BT launches second line service

Lifeline.

The self-employed / home workers have known that they can claim back home broadband on their taxes for years. However recently it’s been a conversation many have been having with their bosses due to the rise of home working.

Over 50% of UK workers have been working from home in some form or another during the pandemic. This increase in traffic has probably caused countless fights in homes with poor connections.

It seems like ISP’s have been thinking about a way to help (and capitalise on this). Last week BT announced a new service that enables customers to have two broadband connections going to their homes. The plan even means you can have broadband from two separate suppliers.

The service was introduced in response to BT’s customer research. Their research showed that many customers wanted a second home line for working from home.

And with entire families stuck at home for the last few months this desire has surely only increased!

A small price to pay for peace at home.

BT’s ‘Dedicated Connection service’ is available to all UK broadband users. It also has a few attractive offers for new and existing BT customers! Customers won’t have to pay for line installation or a BT Halo 2 smart hub. Existing BT customers will even get a monthly £10 discount on the £59.99 (24-month) service.

Marc Allera, chief executive of BT’s consumer branch, said BT wanted customers to have options.

“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.”

Traffic jams at home.

A whopping 73% of people surveyed said they were using the internet more since lockdown began. Though we probably didn’t need a survey to tell us that!

Despite this huge increase in use the UK’s broadband infrastructure has been holding up. Many countries are reporting big issues with service due to their infrastructure failing to support the new influx of users.

According to research by YouGov over a third of UK adults have experienced worse internet performance during the lockdown. The majority of those surveyed also said they have struggled to complete work due to poor speeds.
50% said they experienced worse broadband performance and that they’d had difficulty doing work. An unlucky 15% said it had caused “a lot” of disruption.

While many might be able to cope in the short term, it could start to affect productivity if working from home becomes the ‘new normal’.

Investing in your future.

So it’s understandable that companies might want to tackle this by investing in home broadband lines for their staff. For many, working from home might be a new way of life beyond the pandemic. So a second line could be a wise investment for yourself. You can even get your work to reimburse you for the costs if they were open to it.

Recent workforce research has shown that close to half of employees will be working from home more after the pandemic. So making preparations might be easier if ISP’s and other services start tailoring services for the new normal.