Sky Broadband Review | Is Sky Broadband a Good Choice?
Is Sky broadband a good choice?
Our overall rating: 9 out of 10
Known for over 30 years as the UK’s biggest paid-TV provider, Sky now sits in the top three as a broadband service too, with over 6.2 million customers currently signed up. With an amazing range of extra bundle options to get your attention, it also comes with a higher price tag.
The positives
- Widely available network and coverage
- Incentives for combining services
- Good customer service
The negatives
- Not the cheapest
- You can get Sky shows and sports using cheaper NOW TV passes
- In our full review we take a look at the pros and cons of each area in more detail: speed, full fibre review, cost, setup and customer service.
How fast is Sky broadband?
Sky offers six packages with varying speeds. Starting with 11Mbps ('Essential' package) and going up to 900Mbps ('Gigafast' package).
But remember, where you live will also play a factor. We’ll list everything below, but you’ll also need to check your postcode to see what is currently available with Sky.
Check what is available to you with our postcode checker.
Speed is often the biggest consideration when choosing a broadband package. If you have multiple people using the internet at one time, then a higher speed and bandwidth will be essential. Equally, if it’s a small household using the internet for everyday usage, paying for business-grade bandwidth will be a waste.
You should decide what speed is right for you, based on your broadband habits at home. Here’s a handy guide to help show what bandwidth usage your different applications need.
Sky broadband packages
In slow to fast order
Sky’s Broadband Essential Plus
Sky’s most basic package (only sold via contact centres) comes with average speeds of 11Mbps. The budget option suitable for smaller households with lower internet use.
Sky’s Broadband Superfast 35
Fine for browsing and streaming in small households, this service offers average speeds of 36Mbps and uploads of around 9Mbps.
Sky’s Broadband Superfast
A popular fibre broadband package with average speeds of 59Mbps and includes unlimited monthly usage. Great for streaming and downloading on multiple devices in a family home.
Sky’s full fibre broadband options
Full fibre is the next generation of broadband, providing the fastest internet speeds possible in the UK. Availability is currently around 34% of the UK, although constantly expanding as BT Openreach adds around an extra 62,000 premises to its network each week. Sky offers several full fibre packages.
Sky Ultrafast
Sky’s entry-level full-fibre (where a fast fibre cable comes all the way to your property) package has an average download speed of 145Mb per second at peak times. Ideal for those uploading large content, streaming and online gaming.
Sky Broadband Ultrafast Plus
One of Sky’s top range, this full-fibre service offers an impressive download speed of up to 500Mbps and also has a guaranteed speed of 400Mbps. Perfect for streaming in UHD and competitive online gaming.
Sky Broadband Gigafast
Sky’s fastest service. This full fibre package offers users an impressive average download speed of 900Mbps which will easily cover all high-use working and gaming internet usage in busy households.
Enter your postcode to see packages available in your area:
Sky full fibre review
What exactly is full fibre?
Around two-thirds of homes in the UK can access ultrafast broadband via fibre-optic technology called ‘G.fast’ or ‘Fibre To The Premises’ (FTTP). Sky’s packages for this have average download speeds of 100Mbps, 500Mbps and 900Mbps.
FTTP, also known as full fibre, is the next generation of broadband. It removes the need to rely on copper phone lines and instead connects fibre cables straight to your home. This means there’s no slowdown on the data between the street cabinet and your property and the speed and strength are much more powerful than any previous fibre broadband technology as a result. Common internet issues like buffering and outages will be almost nonexistent.
This technology will future-proof homes and businesses across the UK because, once it’s installed, properties won’t need to install new cables for their broadband for decades.
Find out whether your postcode has Sky full fibre availability
Our Sky broadband rating for speed: 9
Does Sky broadband have reliable connection?
Sky uses the well-established Openreach network for all its packages. Openreach is the physical network (the wires under the street and the boxes on the street) and the biggest telecommunications network in the UK.
Ofcom’s 2023 report shows a Sky broadband rating review of 80% satisfaction with speed of service.
Confident of its reliability, if your Sky broadband packages (Superfast 35, Superfast, Ultrafast, Ultrafast Plus or Gigafast) fall below the speeds you were promised when you signed up for at least three days in a row in a 30-day period, you’ll get your money back.
Sky Broadband Boost
For a small extra monthly cost (£6 at the time of writing this article) you can get Sky Broadband Boost added to your package. This gives you Wi-Fi boosters, a Wi-Fi guarantee of minimum speeds in every room, a daily check run on your line and no-cost engineer visits. This is definitely worth thinking about for anyone living in remoter locations.
Our overall Sky broadband rating for connectivity: 9
How much does Sky broadband cost?
Sky certainly isn’t cheap compared to some of the other smaller providers and you’ll be looking at a minimum of £30 a month. But price-wise it all depends on what package you choose as even though it is more expensive, the price will often factor in TV services too.
Average price guide
How long are Sky contracts?
Sky's broadband deals all have a minimum 18-month contract as standard. There is one option for a shorter 12-month contract, the Sky Fibre Unlimited Pro, where you will pay a higher monthly price to avoid being locked in as long.
Sky is a full-service telecom provider, offering broadband, TV, landline and mobile phone contracts. The more you sign up to with them, the better your price will be.
Sky TV options
The pinnacle of paid-for television, Sky TV gives you access to top-tier entertainment, the latest movies and the highest number of Premier League games. No dish needed either as it’s now all through streaming. Pairing your broadband with Sky TV bundles is a great way to save money on these services.
There’s a great range of options and add-ons including Sky Cinema, Sky Sports, TNT Sports and Sky Atlantic. And on-demand apps like Disney+ and Netflix.
Sky rewards
Sky’s prices may be higher, but sometimes you can get lucky with your switch and get a cashback incentive reward (normally a pre-paid credit card with a value between £50-100) or a free gift when signing up. This will all depend on postcode and package.
Does Sky put up its broadband prices every year?
Sky is one of the few big providers that has avoided putting clauses covering unavoidable mid-contract price rises in its broadband contracts.
So, although it does regularly change its prices each year (normally in February), you will be notified and can switch away without a penalty if you choose not to accept the price rise.
Unlike the majority of big providers, Sky doesn’t link its price rises to inflation. This year’s (2023) rise of 8% was considerably lower than its competitors.
Our Sky broadband rating for cost: 7
How easy is it to get Sky set up?
If you’re already on another Openreach provider, switching to Sky is easy. You probably will be as most providers operate through this network, the main exception is Virgin Media. If this is the case, you might have an extra task of getting an Openreach line installed, or if there is one, making this active.
Good quality routers
Sky broadband packages all come with the very reliable Sky Broadband Hub. There is also an optional, paid upgrade, the Sky WiFi Max Hub.
The free option, the Sky Broadband Hub, is a very capable router with good Wi-Fi range, high average speeds and smart features.
The paid upgrade, the Sky WiFi Hub comes with remote device features allowing you to control speed and access from an app and has the option to use Wi-Fi extenders (Sky Max Pods).
If you already have an Openreach connection, these routers will be sent out to you and you can simply connect it yourself by plugging in, attaching the ethernet cable, turning it on and allowing your new router to sync.
Our Sky broadband rating for setup, installation & equipment: 8
Does Sky broadband have good customer service?
According to Ofcom’s latest customer service report it scores fairly well. An overall satisfaction score of 82% (average broadband score is 82%) with a call waiting time of 2:45 (average waiting time 2:14).
Sky has consistently seen a low number of complaints to Ofcom compared with most other broadband providers. Often alongside EE, it performs the best out of all of them, with three or four complaints per 100,000 customers, compared to Virgin Media or TalkTalk’s 15+.
Sky customer service is open 8.30am to 11.30pm Monday to Sunday. But technical support for any broadband access issues is 24/7 by logging into your MySky account.
How to contact Sky broadband
If your broadband is down you can check Sky Service Status page
Call Sky broadband customer service: 0333 7590187
Email customer service: mysky@sky.com
Contact Sky Live Chat
Twitter/X: @SkyHelpTeam