Can you have 2 internet service providers on 1 switch?

[24elements]

Currently we have Windstream for our internet service provider and our telephone.  The physical configuration is we port out of the Windstream modem for internet to a router and then connect to the switch.  For telephone we come out of another port of the Windstream modem connect to the telephone providers box and from there to the switch.  Brighthouse will be available in our area and the phone people are telling me that all I have to do is disconnect the cable for our internet from the Windstream modem and connect it to the Brighthouse modem and leave the phones on the Windstream connection to the switch.  Will that work with 2 internet providers connected to the same switch?

[sc302 Veteran]

as long as they do not have the same ip segment, yes. 

 

Data network 192.168.1.x 255.255.255.0

Teletphone network 192.168.2.x 255.255.255.0

 

But honestly, just buy a new switch...it will be cleaner and less for someone to figure out later.

[binaryzero]

^ what he said. 

[dafox]

This might solve alot of problems for you. There are other ones made by other companies like HP, cisco etc but this does the job at a price thats not crazy.

[24elements]

1 - If I go with a new switch I'll have to pull new cable for the workstations and install new punch blocks to separate the networks.

2 - With the phone (Windstream provider) being on the same switch, cable as the internet (Brighthouse) will that slow down the internet download?

3 - Can I go with a dual wan router?  Using the phone system, Windstream T1 and Brighthouse cable. 

[+BudMan MVC]

So you go to the same switch?  Is this a smart switch and you have vlans?  So you have this

 

And they are telling you to do this

Yeah that works - but really curious what switch you currently have, do you have your phone and data networks on their own vlan?

 

 

 

[24elements]

The switch is not a smart switch.  All I know at the moment is the phone people must be setup on a different subnet as SC302 commented.  I would like to use a dual wan router but I don't know if the router will work with a T1 line and cable.

[sc302 Veteran]

What does the physical layout of the network look like currently? 

I am guessing by the comments and lack of real information/diagram, well look below and tell me which way it is functioning.

IF it is how I think it is working now, you will need a smart switch.  I would put in a sg300 into this mess.  configure port one for vlan1/phone and port two for vlan2 data.  Plug your phone isp to port 1, plug your data isp to port 2.  Then you will need to tag the vlan 2 on any port that a phone and computer is connected to and untagg vlan 1 (native vlan).  The phone itself will then communicate on vlan1 and any device that is connected to the phone port should communicate on vlan 2 (you may have to tell the phone via the phone software to set the switchport/pc port to use vlan2.   That will get you running in the bottom picture.

Edited September 28, 2015 by sc302

[24elements]

The way you think it's working now is correct.  The phone people cable into the switch from their box and I cable into the switch with my router.

[sc302 Veteran]

Then if you do not have a managed switch you will not be able to accomplish what you want in the bottom picture. 

I would suggest getting a cisco sg300-52mp with smart net.  It will be around 1600 usd (1800 with smartnet for 3 years), but you will be able to power the phones with the switch.  They won't need a power adapter to supply power,  and you can call cisco for config assistance. 

 

The other option is to run all new cables for the phones and get a new switch for the phone network.

 

Edit: The reason I suggest a sg300-52mp is that I know you can purchase a smartnet contract with that.  I know the sg300-10mp you cannot purchase a smartnet contract with that.

Here is what it would look like with a managed switch.

Edited September 29, 2015 by sc302

[24elements]

You have put a lot of work and time into this and I want you to know how much I appreciate it.  It appears the phone people think it will work because they are on a different subnet.  Brighthouse is still installing their service at the location.  But I will know if it works or not very soon.  I just want to know if I can use a dual wan router to have redundancy if one service fails.   Thanks again.

[sc302 Veteran]

Yes you can use a dual wan router to have redundancy.  You can tell the router to use one ip range for one side and the other ip range for the other side...you should also be able to tell them to fail over to eachother if their primary leg fails.   Generally you can setup a ping test to run every few minutes to determine if the leg is up or down vs the port being up or down...you may have connectivity from the next device over but that next device may not have connectivity to the isp. 

 

In your scenario you will not be able to use DHCP on the network, everything would have to be statically assigned and very manual.  You can only have 1 dhcp server on the network, being that you will not be separating the networks it is going to make a mess.

 

[24elements]

- The phone people cable out of a port from the Windstream modem to their modem

- From their modem they cable to the switch then the cable plugs in to the phone and cables out of the phone to the computer for internet.

- I come out of a port from the Windstream modem to my router and then to the switch

- Both the phone modem (currently using Windstream) and my router (currently using Windstream) are cabled to the same switch.

- The phone modem will still be using Windstream but my router will be using Brighthouse, both connected to the same dumb switch.

- You're saying this will work?

[24elements]

This is the way it is cabled now.

[sc302 Veteran]

So the phone is plugged directly into the switch and the computer os plugged directly into the switch. This will be easier to work with than plugging the computer into the phone. 

 

You will not be able to use dhcp for either the computers or phones, one or the other (or both)need to be statically assigned. If you have a lot it will be tedious and you better have good documentation to go back to if something had to be replaced or added. 

 

If you plug the computer into the phone,  I am not 100% on the config functioning,  but in theory should be the same issue as above,  static addresses. 

 

[sc302 Veteran]

If it is like the pic you copied,  phone and computer plugged directly into switch,  just get another dumb switch for data or phone. Then you could have dhcp on both switches/networks. The only otherway you can get multiple dhcp servers on sane switch would be to use vlans but you need a managed switch for that. 

[majortom1981]

I am guessing these are VOIP phones?

[sc302 Veteran]

Are there other types of phones that need an internet connection?

[24elements]

No, all are voip.  ALL cables (or each cable go to a phone) go from the switch to the phone "in" (on the phone) and cable "out" (from the phone) to the computer.