Sky vs Plusnet broadband

Sky is cheaper than Plusnet across most speed tiers, includes a WiFi 6 router and home phone line as standard, and offers Sky TV bundled at a discount.

Plusnet is no-frills broadband - no TV, no home phone, no mesh WiFi - but it now leads the UK market on Ofcom's complaints rankings and has one of the highest customer satisfaction scores of any provider.

For most households Sky is the stronger choice. Plusnet suits those who want simple, well-supported broadband and nothing else.

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Quick verdict

Sky is cheaper than Plusnet across most speed tiers, supplies a WiFi 6 router as standard, includes a home phone line on every plan, and offers a whole-home WiFi guarantee from £4 per month - significantly more than Plusnet for a similar or lower monthly price.

Plusnet's case rests on simplicity and customer service - it's the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK with 91% customer satisfaction, and offers no-frills broadband without upselling.

Decision: for most households Sky is the stronger choice. Choose Plusnet only if you want the absolute simplest setup and have no need for home phone, TV, or WiFi guarantee.

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At a glance: Sky vs Plusnet

Top picks: Sky and Plusnet broadband deals

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Price

Winner: Sky is cheaper than Plusnet across most speed tiers, and includes a home phone line and WiFi 6 router that Plusnet charges nothing for because it doesn't offer them.

Sky has moved ahead of Plusnet on price across most of the range. Sky Full Fibre 150 costs £23 per month - £0.99 less than Plusnet's closest equivalent at £23.99. Factor in Sky's included home phone line, which Plusnet doesn't offer at any price, and the real-world value gap is wider than the headline figures suggest.

The saving continues at 500Mb - Sky Full Fibre 500 is £27 against Plusnet's £27.99. At gigabit speeds the two providers are effectively level, with Sky Gigafast at £30 and Plusnet Full Fibre 900 at £29.99 - a penny difference that won't influence many decisions.

Plusnet's entry-level Full Fibre 74 at £19.99 per month is still cheaper than any Sky plan - worth noting for households that genuinely only need 74Mbps and nothing else. But for most customers comparing the two providers at 150Mbps and above, Sky is now the cheaper option.

Other charges

Comparing extras pricing is largely academic with these two, because Plusnet simply doesn't offer any.

Sky customers can add WiFi Max (a whole-home WiFi guarantee with mesh pods) from £4 per month, inclusive call plans, and Sky TV at an exclusive bundle discount. None of those options exist with Plusnet, so the broadband price is the price - full stop.

Both providers offer free setup - Sky charges £5 upfront but refunds it on the first bill. Sky also includes a digital home phone line on all plans, which Plusnet no longer offers to new customers at all.

On annual price rises, Plusnet increases prices by £4 per month each March, effective from 2027 for new customers. Sky's approach differs - prices may rise each April, as seen with the £3 per month rise in April 2026, but customers retain the right to exit their contract without penalty if a mid-contract rise is announced.

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Broadband packages

Winner: Sky offers more comprehensive broadband packages than Plusnet - home phone included, WiFi guarantee available, and Sky TV bundled at a discount. Plusnet is broadband only, but priced accordingly.

Both providers run exclusively on the Openreach network, which means availability is identical - if one can serve your address, so can the other. Openreach full fibre now passes over 20 million premises, covering around 60% of UK homes.

The key differences between Sky and Plusnet aren't about network or speed, but about what comes with the connection.

Here's a summary of those differences before we get into the detail:

• Sky is cheaper than Plusnet across most speed tiers, including at 150Mb (£23 vs £23.99) and 500Mb (£27 vs £27.99)
• Sky includes a digital home phone line on all plans; Plusnet no longer offers home phone to new customers
• Sky supplies a WiFi 6 router (Sky Max Hub) on all full fibre plans; Plusnet supplies a WiFi 5 router (Plusnet Hub Two)
• Sky customers can add WiFi Max (whole-home WiFi guarantee) from £4/month; no equivalent exists with Plusnet
• Sky TV can be bundled with broadband at an exclusive discount; Plusnet offers no TV service
• Both require a 24-month minimum term with free setup

Entry-level full fibre

At entry level, the price gap between the two providers is at its widest.

Plusnet's Full Fibre 74 and Full Fibre 145 are both priced at £23.99 per month - effectively making the 145Mb plan the better value of the two. Sky's Full Fibre 150 costs £23 per month, making it cheaper than either Plusnet option at this tier and the stronger entry-level choice for most households.

Sky's Full Fibre 150 at £23 per month is cheaper than Plusnet's equivalent at £23.99 - and includes a home phone line that Plusnet doesn't offer at any price. For households who want the cheapest possible connection, Sky now wins on price at this tier.

Faster full fibre

Plusnet launched full fibre in August 2022, initially with three speed options - 74Mb, 145Mb and 500Mb - before adding 300Mb and 900Mb plans. Sky's full fibre range covers similar ground, with their Full Fibre 150, Full Fibre 500 and Gigafast packages offering 150Mb, 500Mb and 900Mb respectively.

At 500Mb, Sky undercuts Plusnet - £27 versus £27.99. At gigabit speeds the two providers are essentially level, with Sky Gigafast at £30 and Plusnet Full Fibre 900 at £29.99 - a penny difference that won't influence many decisions.

At gigabit speeds the two providers are effectively level on price - but Sky's Gigafast plan includes a home phone line and the Sky Max Hub as standard, making it the stronger value option at this tier.

Sky also offers multi-gigabit broadband on the CityFibre network, with plans up to 5Gbps available in around 4.7 million homes. Plusnet has no equivalent - so if future-proofing your connection matters, Sky is the only option of the two.

Part fibre broadband

Full fibre hasn't reached every home yet. For households still on the Openreach part fibre network - where fibre runs to the street cabinet but the final connection is over copper - both providers offer a superfast option at similar speeds.

Sky is marginally cheaper here and includes a home phone line. For households in part fibre areas, Sky is the more complete package - though it's worth checking whether full fibre is available at your address, as both providers will offer that instead where possible.

Sky's extras - and why Plusnet can't compete here

Beyond the broadband connection itself, Sky and Plusnet diverge significantly. Plusnet is a broadband-only provider - there are no add-ons, no bundles, and no optional extras. The monthly price is the total cost.

Sky customers, by contrast, can build out their package considerably. WiFi Max adds whole-home coverage for £4 per month, supplying Plume-powered mesh pods and guaranteeing a minimum of 25Mbps in every room - with the right to exit the contract early if that standard isn't met.

Inclusive call plans start from £9 per month for evenings and weekends, rising to £18 per month for anytime calls to UK landlines and mobiles.

Sky TV is where the bundling case becomes most compelling. Sky's Essential tier (£15/month) includes Netflix, Sky Atlantic and Discovery+, while the Ultimate tier (£24/month) adds Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu.

Customers bundling Sky broadband with TV get a discount of around £3 - £8 per month compared to taking the services separately - a saving that Plusnet customers simply can't access.

Lastly, if price is the deciding factor but you still want a home phone line and Sky-level customer service, it's also worth considering NOW Broadband, now 'powered by Sky' and using the same customer service infrastructure.

NOW is cheaper than Sky direct and includes a home phone line, but comes with the earlier Sky Broadband Hub rather than the WiFi 6 Max Hub, WiFi Max costs £6 per month rather than £4, and there are no Sky TV bundle discounts available.

Read more in our Sky broadband review and our Plusnet broadband review.

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Broadband speed

Winner: Sky offers stronger minimum speed guarantees than Plusnet, and backs them up with a money-back promise. Plusnet has the faster average uploads, but Sky gives customers more protection if things go wrong.

Both providers use the same Openreach infrastructure, so advertised download speeds are closely matched across equivalent plans. Where they differ is on uploads - and on what happens when speeds fall short.

Sky's full fibre plans offer the following average speeds:

And here are Plusnet's equivalent figures:

Downloads are near-identical across comparable plans - as you'd expect from two providers sharing the same network. Plusnet's upload speeds are noticeably faster at every tier, most significantly at gigabit level where Plusnet averages 115Mb against Sky's 90Mb.

For households that upload frequently - video calls, cloud backups, content creation - that's a real difference.

Advertised average speeds must be achieved by at least 50% of customers during peak hours of 8pm to 10pm.

Where Sky pulls ahead is on minimum guaranteed speeds - the floor below which a customer is entitled to exit their contract. We tested two locations, one part fibre and one full fibre, and the results show a consistent gap:

Sky's minimum speed guarantees are meaningfully higher than Plusnet's at every full fibre tier - 100Mb versus 80Mb at 150Mb, 400Mb versus 275Mb at 500Mb, and 600Mb versus 500Mb at gigabit. At part fibre level the two are identical, both guaranteeing a minimum of 50Mb.

Both are part of Ofcom's voluntary code on broadband speeds, but Sky sets the bar considerably higher at full fibre speeds. In practice, most customers won't get close to these thresholds - but if you do experience persistent problems, you'll have more contractual leverage with Sky.

Sky also goes further with its Speed Guarantee. If speeds fall below the minimum for three consecutive days within any 30-day period, customers can claim a full month's subscription back - claimable up to twice per contract term. Alternatively, customers can switch plans at no extra cost or exit the contract early.

Plusnet offers no equivalent.

Ultimately, Plusnet wins on raw upload performance. Sky wins on guarantees and recourse. For most households the distinction won't matter day-to-day - but for those who want the strongest possible safety net, Sky is the better choice.

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Router

Winner: Sky's Max Hub is a generation ahead of the Plusnet Hub Two - and Sky customers have a whole-home WiFi option that Plusnet simply can't match.

Plusnet supplies all fibre customers with the Plusnet Hub Two, a rebranded BT Smart Hub 2 first launched in November 2018. It's a capable enough router for everyday use, but it's now well over seven years old and showing its age against more recent hardware.

Sky full fibre customers get the Sky Max Hub, released in July 2023. It supports WiFi 6, WPA3 security, and intelligent mesh - a meaningful step up from the Plusnet Hub Two on every front. Customers on Sky's part fibre Superfast plan receive the older Sky Broadband Hub (WiFi 5, launched 2019), though even that edges ahead of the Plusnet Hub Two in key areas.

The Sky Max Hub leads on the metrics that matter most for modern homes - WiFi 6 for faster wireless speeds and better handling of multiple devices, WPA3 for stronger security, and native mesh support for extending coverage without compromise.

The Plusnet Hub Two trails on all three.

The mesh limitation is particularly worth flagging. The Plusnet Hub Two can't function as a mesh access point, which means customers in larger homes can't simply add boosters to extend their network. It can be done - by running the Hub Two in modem-only mode with third-party mesh hardware - but that's an extra cost and added complexity that most customers would reasonably want to avoid.

Sky's approach is considerably more straightforward. The WiFi Max add-on costs £4 per month and supplies Plume-powered mesh pods, guaranteeing a minimum of 25Mbps in every room of the home. It also upgrades part fibre customers from the Sky Broadband Hub to the WiFi 6 Max Hub, making it a worthwhile option for anyone on the Superfast plan who wants better hardware without switching to full fibre.

Read more about whole home WiFi guarantees.

Customers who want to stick with Plusnet but want better hardware do have a straightforward option: use your own router. Plusnet officially supports third-party routers and publishes the connection credentials on its help pages - it's a standard PPPoE setup using your Plusnet username and password, with no proprietary authentication to work around.

Sky, by contrast, uses a connection method that ties authentication to the router's credentials, making third-party routers possible but unsupported and more technically involved. For Plusnet customers comfortable with a little basic configuration, a third-party router is a practical way to get WiFi 6 or better without switching provider - though for most households, swapping out the supplied hardware isn't necessary and the Plusnet Hub Two will do the job.

For straightforward broadband in a standard-sized home, the Plusnet Hub Two will do the job. But Sky's hardware is newer, more capable, and backed by a genuine whole-home WiFi option - and on router alone, it's the stronger offering.

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Call plans

Winner: Sky includes a home phone line on every broadband plan. Plusnet no longer offers home phone to new customers at all.

This is one of the starkest differences between the two providers. All Sky broadband plans come with a digital home phone line as standard - pay-as-you-go calls included, with no extra monthly charge unless you want an inclusive call plan. Plusnet withdrew its home phone service for new customers entirely, so if a landline matters to you, Sky is the only option of the two.

Sky's optional call plans are reasonably priced and cover most household needs:

Pay-as-you-go calls outside any inclusive allowance are charged at 25p connection fee plus 27p per minute. For households that rarely use the landline, the included PAYG line may be sufficient without adding a call plan at all.

For anyone who needs a home phone, Sky is the clear choice here - Plusnet simply can't compete in a category it no longer participates in. Read more about the cheapest ways to get a home phone.

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TV

Winner: Sky TV is one of the most comprehensive TV services in the UK. Plusnet offers nothing in this category.

Sky has built its reputation on TV as much as broadband, and its streaming service has become more accessible since launching the Sky Stream box in October 2022 - no satellite dish required. Customers who bundle Sky TV with broadband get a discount of around £3 - £8 per month compared to taking the services separately, which makes the combination genuinely good value.

There are two main TV tiers. Sky Essential (£15/month) includes Netflix, Sky Atlantic, and Discovery+, covering most of what the majority of households watch. Sky Ultimate (£24/month) adds Disney+, HBO Max, and Hayu - making it one of the most complete streaming bundles available from a single provider. Sports and cinema can be added on top of either tier.

Here is the latest bundle pricing:

The table above shows how Sky broadband and TV combine into a single monthly bill, with the bundle discount applied. At entry level, Sky Essential TV with Full Fibre 300 broadband comes to £35 per month - competitive when you consider Netflix is included and the home phone line comes as standard.

Plusnet discontinued its YouView TV service in January 2021, with the service closing for existing customers in August 2021. Plusnet also offers no discounts on TNT Sports, despite its parent company BT owning the rights - so customers looking to bundle sport with broadband won't find any advantage there either.

Sky wins this category by default as much as by merit. But the TV offering is genuinely strong, and for households already paying for Netflix, Disney+, or Sky Atlantic separately, the bundle maths often works in Sky's favour.

Read more in our full Sky TV review.

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Customer Service

Winner: Too close to call. Plusnet is now the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK, while Sky remains excellent - these two sit at the very top of the market.

Sky and Plusnet have long been two of the better-regarded providers for customer service, but the gap between them has closed significantly.

Sky built an enviable complaints record over several years and was for a long time the clear market leader. Plusnet, meanwhile, had a difficult period around 2018 following a billing dispute that pushed complaints sharply higher - but has recovered strongly since, and now sits marginally ahead of Sky on the most recent quarterly figures.

Plusnet became the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK in Q1 2025 and has held that position through Q2 and Q3. Our guide to broadband customer service covers the full picture across all providers.

The chart above shows how both providers have tracked over time - Sky consistently near the bottom of the complaints table, and Plusnet closing the gap steadily after its post-2018 recovery.

In Q3 2025, Plusnet recorded just 5 complaints per 100,000 customers against Sky's 6 - both well below the industry average of 8. Across the full year 2024, Sky recorded 21 complaints per 100,000 customers and Plusnet 28, with the industry average at 41. Both providers have improved considerably while much of the rest of the market has struggled to keep pace.

Ofcom's Comparing customer service report, published in May 2025, gives a fuller picture across a range of measures:

The table tells a story of two genuinely well-run providers that are closer than they've ever been. Plusnet leads on overall satisfaction (91% vs 84%) and has significantly fewer customers with a reason to complain (17% vs 26%). Sky edges ahead on call waiting time (46 seconds vs 50 seconds) and annual complaints volume. On complaints handling satisfaction the two are virtually level - 65% for Plusnet and 63% for Sky - a marked improvement for both compared to the previous report.

Plusnet is also one of the most reliable broadband providers in the UK, with consistently low fault rates and a strong record for resolving issues on first contact. For a budget provider, that reliability record is particularly notable - it's an area where cheaper providers often fall short, and Plusnet doesn't.

On call centres, the two providers take different approaches. Plusnet operates from UK-based call centres, with its primary customer support teams based in Sheffield - a point of genuine pride for a provider that leans into its Yorkshire identity. Sky operates a hybrid model, with some UK-based handling alongside overseas call centres. That hasn't visibly affected Sky's metrics so far, but it's worth knowing if UK-based support matters to you.

Choosing between these two on customer service alone is genuinely difficult. Sky has the longer track record at the top of the market. Plusnet has the better headline numbers right now. Either way, customers signing up to either provider are in considerably better hands than with most of the competition.

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Verdict: Sky or Plusnet broadband?

Overall winner: Sky - cheaper across most speed tiers, better hardware, more extras, and a strong customer service record.

Sky has moved ahead of Plusnet on price across most of the range, and combines that with a WiFi 6 router as standard, a home phone line on every plan, WiFi Max for whole-home coverage, and Sky TV bundled at a discount. For most households, Sky now offers more for less.

Plusnet's case rests on simplicity and an outstanding customer service record. It leads the UK market on Ofcom's complaints rankings, has 91% customer satisfaction, and offers no-frills broadband without upselling or unnecessary extras. For households that genuinely only want broadband and nothing else, it remains a compelling option.

Choose Sky for:

• Cheaper than Plusnet across most speed tiers, including 150Mb and 500Mb
• WiFi 6 router (Sky Max Hub) included as standard on all full fibre plans
• Home phone line included on every plan
• WiFi Max whole-home guarantee from £4/month
• Sky TV bundled at a discount, with Disney+, HBO Max and more on Ultimate tier
• Multi-gigabit CityFibre plans up to 5Gbps - no equivalent with Plusnet
• Strong minimum speed guarantees backed by a money-back promise

Choose Plusnet for:

• Cheapest entry-level full fibre nationally at £19.99 per month for 74Mb
• Currently the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK
• 91% overall customer satisfaction and consistently low fault rates
• Simple, no-frills broadband with no upselling or unnecessary extras

For most households, Sky is now the stronger choice - cheaper on price, better hardware, and more to offer. Plusnet remains worth considering for anyone who wants the absolute simplest setup and has no need for home phone, TV, or a WiFi guarantee.

Read more in our head-to-head guides: Sky vs BT and Plusnet vs BT.