In a surprise development, new and existing customers who sign-up to one of Sky Broadband’s superfast, ultrafast or gigafast (FTTC, G.Fast or FTTP) powered internet access packages are now being given a “Wall to Wall WiFi guarantee” at no extra cost. Sky’s Wi-Fi Guarantee is normally only available as part of their paid ‘Boost’ add-on.
At the time of writing, Sky has not issued us with any press releases about this change, but several of our readers did spot the recent addition to their package. Normally the only way to get a Wi-Fi guarantee from Sky Broadband would be to add their Sky Broadband Boost add-on for an extra £5 per month (this also adds line checks, engineer visits and “WiFi boosters at no extra cost, if your home needs them“).
Interestingly, if you attempt to sign-up to Sky’s broadband packages today then you can still optionally take the ‘Boost’ for the same price, yet confusingly this is no longer necessary in order to benefit from their “Wall to Wall WiFi guarantee” (i.e. a refund on one month’s broadband subscription, credited to your Sky account).
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Confusingly, Sky states that you’re only covered by the new guarantee if you don’t also take their ‘Boost’ add-on. However, this is just because the two guarantees are more or less identical, thus ‘Boost’ would supersede the ‘wall to wall’ one if you took it to avoid duplication.
However, there is a catch to their free guarantee, which is that you must be within your minimum term to claim and can claim only once during it. On top of that, you can only benefit from the guarantee if you’re already using one of Sky’s Broadband Hub 4 routers (SR203 / 204), but this is now supplied as standard to new customers (i.e. just be aware of this if you’re re-contracting and have an older router).
The small print for this feature also clarifies that it promises wireless speeds of at least 3Mbps in “up to 12 rooms, including up to 5 bedrooms” or your money back. But we’ve seen other ISPs promote faster minimum guarantee speeds, with 10Mbps being quite common.
Terms of Sky’s Wall to Wall WiFi Guarantee
Wall to Wall WiFi Guarantee: Requires Sky Broadband: Superfast 35 / Superfast / Ultrafast / Ultrafast Plus / Gigafast and Hub 4. Sky Fibre areas. Min. 3Mb/s in up to 12 rooms, including up to 5 bedrooms, or money back. Refund on one month’s Broadband subscription credited to your Sky account paid during current min. term up to date of claim. Claim once any time during 18-month min. term after first 14 days. You must be within your min. term and can claim once during it.
Wall to Wall Wifi Guarantee does not cover gardens or any external rooms, buildings or structures such as sheds or garden offices. One claim per address. Claim only valid only if using Sky router and booster(s). Sky kit is loaned to you at no cost and must be returned at the end of the broadband subscription. See sky.com/walltowallwifi. Not available with Sky Broadband Essential Plus or in conjunction with Sky Broadband Boost.
Sky did send us some promotional details last week that made mention of a special offer related to WiFi, but it didn’t cover the above change. Suffice to say, Sky could have done a better job with communicating the launch of their Wall to Wall WiFi Guarantee, but it does now appear to be a standard feature for new and some existing customers.
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We can’t think of many other ISPs that have made this kind of guarantee available at no extra cost.
UPDATE 8th August 2022
Sky finally sent us the official announcement, which states that both “new and existing Superfast 35, Superfast, Ultrafast, Ultrafast Plus and Gigafast customers are now covered by Wall to Wall Wi-Fi Guarantee or money back“. We’d previously assumed that it would only be for new customers, so this is a welcome clarification.
The announcement continues: “Should your broadband connection not reach minimum speeds in every room, Sky Broadband’s Wi-Fi experts will work with you to troubleshoot the issue in detail, so you can continue to game, work, stream, entertain and connect smart devices in every room of your home, or get one month of your subscription for free.”
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However, upon digging deeper, the guarantee does not appear to be completely comparable to the one you get under Sky’s £5 boost add-on. The reason for that is they will not provide any booster (mesh) devices to help extend the coverage of your network, thus all you’ll get is some money back.
We are concerned that this may mislead some consumers, given that WiFi guarantees are pretty much always supported by the provision of WiFi repeaters and that is now the standard expectation.
If you live in NI this most likely won’t count as they don’t have WiFi engineers in NI
I’ve not been able to see that confirmed by their terms.. yet.
You also aren’t getting open reach to install FTTP at least in Belfast anyway. Any extra work required even running a cable less than 10 feet and they have no interest whatsoever.
Come on Sky it’s about time you scrap your current router and bring out a Wi-Fi 6 router
Why?
People getting new routers every couple of years is getting stupid, because their old router have no doubt been doing the job fine for that time, so why get a new one?
Too much waste, the same with mobile phones.
@Ad47uk
You’re right, the biggest bottle neck in most home internet connections is the broadband itself (ADSL/VDSL) not the Wi-Fi
@Wi-Fi
when my Plusnet supplied Zyxel went belly up I changed to an old TP-link router that was only 2.4Ghz Wifi, it worked with no problem at all, all around the house, in fact better than the Zyxel.
I have now changed to the old Plusnet one hub, mainly due to people saying on another forum that I should not be using 2.4Ghz, I like the old TP-link router to be honest, it is years old, used it when I went for a wireless connection and to be honest it is the most reliable router I have had. Not that I have had that many.
…and if the tp link sometimes drop line and flashes like mad and you’ve tried everything and still every few days it just crashes and will not work until reboot, try a custom firmware, I did and I got a longer antenna, now it’s never crashes even 3 months later and the reception I can get even both end of my garden perfectly. Look into ddwrt… read the info. Properly on various forums.
@John
Er?
My TP link works fine, for a router that is over 10 years old it works really well, I wish I stayed with it to be honest, but it is such a pain to change routers due to the amount of smart home stuff I have.
Even keeping the SSID the same on the routers, still causes hassle when changing, just not so much.
How can you stream with 3mpbs come on sky even 10mbps is bearable
I used to, sure it was only SD, but I used to do it, now and again I could even get 702P.
Yes Sky, Them who put Boost on our account without us asking and then said we had to have it for 18 months – so Sky got ditched at the end of the contract
Sky’s Wi-Fi deployment is terrible, especially if you have a Sky Q TV box. The box and hub only seem to associate if the box then acts as a meshed AP, most of the time using the same channel as the hub! I’ve also seen problems when connecting the box via Ethernet; it will still create a mesh and flag up as a network loop on some switches.
Turn WiFi capabilities off on Sky Q box with Ethernet and this should stop it from happening.
Hover over setting tab, press 0,0,1 ‘select’.
Then under network turn off 2.4ghz & 5GHz, press confirm.
Then remove power lead from Sky Q box and then power on after 5-10 seconds.
Assure 3 Mb/s? What about if you can’t get 3 Mb/s down the line? 😛
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“Sky Broadband’s Wi-Fi experts will work with you to troubleshoot the issue in detail, so you can continue to game, work, stream, entertain and connect smart devices in every room of your home, or get one month of your subscription for free.”
…
The reason for that is they will not provide any booster (mesh) devices to help extend the coverage of your network, thus all you’ll get is some money back.
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This sounds like an opportunity for bait and switch type sales tactics, with their “experts” becoming high pressure salespeople.
Very concerned indeed, fortunately I have my Sky broadband/WiFi (+ samknows measuring box) already sorted, with a mixture of hardwired and a second remote router in the dead spot