UPDATE2 Sky Broadband Swap 76Mbps Fibre Pro with Cheaper Fibre Max

UK ISP Sky Broadband is to replace their ‘up to’ 76Mbps (19Mbps upload) Sky Fibre Pro (FTTC) service with a £5 per month cheaper Sky Fibre Max product on 16th August 2016, albeit with reduced features.

At this stage we’re taking the reports (here, here and here) with a pinch of salt because our usual sources have not yet been able to confirm, although it’s never easy to check these things during annual holiday periods / sunny weekends. Even Sky’s PR team are likely to be taking it easy until Monday, which is hopefully when we’ll get something more solid.

The existing Sky Fibre Pro package costs £30 per month + £17.40 per month for Sky Line Rental and suffers a bit because it cannot be ordered online, although customers do benefit from several advanced features such as a Static IP address, a dedicated support line and selectable profiles. Much of this stemmed from when Sky gobbled O2 and BE Broadband during 2013 (here).

The good news is that Sky Broadband appears set to replace Sky Fibre Pro with Sky Fibre Max for £5 less per month (£25 per month). The service speed will remain the same, although the refreshed product will sadly drop its Static IP address, selectable profiles and dedicated support line features.

Such a move would also bring Sky Fibre Max roughly into line with the similar speed and £24.99 Super Fibre service via their new NOW TV Combo bundles.

UPDATE 1:55pm

We’ve had it confirmed by one of our usually credible sources that Sky do indeed intend to perform the above change on 16th August, although like the ‘Pro’ package Sky will initially only allow orders for its ‘Max’ replacement via telephone sales (call 08442 410 802) rather than online. Expect some more detail on Tuesday.

UPDATE 15th Aug (8:10am)

The official line from Sky right now is one of “no comment.”

UPDATE 16th Aug (9:19am)

As expected Sky has today officially confirmed the new Sky Fibre Max product, which is being sold exactly as we reported above and so there’s no need to repeat ourselves. Similarly the old Sky Fibre Unlimited Pro option will no longer be available for new customers to purchase, but will be maintained for existing customers.

Lyssa McGowan, Sky’s Director of Communication Products, said:

“We’ve introduced Sky Fibre Max to give new and existing customers more choice to access our fastest broadband product at a competitive price. The new product represents Sky’s continued commitment to develop our broadband and fibre offering with fantastic customer service.”