Can I overlap my broadband switch?

mirrorball

I am currently with Virgin Media with a broadband, phone and TV bundle.  I want to ditch the TV package as I am happy to use Freeview and streaming services.

My Virgin package includes M125 Fibre Broadband and I'm looking to switch to Vodafone Fibre 100 (which seems to be the closest equivalent).

I haven't yet revealed my plans to Virgin so I may remain with Virgin if I can haggle them down to an equivalent cost to Vodafone.

My question is, can I switch to Vodafone whilst my Virgin package is still active?  I work from home 3 days per week so I want to ensure there is no downtime.  My plan is to haggle with Virgin and, if they can't come close to Vodafone's price then I will switch to Vodafone and, once that is activated, I'll cancel my contract with Virgin.  As Vodafone is on Openreach and Virgin have their own network, can I effectively have both broadband packages at the same time?

I appreciate that this means paying twice for one month but it seems like a worthwhile "insurance" cost for a smooth switch over.

If it makes a difference, I am out of contract with Virgin and want to keep my landline number when I switch.

Thanks for reading my question, I hope it makes sense and I would love to hear your opinions 😊

daveyjp

As they use different networks you can have both.  I had an overlap when I moved from Virgin to Cityfibre as I didn't want a break in service.

Virgin cable will remain in place so if you ever want to go back it can be reactivated easily enough.

Peter999_2

This is exactly what I did for my Aunt and Uncle.   Dumped Virgin (who completely refused to negotiate down from £65 for 100meg) and went with Vodafone (using the CityFibre network).

Worked with no problems and even took their old phone number with them (the number was supposed to swap on the same day as the Vodafone installation but it would make outgoing calls using their number, but wouldn't accept incoming calls for the first few days.   Vodafone told us this was normal and sure enough after two days  it worked again.  I was a bit annoyed with them as there was no warning that this would happen but they were more bothered about there being no interruption to the broadband than their landline).

Incidently, Virgin totally messed up the cancellation and only cancelled the phone line and not the broadband.  Took a few hours to get that sorted out but didn't receive any compensation for my time so I put in a complaint and am waiting for their response.

400ixl

Will Vodafone take a number across from Virgin? They seem to have enough problems managing to transfer Openreach numbers without losing them and leaving people with the only option of a new number.

mirrorball

Thanks daveyjp, Peter999_2 and 400ixl

It sounds like it's possible so next stop is haggling with Virgin!

iniltous

You can have both services working alongside each other , the only issue potentially is if you want the phone number that’s currently being delivered on VM , ported over to VF and delivered by them, as that potentially ties the orders together ( obviously you cannot have the same phone number on both VM and VF simultaneously) but if  that’s not an issue because either you don’t want telephony from VF , or you do but the  telephone number is unimportant ( so any VF phone  number will do ) then you can have the both services working alongside each other for however long you see fit .

littleboo

The other option is to get the VF service in and live as broadband only, then port the phone to A&A or Vonage. That breaks the link between your ISP and you VOIP phone service and an subsequent change of ISP wont affect the phone service.