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Sky Gigafast is a full fibre to the home connection delivered over the Openreach FTTP network, and is available to 36% of UK homes.
The broadband package comes with a digital phone line, the Sky Broadband Hub, and optional extras including a router upgrade and discounts on Sky TV.
Overall, Sky Gigafast is a competitively priced gigabit-capable broadband plan from the provider with the industry's best record for customer service.
At a glance
| Price | £48 |
|---|---|
| Setup cost | £5 |
| Minimum term | 18 months |
| Out of contract price | £63 |
| Annual price increase | Prices may rise |
| Download speed | 900Mbps |
| Upload speed | 90Mbps |
| Usage allowance | Unlimited |
| Router | Sky Broadband Hub/Max Hub |
| WiFi guarantee | 25Mbps for £7.50/mth |
| Parental controls | Sky Broadband Shield |
| Home phone | Included |
| Anytime calls | £13.50 (inc. UK mobiles) |
| TV | Optional: Sky Stream or Sky Glass |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Average download speeds of 900Mb | Latest WiFi 6 router costs more |
| Digital phone line as standard | More expensive than some rivals |
| Discounts with Sky TV |
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Gigafast Broadband | 900Mb average | £41 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
|
Sky Entertainment + Netflix + Broadband Gigafast | 900Mb average | £53 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Save £9/mth on Sky Entertainment & Netflix + Reduced price broadband + Free setup (Ends 23/05/2024) | |||||
Who is Sky Gigafast best for?
Sky Gigafast Broadband offers some of the fastest broadband in the UK, which means it's best suited for heavy users and when multiple people are sharing the connection.
Larger homes with multiple occupants, whether that's big families or sharers, will benefit from Gigafast's ability to handle connections from multiple devices at the same time, including those carrying out speed sensitive activities like gaming, HD video calling, and working from home.
Here's some of the best uses for Sky Gigafast:
- Larger households supporting multiple connections at once - whether it's online gaming, video calling, working from home, or smart devices, Sky Gigafast can support many devices at once
- Working from home - people working from home need the fastest, most reliable, broadband to ensure their productivity isn't limited
- Online gaming - the low latency of full fibre coupled with the super-fast downloading ability of Sky Gigafast make this package great for gamers
- Content producers - if you're regularly uploading high resolution photos and videos, or live streaming, Sky Gigafast can ensure a smooth, glitch-free, production
- Streaming video - if multiple occupants all want to watch different programmes on different devices around the home, Sky Gigafast can easily support HD and UHD streaming on TVs, game consoles, tablets and smartphones all at the same time
Sky Gigafast Broadband is currently available to more than 11 million properties across the UK, and the underlying network plans to reach a total of 25 million in the next few years. You can check availability in your area on our Sky broadband deals page.
Overall, Sky Gigafast Broadband is a top-tier gigabit-capable connection that offers unrivalled customer service, as well as discounts on premium TV from Sky too.
What does Sky Gigafast offer?
Sky Gigafast Broadband is the provider's fastest broadband plan, offering average download speeds of 900Mbps, paired with average upload speeds of 90Mbps at peak times.
The latest pricing for new customers is:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Gigafast Broadband | 900Mb average | £41 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
Sky include a digital home phone line as standard with their broadband deals, and customers can choose to add optional call plans, as we cover below.
Gigafast comes with an 18-month minimum term, while fairly standard, it's also shorter than 24-month plans from providers such as BT and Vodafone.
This has pros and cons for customers, while some may prefer the flexibility of being able to leave or switch after 18 months, prices will go up after the minimum term which means needing to switch or recontract sooner.
Sky doesn't have set annual price rises, but they do increase prices, usually by a rate of inflation or less, as prices went up 8.1% on average for 2023.
Gigafast Broadband was first launched in April 2022, and subsequently removed from sale in November 2022 as Sky wanted to make improvements to their network to support the package's fast speeds. As of March 2023, it's now available for new customers again.
Read more in our full Sky broadband review.
Gigafast and calls
Unlike many full fibre broadband providers, including TalkTalk, Plusnet, and BT themselves, Sky include a home phone line as standard with pay as you go calls.
Calls on this plan cost 25p per minute, plus a 25p connection charge.
Customers can also choose to add one of the following inclusive call plans if they regularly use their home phone:
| Call plan | Includes | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| Talk Evenings & Weekends Extra | Unlimited evening calls (7pm to 7am) and weekend calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles | £5.75 |
| Talk Anytime Extra | Unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles | £13.50 |
| Talk International Extra | As above plus unlimited landline calls to 50 international destinations | £15.50 |
All Sky Talk plans are provided on 18-month minimum terms that run alongside the broadband deal, and may also be subject to price increases during the minimum term.
Sky Gigafast and Sky TV
One of the major draws of Sky broadband is the ability to bundle Sky TV with extra discounts.
Sky Gigafast Broadband can be taken with Sky Stream or Sky Glass for savings of around £8 per month compared to taking the services separately.
| Package | TV | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Sky Entertainment + Netflix + Broadband Gigafast | 150 | 900Mb average | £53 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Save £9/mth on Sky Entertainment & Netflix + Reduced price broadband + Free setup (Ends 23/05/2024) | ||||||
Right now, Sky Stream with Sky Gigafast Broadband is only £59 per month for 18 months, which is good value considering Gigafast is £48 per month on its own and Sky Stream is £19, saving customers £8 per month over taking the services separately.
Setup is also currently free with Sky TV and broadband bundles, which saves an extra £5.
Sky TV can be customised with premium TV packs from Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, TNT Sports, Sky Kids, Disney+, and comes with Sky Entertainment and Netflix in HD as standard.
Read more about Sky Stream and Sky TV packages in our dedicated reviews.
Sky Gigafast vs Sky Ultrafast
Sky Gigafast Broadband is the provider's top-end package, but Sky also offer two other full fibre plans, Ultrafast and Ultrafast Plus.
Ultrafast Plus offers 500Mbps average download speeds and currently costs £13 per month less than Sky Gigafast, (or £11 per month less when taken with Sky Stream).
Here's how the packages compare:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Ultrafast Plus Broadband | 500Mb average | £33 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
|
|
Gigafast Broadband | 900Mb average | £41 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
Some customers may find Sky Ultrafast Plus more than adequate for their needs, and we've a full guide to what broadband speed you need here.
So far, Ofcom are reporting only 9% of households living within full fibre enabled areas are signing up to the fastest gigabit-capable plans, like Sky Gigafast.
Equally for larger households, with multiple occupants and multiple devices going online at the same time, or those who want the best speeds for gaming or content production, Sky Gigafast will future proof your connection with the fastest possible speeds.
Read more about what broadband speed you need.
How does Sky Gigafast compare?
Most major broadband providers now offer gigabit-capable broadband packages, and for those who want such fast speeds, the pricing is reasonably competitive.
Sky Gigafast Broadband is currently priced around the middle of the market, coming in cheaper than deals from BT, but costing more than gigabit plans from Plusnet and Virgin Media.
However, as we've seen above, Sky Gigafast is arguably better value when bundled with Sky TV, as it then effectively costs just £40 per month.
Sky also have market-leading customer service, and that's something to bear in mind when comparing packages from some more budget providers who tend to gather more complaints.
Here's how Sky Gigafast looks against its closest rivals:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Gigafast Broadband | 900Mb average | £41 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
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Gig1 Fibre Broadband | 1.13Gb average | £41 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Reduced price: £45 per month + No setup fee (was £35) (Ends 08/05/2024) | |||||
|
Pro II Full Fibre 900 | 910Mb average | £49 | Free | 24 months |
| Offer: New Ultra Hub with WiFi 6E + Super WiFi 6E Booster + Automatic 4G Broadband Back-Up + £3 off for Vodafone pay monthly customers + Up to £100 of your leaving fees covered when switching to Vodafone Broadband | |||||
|
Full Fibre 900 | 900Mb average | £49.99 | Free | 24 months |
| Offer: £50 BT Virtual Reward Card + Save £10/mth and free setup (was £31.99) (Ends 16/05/2024) | |||||
Sky Gigafast is currently more expensive than equivalent packages from Virgin Media, Plusnet, and TalkTalk, but is quite a bit cheaper than equivalent deals from BT and Zen Internet.
It is worth considering other factors when comparing broadband providers however, such as customer service, the broadband router, and extras like whether a home phone line is provided (if needed), and optional TV plans.
You can read more about how Sky compares in our head-to-head guides to Sky vs Virgin, Sky vs BT, and Sky vs TalkTalk.
How fast is Sky Gigafast?
Sky Gigafast Broadband offers average download speeds of 900Mbps, that means at least 50% of Sky's customers receive this speed during the peak hours of 8pm to 10pm when the network is at its busiest.
Sky Gigafast also offers average upload speeds of 90Mbps.
| Download speed (average) | Upload speed (average) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Gigafast | 900Mb | 90Mb |
The Sky Gigafast broadband connection is full fibre to the home, this results in a faster and more reliable Internet experience. Because fibre is laid directly into a customer's home distance from the nearest exchange or street cabinet no longer cause an issue or any speed degradation as was the case with older fibre to the cabinet technologies.
Full fibre is the most reliable broadband connection available in the UK. While delivery conditions can vary between individual homes, the underlying technology offers a more robust and faster experience, with lower latency and less likelihood of disconnections and faults.
Minimum speed guarantee
Sky are signatories of Ofcom's code of practice on broadband speeds, this means they provide both personalised estimates at the point of sign up, and minimum speed guarantees.
For example, when we looked at our postcode, we were given speed estimates of:
| Estimated download speed | Minimum speed guarantee | |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Gigafast | 780 รข€" 930Mbps | 600Mbps |
Personalised estimates aim to give customers the best indication of the broadband speed their individual property can expect to receive by signing up to the Sky Gigafast plan.
Minimum speed guarantees on the other hand provide an absolute minimum speed that if a customer goes on to experience speeds slower than this, they have the right to exit their contract early and without penalty.
Sky also go a step further than this with their Sky Speed Guarantee which applies to this Gigafast plan. Customers who receive speeds less than their minimum guaranteed speed can claim one month's broadband subscription back.
WiFi speed guarantee
Sky Gigafast customers get the Wall-to-Wall guarantee for free, this promises minimum download speeds of 3Mbps in every room. If customers don't get this minimum speed over their wireless network, they can claim one month's broadband subscription back.
However, Sky have also recently launched an updated WiFi guarantee in the WiFi Max add-on. For an extra £7.50 per month Sky Gigafast customers can get the latest WiFi 6 router and a WiFi guarantee that promises minimum speeds of 25Mbps in every room.
Sky also bundle daily line checks and free off-peak engineer visits, along with a 2GB data boost for Sky Mobile plans if the fixed-line broadband goes down.
If the WiFi guarantee fails to deliver, Sky will send out up to 3 WiFi boosters, and eventually an engineer, and if that still doesn't achieve those minimum speeds, customers will get one month's broadband subscription refunded.
Broadband Hub
Sky Gigafast comes shipped with the Sky Broadband Hub, this is a dual-band WiFi 5 router that can support up to 64 devices wirelessly and has four ethernet LAN ports for wired connections.
As mentioned however, customers who take the WiFi Max add-on will get an upgraded router called the Max Hub. Sky's Max Hub is a dual-band WiFi 6 router, which means it will provide faster speeds to any WiFi 6 enabled devices, like Sky Stream and Sky Glass.
Sky Max Hub also comes with more advanced security, and the option to pause devices and set schedules.
The WiFi Max add-on costs £7.50 per month on an 18-month minimum term. Considering the monthly price of Gigafast we're surprised Sky aren't including the new Max Hub as standard, but perhaps Gigafast customers are more likely to want the WiFi guarantee anyway.
Overall, we'd say anyone looking at a 900Mb broadband package should seriously consider the WiFi Max add-on for the upgraded router and minimum wireless speed promise of 25Mbps.
Verdict: Is Sky Gigafast worth it?
Sky Gigafast is a top-of-the-range gigabit broadband package with the added benefit of discounts on bundling Sky TV.
Some of the biggest benefits of opting for Sky broadband include their excellent customer service record which won our Best Customer Services award for 2023, alongside the option of a WiFi 6 router and market-leading WiFi guarantee.
Gigafast delivers 900Mb download speeds on average, and 90Mb average upload speeds, making it one of the fastest broadband deals available in the UK.
It's perfect for larger homes with multiple occupants, or where multiple devices are connecting at the same time and sharing bandwidth. Gamers and content producers, along with those who work from home will all benefit from the gigabit-capable speeds.
The downsides? Availability is still growing, with around 11.5 million premises passed so far, and a network target of 25 million by the end of 2026. That means it's not yet available to everyone, but for those who it is, it's a solid choice for a top-end connection.
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