Sky Broadband Extends UK Ultrafast FTTP Broadband Availability UPDATE
UK ISP Sky Broadband appears to have quietly extended the availability of their new 145Mbps (28Mbps upload) capable and Openreach based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) “Ultrafast” broadband package, which over the past few days has finally become available to order online and with different pricing.
Back in June 2020 we broke the news that Sky had introduced their first small scale customer pilot of full fibre FTTP via Openreach’s network, but at the time only some people were able to make an order and this had to be done over the phone. Otherwise Sky’s FTTP service was priced at a similar level to their hybrid fibre G.fast package of the same speed (£39 per month).
Since then Sky appears to have refined their product and several ISPreview.co.uk readers (here) have spotted that the package is now more widely available than before (you can also get it via an online order). In fact all of the random FTTP postcodes that we tried seemed to return the same result, albeit a little different from the pilot.
Sky Ultrafast
Includes our Speed Guarantee
Great for online gaming and 4k streaming
Unlimited fibre broadband
145 – 150 Mb/s estimated download
28 – 28 Mb/s estimated upload
100 Mb/s minimum guaranteed downloadPRICE: £35 per month for 18 months (£44 thereafter) + £29.95 one-off setup cost.
Sky notes that their prices may change during this period (i.e. not a fixed price plan) and one of our readers found that they were given a lower price point of £27 per month for the same package (plus an extra £5 a month for Sky Broadband boost and a one-off £10 connection charge). We don’t yet know if that is a special price for migrations, existing customers or only certain areas (our own checks all returned the £35 price for a new line).
Otherwise Sky’s FTTP based package includes the usual array of unlimited usage, service features and new customers will also receive their latest Sky Broadband Hub (SR203) router. We expect Sky to add faster FTTP tiers in the near future (most likely by the end of this year).
UPDATE 3rd September 2020
Since this article we’ve spoken to Sky and have a few extra details to add. Firstly, just to confirm something that we’ve already reported on in earlier articles, customers’ in FTTP areas who take either their Superfast (£27) or Ultrafast (£35) packages will get FTTP connections as standard.
Otherwise Sky are still in the process of extending FTTP availability, but our understanding is that many more premises within reach of Openreach’s FTTP should be able to place an order for the new packages by the end of this month (a few places still can’t today, even after the latest extension of availability).
As for the reason why some people saw a price of £27 on their ultrafast FTTP tier (as opposed to the standard price of £35), apparently this is only shown to those making use of Sky’s free VIP loyalty scheme (open to all customers). But this is a limited time only offer.
Finally, the advertised upload speed for their ultrafast tier is actually 27Mbps, even though most line tests may get a higher estimated range (e.g. like above in our example from live testing).
We expect an official press release to confirm the general launch later this month, but you heard it all here first.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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“ one of our readers found that they were given a lower price point of £27 per month”
Could this be in an area where OR are incentivising migrations?
That would be my guess, but not sure yet.
If it helps it’s me that’s getting the £27 a month price.
I’m currently with BT and already have FTTP with them, I had it installed when I moved here last year. I just have TV with Sky at present.
£27 for 18 months is available to any existing customer. Set up varies but is generally around £10-20, if you get the £27 off the price is fixed the only price that can change is the out of contract price or the call rates the other prices are not price fixed
Thanks for the info Sky Employee
Pretty sure this is the first time my address in Bath (FTTP only, no copper) has ever worked in any line checker apart from BT’s in the 6 years I’ve lived here.
Good to see it’s finally possible to actually compare without needing to call people like Zen or AAISP to get pricing!
Same – been on Fibre for 4 years. I really wanted to move away from BT, but I’m glad I didn’t wait as these speeds from Sky are pretty underwhelming to be honest. I went for the 500 meg deal from BT when renewal came along, for £50 (which included the halo service level).
My postcode returned the £27 option.
It is a new build estate in a small town where this is the only FTTP part of the town.
£35 per month for 18 months (£44 thereafter)
What makes them think for one second that if Virgin can “afford” to sell it to you for 18 months at £35, they can’t after that period? Its like saying “well Fred, your car insurance was £52 a month for the first year, we’re going to charge you £66 now for the same thing.” Stupidity.
In reality they’re banking on the increase not costing them because the customer can’t be bothered to go through the hassle of changing supplier.
The reality of it is greed.
Agree, these sneaky increases are annoying. One that really hot to me was BT charging about £5 to folk using dirctory enquired to put them through. No excuse for such a payment … Invariably affecting older people too. At that point I moved to Zen who guarantee never to increase cost when contract expires. I had to migrate all email at BT wanted £7.50pm for an email address!!!
The reason you get it cheaper in contract is because the company has commitment from you it means they are more sure that they have a reliable subscriber and revenue stream it also looks better for shareholders.
On another note you now get an email reminder at the end if you contract with an offer so you don’t get caught out
It’s just the way the world works moaning about it won’t change it
Good to see this, my area is currently being built up with FTTP (it’s literally in the manhole outside my door!) so fingers crossed I’m hoping the service goes live soon and I could benefit from much better broadband speed!
Openreach (well, KN Circet, on behalf of Openreach) were round and our way (Ballymoney, NI) mid-June; BT showed availability to order a couple of weeks later, I was with Sky but with working from home – which I’ve done for the last 12 years – and the ever increasing demands of streaming, game downloads bigger by the day and so on, jumping ship ASAP made sense for me. I’ve always been happy with Sky, but the allure of near gigabit speeds was too much of a draw, more than likely (assuming Sky do eventually offer the higher ends of BT’s speed offerings) I’ll end up back with them at the end of my BT contract. I did also try the song and dance of pretending to be a new customer and so on via the Sky Sales line to get involved on the “pilot” to no avail a couple of times before breaking and going with BT!
I ordered on 5th July with a 12th August go live date, an Openreach engineer came out on 5th August to do initial checks and found a small amount of dig work might be needed due to a blocked duct. Early morning (9am) on 12th August and a small fleet of KN Circet engineers arrived, they re-tried pulling through the duct and ended up digging a small part of the garden up (which you’d barely know they did) to get me installed. By lunch time I was up and running and I’ve been happy since.
Possibly VIP customers if they have signed up for £27
Tried a few postcodes and seem to only be offering it to FTTP only customers
Sorry should state, when trying a postcode with both FTTC & FTTP it will say their 145 package is not available. However standalone FTTP works fine.
They are also offering FTTP at 80M. I am offered:
– “Essential” £27 (->£32) 12-18Mbps (ADSL speed)
– “Superfast” £32 (->£37) 72-75Mbps (FTTP speed)
– “Ultrafast” £35 (->£49) 145-150Mbps (FTTP speed)
all with £19.95 setup.
The out-of-contract price hike on Ultrafast is pretty eye-watering.
That will be including with boost package, £5 of total.
Sorry don’t know what happened to my English there.
the prices your commented are including the £5 boost package otherwise pricing is
essential – in contract £22 out of contract £27
Superfast – in contract £27 (often available at £25) out of contract £32
Ultrafast 1 – in contract £39 (other offers running at the moment) out of contract £44
My post code say NO to G.fast (145/30) and NO to FTTP (145/30) forget it Sky
Am also being offered the £27 ‘superfast’ package here in rural Devon, I’m not a Sky customer, no FTTC is available here, only other option ADSL on EO lines.
Sky claiming ’72 – 75 Mb/s estimated download 19 – 19 Mb/s estimated upload’, so I’m guessing based on 80/20 wholesale.
Has anyone heard of a really remote & obscure city called Liverpool? It’s in the middle of nowhere – no form of human life apart from a few million including me. I think it’s near the moon. Anyway when we moved here to this really REALLY remote & desolate place from London 6yrs ago, we were told that ‘civilisation’ existed – you know – things like the internet???? Well guess what! It’s so remote here in the Liverpool rainforest that we have been told we will NEVER get FTTP or Virgin Media. That’s right NEVER. If anyone can prove to me that this isn’t the case – dinner is on me! Oh and we live next to AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT!!! So we are, yer know – REALLY REALLY remote
I’m from Liverpool and for some reason, despite being one of the first Fibre First areas, I still can’t order the FTTP package yet even though our address has been FTTP ready for 2ish years now.
I know people who live in a really remote & obscure city called London who have neither FTTP nor cable from Virgin Media, so you’re not alone.
The Cressington exchange (aka the one covering the airport) is due for fibre first. They where supposed to be doing it in starting January, but if you look on the Thinkbroadband map thing you will see that the area covered is not showing up with any native FTTP yet. Same from the BT wholesale checker. My brother tells me they have been a lot of Openreach vans in the area over the last few months so it is coming. I am keeping an eye out for him as to when he will be able to order. Patient is a virtue she sits upon a monument and does as she is told, as my grandma would say.
@Roger_Gooner You can add me to that list. You would think West London would be a great place to sell FTTP.
@Paul. I’m in Wallasey, FTTP was available from January. Waited for Sky until
June and then gave up and got it fitted by BT. Sky are still saying they cannot do it.
Sadly I can’t order it online as an existing customer, however I was able to register interest. I checked my postcode & address as a “new” customer and I’m able to purchase the FTTP product that way.
Hopefully they change this in the coming days so I can get FTTP already.
Just tried to upgrade in Coventry (Fibre First city) and it’s not available to me.
However, if I try to order as a new customer it is available.
Couldn’t get anyone on their call centres to order it, as it’s showing as not available.
Hi,
Does Sky have an update on availability of FTTH packages through OFNL ?
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/09/sky-get-wholesale-access-to-buuk-full-fibre-broadband-networks.html
Thanks.
Still not showing as available via postcode checker even though it is available via openreach.
Slightly puzzled, are they offering ‘superfast’ as FTTP as well?
I’m showing as 11 essential, 72-75 superfast @£27, and 145-150 ultrafast @£35.
There’s no way I can get 72-75 unless it was FTTP, the essential lines up with what I might get for FTTC.
Yes they are.
Cheers for the heads up
Got it got £25 + £5 speed boost – I was paying £25 for superfast incl speedboost anyway
Installed 15th September – 20 year VIP customer – no fees, no up front, no activation, no nothing except a change from £38 for TV and superfast to £43
Still can’t actually decide whether to switch. Been working from home since March and will be for some time to come, I rely on the broadband connection as most people do. Have been with BT for the FTTP since April last year and it’s been solid, no complaints about the broadband at all (I did have a complaint to do with the voice line but didn’t affect the broadband – and I got fully compensated for it.) Can’t decide whether to see what price BT can give me once the minimum term is up next month or just to give Sky a try. I just don’t want to end up regretting it if things go wrong!
Well, Openreach said they would inform me when fibre became available. they did not and on the off chance searched the bt broadband checker and can get it! 910meg with BT etc. Can I ‘upgrade’ to Sky FTTP @ the measly 145Meg or whatever it is? Nope, unavailable! It is why FTTP is not designed for beginners as it is badly marketed! I should be able to go with ANYBODY providing FTTP but nope – only BT, Zen, and a few of the others, not even plusnet. Not even Talk Talk – would not touch with a bargepole anyway!
However, still under a contract with Sky so hopefully, when up (not too long now) – things will be better as I will be ARMED for a deal 🙂
I got this installed by Sky just a few days ago. Getting decent speeds of 145mbps down.
I received a through the door advertisement and they had my postcode stating that I can order the 145mb superfast BB, having phoned them they told me that it wasn’t available and wouldn’t be for some time also they claimed that BTs 140mb wouldn’t be available either yet online it says it is! The sales man was like we don’t do superfast BB to my post code.
How do i find out what broadband keep hearing about all this superfast but then told it’s not available.
So in a development that’s not a surprise to anyone used to the way companies who treat ‘loyal’ customers, it looks like that Sky won’t sell FTTP to existing FTTC customers in a contract (might do for out of a contract but not able to test that just now).
It’ll quite happily take an order from a new user using the same details though…
Similar situation here, Openreach left a note to say FFTP was available in april/may. BT will sell me full fibre 1, 2 or 3 and say it’s available, but sky won’t sell me ultrafast. I think my contract is due to end around end November. I’m sorely tempted to just cancel it and pay the exit fee, as the speed at which sky seem to be operating there is no chance of FTTP through them before Xmas.
They sold me ultrafast for the same price as my current superfast contract. (and i’m only 3 months into the 18 month contract, as i recently renewed it.)
Was hoping this was part of the Sky/Seethelight integration after the IFNL deal with GTC, but shows “Sorry but we are having technical difficulties
Unfortunately, we have not been able to proceed with your order. Please try again later”
When i try my OFNL connected postcode.
What sky are calling ultra fast must be G fast which is another form of fttc as it has a 100mbps guarantee and is only available in some areas.
I’m with BT 300 Mbps FTTP but my neighbour can’t order it with Sky
No, this sky package is FTTP. They do also do the same package on gfast.
Its just sky don’t offer the 300mbit product yet.
Thanks to this article I found that sky ultrafast was now available just as my bt ultrafast was up for renewal for which bt wanted £57. Am now switching to sky for £35 (plus sky TV discounted to £16). One thing to note is that sky uses voip, not a problem for me but I have a twin fibre/copper cable so bt think I’m keeping their landline service.
Update 3rd Sept? This doesn’t seem to be true, it’s not about postcodes/areas it’s about customer status.
If I put in my postcode and chose a house next door who’s not a sky customer it says ultrafast is available, if I chose my house or my other neighbour who is a sky customer it hangs on the “we’re checking what package you can get” bit. If you talk to customer services they say it’s not yet available. So basically they don’t want to bother changing over in contract customers lines to FTTP, it seems.
All i can say is i will remember this when my contract runs out in a 2 months..
Remember this isn’t the official release of the new product.
Exactly, it’s semptember, they have been saying this is coming since march, and it’s still not launched. No wonder people give up and leave. There is absolutely no guarantee everyone will be able to order it “by the end of the month”, as they refuse to give official product launch details. It’s all secret tests, beta programs, invitations ete. Just tell us when it’s launching and we can decide if it’s worth waiting for or not, pretty simple.
I would retry Sky.
I found the same problem……if you put my address in as new customer it says ultrafast available, if you try upgrade once logging in it says unavailable.
I called sky in the morning and they said unavailable. Then gave me an excuse which was plainly incorrect (didn’t understand when I said it was available if I am a new customer but not as an upgrade on the website!)
I then called sky again, spoke to someone else and he has upgraded me to ultrafast. Got it for £27.99 with free install and no router charge. Does mean i have to pay 2 quid extra for my international call package but can live with that as its the same price as my current sky superfast.
Good luck.
I don’t believe this Sky product is FTTP in all cases. I was with BT with FTTC and left them for VM. Recently my BT cabinet was upgraded with G.Fast and checked with BT and they are offering me FTTC G.Fast speeds (up to 150mb). However proper FTTP (up to 300mb) which BT calls Full Fibre Broadband is not available to me. However I looked on Sky and they are offering me Ultrafast speeds (up to 150mb) so at least in that regard the article is correct.
Knowing how Sky marketing people think that could well be why they also aren’t offering more than 150Mbps via FTTP i.e so they can present both G.Fast and 150Mbps FTTP as all being Ultrafast, although isn’t there also a 300Mbps G.Fast speed available (but is that distance dependent unlike FTTP)?
Namely the corporate Sky steamroller wants a one size fits all “Ultrafast” 150Mbps solution in as many places as possible and doesn’t want to bother customers with “minor technicalties” such as whether its FTTC or FTTP.
As a single person household and someone who watches F1 but thinks Sky want far too much money to watch it live I still can’t make these prices work for me compared to £18 per month for 12 months + £5 connection minus £100 Quidco cashback for Now Tv 18Mbs ADSL2+ and Free Anytime calls for 12 months (Free Anytime calls is always offered again if you sign for another 12 months). So £10.08 per month compared to £69 per month and £30 initial install/connection with Sky and also no Anytime calls with them on the therefore pointless FTTP landline connection just to gain the right to watch F1 live. Of course the 1Mbps upload speed on ADSL2+ is poor but for a single person who is not a video editor or similar its generally bearable at such a cheap price.
Why can’t Sky sell me a deal with unlimited data and calls on my mobile at whatever speed is available from the local transmitter (18Mbps down and about 3Mbps Up where I live, at least on O2 that Sky Mobile uses) with Sky Sports F1 too at a total of £30 per month. Or I might pay £40 per month if I got FTTP connection with unlimited calls on my landline at 150Mbps and unlimited calls and data on my mobile. Sky always seem to want £20 to £30 a month more than their service is possibly worth for a single person. For a family of two adults and two mid teens the economics may be different.
Just checked Sky owned and run Now Broadband website and they still aren’t offering FTTP to Now Broadband customers but only ADSL2+ or FTTC (FTTC not available at my address due to FTTP’s prior deployment on the exchange) but they still are giving away free Anytime Calls to landline and mobile numbers worth £8 per month with Now (but for which Sky charge £10 a month and do not have a free 12 month offer that is also easily renewed with Now on) with only a 12 month contract with £70 cashback on ADSL2+ and £90 casback on FTTC (which makes more business sense than £100 cashback for ASDL2+ but only cashback for FTTC when I signed up with them).
But the question is when will Marina Storti (Now Broadband CEO) and Adrian Heesom (their Chief Operating Officer) soon get their act together to start offering FTTP to Now Broadband customers and will there be a better option for watching F1 with Now Broadband than the insane £33.99 per month for Sky Sports (no F1 only option available) that is reputedly soon to become £35.99 per month…………..
Of course it may be that if you are willing to pay more than £40 per month on a regular basis that Sky wants you to sign up with its main Sky product brand and not with its cheaper Now Tv/Broadband operation………..
But may be Now will be offering FTTP by Jan 2021?