Can I add a second broadband line to my house, using existing phone line. (currently linked to VM)

[mariutto]

Edited-

I am one of the many still working from home. but I have had some very inconvenient VM outages that have affected my business.

I want to install a second Broadband line to give me a backup. (a different provider, sky/bt/something else)
I also don't want to have to lay new copper telephone wire unless i have to, as the current one already runs to my comms cab.

My Questions:

Can the new broadband use the Virgin Copper phone line? (I think they currently only use 2 of the 6 internal cables) can they simply use 2 of the spare?

If not can i cancel just my Virgin phone? and have the new broadband take over the cable I never use it?

[Christy_D]

Hi there

This can be done but it would then mean two accounts. 

I will send over a private message to discuss further.

Thanks

Christy

[mariutto]

Thanks

[VM-Jon]

Hi,

I understand what you mean but having two accounts won't solve the problem as an outage would affect both accounts at the same time leaving you no better off.

You have 2 solutions, 

1. You resolve the outages  - Have you had a tech visit?

2. You sign up to another service provider as well giving you two independent internet connections making it less likely you would be without service. Having 2 with the same provider wouldn't help but cost twice as much.

Hope this helps.

Jon, Install manager.

[mariutto]

Correct I don't want a Virgin Broadband as the second internet? I want divergence of carrier, so i will choose BT or SKy, but they will want  to use copper rather than cable. I am asking can they use the same cable that is current used to serve the Virgin phone line, or do I have to cancel the virgin phone

[spgray]

correct, having a second virgin connections provide zero backup as they would be sharing the same physical network, if one is down the other is likely to be also down.

you would need a separate connection from an entirely different ISP using a different physical network - ie an openreach based ISP.

[spgray]

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@mariutto wrote:

Correct I don't want a Virgin Broadband as the second internet? I want divergence of carrier, so i will choose BT or SKy, but they will want  to use copper rather than cable. I am asking can they use the same cable that is current used to serve the Virgin phone line, or do I have to cancel the virgin phone

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no, they use two entirely different physical networks, virgin can't use BT lines, and BT can't use virgin lines.

[VM-Jon]

It possible.

You could move your current phone service to VOIP with us, or 21CV / VOC as we call it, this will make your existing line redundant. 

You could then have another provider utilise the existing wiring to your coms cupboard to power their service with a little tweaking. as long as you are only talking about internal wiring.

Jon

[mariutto]

Correct I don't want a Virgin Broadband as the second internet? I want divergence of carrier, so i will choose BT or SKy, but they will want to use copper rather than cable. I am asking can they use the same cable that is current used to serve the Virgin phone line, or do I have to cancel the virgin phone

[legacy1]

A second broadband connection by the same VM coax cable is not going to help if you have a outage.