Sky Confirm First Customers Live on 940Mbps Broadband in York UK

As expected Sky Broadband has today echoed last week’s news from TalkTalk (here) and Cityfibre, which confirmed that the first trial customers are now live on their joint “ultrafast” 940Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) network in the city of York (North Yorkshire).

Strictly speaking this event actually took place last week when we first reported it, although Sky appears to be a little slower on the PR side of things than TalkTalk. Meanwhile the press release itself doesn’t say a lot, except to confirm the benefits of a pure fibre optic network to service speed and reliability.

Lyssa McGowan, Director of Sky Broadband, said:

“Sky is the first broadband service provider in the UK to offer guaranteed broadband speeds. We are proud that these products will be available to our customers in York on our ultrafast and ultra-reliable gigabit network.

As Ofcom continues its review of the broadband market, we believe that trials like this are a valuable demonstration of the alternative technologies now available. With the right conditions for investment and innovation, consumers and businesses could benefit from more ultrafast connections across the UK.”

The press release claims that this development makes “York the first ultrafast city in the UK“, which suggests that Sky’s PR team are perhaps unaware of other developments in the market (e.g. Hyperoptic have a 1000Mbps service in several cities).

The PR also ignores that the York deployment currently only covers a couple of thousand premises and the vast majority have yet to be reached (around 80,000 in total, but the current roll-out plan is only for the first 20,000) and that “ultrafast” tends to cover 100Mbps+ speeds (this brings Virgin Media into the equation).

Sky’s other claim to be the first broadband ISP in the UK to offer “guaranteed broadband speeds” is similarly incorrect, although if they had added the word “consumer” before broadband then it might have been a little closer to the truth.

In fact plenty of providers can offer a guaranteed rate, although they’re usually business focused solutions and have a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Lest we not forget that Sky’s guarantee is only for their 50Mbps and 100Mbps packages, not the 940Mbps option that the press release highlights.

Otherwise you can find more details about Sky’s Ultrafast Broadband packages HERE, but here’s a short recap.

Sky Ultra Fibre Optic
* 50Mbps “Guaranteed Speeds”
* Totally unlimited usage
* Included router (£6.95 delivery charge)

PRICE: £10 per month + £16.40 per month line rental

Sky Ultra Fibre Optic Plus
* As above, but with..
* 100Mbps

PRICE: £20 per month + £16.40 per month line rental

Sky Ultra Fibre Optic Pro
* As above, but with..
* ‘up to’ 940Mbps

PRICE: £30 per month + £16.40 per month line rental