Do I need broadband in a second home?

It’s fair to say owning a second home isn’t politically popular at the moment.

From lower stamp duty thresholds to Edinburgh’s 300 per cent council tax levy, owning more than one property is being aggressively – perhaps even excessively – taxed.

Even so, owning a second home is something many of us will end up doing at some point in our lives, whether through choice or inheritance.

Then there are the additional dwellings rented for work purposes, such as secondees, people with short-term contracts or employees who are regularly relocated around the country.

In any of these scenarios, a second home offers more security than a B&B, more permanence than a hotel room and more privacy than shared accommodation.

What it probably won’t offer is prepaid high-speed internet connectivity, but is that really necessary nowadays?

Living without broadband in a second home

The absence of fixed broadband in a second home doesn’t mean you’re instantly off grid as the front door closes behind you.

From smartphones to tablets, many devices will try to connect to a 4G or 5G mobile network if they can’t locate a broadband router.

And while mobile signals are weaker indoors, due to external walls smothering the signals, they should connect unless your property is the basement flat in a stone building.

Mobile internet might be sufficient for a property unoccupied for part of the time, and only lightly occupied the rest of the time.

After all, second homes are often used sparingly, or only by one person, or as a base of operations.

Paying for a 500Mbps broadband line is pointless if you’re coming home from shift work and collapsing into bed.

Checking messages and watching video content is likely to be the extent of broadband usage in many cases.

Living without fixed broadband in a second home

If mobile data is either too weak or slow, another option involves using the aforementioned mobile networks to power miniature routers.

These can take two forms, starting with a USB stick which plugs into a single device and provides hardwired 4G or 5G connectivity.

Also known as a mobile dongle, this has no wireless capacity but will enable you to keep a smart TV or a computer online.

That’s often all a second home really needs, such as if you’re handling an executry and using the internet mainly to list items on eBay or close down online accounts.

A more sociable alternative involves purchasing a miniature router which is known as a MiFi hub, distributing wireless signals across a modest local area.

This would easily service the main living space in a holiday rental, though it may struggle to cover a whole home and couldn’t run multiple data-intensive connections at once.

In the latter scenario, home broadband is probably necessary, even if it’s unused most of the time.

If home broadband is essential

Don’t attempt to cut corners with data-limited subscriptions. These have fallen from favour as prices of ‘unlimited’ home broadband have plummeted, so they now represent poor value.

The word unlimited appears in quotes because no home broadband policy is truly unlimited, as you’ll discover if you try to crypto mine or leave a P2P file sharing network connected round the clock.

In a property where it’ll only be used sporadically, a Fibre to the Cabinet connection of 35-65Mbps ought to suffice, and it’ll be cheaper than full fibre.

Depending how long you intend to have the property, a rolling 30-day contract could make more economic sense than a one or two-year contract.

Rolling contracts are pricier but they can be cancelled at short notice, which is useful if you may be moving house soon.

Bear in mind any broadband connection, MiFi hub or USB dongle will only work in the UK and won’t operate on Jersey or the Isle of Man, let alone in EU countries or anywhere else.