Price:
Speed:
Reliability:
Router:
Sky Superfast Broadband, also known as Superfast 80, is one of the provider's entry-level fibre packages, offering average download speeds of 61Mb per second.
New customers will often save on the monthly price with introductory offers, and it can be bundled with Sky Stream for further savings on home entertainment.
Sky Superfast Broadband is an affordable option for customers living in both superfast fibre and full fibre enabled areas, with availability spanning 97% of UK homes.
At a glance
| Price | £25 |
|---|---|
| Setup cost | £5 |
| Minimum term | 18 months |
| Out of contract price | £39.50 |
| Annual price increase | Prices may rise |
| Download speed | 61Mbps |
| Upload speed | 16Mbps |
| Usage allowance | Unlimited |
| Router | Sky Broadband Hub |
| WiFi guarantee | 10Mbps 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 |
|---|---|
| Competitive pricing for new customers | Slower than UK average download speed |
| Wide availability | WiFi guarantee is only 10Mbps |
| Excellent customer service | |
| Discounts on Sky TV |
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Superfast Broadband | 61Mb average | £27 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
|
Sky Entertainment + Netflix + Superfast Broadband | 61Mb average | £37 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Save £9/mth on Sky Entertainment & Netflix + Reduced price broadband + Free setup (Ends 23/05/2024) | |||||
Who is Sky Superfast Broadband best suited for?
Sky say Superfast Broadband is ideally suited to users who want to stream TV, download films, and game online.
The average download speed of 61Mbps means it can be used to:
- Stream TV and film in up to 4K Ultra HD resolution
- Make UHD or HD video calls
- Game online with an Xbox or Playstation console in 4K UHD or HD
- Work online from home
While the package will support multiple users, it's ideally suited to two to three people or devices going online at the same time. Much larger households, or those with a lot of devices, may want to consider the upgrade to Sky Ultrafast or Ultrafast Plus if they're within a full fibre enabled area.
One benefit to Sky Superfast over the faster plans however is availability, with the package available to 97% of homes, compared to around 36% for the faster Ultrafast plans.
Overall, Sky Superfast Broadband is a good choice for most households, especially those looking for a faster connection without spending too much each month.
See the latest prices and availability for Sky broadband.
What does Sky Superfast Broadband offer?
Sky Superfast Broadband offers a fast fibre connection, with average download speeds of 61Mb per second.
Delivered over fibre to the cabinet, or full fibre to the premises where available, Sky Superfast covers over 97% of UK homes.
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Superfast Broadband | 61Mb average | £27 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
At the time of writing, Sky Superfast Broadband costs just £26 per month for the first 18 months, with a £5 setup fee.
While Superfast Broadband isn't the provider's entry-level deal, it is currently their cheapest, priced just below the slower Superfast 35 option.
The minimum term is for 18-months, which is fairly standard, and setup currently costs just £5, although this fee is refunded against the first month's broadband subscription.
It's worth noting that while Sky don't explicitly state annual price rise amounts in their contract, they do reserve the right to increase them, and in fact did for existing customers in April 2023.
However, Sky increased prices by less than inflation, at just 8.1% on average, while providers such as BT increased theirs by as much as 14.4%.
Sky Superfast + calls
Unlike an increasing number of providers, Sky include line rental with calls on a pay as you go basis as standard for all customers taking their broadband deals, including Superfast Broadband.
It's possible to add inclusive call plans, but otherwise out of allowance calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles are charged at 25p per minute, with a 25p connection charge.
Sky Talk call plans include:
| Call plan | Includes | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Talk Evenings and Weekends Extra | Calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles Monday to Friday evenings, 7pm to 7am, and all weekend | £5.75 |
| Sky Talk Anytime Extra | Calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles at any time | £13.50 |
| Sky Talk International Extra | Calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles at any time, plus calls to 50 popular destinations | £15.50 |
Call plans include calls of up to one hour in duration, so for longer calls customers need to remember to hang up and re-dial.
Sky Talk taken out as a new customer with broadband is subject to a minimum term of 18 months, and so the talk plan can't be cancelled early.
Sky Superfast + Sky TV
Sky is well known as a premium TV provider, and customers who bundle their broadband and TV plans can get extra discounts compared to taking the services separately.
Sky Superfast Broadband can be bundled with either Sky Stream or Sky Glass.
| Package | TV | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Sky Entertainment + Netflix + Superfast Broadband | 150 | 61Mb average | £37 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Save £9/mth on Sky Entertainment & Netflix + Reduced price broadband + Free setup (Ends 23/05/2024) | ||||||
|
|
Sky Glass + Sky Entertainment + Netflix + Superfast Broadband | 150 | 61Mb average | £25 for 3 mths, then £52 |
£10 | 48 months |
| Offer: Sky Entertainment & Netflix free for 3 months and Sky Live included at no extra cost + Reduced price broadband and no broadband setup costs (Ends 01/05/2024) | ||||||
It's possible to save £6 per month compared to taking Sky Superfast Broadband and Sky Entertainment TV on their own.
Sky Stream is the provider's new online streaming platform, which offers the same premium content on a more flexible basis.
Customers get Sky Entertainment and Netflix, and premium packs are also available to add, including Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, TNT Sports, Sky Kids, Disney+, and Paramount+.
The other major benefit to Sky Stream is that no satellite dish is required as the TV content is delivered over the Internet connection.
With the average download speed of Superfast Broadband recently boosted to 61Mb per second, it should be more than fast enough to handle 4K Ultra HD content as well as 1080p HD content from Sky.
Sky Superfast vs Sky Ultrafast
The next plan up from Sky Superfast Broadband is Sky Ultrafast, which offers average download speeds of 145Mb per second.
Sky Ultrafast is less widely available than Sky Superfast, with only around 14.3 million premises passed by either the G.Fast or full fibre technology Ultrafast uses.
Where it is available however, Ultrafast offers more than twice the download speed as Superfast broadband.
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Superfast Broadband | 61Mb average | £27 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
|
|
Ultrafast Broadband | 145Mb average | £28 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
Over an 18-month contract period, Sky Superfast Broadband is cheaper than Ultrafast by £72, at the time of writing based on current offers.
At the end of the minimum term, Sky Superfast Broadband will cost £39.50 per month, while the price of Sky Ultrafast will increase to £43 per month, unless customers choose to switch or re-contract.
Should you upgrade?
Customers living within a full fibre enabled area may want to consider the upgrade to Sky Ultrafast over Superfast, as the faster average download speed of 145Mb per second is likely to be noticeable.
The extra speed offered by Sky Ultrafast will suit families and homes with more than one occupant where householders go online at the same time, or multiple devices are in use.
At just £4 more per month, but with double the download speed, Sky Ultrafast is worth the upgrade.
How does Sky Superfast Broadband compare?
There are plenty of alternative options available that offer equivalent download speeds to Sky Superfast.
Here is the latest pricing for a range of fibre deals:
| Package | Broadband | Monthly price | Upfront price | Contract term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Superfast Broadband | 61Mb average | £27 | £5 | 18 months |
| Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable) | |||||
|
Fibre | 66Mb average | £24.99 | Free | 24 months |
| Offer: Save over £5/mth + No setup fee + Exclusive offers and discounts for Plusnet customers | |||||
|
Fibre 65 | 67Mb average | £26 | Free | 18 months |
| Offer: Free setup and P&P | |||||
|
Fibre 2 | 67Mb average | £29.99 | Free | 24 months |
| Offer: £50 BT Virtual Reward Card + Save £7/mth and free setup (was £31.99) (Ends 16/05/2024) | |||||
Sky's current offer for new customers makes it cheaper than similar packages from TalkTalk and BT, although it's currently a little more expensive than Plusnet Fibre. It's also cheaper than Virgin Media's M125 broadband only plan, which currently costs £26.50 per month.
Plusnet is a good alternative provider to Sky, beating them for customer satisfaction in the most recent research by Ofcom. Yet Sky have the lowest complaint levels in the industry amongst other major providers.
Sky broadband customers can also bundle Sky TV too, with exclusive discounts for doing so.
How fast is Sky Superfast Broadband?
Sky Superfast Broadband offers average download speeds of 61Mb per second, and average upload speeds of 16Mb per second.
The average download speed has only recently, as of May 2023, increased from 59Mb to 61Mb, which means customers are now receiving a faster service.
| Advertised average download speed | Advertised average upload speed | |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Superfast | 61Mb | 16Mb |
Advertised average speeds must be received by at least 50% of a provider's customer base during the busiest times of 8pm to 10pm in the evening. So, we know most customers on Superfast 80 are receiving speeds of 61Mb per second or faster.
Because Sky use full fibre connections where available to connect new customers to their network, even on Superfast packages, the increase in average speed could be due to more customers taking Superfast 80 on a full fibre line. Even between the same package, full fibre would likely be faster than a fibre to the cabinet and copper phone line connection.
Real world speeds
The most recent research from industry regulator Ofcom into broadband speeds and real world performance comes from September 2023.
Ofcom found Sky's Superfast 80 package delivered the following to customers in real world tests:
| Average download speed between 8pm and 10pm | Average download speed over 24 hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Superfast: Sep 2023 | 63.57Mb | 64.65Mb |
| Sky Superfast: Mar 2023 | 61.26Mb | 62.43Mb |
| Sky Superfast: Oct 2022 | 62.01Mb | 64.30Mb |
Considering their advertised average speed was 59Mb at the start of 2023, Sky are easily outperforming that figure as well as their newer advertised speed of 61Mb.
Ofcom's previous report, published in October 2022, also showed Sky Superfast 80 outperforming their advertised average, with peak time speeds of 62.01Mb per second.
| Average upload speed between 8pm and 10pm | Average upload speed over 24 hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Sky Superfast: Sep 2023 | 18.14Mb | 18.17Mb |
| Sky Superfast: Mar 2023 | 18.08Mb | 18.16Mb |
Ofcom also looked at real world performance of upload speeds, and found Sky Superfast was delivering 18.14Mb per second on average at peak times.
The report showed Sky to be outperforming equivalent packages from TalkTalk, Vodafone, and Plusnet. While BT reported a slightly faster average upload speed of 18.43Mb.
Overall, we can see Sky Superfast 80 is achieving its advertised average speeds, and outperforming many of its closest rivals on similar packages.
Speed guarantee
Sky offer customers a minimum guaranteed speed at the point of sign up, and we've found this can be around 50Mb, although it will vary between customers as it's a personalised speed based on an individual property's connection.
If the broadband speed drops below this minimum for at least three days in a row, and Sky don't resolve the issue within 30 days, customers can:
- Get one month's broadband subscription refunded
- If within 30 days of activating the line, upfront costs will also be refunded
- The option to switch broadband plan at no extra cost
- The option to leave the contract entirely with no early termination charges
It's possible for customers to claim money back up to two times during their minimum term under this guarantee.
To claim, connections must be at least 14 days old to allow them to settle, and customers need to test their broadband speed using Sky's My Broadband app.
WiFi guarantee
In addition to this speed guarantee, Sky also offer customers the choice of two WiFi guarantees.
The Wall-to-Wall guarantee comes as standard with Sky Superfast 80 and promises minimum download speeds of 3Mb per second in every room of a customer's home or they can claim one month's broadband subscription back.
It doesn't cost anything, so is a good extra included in the plan.
Customers can choose to take Sky WiFi Max, although if they do, the Wall-to-Wall guarantee no longer applies to their account.
Sky WiFi Max costs £7.50 per month, and promises minimum wireless speeds of 10Mb per second in every room on Superfast Broadband. If customers don't get this, they'll get one month's broadband subscription refunded.
Sky WiFi Max also includes some extra features, including:
- Upgraded WiFi 6 router, the Sky Max Hub
- Daily line checks, with automatic fixes if issues are found
- Free off-peak engineer visits at no extra cost
- 2GB free Sky Mobile data if your fixed line connection goes down
Overall, it can be a worthwhile add-on if customer's want a more reliable connection with extra support if they have problems, especially as it now includes a router upgrade too.
See how Sky WiFi Max compares in our WiFi guarantee guide.
What's included?
Sky Superfast Broadband comes bundled with the Sky Broadband Hub, as well as parental controls in the form of Sky Broadband Shield.
Router
While the Sky Broadband Hub is no longer the provider's best router, it's still offered to all customers as standard, including those taking Sky's fastest Gigafast package.
That's good news for customers on Superfast 80 as they're getting an advance router that can support speeds of up to 1Gb per second, more than enough for Superfast's 61Mb average.
The Sky Broadband Hub offers:
- Dual-band wireless (over 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels)
- WiFi 5 protocol
- WPA2 security
- 4 x 1Gb Ethernet LAN ports
- Intelligent Mesh, for seamless network extension with boosters
However, the Sky Broadband Hub doesn't have the absolute latest technology, such as WiFi 6 support, or tri-band channels, and has been replaced by the Sky Max Hub in our guide to the best free routers offered by broadband providers.
Parental controls
Sky broadband comes with free access to Sky Broadband Shield, the provider's parental control service.
It comes turned on by default for new customers, but is easy to adjust settings to suit individual requirements.
Sky Broadband Shield also protects customers from phishing and malware, as well as offering customisable settings for filtering based on age, time of use, and specific websites or categories of content.
Verdict: Is Sky Superfast 80 any good?
Sky Superfast Broadband is the provider's best "entry-level" package and is also their most widely available plan too, covering over 97% of UK homes.
It's faster than Superfast 35, despite currently costing less each month, making it a good choice for customers who want speed on a budget.
The 61Mbps average download speed should be adequate for most households, although larger households or heavy users living within a full fibre enabled area may want to consider the move up to Sky Ultrafast.
Superfast 80 offers the following benefits:
- 61Mbps average download speeds
- Delivered via full fibre where available
- Inclusive line rental with pay as you go calls
- Free WiFi in every room guarantee
- Minimum speed guarantee, with money-back promise
Sky Superfast Broadband is competitively priced, coming in cheaper than equivalent deals from Virgin Media, TalkTalk and BT. It also outperforms rival connections from TalkTalk, Vodafone, and Plusnet in real world speed tests.
Lastly, Sky broadband customers get the added benefit of being able to bundle Sky's comprehensive TV plans if they want to save money on a home entertainment package.
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