Sky Full Fibre Broadband: What It Is, How It’s Installed & The Best Value Deals

Sky offers full fibre (FTTP) broadband. You’ll get download speeds of up to 900Mbps, with the UK’s most reliable broadband technology.

If you’re looking to upgrade your home to the latest broadband technology, Sky offers full fibre (FTTP) broadband with download speeds of up to 900Mbps on average (with a 600Mbps minimum speed guarantee).

By making use of a dedicated fibre optic cable that goes all the way into your home, you’re able to get much faster speeds and a more reliable connection than you would on normal fibre. This means fewer dropouts, less slowdown at peak times, and the ability to connect up to 120 devices to the internet at the same time.

In this article, we’ll look at Sky’s full fibre broadband, including how it works and the benefits of upgrading. We’ll also look at how it’s installed in your home, and the latest deals that are currently available in the UK.

What Is Sky Full Fibre?

In the UK, full fibre is the next generation of broadband technology. It uses a fibre optic connection that goes all the way into your home so it’s also referred to as ‘fibre-to-the-premises’ (FTTP) broadband.

There are four main benefits when upgrading your home to full fibre technology:

• You’ll have access to faster download speeds. With full fibre, you’re able to get average download speeds of up to 900Mbps. This is available on Sky’s Gigafast plan. It means you can download the latest games and movies much faster. For instance, a HD-quality film can be downloaded in less than 40 seconds (this is 15 times faster than on normal fibre broadband).
• You’ll be able to use more devices at the same time. According to Sky, you’ll be able to connect up to 120 devices to the internet at a time, when you have Ultrafast Plus or Gigafast broadband. This makes it perfect for busy homes with lots of connected devices as you’ll be able to stream, game, work and study at the same time.
• You’ll benefit from a lower latency connection. With full fibre, there’s a lower amount of latency (this is the amount of time it takes for data to travel from your device to the internet and back). A lower latency connection is good for online gaming and other fast-paced apps.
• You’ll get a more reliable broadband service. With full fibre, the fibre optic cable goes all the way into your home. In contrast, standard fibre uses an older copper connection from a street cabinet to your home. This copper connection is susceptible to noise and interference, which causes slowdowns and disruption to your broadband. With full fibre, there’s no need to worry about this.

At present, full fibre technology is being rolled out across the UK, with it being available in about 47% of all UK homes. To see whether it’s available where you live, enter your postcode on Sky’s website.

How Is Sky Full Fibre Installed?

To get full fibre (FTTP) broadband from Sky, you’ll need to be connected to the Openreach full fibre network. This is essentially a more modern version of the old telephone network, and it’s a one-time upgrade to get your home connected to this new network.

Unless you already have a full fibre connection in your home, an engineer visit is required to get you connected to this new network. There are several key steps in the installation process:

• A new fibre optic cable will be put in, connecting your home to the full fibre network in your area. This new fibre optic cable will normally follow the path of your existing copper phone line. This means, for instance, they’ll use an existing underground duct if you have one for your copper phone line. Alternatively, they’ll use a new overhead cable if your existing phone line comes through on an overhead wire.
• A small junction box will be placed on the outside of your home. This is where the fibre optic cable will end on the outside of your property. It’s also known as the Customer Service Point (CSP) and it’s fairly discrete, measuring 15cm x 13cm in size.
• A full fibre modem will then be installed inside your home. This is a wall-mounted modem. It’s also known as the Optical Network Termination point (ONT). An ONT is a bit like the master socket you’d find on an analogue phone line, but it’s a little bit larger (about 13cm x 11cm in size). As it deals with digital signals on a fibre optic connection, it needs to be plugged into a power socket to work.
• A small amount of drilling is required to connect the outside junction box to the inside modem. To connect the external junction box (the CSP) to the internal modem (the ONT), a small hole will need to be drilled through your wall. This hole is about 12mm wide. A fibre optic cable will be fed through this hole, connecting the two boxes together and bringing the fibre optic connection into your home.
• Your Sky Hub router can then be plugged into the modem. This will allow you to access Sky’s full fibre (FTTP) broadband service.

In total, it can take up to three hours to get full fibre installed in your home. However, the good news is that it’s a future-proof technology. Once it’s set up, you can change to another full fibre plan in the future without the need for a new connection. There’s more information about this on Sky’s website.

Sky Full Fibre Deals

At present, Sky offers the following broadband deals from £28 per month, powered by the latest full fibre (FTTP) technology:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price (may rise during contract)
Sky Full Fibre 100	100Mbps average download	No TV	£28/month plus £5 upfront 18 month contract
Sky Ultrafast	145Mbps average download	No TV	£28/month plus £5 upfront 18 month contract
Sky Ultrafast Plus	500Mbps average download	No TV	£33/month plus £5 upfront 18 month contract
Sky Gigafast	900Mbps average download	No TV	£41/month plus £5 upfront 18 month contract

For an extra £3 per month, you can add the WiFi Max add-on. This gives you an upgrade to the latest Sky Max Hub router with support for WiFi 6 technology. You’ll also benefit from an enhanced WiFi guarantee with up to 3 Sky Max Pods, if needed, at no extra cost.

Whichever plan you choose, you’ll benefit from the improved reliability of full fibre technology. You’ll also get a speed guarantee and a Wall to Wall WiFi Guarantee included.

If you choose one of their faster plans such as Ultrafast Plus (500Mbps) or Gigafast (900Mbps), you’ll also benefit from much faster speeds and the ability to use more devices at the same time. For instance, you’ll be able to connect up to 120 devices on the faster plans from Sky, making it perfect for busy homes with lots of connected devices.

Full Fibre with Sky TV

If you like, you can get full fibre broadband, together with Sky TV.

When you do this, you’ll get the latest Sky Stream box, with the ability to watch more than 150 channels through your broadband connection. You’ll also get Netflix (worth £4.99 per month) and discovery+ (worth £6.99 per month) included in the price, saving you money on streaming.

Prices start from £39 per month for full fibre broadband and Sky TV:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price (may rise during contract)
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Ultrafast Broadband	145Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 150+ channels included	£39/month 18 month contract
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Ultrafast Plus Broadband	500Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 150+ channels included	£45/month 18 month contract
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Gigafast Broadband	900Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 150+ channels included	£53/month 18 month contract

Switching to Sky Broadband

If you’re currently using another broadband provider, it’s easy to switch your home broadband service to Sky.

Start by ordering your new full fibre broadband plan online. During the order process, you’ll be given an activation date for your new service. An engineer visit will also be scheduled if one is required to get a full fibre connection in your home.

Normally, Sky automatically contacts your old broadband provider to cancel your old service. However, if you’re a customer of Virgin Media or another altnet provider, you’ll need to contact them separately to cancel.

For step-by-step instructions on how to switch your broadband provider to Sky, please select your current provider from the dropdown menu below:

You can also read our full guide on switching broadband provider in the UK.

More Information

For more information about Sky’s full fibre broadband, please see Sky’s official website.