Sky Broadband Review: Fibre Broadband Deals & Sky Hub Routers

Sky offers Superfast, Ultrafast & Gigafast broadband plans with a choice between the Sky Broadband Hub and Sky Max Hub router.

Sky is one of the UK’s largest home broadband providers, coming second only to BT in terms of the number of customers they have.

At present, you can choose from a range of Superfast, Ultrafast and Gigafast broadband plans on Sky. These start from £25 per month. You’ll get their basic Sky Broadband Hub router included, with the option to upgrade to the new Sky Max Hub when you get the WiFi Max add-on.

In this article, we’ll review Sky’s broadband service in the UK, including the plans available and the routers you can choose from. We’ll also look at the speeds available, and how you can switch from your current broadband provider to Sky.

Sky Broadband Plans

In the UK, Sky now offers a choice of five different home broadband plans. They range from the Superfast 35 plan (which gives average download speeds of 36Mbps) to the Gigafast plan (with average download speeds of 900Mbps).

The following table shows an overview of the five broadband plans that are currently available from Sky:

	Superfast 35	Superfast	Ultrafast	Ultrafast Plus	Gigafast
Price (broadband):	£34.50 per month	£25 per month	£28 per month	£35 per month	£48 per month
Price (broadband & TV):	-	£36 per month	£36 per month	£45 per month	Check Sky website
Broadband Speeds
Download (average):	36Mbps	61Mbps	145Mbps	500Mbps	900Mbps
Upload (average):	9Mbps	16Mbps	27Mbps	60Mbps	90Mbps
Speed Guarantee:	Varies (up to 24Mbps)	Varies (up to 48Mbps)	100Mbps	400Mbps	600Mbps
WiFi Guarantee:	3Mbps (10Mbps with Max)	3Mbps (10Mbps with Max)	3Mbps (25Mbps with Max)	3Mbps (25Mbps with Max)	3Mbps (25Mbps with Max)
Technology
Full Fibre Required?	No	No	Yes (or Gfast)	Yes	Yes
Availability:	95% UK homes Check →	95% UK homes Check →	35% UK homes Check →	35% UK homes Check →	35% UK homes Check →

Until June 2023, Sky also offered a copper broadband (ADSL) service. This was known as ‘Essential Plus’ broadband and had an average download speed of 11Mbps, along with an average upload speed of 0.8Mbps. The ‘Essential Plus’ plan is no longer available to new Sky Broadband customers.

Superfast 35

Sky’s entry-level fibre broadband service is known as Superfast 35. It gives you an average download speed of 36Mbps and an average upload speed of 9Mbps. It’s currently available for £34.50 per month, plus £5 upfront.

With Superfast 35 Broadband, you can stream HD video on up to 5 devices at the same time (or 1 device at a time if you’re streaming in 4K Ultra HD quality).

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky TV Essentials with Superfast 35 Broadband	36Mbps average download	Sky TV Essentials 200+ channels included	£33/month for 18 months plus £29.95 upfront
Sky Superfast 35	36Mbps average download	No TV	£34.50/month for 18 months plus £5 upfront

See all Superfast 35 deals →

You’ll get a personalised speed guarantee on the Superfast 35 plan, which will be given to you online. This goes up to a maximum of 24Mbps if you’re on a full fibre line. You’ll also get a 3Mbps wall-to-wall WiFi guarantee (or 10Mbps if you upgrade to get the WiFi Max add-on).

Superfast

Sky’s most popular plan is known as Superfast Broadband. This is sometimes also referred to as ‘Superfast 80’. You’ll get an average download speed of 61Mbps for a price of £25 per month, plus £5 upfront.

With Superfast Broadband, you’ll be able to stream HD-quality video on up to 10 devices at the same time. Alternatively, you can stream ultra-HD 4K video on up to two devices.

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Superfast	61Mbps average download	No TV	£25/month for 18 months plus £5 upfront
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Superfast Broadband	61Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 150+ channels included	£36/month for 18 months
Sky TV Essentials with Superfast Broadband	61Mbps average download	Sky TV Essentials 200+ channels included	£36/month for 18 months plus £29.95 upfront

See all Superfast deals →

There’s a personalised speed guarantee, which is available when you check your address online. This goes up to a maximum of 48Mbps if you’re on a full fibre line. You’ll also get a 3Mbps wall-to-wall WiFi guarantee included (which increases to 10Mbps if you get the WiFi Max add-on).

For more information, see our Sky Superfast Broadband review.

Ultrafast

If you’re living at an address with access to full fibre (FTTP) technology, you’ll be able to get Sky’s Ultrafast broadband. This comes with an average download speed of 145Mbps, making it more than double the speed of Superfast broadband. This means you can stream ultra-HD video on up to five devices at the same time.

The Ultrafast plan is currently available on the following deals from £28 per month, plus £5 upfront:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Full Fibre 100	100Mbps average download	No TV	£28/month for 18 months plus £5 upfront
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Full Fibre 100 Broadband	100Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 150+ channels included	£36/month for 18 months

See all Ultrafast deals →

You’ll get a speed guarantee of 100Mbps to your hub, along with a wall-to-wall WiFi Guarantee of 3Mbps in every room (upgradable to 10Mbps when you get the WiFi Max add-on).

For more information, see our Sky Ultrafast Broadband review.

Ultrafast Plus

For even faster download speeds, you can upgrade to Ultrafast Plus broadband. This gives you an average download speed of 500Mbps and an average upload speed of 60Mbps.

The following table shows Sky’s Ultrafast Plus broadband deals:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Ultrafast Plus	500Mbps average download	No TV	£35/month for 18 months plus £5 upfront
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Ultrafast Plus Broadband	500Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 150+ channels included	£45/month for 18 months

See all Ultrafast Plus deals →

On this plan, the minimum speed guarantee is 400Mbps to your hub. The wall-to-wall WiFi Guarantee remains at 3Mbps in every room of your home (or 10Mbps when you upgrade to get the WiFi Max add-on).

Gigafast

Gigafast Broadband is Sky’s fastest home broadband plan. It gives you an average download speed of 900Mbps, along with an average upload speed of 90Mbps.

The following table shows Sky’s Gigafast broadband deals:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Gigafast	900Mbps average download	No TV	£48/month for 18 months plus £5 upfront

See all Gigafast deals →

The minimum speed guarantee is 600Mbps. For more information, see our Sky Gigafast broadband review.

Sky WiFi Max Add-On

Sky now offers a WiFi Max add-on for an extra £7.50 per month on all of their plans. This add-on will give you five extra features:

1. You’ll get the latest Sky Max Hub router. You’ll get Sky’s latest router, which has support for Wi-Fi 6 technology. It also adds WiFi scheduling capabilities.
2. An enhanced wall-to-wall WiFi Guarantee. The standard wall-to-wall WiFi guarantee is 3Mbps on all Sky Broadband plans. This is a ‘money back’ offer as you won’t get any additional hardware to improve your speeds. If you take the WiFi Max add-on, you’ll get an enhanced wall-to-wall WiFi guarantee. This will be 10Mbps on Superfast plans, and 25Mbps on Ultrafast & Gigafast plans. You’ll also be able to get up to three Sky Max Pods to improve your WiFi coverage, if needed.
3. Additional security alerts and monitoring. You’ll get access to the ‘Advanced Security’ feature in the My Sky app. This can help to block malware and phishing websites on your broadband connection. It can also monitor your connected devices for ‘risky behaviour’.
4. Evening and weekend engineer visits. If you need a Sky Broadband tech team visit, they’ll waive the normal £15 fee for evening and weekend appointments.
5. Mobile data for outages. If you’re a Sky Mobile customer, you’ll get 2GB data added to your Sky Mobile Piggybank for any unplanned broadband outages lasting for more than 30 minutes, taking place between 7am and 11pm.

The WiFi Max add-on is not currently available to Sky Q customers. If you’re a Sky Q customer, you’ll be able to get Sky’s Broadband Boost add-on instead.

For more information, see our in-depth Sky WiFi Max review.

Sky Broadband Routers

On Sky, there’s now a choice of two different broadband routers:

• The Sky Broadband Hub is included as standard on all Superfast, Ultrafast and Gigafast plans. It was released in 2019 and supports Wi-Fi 5 technology.
• The Sky Max Hub is available when you upgrade to the WiFi Max add-on. This is Sky’s latest router (released in 2023), with support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology. You’ll get an enhanced wall-to-wall wi-fi guarantee on this router, and up to 3 Sky Max Pods to improve your home WiFi signal if needed.

The following table shows a side-by-side comparison of the Sky Broadband Hub and Sky Max Hub:

	Sky Broadband Hub (Sky SR203)	Sky Max Hub (Sky SR213)
Availability
Sky Broadband Plans:	Standard hub (without WiFi Max)	Requires WiFi Max add-on
Price:	No extra cost	£7.50 extra per month
Connectivity
Wi-Fi Connectivity:	Wi-Fi 5 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac)	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Mesh Wi-Fi:	No (except Sky Q customers†)	Yes (up to 3 Sky Max Pods)
Wi-Fi Guarantee:	Standard (3Mbps in every room)	Enhanced (up to 25Mbps in every room)
Ethernet:	4 Gigabit Ethernet ports	4 Gigabit Ethernet ports
Phone:	Yes	Yes
Security:	WPA2 security Built-in firewall	WPA3 security Built-in firewall ‘Advanced security’ monitoring
Other:		Intelligent cloud optimisation Pause & schedule wi-fi USB-C port
Other
Colour:	Black	White
Compatible With:	Sky Stream Sky Glass Sky Q	Sky Stream Sky Glass
Model Number:	Sky SR203	Sky SR213
Release Date:	2019	2023
More Information:	Sky Broadband Hub	Sky Max Hub

† If you’re a Sky TV customer with the Sky Q box, this will extend the range of your home wi-fi network.

Whether you choose the Sky Broadband Hub or the Sky Max Hub, you’ll need to return the router to Sky when you cancel your service. This is because it is only loaned to you for the duration of your contract.

Sky Broadband Hub

You’ll get the Sky Broadband Hub (SR203) included as standard on all of Sky’s broadband plans. This supports Wi-Fi 5 technology, allowing you to get up to 64 devices connected to the internet in your home. It uses 8 built-in wi-fi antenna to optimise for Wi-Fi performance and coverage.  There are also 4 Gigabit Ethernet sockets, allowing you to connect wired devices to your home network.

The Sky Broadband Hub launched in 2019, replacing the older Sky Q Hub (ER115). Whereas the Sky Q Hub had just 5 Wi-Fi antenna, you’ll find 8 Wi-Fi antenna on the Sky Broadband Hub. You’ll also get 4 Gigabit Ethernet sockets on the Sky Broadband Hub, compared to just 2 Ethernet sockets on the older Sky Q Hub.

If you have a Sky Q box, it will work together with your Sky Broadband Hub to boost the Wi-Fi signal in your home. However, if you have a Sky Stream box or a Sky Glass TV, you’ll need a different mesh wi-fi solution such as Sky’s WiFi Max add-on.

Sky Max Hub

The Sky Max Hub (SR213) is Sky’s latest home broadband router. It launched in 2023 and has support for the latest generation of Wi-Fi 6 technology (802.11ax). This delivers improved performance with faster speeds and a stronger connection when you’re using a Wi-Fi 6 device. There’s also improved security with WPA3 encryption for your data, along with better battery life if you’re using a compatible smart home device.

Alongside the Wi-Fi 6 capabilities you’ll get on the Sky Max Hub, you’ll get the ability to pause and schedule your home Wi-Fi on a per-device basis. This makes it possible, for instance, to pause the Wi-Fi on your children’s games consoles until they’ve finished their homework. You can also prioritise or block individual devices from your home network, as required.

The Sky Max Hub supports mesh wi-fi technology, allowing you to use a Sky Max Pod to seamlessly extend the range of your home wi-fi network. As part of the Wi-Fi Max add-on, you’re able to get up to 3 Sky Max Pods at no extra cost, if they’re needed. There’s also the ability to get an engineer visit to improve your wi-fi.

Both the Sky Max Hub and the Sky Max Pod are built on the Plume wi-fi platform. At present, this isn’t compatible with the Sky Q box which has its own mesh wi-fi system so you’ll need to stick with the regular Sky Broadband Hub if you’re a Sky Q customer. The Sky Max Hub and Sky Max Pods are fully compatible with the Sky Stream box and Sky Glass TV.

Sky Broadband Speeds

When you’re choosing between Sky’s broadband plans, the main differences to consider are the speed you’ll get on each one. There are four different speeds to consider:

• The average download speed varies from 36Mbps to 900Mbps. This is important as it tells you how many devices you can be using at the same time in your home. You’ll need about 5Mbps to stream HD video on one device and about 25Mbps to stream Ultra HD video on one device. The average download speed also affects how long you’ll need to wait when you download large files (e.g. movies and games).
• The average upload speed varies from 9Mbps to 90Mbps. This is important for things like cloud storage and backing up files online.
• The speed guarantee is a minimum guaranteed download speed from Sky. It’s the speed measured at the hub, so it doesn’t take into account things like the quality of your wi-fi. If you’re not able to get the minimum guaranteed download speed at the hub, you’ll be able to claim money back from Sky, or you can cancel your contract early without penalty.
• The wall-to-wall wifi guarantee is the minimum download speed you should be able to get in every eligible room of your home. You’ll get a basic 3Mbps wi-fi guarantee on all plans, which increases to either 10Mbps or 25Mbps with the WiFi Max add-on.

The following table shows an overview of the speeds available on each plan:

The average speed figures are based on what 50% of Sky customers are able to get between 8pm and 10pm each day (this is when the service is typically most busy). In reality, the actual speeds you get may vary depending on the time of day, and depending on the distance between your home and the nearest street cabinet.

Prior to June 2023, Sky also offered an ‘Essential Plus’ plan using copper broadband (ADSL) technology. This had an average download speed of 11Mbps and an average upload speed of 0.8Mbps. There is a variable speed guarantee and no wifi guarantee on the Essential Plus plan.

Coverage & Availability

In the UK, Sky’s home broadband service is delivered using the Openreach (BT) network. You should therefore be able to get Sky Broadband at most UK addresses.

If you’re looking for Superfast broadband, this is available in around 95% of UK homes. In most cases, it’ll use fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology, unless your home is enabled for full fibre (FTTP) technology.

If you’re looking for Ultrafast or Gigafast broadband, you’ll need to be living at an address with access to full fibre (FTTP) technology. At present, this is available in around 35% of all UK homes.

To find out which broadband plans are available at your address, enter your postcode on Sky’s availability checker. You’ll also be a given a personalised estimate of the speeds available at your address, along with your personalised speed guarantee.

Check Sky Broadband Coverage →

Switching to Sky Broadband

It’s easy switching to Sky Broadband, even if you’re currently using a different broadband provider.

Start by signing up online with Sky, making sure to provide your current landline number if you’d like to keep it. During the online order process, Sky will give you a switchover date for the service (this will typically be in around 2 weeks time).

In most cases, Sky will automatically contact your old broadband provider to cancel the old service for you. However, this doesn’t apply if you’re a Virgin Media customer – if so, you’ll need to contact them directly to cancel.

For step-by-step instructions on how to switch to Sky Broadband, please select your current broadband provider below:

For more information, see our guide to switching broadband provider in the UK.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Information

For more information about Sky Broadband, please the official Sky website.