Possible to Have Virgin Media & BT same time?

tvshopper

I am getting conflicting advice regarding the possibility of having both BT BB and Virgin Media.  I've been told that you can only have one Fibre connection going to your house.
In Ye Olde Days of course BT BB was via ADSL so it wasn't an issue having both - but now being told that it's not possible as BT BB is via EE and using Fibre.

What confuses me is that VM use their own cables? So how is there a conflict? Or has someone at BT BB told me duff info?

paradigital

Yes, you can have both.

BT (or any other provider that uses the OpenReach network) will be FTTC or FTTP.  Virgin will be over COAX using DOCSIS, completely different technology on different cabling and different infrastructure (at least until the exchange).

How you handle failover between the lines will depend entirely on what equipment you have available, but I fail over my primary (virgin) to FTTP automatically on my Unifi UDM-PRO.

la531983

I had Virgin and Vodafone (Openreach) for a brief period earlier this year. Same principle. Absolutely fine.

flaneurs_lobster

My neighbour has both BT FTTP and VM. It's apparently for resilience because it is essential that nothing be allowed to interrupt whatever it is he does online all day.  

DiamondLil

I've had two broadband suppliers for years. Firstly Virgin and EE,  currently Plusnet and EE. Each supply has it's own, separate point of entry. 

Ayr_Rage

paradigital said:

Yes, you can have both.

BT (or any other provider that uses the OpenReach network) will be FTTC or FTTP.  Virgin will be over COAX using DOCSIS, completely different technology on different cabling and different infrastructure (at least until the exchange).

How you handle failover between the lines will depend entirely on what equipment you have available, but I fail over my primary (virgin) to FTTP automatically on my Unifi UDM-PRO.

Not necessarily, Virgin are rolling out their proper full fibre service.

https://fttppro.co.uk/the-three-types-of-virgin-media-broadband/

Vitor

OpenReach and Virgin Media have their own infrastructure to the home. Openreach then sell access to BT, Sky, Plusnet and all the other providers except Virgin Media. 

Having both for resilience could be OTT, many home workers have a router where the WAN will failover to a USB dongle with SIM card or even a USB cable to your mobi at a pinch. 

iniltous

As stated , nothing at all stopping you having as many providers as the available networks allow , some people depending on what’s available where they live , conceivably could have access to Openreach , Virgin ( cable or FTTP via Nextfibre) City Fibre , Netomnia, or various other Alternative Networks , as well as Starlink or whatever, if they wanted a service over every network , there is nothing stopping them , it may be a unnecessary expense but ultimately that’s up to the consumer…if BT told you you can’t have Virgin , they may have meant you can’t have Virgin over Openreach , obviously BT cannot ‘stop’ anyone using any competitor networks , or even other companies using Openreachin the same way BT do  .

tvshopper

Ayr_Rage said:

Not necessarily, Virgin are rolling out their proper full fibre service.

https://fttppro.co.uk/the-three-types-of-virgin-media-broadband/

Thanks for replying - I can see that VM are still HFC (high fibre Cable) and Openreach showing FTTP.  This said, I've called again to check and BT definitely saying 'No' - one agent (remember this is Sales you get and not Tech) said that it wasn't possible as both use same Fibre cables and the other agent said it was simply a case of Providers not wishing to provide more than one Fibre service to a home? Neither sounds correct?

tvshopper

iniltous said:

As stated , nothing at all stopping you having as many providers as the available networks allow , some people depending on what’s available where they live , conceivably could have access to Openreach , Virgin ( cable or FTTP via Nextfibre) City Fibre , Netomnia, or various other Alternative Networks , as well as Starlink or whatever, if they wanted a service over every network , there is nothing stopping them , it may be a unnecessary expense but ultimately that’s up to the consumer…if BT told you you can’t have Virgin , they may have meant you can’t have Virgin over Openreach , obviously BT cannot ‘stop’ anyone using any competitor networks , or even other companies using Openreachin the same way BT do  .

I know that City Fibre is completely different as I had that at my old address along with VM for a while.  Yet again BT saying not possible.  I may try other providers to see what they say as BT saying definitely no

Vitor

Sounds like nonsense from BT, remember they are not the infrastructure provider anyway, that's Openreach.