Sky UK Offer 12 Months Half Price Unlimited Broadband as Price Hike Looms

Sky Broadband (BSkyB) has today reintroduced their £25 M&S voucher (£100 if you take a TV bundle) with 12 months half price unlimited broadband and free off-peak calls promotion (£5 per month), which is only available to new customers who sign-up online. But a price hike for calls and line rental could follow.

As usual the new package (on offer until 26th July 2012), which is NOT available on Sky’s new £20 a month Fibre Unlimited service (up to 40Mbps), is subject to a standard 12 month contract and subscribers must also pay for Line Rental at £12.25 a month.

Sky’s Unlimited Broadband and Calls Package
* Up to 14Mbps “typical” download speeds (20Mbps max)
* Truly unlimited usage
* Inclusive evening and weekend UK calls
* Free Sky Wireless ‘N’ Router
* Unlimited access to WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud for free
* Free 12 month trial of McAfee Internet Security Suite

The above service is only available on Sky’s unbundled (LLU) broadband platform, which currently covers about 82% of the UK population (this will be extended to 88% of the UK by June 2013).

Meanwhile Sky’s price freeze promise, which began last year (here), is due to end soon and many fear that a price rise could follow. Indeed word on the grapevine is that the cost of Sky Line Rental will rise from £12.25 to £14.50 a month from 24th August 2012. Crucially this will only be applicable to new and upgrading customers.

Similarly the cost of making a standard phone call (outside of the free period) on Sky Talk will also rise from 7.6p per minute to 7.95p (applicable to all subscribers). Separately the Sky Talk Freetime service, which offers free evening and weekend UK landline calls, will be changed to weekends only for new and upgrading customers.

So if you’re planning to take one of Sky’s services then it’s probably a good idea to do so before the August 2012 changes. It should be said that many other ISPs have already made or are currently making similar changes.