ISP BT Launch Second Line UK Dedicated Connection Service

UK ISP BT has today launched somewhat of an oddball of a new service called “Dedicated Connection,” which essentially gives your home a second broadband line to help with rising demand (e.g. one line for work and one for domestic needs). Stop us if any of this sounds familiar because second line products are nothing new.

At this point we’ll leave aside the awkward fact that homes wouldn’t need a second line if we all had access to gigabit-capable (1000Mbps+), or even ultrafast (100Mbps+), broadband connections today. As such it’s no surprise to find that BT only appear to be offering this product on their slower broadband tiers (FTTC) up to a maximum theoretical download speed of 80Mbps (20Mbps upload), which unlike G.fast and FTTP has true mass market availability.

Otherwise BT Dedicated Connection includes the usual line rental, free install, unlimited usage and their Halo 2 service, which adds their Keep Connected Promise (they’ll send a 4G Mini Hub if your fixed line goes down), Price Promise (you’ll never pay more than new customers), Complete Wi-Fi, Home Tech Experts (better support), Smart Hub 2 router (if you don’t already have it) and various boosts for BTMobile customers etc.

Existing BT customers will pay from £49.99 per month for this product and that rises to £59.99 if you aren’t already an existing customer. In short, BT appear to be selling the same sort of second line product that you could buy from other ISPs too, but few people ever do (it’s somewhat of a long forgotten option) due to the high cost of running two lines at once (the lack of proper broadband line bonding here is another negative).

Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s consumer

“Our new Dedicated Connection service is specifically designed to provide additional reassurance for consumers, regardless of their existing provider. It will allow them to double the connectivity potential in their home, providing a single connection they can use for activities such as working from home, gaming or online schooling – enabling them to get a reliable connection without disruption.”

The new product, if we can even call it new (it’s more like a return to the previous decade), is clearly intended to bank on the increased tendency of people to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis. Sadly this has put a lot of premises with slower broadband services and bigger family demands under pressure.

Nevertheless buying a second copper line (ADSL or FTTC) remains one of the more expensive solutions and, if you already suffer from slow speeds, then the improvement may not be worth the extra cost. Obviously second line solutions also make even less sense if you’re lucky enough to have an alternative ultrafast option from a rival network (e.g. Virgin Media, Cityfibre etc.) and there’s the option to mix lines from different networks.

One other alternative here could be to offload some of your demands on to an unlimited 4G based mobile (mobile broadband) plan, assuming you can get a good signal and speed at your location. This may actually be a far cheaper and more flexible solution than throwing £50-£60 on the table for another copper line. On the other hand you could probably get a second line for far less by asking another ISP (e.g. Zen Internet, iDNET etc.).

Naturally the best longer-term solution to this is to ensure that, outside of urban areas, the whole country can access something better than ADSL or FTTC broadband. Various operators are working on that and the Government rather optimistically thinks that it can get gigabit-capable broadband out to everybody by the end of 2025, but we’d be very surprised if every home could really get true 1Gbps speeds by that date.