Over the last few months, we’ve heard whispers that Sky is looking to bring full-fibre broadband connections to its customers. What started out as a few tests has now seemingly turned into something much more substantial. According to internet-obsessed blog ISPreview, Sky is taking advantage of the new fibre cables fitted by Openreach nationwide to offer a number of existing customers a speed boost.
Availability is expanding across the UK as a number of readers have reported to ISPreview that superfast fibre broadband is now available at their location. One loyal ISPreview reader claims to have been checking the Sky website every day since the pilot scheme started to roll-out and the speeds have finally become available today.
Unfortunately, Sky hasn’t commented on the purported roll-out. Without a definitive list of locations where full-fibre connections are available right now, the only way to check whether you’re able to upgrade to the next-generation speeds is to log-on to the Sky website and put in your postcode. Thankfully, that’s not too much hassle.
Sky calls its new broadband bundles Superfast and Ultrafast for 59Mbps and 145Mbps, respectively. As always, you can pay an extra £5 a month for the Sky Broadband Boost, which includes daily line checks to spot – and fix – any issues before they cut-out your broadband speeds. You’ll also benefit from the Wi-Fi Guarantee, which makes sure that every room in your house has a stable connection – so you don’t have to sprint from one room to another when you start to receive a FaceTime call.
To guarantee you have at least 3Mbps in every room, Sky will kit you out with its latest hub, as well as Broadband Boosters for any rooms still struggling to get signal. If none of that works, you’ll get a refund.
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Netflix recommends at least 25Mbps to stream its boxsets and movies in Ultra HD quality at home. So, 145Mbps should be more than enough to ensure a busy household can stream in separate rooms, make and receive video calls, stream music and podcasts, or play video games online without any major hiccups or stuttering.
But while 145Mbps fibre is considerably faster than internet delivered with ageing copper cables – not to mention, substantially faster than the 64Mbps average household broadband speeds in the UK – it still can’t quite match the might of rival services, such as Virgin Media and Hyperoptic.
Both of these brands, as well as Community Fibre, Zzoomm, and BT – to name a few, are offering customers up to 1Gbps and beyond. That’s almost 16 times faster than the average broadband speed in the UK and ensure you’re future-proofed when emerging technologies, like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and 4K video game streaming, become more common.
As it stands, Sky charges £35 a month for its Ultrafast broadband bundle. After the first 18 months, that jumps to £44 a month. There’s also a £19.95 setup fee. For that, you’ll get the latest Sky Broadband Hub wireless router, unlimited downloads, as well as a minimum guaranteed speed of 100Mbps. So, if you’re looking for a broadband boost – check your postcode.
