ISP Sky Broadband Reveals UK Pricing for New Ultrafast Packages UPDATE

The long awaited launch of UK ISP Sky Broadband’s (Comcast) new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and G.fast based “Ultrafast Broadband” (145Mbps and 285Mbps average speed) packages looks to be imminent and one of our readers was able to grab a screenshot of the pricing, which is not yet showing for everyone.

We had been expecting Sky’s new Ultrafast 1 and Ultrafast 2 packages, which we’ve talked about before (here and here), to go live at the end of last month but for reasons unknown this was pushed back. We can speculate that this move might have been related to Openreach’s new full fibre discounts (here).

Nevertheless a few things have happened in the last few days. Firstly, Sky’s website has started to include the following bit of text at the bottom of their broadband product pages (under legal terms): “Sky Broadband Ultrafast available in Ultrafast Areas only (approx. 10% of UK properties): Speeds vary by location. Guaranteed download speeds of 100Mb: If your download speed falls below 100Mb for three consecutive days, you can exit your Sky Broadband and Talk contracts without early termination charges. Speed check must be done using sky.com/mybroadband. Further terms apply.”

The reference to 10% is plausible if they’re combining the premises passed coverage from both Openreach’s hybrid fibre G.fast and full fibre FTTP technologies using Ofcom’s most recent January 2019 data. The inclusion of a 100Mbps guarantee is also a fairly safe bet since we know that FTTP will have no problem with this and G.fast recently raised its minimum selling speed to 120Mbps (here).

In other words, achieving 100Mbps+ download should be possible on all of the lines they sell via their “Ultrafast” packages, although issues with poor home wiring, slow home WiFi, local (home) network congestion and network capacity supply could still conspire to give you a lower speed or a perception of slower speeds.

The second big thing to note is that one of Sky Broadband’s customers – who lives in an Openreach based FTTP area – happened to notice that he was being offered the chance to order, albeit only over the phone, their new Ultrafast 1 and Ultrafast 2 packages. Luckily he had the good sense to take a screenshot of what appears to be a limited soft launch.

The post contract pricing is similar to BT’s comparable ultrafast packages (hardly a surprise as they have to follow the same wholesale costs), although Sky are clearly aiming for an undercut with their initial 18 month discount that is notably cheaper. We should point out that the average upload speeds being offered alongside the two new packages are as follows (just as we reported a few months ago):

Sky Broadband Ultrafast 1
Download Speed 145Mbps
Upload Speed 27Mbps

Sky Broadband Ultrafast 2
Download Speed 285Mbps
Upload Speed 45Mbps

The above pricing appears to be including their Sky Broadband Boost add-on as standard (adds +£2.50 per month to the cost).

What do you get with Sky Broadband Boost?

* Evening & weekend engineer visits at no extra cost.

* Daily line checks; we’ll text you if we need to fix anything.

* Use the Sky Broadband Buddy app to manage each screen in your home:

• Set time limits and filters so family members only see what they should
• Pause the internet for extra family time
• Keep tabs on what your family does online
• Works across 3G, 4G and WiFi

We are in the process of trying to get more details, although as previously reported we expect these new Ultrafast packages to ship alongside the new Sky Broadband Hub (aka – Sky Q Hub 2 / SR203) wireless router (pictured at the top). The new router is of a similar size to the current Sky Q Hub, albeit with 4 x Gigabit LAN ports (the Q Hub only had 2) – one of which is for WAN – 2 x Telephone ports (likely an ATA for VoIP connection via older analogue handsets) and 8 antenna.

Internally Sky have been saying that they expect this router’s WiFi performance to be at least comparable to that of the BT Smart Hub 2 router, which suggests a peak combined wireless speed of around 2Gbps. Sky’s G.fast based customers will get a grey coloured version of this router (details). On top of that we note that Sky has been using this new Hub to test their standalone broadband (SOGEA / SoG.Fast) products and we’ll be interested to see if those launch at the same time.

At present Sky has not officially confirmed whether the aforementioned packages and prices will be the same as their full public launch but we are trying to get confirmation. Expect further updates shortly.

UPDATE 8:43am

One of our existing sources has now confirmed the new package details and stated that the prices will be £39 for Ultrafast 1 and £49 for Ultrafast 2 (i.e. without the Sky Broadband Boost add-on), which is in keeping with the above.

UPDATE 10:13am

Several more Sky customers have now had a chance to test this and they report that the packages are now showing up when logged into their Sky Accounts on the website, but as above this only seems to display if you live in an FTTP area (we’re still awaiting somebody within reach of G.fast to confirm if it’s the same for them too). Seems like a soft launch.

UPDATE 11:10am

Sky has just dropped the official press release, which pledges that their new ultrafast 1 package “gives 2 million households access to over 12 times faster speeds than Sky’s standard broadband, with average download speeds of 145Mbps and 285Mbps, depending on what product you choose” (falling to 1.2 million for ultrafast 2). Sadly it doesn’t add anything new to what we’ve already said above.

Kathryn Imrie, Director of Broadband at Sky, said:

“Fast and reliable broadband is an essential part of the family household today, and it’s only going to get more important in future. We want our customers to be able to do even more online, on more devices, without seeing their connection lag or drop. As a Sky Broadband Ultrafast customer, you will be able to seamlessly watch an HD movie, while your partner surfs the web and your kids are gaming in their bedroom.”

A web page has also been setup where people can register their interest in the service. One of our readers has also confirmed that these packages are indeed showing for those in G.fast areas too.

UPDATE 11:23am

We’ve had a few questions about what sort of phone service, if any, is included alongside the Ultrafast packages. I am still trying to get some confirmation on this from Sky but at least one person, who contacted their sales team, says that Sky will give Ultrafast 1/2 subscribers a VoIP based phone product (possibly the same for both FTTP and G.fast lines via SOGEA).

Interestingly existing Sky Broadband customers are also being asked to pay a £34.95 one-off upgrade fee to get the new service.

UPDATE 2:31pm

Despite the aforementioned packages initially being spotted as showing up in FTTP areas, officially Sky are now saying that at launch only those covered by G.fast can order them and FTTP will follow (likely by the end of 2019 as originally planned).

UPDATE 3:33pm

In terms of the VoIP phone service, which is now confirmed to come with these packages. The default is a standard UK call rates service but as usual you can add free calls (i.e. evening and weekends – £5, anytime – £10 and international – £12). We believe that customers can also get £2 off those monthly prices if they call up and ask for it.