# simple ?: can you have two ISP's in one home?



## demonikal

AT&T. Bastards for some reason say I can't get the fastest broadband speed even though I already have the second fastest speed. It's only the difference of 18 Mb/s to 24 Mb/s. I dunno why it makes a difference since they're both the same kind of connection. It's not like 18 is on DSL and 24 is fiber optics.

Okay, so I see a commercial for Xfinity saying they have the fastest internet speeds in the USA, up to 100 Mb/s. I'm thinking no effen way cuz I thought Verizon FiOS has the fastest speed and they're only available in like 16 of the 50 states and ours isn't one of them. So I look 'em up. Sure enough, they're fastest speed is 105 Mb/s. Now, yeah, I know that doesn't mean you actually get that fast. It's probably like half that. But still, that's effen fast. Of course, it's a Comcast thing, so you pay out the a** for it. $200 per month.

They're still totally robbing you cuz AT&T charges $55 per month for our 18 Mb/s and Xfinity charges $50 per month for 6 Mb/s. But I figure they figure that they have the fastest speed in the USA, so they can charge whatever the heck they want cuz people will pay for it.

Anyway, so I'm wondering, if my sister desperately wants to keep her AT&T email address cuz she has so much stuff tied to it and I don't even use mine, which I don't, my question is, if that speed was available in our area, could we have one connection coming in for AT&T for my sister and one connection coming in for Xfinity for me?

Sorry about the extra long post, but hopefully whatever extra info I provided for peeps that live in the US, they'll check them out or whatever. I dunno.

Thanks.


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## wolfeking

It will depend on how they run it. If they are both running on standard phone line (at 100MB/s, your probably looking at fiber optic) then the new service will need to run a phone line directly in from the pole, possibly farther, which will cost you out the arse to get done. 

I don't see a reason besides maybe a local ordinance, or maybe some kind of license you might need, that you couldn't run 2 ISPs at the same address. 

As for why they might not be able to run you the highest (AT&T), it is because f their servers. In order to run at a certain speed, they have to have an open port for that speed. If they don't have a 24B port, then they can not send you 24MB service.


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## demonikal

demonikal said:


> AT&T. Bastards for some reason say I can't get the fastest broadband speed even though I already have the second fastest speed. It's only the difference of 18 Mb/s to 24 Mb/s. I dunno why it makes a difference since they're both the same kind of connection. It's not like 18 is on DSL and 24 is fiber optics.
> 
> Okay, so I see a commercial for Xfinity saying they have the fastest internet speeds in the USA, up to 100 Mb/s. I'm thinking no effen way cuz I thought Verizon FiOS has the fastest speed and they're only available in like 16 of the 50 states and ours isn't one of them. So I look 'em up. Sure enough, they're fastest speed is 105 Mb/s. Now, yeah, I know that doesn't mean you actually get that fast. It's probably like half that. But still, that's effen fast. Of course, it's a Comcast thing, so you pay out the a** for it. $200 per month.
> 
> They're still totally robbing you cuz AT&T charges $55 per month for our 18 Mb/s and Xfinity charges $50 per month for 6 Mb/s. But I figure they figure that they have the fastest speed in the USA, so they can charge whatever the heck they want cuz people will pay for it.
> 
> Anyway, so I'm wondering, if my sister desperately wants to keep her AT&T email address cuz she has so much stuff tied to it and I don't even use mine, which I don't, my question is, if that speed was available in our area, could we have one connection coming in for AT&T for my sister and one connection coming in for Xfinity for me?
> 
> Sorry about the extra long post, but hopefully whatever extra info I provided for peeps that live in the US, they'll check them out or whatever. I dunno.
> 
> Thanks.



Answered my own question apparently but you never can necessarily trust agents just trying to make a sale, so who knows what the FINAL word will be. But according to an Xfinity/Comcast agent online when I was checking out their internet speeds, found out the fastest speed was available in my area which had nothing to do with my question on CF...but also that they charge a like $299.99 fee for equipment and installation. No, you cannot use your own Cisco gateway apparently, at least not to get rid of some of the initial equipment costs.

But yes, two different ISP's can be installed in the same residence.


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## demonikal

wolfeking said:


> It will depend on how they run it. If they are both running on standard phone line (at 100MB/s, your probably looking at fiber optic) then the new service will need to run a phone line directly in from the pole, possibly farther, which will cost you out the arse to get done.
> 
> I don't see a reason besides maybe a local ordinance, or maybe some kind of license you might need, that you couldn't run 2 ISPs at the same address.
> 
> As for why they might not be able to run you the highest (AT&T), it is because f their servers. In order to run at a certain speed, they have to have an open port for that speed. If they don't have a 24B port, then they can not send you 24MB service.



Thanks wolfeking. You've answered some of my questions in the past. Yeah, AT&T can be bastards sometimes, so can all ISP's, but I'd say that even though I've never had Comcast, I've heard absolutely the worst stuff about them, no offense to anyone that uses them. I've also heard some people say they're great, but those are usually the people that know what they're doing and never have to call customer service for support.


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## johnb35

I have comcast and I have very few problems with it.  You can use your own modem cause I do so I don't pay the $7 a month rental fee.  I have the 25mb service for $72.95 and I have gotten speeds of over 30mb.  If you really want faster service then just get this.  You'll want to get this modem that comcast supports.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122015


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## demonikal

johnb35 said:


> I have comcast and I have very few problems with it.  You can use your own modem cause I do so I don't pay the $7 a month rental fee.  I have the 25mb service for $72.95 and I have gotten speeds of over 30mb.  If you really want faster service then just get this.  You'll want to get this modem that comcast supports.
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122015



Thanks. I did ask them if I could use my own equipment and just get charged for the installation and they said no, that they had special equipment to handle my speeds if I got the 105 Mb/s plan. So I dunno if that's b.s. or what. But I'll ask them about it. :good:


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## Okedokey

If you have 2 physical connections only.


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## demonikal

bigfellla said:


> If you have 2 physical connections only.



bigfella, when you say 2 physical connections only, do you mean only wired connections, or would wireless still work with the 1st gateway putting out wireless signals as well?

Thanks for the answer.


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## Geoff

Remember, Comcast has a 250GB monthly cap.  With 100Mbps bandwidth you can easily reach your cap within a few days of extremely heavy downloading.


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## demonikal

WRXGuy1 said:


> Remember, Comcast has a 250GB monthly cap.  With 100Mbps bandwidth you can easily reach your cap within a few days of extremely heavy downloading.



250GB per month? wtf is that? that's b.s. It's not like I have friggin exabytes of free space to dL stuff, but still, that's a crappy rule. Thank you for telling me that, because now I'm sort of thinking I might as well stay where I'm at or try to upgrade to 24 Mb/s on AT&T U-verse which is their fastest speed.

Thanks again.


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## Geoff

demonikal said:


> 250GB per month? wtf is that? that's b.s. It's not like I have friggin exabytes of free space to dL stuff, but still, that's a crappy rule. Thank you for telling me that, because now I'm sort of thinking I might as well stay where I'm at or try to upgrade to 24 Mb/s on AT&T U-verse which is their fastest speed.
> 
> Thanks again.


You're welcome, it's a real PITA.  If you login to your account it tells you how much data you've used out of your 250GB cap.  I believe their business internet is unlimited though.


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## Okedokey

2 ISP = two server provides, not two ip addreses.  As far as i know,   you can only do that over 2 physical connections.


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## demonikal

bigfellla said:


> 2 ISP = two server provides, not two ip addreses.  As far as i know,   you can only do that over 2 physical connections.



Thanks.


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## Okedokey

demonikal said:


> Thanks.



you're welcome champ


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## Okedokey

rankleap said:


> Yeah you can...



Explain pls ?


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## strollin

The short answer is that you can have as many ISPs in your home as you are willing to pay for.  If they require separate physical lines or not isn't your concern, they will figure that out.

I once had a setup that required me to use 2 different ISPs.  I had an early Hughes Satellite system which was only for my download link.  For my upload link, I had to use a local ISP with a 56K dialup.  It actually worked surprisingly well although much slower than current broadband.


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## Okedokey

strollin said:


> The short answer is that you can have as many ISPs in your home as you are willing to pay for.  If they require separate physical lines or not isn't your concern, they will figure that out.
> 
> I once had a setup that required me to use 2 different ISPs.  I had an early Hughes Satellite system which was only for my download link.  For my upload link, I had to use a local ISP with a 56K dialup.  It actually worked surprisingly well although much slower than current broadband.



Lol you cannot have more than one ISP run on the same copper wire.  Cannot.  You need separate numbers to work on.  Of course you can connect multiple lines, BUT THAT COSTS. So saying its their issue is bollocks.


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