very variable results with other traffic and I tended to find if there was a problem at the telephone exchange, both lines would drop which limited the idea of using it for failover purposes.

It sounds like a good idea in theory but it is of very limited benefit in the real world.

Thanks

Gavin

antispam246

Many thanks for everyones help, especially for the link, I honestly tried endlessly to find the info, with no success.

Just to clarify, I was asking more out of curiosity. I have a single broadband service and 2 bt lines (doubled line as stated above). I share the connection between 4(5) wired devices and have a wired wireless hub for 2(1) wireless devices, and then there's the xbox (:

As you can imagine, that's a hefty share and due to the distance to my local exchange I'm hard pushed to find a service that can offer anything above 1mb. I wanted to read up on a few things and the thought of having a dual yet separate service(s), specifically one dedicated to gaming and the other for general purpose (downloading). There are some nifty ISP's offering services tailored to gaming needs where monthly usuage isn't a worry and I thought i'd see what I could find providing the initial question checked out ok (:

Thanks again for the pointers!