Routers

[Borrowingsine81]

Is it possible to have two different routers from different providers in a household? And what would be the disadvantage of it

[Levent]

Yes and nothing. Can you own two different brand of cars? What happens when you do?

[Oshino Shinobu]

Yes, but there's really no point in it for the vast majority of uses cases for consumer/home networks, if we're talking using the routing functions. If you want to set it up as an access point or switch or similar, that's different.

 

You can have one of them operate as a switch, an access point, a wireless bridge etc. but at that point what you're really doing is using what we call a "router", which is actually a mixture of devices, as one of those specific devices rather than the routing functions of it. 

 

If it's configured correctly, there shouldn't be any problems, though there are some limitations, depending on what you're actually using it for. Most common issues, mostly due to misconfiguration, you can encounter DHCP conflicts and IP conflicts on the routers themselves if they try to use the same static IP by default. Double NAT if you configure them wrong, which can in turn lead to port forwarding issues.

 

EDIT: None of this is really specific to have routers of two different brands. They're issues you can come across when using any two routers in the same network.

[Borrowingsine81]

Lets say i get one router from talktalk and a couple of people use that.

 

Then a get a gaming nighthawk router and a couple people use that.

 

Would that be a problem?

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, Borrowingsine81 said:

Lets say i get one router from talktalk and a couple of people use that.

 

Then a get a gaming nighthawk router and a couple people use that.

 

Would that be a problem?

Do you have multiple internet connections? Are you talking about using the WiFi from one while the other does the routing or using both as routers?

 

If you just want to expand your WiFi or have different devices on different WiFi, you can get an access point rather than a router.

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, Borrowingsine81 said:

Is it possible to have two different routers from different providers in a household? And what would be the disadvantage of it

The disadvantage would be having to pay 2 different bills at the end of the month. Not very practical for the typical home user; I’d just upgrade the package tier if I wanted more speed or change ISPs altogether if you’re not satisfied with the service. Then again, if you want a backup connection then you’re a completely different class of user and the cost would be worth it.

 

1 hour ago, Borrowingsine81 said:

Lets say i get one router from talktalk and a couple of people use that.

 

Then a get a gaming nighthawk router and a couple people use that.

 

Would that be a problem?

Please clarify: do you have 2 different ISP connections or just 2 different routers? ...Because your OP implied the former, but now you seem to mean the latter. While there are no problems having either, the setup differs. And if all you want to do is to have another wireless entry-point into your internet connection, there’s no need for another router as @Oshino Shinobu suggested.