Are broadband and wifi the same?

No, they are not the same. Wifi is just a wireless signal which typically your wireless router emmits around your house. A Wifi signal is what you see on your phone.

<p><em>Broadband</em> on the other hand is how to access "the internet" it's the connection which comes over the wire from your telephone exchange, along your street, and into your house. Your router, which the box which your Internet Service Provider (ISP) gave you then turns that broadband connection into a wireless signal which you can use across your house. </p>

The confusion you're having is probably because you assume that Wifi and being "online" are the same thing. They are not.

For example, imagine you just wanted to connect three devices together in your house to share files. You don't need the internet, you just want to share files between three computers. To do this, you can use a Wifi signal to connect them all together. This would allow them all to 'talk' to each other and share files.

Now imagine you want to be able to access bbc.co.uk for the news. For that you'd need a broadband connection, and also Wifi to conect to the broadband over wifi.