Sky Broadband unleashes free upgrade that boosts download speeds on your favourite device

The ability to choose which devices are prioritised on your Wi-Fi will only become more important as we all add dozens of devices to our household. Research conducted by Sky shows that the average UK home now boasts 21 smart devices — from video doorbells to smart thermostats, smartphones to tablets — and they all need vast amounts of data to get the most from them.

Announcing the arrival of the new update, Sky confirmed: "Whether its wearable tech, home appliances, working from home, 4K streaming or gaming, by prioritising household devices people can get the most out of their WiFi.

"New and existing WiFi Max customers can access the new feature via the latest version of the MySky App and can easily choose which device to prioritise and for how long for. Other devices will stay active, but the prioritised device will get the best performance."

When you activate Device Priority, other devices in your home will remain active and connected to the internet. However, your prioritised device will receive the best performance available from your broadband connection.

The eight-hour time limit for the per-device prioritisation is designed to provide flexibility for extended work sessions, lengthy video conferences, or marathon gaming sessions. However, it's easy to manage which device receives priority and adjust the duration through the MySky mobile app.

For those who don't know, WiFi Max is an optional extra available to all Sky Broadband subscribers. As well as the new Device Priority functionality, it also provides the following features:

• Fastest Wi-Fi Speed Guarantee: Up to 8x faster than Sky Broadband’s standard Wi-Fi Guarantee, ensuring every room in your home gets a decent wireless connection, or you'll recieve a refund
• Advanced Security: Helps keep everyone safer online. WiFi Max blocks online threats on all devices. From doorbells and smart cameras to laptops and mobiles
• Parental Controls: Take charge of WiFi at home. Add, pause or block devices and set schedules for the kids. So, bedtime means bedtime
• Convenient Engineer Visits: Schedule visits at a time that suits, including evenings and weekends, at no extra cost
• Sky Mobile Integration: Sky Mobile customers will receive 2GB into their Sky Mobile Piggybank during broadband outages of 30 minutes or longer

WiFi Max costs £4 extra per month for existing customers who want to upgrade from a standard Sky Broadband package. For a limited time, Sky Broadband's Full Fibre 150 plan costs just £25 per month.

• Add WiFi Max to your Sky Broadband connection
• Switch to Sky Broadband's Full Fibre 150 plan for £25

That includes an average download speed of 152Mbps — that's roughly double the average household broadband speed in the UK. Sky Broadband will guarantee a minimum speed of 100Mbps, even at peak times.

Elsewhere, this package boasts unlimited downloads and no upfront fees.

Features like Device Priority are available with third-party Wi-Fi routers, like the Google Nest lineup.

This popular mesh Wi-Fi system replaces the Wi-Fi router sent by your broadband provider at the start of your contract, unlocking a slew of extra features, like the ability to set up a temporary Wi-Fi network for guests (or neighbours in need) with a different password.

You can choose a specific device to prioritise over everything else.

Eero is another popular choice for those looking to upgrade their Wi-Fi setup without swapping to a new broadband contract. This Amazon-owned brand doesn't explicitly let you single-out an individual device to priortise above everything else, but it does offer a "Optimise for Conferencing and Gaming" toggle that will focus on gadgets in the home focused on these bandwidth-intensive tasks.