Adsl and Cable Concurrently - Possible?

Hi,

Have BE Adsl2+ connection, and am due to have Virgin Cable installed today. Can I alternate between one and the other/use both simultaneously? I have several PCs and intend to use both Ethernet and wireless.

Would it be possible to have both routers (Adsl and Cable) connected via Ethernet to same PC, or is it best to have them connected to two separate PCs?

Thanks!

The two connections are totally independent of each other.

With wireless just pick the connection you want, and with Ethernet you could have both on the same LAN (turn off DHCP on one of the routers though) and then flip the PC Ethernet configuration between the two.

There are devices like http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AQD28U6/ref=as...

That can load balance across two Internet connections for you

Great thanks for prompt reply!

So I would need to switch off the DHCP off one of the routers - does it matter which? And is that possible through the router user interface?

First day on 120mbps and so far pleasantly surprised - given all the bad press Virgin has been having

Let us hope I don't live to regret my words!

This advice is generally not the most secure or efficient way of setting up system with two of more broadband connections. In practice what you should create is a network that has something like a Y linking you by two paths to the outside world with the bottom link to your network through the load balancing router.

If you rely upon WiFi links for your domestic network, it is generally best to get a load balancing router with WiFi and then switch off the WiFi on the router/modems provided by your broadband providers. If you don't do that, you are likely to find that WiFi connected machines can access the outside world but not the rest of your network.

This can be done via the user pages on each of the routers, though you will need to go beyond the standard set-up wizards. None of the steps is particularly complex, but the process may be non-trivial for a novice so you should get advice from someone who knows a little about computer networking before buying or attempting to set up your equipment.

Thanks for the help/advice. What would you recommend for a load balancing router? And if I were to pursue this path, would I switch off DHCP on both the modem/routers provided by BE and Virgin?

I use a Cisco RV042, which is a small business router. The version with Gigabit ports is the RV042G but neither of them has WiFi. I use a separate WiFi access point because I have a Mac Airport Extreme on my network. Draytek offers similar capabilities with WiFi - look for the Draytek 2920N - and I am sure that there is a TP-Link model that would meet your needs. TP-Link equipment tends to be less expensive than Draytek but the firmware is of variable quality. You don't need a router with an ADSL or cable modem.

In my configuration the DHCP servers on the router/modems between the Cisco and the broadband lines are switched on but the gateway addresses are modified to, for example, 192.168.20.1 and 192.168.30.1. They set up private sub-networks to which the two WAN ports on the Cisco are each connected with the result that the WAN ports have dynamically assigned addresses like 192.168.20.101 and 192.168.30.101. Everything linked to the switch side of the Cisco is part of a single private network but the links to each broadband service are controlled by their respective router/modems. There are multiple levels of network address translation but the overhead is small and the security is relatively high.

This is all far more than any normal residential user will require, but it can be justified if the equipment is needed to run a small business for which you need a high level of availability and security. If you are in that position, the costs of acquiring and setting up the equipment are much less than the costs of things going wrong.

Thanks again for such a comprehensive response; but that setup sounds way beyond my needs, as I am not running a business, merely an enthusiast/geek - and not very proficient with networking

Perhaps I would be ok with the setup Mr Saffron suggested (?)

Edited by deleted (Wed 28-Aug-13 15:32:33)