Sky vs BT broadband: which is best for you?
Sky vs BT broadband
PRICE
The winner = Sky
Neither of these two broadband giants rank among the cheaper end of the market. Although there can sometimes be bargains to be grabbed if you look at the right time. Both BT and Sky do tempting promotions during sales events like Black Friday.
When it comes to price, there normally isn’t a great deal of difference between the two. We’ve compared the latest packages for a comparison and Sky is currently offering the better value.
BT broadband prices
Sky broadband prices
Sky wins here, its 900Mb plan is significantly cheaper at £44 compared to BT's £59.99. All of its prices are slightly lower apart from its slowest plan, 36Mbps for £40, which is rather confusingly more expensive than several of its faster packages.
BT rewards
BT’s prices may be higher, but it is one of the most generous with free gifts. Its deals often come with some kind of incentive reward, normally a pre-paid credit card with a value around £50-£100.
Sky rewards
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.
Sky vs BT broadband
SPEED
The winner = BT
It's really tricky to pick a winner here, but BT wins on this category – just!
Both providers offer six different speeds via the same Openreach network. Sky has two superfast (partial) fibre speeds of 36Mbps and 61Mbps. BT also has two, very slightly faster, at 50Mbps and 74Mbps.
Both have three full fibre plans, Sky offers: 100Mbps, 145Mbps and 500Mbps. BT offers: 150Mbps, 300Mbps and 500Mbps.
And both have a gigafast lightening speed package that providers 900Mbps.
BT pips it though, as its upload speeds for full fibre packages are very slightly faster.
BT
SKY
Sky vs BT broadband
AVAILABILITY
The winner = draw
Both providers use the Openreach network to deliver its broadband service so we’ve got a tie-breaker for this category.
Just about anyone in the UK has access to Openreach broadband. Although, it doesn’t mean you can necessarily get the fastest speeds yet as some of this technology is still partial fibre (speeds of 30 - 70Mbps), but it does mean that most households can access at least a very satisfactory 64Mbps. This is growing every day and they’ve pledged to deliver full fibre to 25 million homes and businesses by 2026.
Sky vs BT broadband
PACKAGES
Winner = Sky
Both offer a wide range of packages to choose from. But as discussed, Sky is currently slightly better value for the speed you get.
Sky also wins on flexibility. All BT’s contracts are 24 months, but Sky offers 18 months.
Both providers offer broadband with no landline rental for those who really don’t have any requirements.
All packages from BT and Sky are truly unlimited. This means you really can use the internet as much as you like without being deliberately slowed down or incurring any extra charges.
Sky vs BT broadband
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Winner = Sky
Both providers do fairly well when it comes to customer service, Sky has the edge though.
According to the latest Ofcom report of October 2023, Sky Broadband generated the fewest complaints at 5 per 100,000 subscribers. BT was in the middle of their list, with a total of 13 complaints per 100,000. The industry average is 12.
Sky’s average call waiting time for customer support is 2 minutes 14 seconds. BT’s isn’t far behind with an average wait of 2 minutes 45 seconds. The industry average for this category is 2 minutes 37 seconds.
Sky vs BT broadband
Add-on TV & phone services
Winner = Sky
Both providers offer a great range of additional services. But it’s not a big surprise to hear that Sky wins here, no one – apart from Virgin Media – can really compete when it comes to TV offerings.
TV
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. At the time of writing, Sky has more than 300 entertainment channels, including Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Comedy Central.
There’s a great range of options and add-ons including Sky Cinema, Sky Sports (all 11 channels), TNT Sports and Sky Atlantic. And on-demand apps like Disney+ and Netflix.
Although BT doesn't offer quite the same level of bespoke TV channels, it does provide a great selection of packages that can get you access to Sky channels (this is via a NOW TV membership), Netflix and Discovery+.
BT’s YouView TV Box is also good. It lets you record up to 300-600 hours of content, record, pause and rewind live TV for up to two hours and record remotely via its app.
It’s also worth noting here that you have to be a BT broadband customer to get BT TV, but you don’t have to have Sky broadband to sign up to a Sky TV package.
Phone
Sky broadband customers get a home phone line with pay-as-you-go calls included in all plans. For BT broadband customers this is optional and will cost an additional £5 per month.
There are three inclusive call options for Sky:
Talk International
£18 a month – unlimited inclusive calls to UK mobiles and landlines, plus 50 worldwide destinations
Talk Anytime
£16 a month – unlimited inclusive calls to UK mobiles and landlines
Talk Evenings & Weekends
£8 a month – unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK mobiles and landlines
BT’s call plans aren’t quite so comprehensive:
Pay As You Go
£5 a month – this add-on is for your landline and you pay for calls on top
Unlimited Minutes
£18 a month – unlimited inclusive calls to any UK landline number or UK mobile, day or night.
Friends & Family International
£2.83 –.cheap call rates to 236 international destinations
International Freedom
£12.11 – inclusive calls to the most popular international destinations and low calls rates to the rest of the world
Sky vs BT broadband
ROUTERS
The winner = Sky
Both providers offer a very similar router free with their packages, but Sky’s upgrade add-on to boost coverage is definitely the more attractive option.
Sky broadband routers
Sky offers two broadband routers – the Sky Broadband Hub, and the more newly released Sky Max Hub. The Sky Broadband Hub comes as standard, whatever plan you pick. And any customers can upgrade to the latest router, the Sky Max Hub.
BT broadband routers
BT is slightly different as you'll get a different router depending on what plan you pick. If you go for any of its fibre broadband deals you'll be greeted with the advanced Smart Hub 2. Standard broadband packages – its 10Mbps ADSL plan – and you'll receive the more basic Home Hub 4. So the majority will get its more advanced hub, which is what we'll concentrate on for this review. There is also an upgrade option too which we'll compare against the Sky Max Hub in a bit.
Sky router Vs BT router
There is actually very little to choose from between these two. Both routers are on 802.11ac Wi-Fi (also known as WiFi 5). This is a standard that’s now a few years old and delivers reasonably fast connectivity. Both connect to up to 64 devices at once and they both have four gigabit ethernet ports so you can connect up to four wired devices directly to get the optimum speed. The Sky Broadband Hub offers dual-band wireless with eight internal antennae, which is just one more than BT's Smart Hub 2’s seven , giving very slightly more coverage.
Extra coverage options
When it comes to concerns about your Wi-Fi signal, both providers offer an upgrade solution. Sky WiFi Max is the provider's new Wi-Fi guarantee, promising minimum speeds over wireless of up to 25Mbps. However, the add-on also bundles a new router, the Sky Max Hub which supports the latest Wi-Fi 6. This all costs around an extra £3-6.50 a month.
BT offers its Complete Wi-Fi system for those needing extra coverage. There isn’t an additional router with this, but a disc that boosts your signal by creating a local network. So unlike the Sky option, you won’t be getting the benefits of Wi-Fi 6. Another big difference here is that where Sky’s WiFi Max promises minimum download speeds in every room, BT Complete only promises a ‘strong’ signal. This service comes at an additional price of £10 a month.
And the winner is… Sky!
But only just. These giants are so evenly matched for value, add-ons and packages.
They are both excellent choices, but we have to give this one to to Sky because of its unbeatable TV service and better value for the same speed prices.
Don’t disregard BT though. Remember, if you can’t get access to full fibre yet, BT offers slightly faster partial fibre speeds than Sky can. Its uploads are also faster. From time to time you can also grab yourself a BT Reward Card when switching over that effectively offers you cash back straight to your pocket, which can swing the overall price in their favour.