Networks·41,467 discussions

Can I use two ISP with the same router?

Tags: Networking

I wanted to ask if this is possible. I have my main ISP with its modem connected to my main router. I have an extra router that could use a mobile data. I wanted to connect my extra router to my main router so if ever the main ISP will have technical difficulties, I could use it as a back-up. I don’t want to pull out the lan cable connected to my PC every time I switch from my main router to my extra router. Is there a way that I could just switch between the two without pulling out the lan cable on my PC?

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Re: router

In reply to Can I use two ISP with the same router?

Assuming that your router has one WAN-port to connect to something that connects to the Internet, and your PC has one LAN-port to connect to your router, it’s clear that you need to pull out at least one cable.

But you can try to add a second LAN-port to your PC, and see if it’s possible to switch between the two with some setting.

isp choices

In reply to Can I use two ISP with the same router?

There is, perhaps, a way of doing this.
You main router has an IP address to the main ISPm, say IP1.
Your second router has its IP to the alternate ISPa, say IP2.
In your PC, define the Gateway of the LAN / WiFi network as IP1 or IP2 as the case is.
You can do this change by going to the LAN settings, or use a free program (https://netsetman.en.softonic.com/) or a bat file using line command netsh.

Here is what I do – see if it can help you

In reply to Can I use two ISP with the same router?

I’ll call it “historical reasons” but I have a router on fiber and another on LTE. In addition I have an LTE capability on my phone, which I have been using as an emergency backup. (Explanation: At some point of my career I was contributing parts of tender responses and proposals and with deadlines looming and unpredictable travel delays I needed close to 100% connectivity into the corporate network.)

Now, each of these routers support WiFi, so that on all my computers that have a WiFi capability I can easily switch between any of these WiFi networks (in fact, if I had the right passwords and no scruples I could also bum a free ride on my neighbors’ WiFi routers.)

I warn you, though: A computer that uses an Ethernet LAN cable will need to be plugged in to the router of choice – excluding, typically, the cell phone option.

Also, if you expect to use WiFi to communicate between your computers or with your printer – with my model not all computers are on the same network all the time, which may or may not be a problem for you.

Set Up Two ISPs on One Switch

In reply to Can I use two ISP with the same router?

In computer communications, a Local Area Network (LAN) can have multiple connections to external Internet Service Providers. This is typically done for fault tolerance–if one link falls, the LAN is still connected to the outside world through the other link–and for increased bandwidth. You can connect a single switch on your network to two ISPs.

Configure the first and second routers to use static Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. For example, assign addresses 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 to the two routers. The precise way of performing this step depends on the make and model of the routers.

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