Sky Broadband Review: Essential, Superfast & Ultrafast Broadband With Hub

Sky offers Essential Plus, Superfast 35, Superfast, Ultrafast, Ultrafast Plus & Gigafast broadband with the Sky Broadband Hub router and a Wi-Fi Guarantee add-on.

In the UK, Sky now offers a choice of six home broadband plans: Essential Plus Broadband (with average download speeds of 11Mbps), Superfast 35 Broadband (with average download speeds of 36Mbps), Superfast Broadband (with average download speeds of 59Mbps), Ultrafast Broadband (with average download speeds of 145Mbps), Ultrafast Plus Broadband (with average download speeds of 500Mbps) and Gigafast Broadband (with average download speeds of 900Mbps).

As a special offer for May 2023, you can save £10 on the set-up for Sky Broadband when you order through this link.

Save £10 on Sky Broadband →

In this article, we’ll review the Sky Broadband service. We’ll start by comparing the five plans: Essential Plus, Superfast 35, Superfast, Ultrafast and Ultrafast Plus Broadband. We’ll then look at the Sky Hub router you’ll get included with your plan, along with other features of Sky Broadband. Finally, we’ll look at how you can change your broadband provider to Sky.

Sky Broadband Plans

In the UK, Sky currently offers a choice of six home broadband plans:

• Essential Plus Broadband: With average download speeds of 11Mbps, Essential Plus Broadband is designed for everyday internet usage such as browsing, online shopping and social media. Includes Sky Broadband Boost.
• Superfast 35 Broadband: With average download speeds of 36Mbps, this is Sky’s entry-level fibre broadband service. It’s around three times faster than Essential Plus Broadband.
• Superfast Broadband: With average download speeds of 59Mbps, Superfast Broadband is 5 times faster than Essential Plus Broadband. It’s the most popular broadband plan available from Sky and it allows you to stream, game and download on multiple devices at the same time.
• Ultrafast Broadband: With average download speeds of 145Mbps, Ultrafast is 12 times faster than Essential Plus broadband. It allows you to stream in ultra-HD quality across multiple devices but it’s currently only available in around 29% of UK homes.
• Ultrafast Plus Broadband: With average download speeds of 500Mbps, this is more than 40 times faster than Essential Plus Broadband. It’s available in around 21% of UK homes.
• Gigafast Broadband: This is Sky’s fastest available broadband service. With average download speeds of 900Mbps, it’s 25 times faster than Superfast 35 broadband. It’s also available in around 21% of UK homes.

The following table shows a side-by-side comparison of the broadband plans from Sky:

All of Sky’s broadband plans are available at a discounted price when you take it together with Sky TV.

Essential Plus Broadband

Essential Plus Broadband is Sky’s copper broadband service, making use of ADSL technology to deliver average download speeds of 11Mbps. It’s available from £30 per month, including a mandatory Broadband Boost subscription.

The Essential Broadband service should suffice for most day-to-day usage. This includes browsing the web, using social media and online shopping. It should also allow you to stream HD-quality video on up to two devices at the same time.

Sky says their Essential Broadband service offers an average download speed of 11Mbps and an average upload speed of 0.8Mbps. However, this can vary substantially depending on the distance between your home and the telephone exchange. For this reason, you should get a personalised estimate of the speeds available where you live by entering your address on Sky’s website.

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Essential Plus	11Mbps average download	No TV	£30/month for 18 months

See all Essential Broadband Deals →

When you sign up to the Essential Broadband service, you’ll get the Sky Hub 4 router (SR203). This allows you to share your broadband connection with up to 64 devices using dual-band Wi-Fi. You’ll also get 4 Gigabit Ethernet sockets for connecting wired devices to your network.

From the 7th July 2021, Essential Broadband is only available with a mandatory Broadband Boost subscription. If you don’t want the added features on Sky Broadband Boost, you’ll be better off choosing Superfast Broadband which is available without the mandatory Boost.

Superfast 35 Fibre Broadband

Superfast 35 is the new entry-level fibre broadband service from Sky. 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 £0 upfront when you order through this link.

With Superfast 35 Broadband, you should be able to stream HD-quality video on up to 5 devices at the same time.

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
Sky TV with Superfast 35 Broadband	36Mbps average download	Sky TV 300+ channels included	£41/month for 18 months plus £29.95 upfront

See all Superfast 35 Broadband Deals →

This plan is available on either fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) or a full fibre connections. You’ll get a personalised speed guarantee which will be given to you online.

Superfast Fibre Broadband

Sky’s Superfast Broadband uses fibre broadband technology to deliver an average download speed of 59Mbps to your home (about five times faster than Essential). It’s currently available for £34 per month, plus £0 upfront when you order through this link.

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

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Superfast	59Mbps average download	No TV	£34/month for 18 months with 7 months half price
Sky TV Essentials with Superfast Broadband	59Mbps average download	Sky TV Essentials 200+ channels included	£36/month for 18 months plus £29.95 upfront
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Superfast Broadband	59Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 120+ channels included	£39/month for 18 months £13 for 1 months

See all Superfast Broadband Deals →

Superfast Broadband will either be provided using fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology or fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology. It’s currently available in around 91% of UK homes, with a personalised speed guarantee available (you can check the guaranteed speed for your address online).

Like on Sky’s other home broadband plans, you’ll receive the Sky Hub 4 router (SR203) on Superfast Broadband. You can then pay an extra £5/month for Broadband Boost which gives you a wi-fi guarantee along with multiple other features.

Ultrafast Fibre Broadband

Ultrafast Broadband offers an average download speed of 145Mbps (with a minimum guaranteed speed of 100Mbps). You’ll also get an average upload speed of 27Mbps. The Ultrafast plan is currently available in around 29.6% of UK homes.

On Ultrafast Broadband, you’ll get speeds that are around 12 times faster than Essential. This means you can do more things at the same time on multiple devices (e.g. streaming ultra-HD video at the same time on up to six devices).

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Ultrafast	145Mbps average download	No TV	£30/month for 18 months
Sky TV with Ultrafast Broadband	145Mbps average download	Sky TV 300+ channels included	£48/month for 18 months plus £29.95 upfront

See all Ultrafast Broadband Deals →

Depending on what is available at your address, Ultrafast Broadband will be provided using either Gfast or full fibre (FTTP) technology. You’ll get a speed guarantee of at least 100Mbps on the service. If you like, you can add a Wi-Fi Guarantee for an extra £5 per month through Sky Broadband Boost.

For more information, see our Sky Ultrafast Broadband review.

Ultrafast Plus Fibre Broadband

In the UK, Ultrafast Plus Broadband gives you an average download speed of 500Mbps (with a minimum guaranteed download speed of 400Mbps). You’ll also get an average upload speed of 60Mbps on this plan.

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

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Ultrafast Plus	500Mbps average download	No TV	£48/month for 18 months with 7 months half price
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Ultrafast Plus Broadband	500Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 120+ channels included	£49/month for 18 months £23 for 1 months

See all Ultrafast Plus Broadband Deals →

Ultrafast Plus broadband is only available in homes with access to a full fibre (FTTP) connection from Openreach. At present, this is around 6 million homes (about 21% of UK households) but this is due to increase to 25 million by December 2025.

For more information, see our Sky Ultrafast Plus Broadband review.

Gigafast Broadband

In the UK, Gigafast Broadband is Sky’s fastest home broadband plan. It gives you an average download speed of 900Mbps (with a minimum guaranteed download speed of 600Mbps). You’ll also get an average upload speed of 90Mbps on this plan.

The following table shows Sky’s Gigafast fibre broadband deals:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Gigafast	900Mbps average download	No TV	£58/month for 18 months

See all Gigafast Broadband Deals →

Like Ultrafast Plus, Gigafast broadband is only available in homes with access to a full fibre (FTTP) connection from Openreach. At present, this is around 6 million homes (about 21% of UK households)

Sky Broadband with TV

All of Sky’s broadband plans can be taken together with Sky TV. There’s normally a fairly significant saving when you take the two products together at the same time.

For instance, Sky’s Superfast 35 Broadband normally costs £34 per month. Meanwhile, Sky TV is normally available from £23 per month. However, if you take the two services together, you can get it for a combined price of £39 per month:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Superfast Broadband	59Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 120+ channels included	£39/month for 18 months £13 for 1 months

For an even better deal, considering getting Superfast Broadband with both Sky TV and Netflix. This will cost you a total of £39 per month (the inclusive Netflix subscription is worth £6.99 per month):

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Superfast Broadband	59Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 120+ channels included	£39/month for 18 months £13 for 1 months

For more information, see our Sky TV review.

Sky Broadband Router & Hub

Regardless of which Sky Broadband plan you sign up for (Essential Plus, Superfast, Ultrafast or Ultrafast Plus), you’ll now be given a Sky Broadband Hub router (SR203) to use with the service.

The Sky Hub router supports dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity on up to 64 devices at the same time. It uses 8 built-in wi-fi antenna to optimise for Wi-Fi performance and coverage. This compares to 5 antenna on the older Sky Q Hub (ER115) that used to be supplied to customers on Sky Broadband. The new Sky Hub router also has 4 Gigabit Ethernet sockets for connecting wired devices to your home network (versus 2 on the older Sky Q Hub router).

The following table shows the technical specifications of the Sky Hub:

	Sky Broadband Hub (Sky SR203)
Availability
Sky Broadband Plans:	Essential Plus Superfast 35 Superfast Ultrafast Ultrafast Plus Gigafast
Connectivity
Dual-Band Wi-Fi:	Yes
Wi-Fi Connectivity:	802.11a/b/g/n/ac (up to 64 devices)
2.4GHz Wi-Fi:	4×4 MIMO
5GHz Wi-Fi:	4×4 MIMO
Ethernet:	4 Gigabit Ethernet ports
Phone:	Yes
Other:	WPA2 / WPA security Built-in firewall
Other
Colour:	Black/Grey
More Information:	Sky Website

If you signed up for Sky Broadband after the 4th March 2020, you’ll need to return your broadband router to Sky when you cancel the service. This is because it is only being loaned to you for the duration of your contract.

For further information and technical specifications, see the details on Sky’s website.

Sky Broadband Features

Sky TV Deals

If you get Sky TV at the same time as getting Sky Broadband, you’ll save a significant amount of money on the combined price.

To give an example, Superfast 35 Broadband is currently available for £34 per month. Meanwhile, Sky TV is currently available from £23 per month. If you take the two services together, you’ll pay a combined price of £39 per month for your broadband and TV bundle.

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Superfast Broadband	59Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 120+ channels included	£39/month for 18 months £13 for 1 months

The Sky TV service gives you access to more than 300 channels and more than 500 on-demand box sets. You’ll also get a Sky Q set-top box for your TV. You can get a discounted subscription to Netflix through Sky, along with access to the Sky Sports and BT Sport channels (available at extra cost).

Get Sky Broadband & Sky TV →

You can also get Sky Broadband together with Sky TV and Netflix in one bundle:

Service	Broadband	Television	Monthly Price
Sky Stream, Sky Entertainment & Netflix with Superfast Broadband	59Mbps average download	Sky Entertainment & Netflix 120+ channels included	£39/month for 18 months £13 for 1 months

The discounted Sky TV deals are available with all Sky Broadband plans.

Sky Broadband Boost

For an extra £5/month, you can add Broadband Boost to your Sky Broadband service. This gives you a Wi-Fi Guarantee along with other key features:

1. Guaranteed wi-fi in every room or money back. Sky will guarantee a minimum download speed of 3Mbps in every room of your home, whilst you’re using the Wi-Fi network from your Hub. If you aren’t receiving these speeds, you’ll be sent a Sky Broadband Booster or a Sky engineer can be sent to your home to try and solve the problem for you. If you’re still unable to get 3Mbps in every room, the money you’ve paid for Broadband Boost will be refunded to you.
2. Daily checks on your line. Sky will perform an automated check on your phone line between 12am and 5am each morning. This is designed to detect faults with the line so an engineer can be sent round to fix it if required. Your home broadband service might be unavailable for around 2 minutes whilst the check is happening.
3. Engineer visits at no extra cost. Sky has a team of broadband engineers (also known as the Sky Broadband Tech Team) who can visit your home to diagnose connectivity issues and to improve download speeds. There’s normally a £15 charge for evening and weekend appointments, but the charge is waived for customers who have Sky Broadband Boost.
4. 2GB mobile data for outages. If you’re a Sky Mobile customer, you’ll get 2GB of data added to your Sky Piggybank if your broadband service suffers from an outage. To qualify, it’ll need to be an unplanned outage lasting for more than 30 minutes between 7am and 11pm.

If you choose Essential Plus broadband, you’ll get the Broadband Boost service included in the price.

For more information, see our Sky Broadband Boost review.

Speed Guarantee

If you sign up for Sky’s Superfast or Ultrafast broadband, you’ll benefit from Sky’s Speed Guarantee. This gives you a minimum guaranteed download speed on your Sky Broadband service:

• On Superfast Broadband, the minimum guaranteed download speed will be given to you on this page. You’ll need to provide your address to see the minimum speed for where you live. If the download speed to your Sky Hub router drops below this minimum guaranteed speed for three consecutive days, you’ll be able to claim one month’s subscription fee back from Sky.
• On Ultrafast Broadband, you’ll have a minimum guaranteed download speed of 100Mbps. If the download speed to your Sky Hub router drops below the 100Mbps minimum for three consecutive days, you’ll be able to claim one month’s subscription fee back from Sky.
• On Ultrafast Plus Broadband, you’ll have a minimum guaranteed download speed of 400Mbps. If the download speed to your Sky Hub router drops below the 400Mbps minimum for three consecutive days, you’ll be able to claim one month’s subscription fee back from Sky.
• On Gigafast Broadband, you’ll have a minimum guaranteed download speed of 600Mbps. If the download speed to your Sky Hub router drops below the 600Mbps minimum for three consecutive days, you’ll be able to claim one month’s subscription fee back from Sky.

The speed guarantee applies from 14 days after your service is activated (this is because it can take up to 14 days for the service to reach a stable sync speed after it’s activated). You can claim the one month subscription fee up to twice during the length of your contract.

The Speed Guarantee is not available on Sky’s Essential Broadband service.

Full Fibre Broadband

If you’re living in a home with access to full fibre broadband (FTTP) on the Openreach network, you’re now able to get full fibre broadband from £30 per month on Sky. You can choose between the Superfast, Ultrafast, Ultrafast Plus and Gigafast plans.

At present, Sky’s full fibre service is available in around 6 million homes. This should increase to 25 million homes by December 2025.

Check Sky Full Fibre Availability →

For more information, read our Sky Ultrafast Broadband review.

Sky Broadband Speeds

The average speeds available on Sky Broadband will depend on the plan you choose:

These 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 download speeds you get may vary based on the time of day and based on the distance between your home and the nearest street cabinet.

There’s a minimum speed guarantee on Superfast Broadband and Ultrafast Broadband.

Coverage & Availability

Sky’s home broadband service is delivered through the Openreach network. You should therefore be able to get Sky Broadband at most UK addresses. However, not all of the plans may be available at your address:

• Essential Plus Broadband uses ADSL (copper broadband) technology. It’s available in around 98% of UK homes. However, the speed can be slower than average in rural locations that are a long way from the nearest telephone exchange.
• Superfast Broadband uses fibre broadband technology (either fibre-to-the-cabinet or fibre-to-the-premises, depending on what is available at your address). It’s available in around 91% of UK homes. On fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), the final portion of the connection between the cabinet and your home is delivered over a copper phone line.
• Ultrafast Broadband uses fibre broadband technology (either Gfast or fibre-to-the-premises, depending on what is available where you live). It’s currently available in around 29.6% of UK homes.
• Ultrafast Plus Broadband and Gigafast Broadband are only available on full fibre (FTTP) connections. They’re currently available in around 21% of UK homes.

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

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 (typically for around 2 weeks time).

In advance of your new Sky Broadband service going live, you’ll be sent a Sky Broadband Hub through the post. This will need to be plugged in on the switchover date to complete the setup.

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.