Can I have two broadband connections in one house?

This is because many broadband plans, even from different ISPs, use the same infrastructure, usually the copper telephone lines running to your home.

For example, if you already have superfast fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband from BT, you can’t take out a similar package from Sky or TalkTalk because it would use the same lines that BT is using. That is unless you have a second line run to your home. 

Luckily, BT offers such a service: a second “dedicated connection” for your home. It charges existing customers £49.99 a month and others £59.99 a month for the service.

If your home is reached by multiple broadband networks, there is nothing preventing you from signing up for services on each of them. This will be the case if your home is covered by both Openreach’s network and Virgin Media’s cable broadband network, as around half of UK homes are. You will have even more options if your home is connected to a full-fibre network, from either Openreach, Virgin Media, or a range of alternative networks.

But you may want to consider whether you actually need a second broadband line. Today’s broadband connections, especially fibre plans, have enough bandwidth to comfortably accommodate multiple devices at the same time.

If you’re struggling to stream Netflix while a family member games online, you probably don’t need a second broadband connection. You simply just need to upgrade to a faster plan. If the only broadband available to your home is very slow, as is the case with some remote properties, it’s unlikely that installing another slow connection will help much. You may simply have to wait until faster broadband technology reaches you and upgrade to that.