How Many IPTV Connections Do You Need? Six Households, Sized

A connection is one stream playing at a time. It is not a device limit: you can install your login on every screen in the house, and the plan only counts how many are playing at the same moment. Rather than explain that in the abstract, here are six households and how each one should size its plan. Find the one closest to yours.

Six households

1. Single person, one TV and a phone

One connection. You can only watch one thing at a time. The phone is for when you are away from the TV, not as well as it.

2. Couple who watch together most nights

One connection, unless match night and drama night regularly clash. If one of you often watches on a tablet in another room while the other has the TV, take two.

3. Family of four, teenagers with their own screens

Two or three connections. The living-room TV plus at least one bedroom is the usual weekday pattern. Count three if both teenagers watch at the same time as the main TV.

4. Family with young children

Two connections. A kids' channel or cartoon series on a tablet while adults watch the news is the classic clash. Younger children rarely add a third stream on their own.

5. Frequent traveller with someone at home

Two connections if someone at home keeps watching while you stream in a hotel. One is enough if the house is empty when you travel.

6. Shared house

One connection per housemate who watches regularly, up to three. Agree who uses it: plans are for one household, and sharing a login beyond it breaches the terms.

The Saturday-evening count

If none of those fits neatly, do this once. On a typical Saturday evening, the busiest viewing time in most homes, count the screens that are actually playing something at the same moment. That number is your answer. Do not plan for the one evening a year when everyone wants to watch something different; you can upgrade later.

What extra screens cost

Adding connections costs less per screen than buying separate plans. Here is the cost per screen per month for each plan length, from the current prices on our pricing page:

Two takeaways. Plan length matters more than connection count: a single 12-month connection costs less per month than three connections on a 3-month plan. And if you are on the fence between one and two connections, the second screen on a 12-month plan costs $46 a year.

Testing it before you pay

During the free trial, play two streams at once on the devices you would really use, at the time you would really use them. Our trial checklist includes this test. If both run smoothly on your connection at peak time, a 2-connection plan will too. For the total cost against your current TV bill, use the cost worksheet.