Sky Broadband packages and speeds: How good are they?

The package range is badly unbalanced

Full Fibre 75 gives you a 16Mbps upload speed, which is 21.3% of its download speed. Full Fibre 100 and 150 manage 18%, before the balance falls to 13.3% on Full Fibre 300 and 12% on Full Fibre 500. None of those figures is especially generous, though some are above the national average for asymmetrical providers.

Full Fibre Gigafast is the worst offender. A package advertised at 900Mbps gives you just 90Mbps in the other direction, producing a miserable 10% upload-to-download ratio. You’re buying nearly a gigabit of broadband, but only when the data is travelling towards you.

Symmetrical Gigafast+ doesn’t rescue the wider range

Full Fibre 2.5 Gigafast+ and Full Fibre 5 Gigafast+ give you matching upload and download speeds. That’s technically superb, but both packages require an enabled CityFibre connection (rare), so most Sky Full Fibre addresses can’t order them, and no one really needs them.

You also have to buy 2.5Gbps or 5Gbps of download speed to get symmetry, which means we cannot in good conscience include them in Sky's average upload speed calculations. It's vastly more broadband than any home needs and likely to mean paying for an excessive package simply to obtain a decent upload. Sky offers symmetry, but not as an accessible choice across its whole package range.

Pay attention to the upload figures if your home sends large files

Sky’s regular upload speeds will still handle video calls, gaming, ordinary cloud saves and occasional photo sharing. The weakness becomes more obvious when you upload video, back up large folders, stream live or regularly send project files, because those jobs depend on the much smaller number.

There’s no separate upload upgrade that fixes the imbalance while letting you keep a sensible download package. For most addresses, your choices are the modest upload supplied with the available Full Fibre.

Sources: Sky Broadband, All compared providers

Most home-working jobs won’t trouble Sky Broadband

Email, browser-based systems, documents, research and video calls don’t need enormous broadband speeds. Even Sky’s lower Full Fibre packages provide enough zip for those jobs, while Full Fibre 150 and 300 leave considerably more room for everyone else in the house.

Reliability and Wi-Fi coverage matter more than buying Sky’s biggest download number. A 5Gbps connection won’t improve a call if your work laptop is in a room where the hub’s signal barely reaches. Sort the connection to your workspace before paying for more speed.

Check Sky’s upload speeds if you send big files

Sky’s regular packages give you upload speeds from 16Mbps to 90Mbps. That’s fine for calls, cloud documents and ordinary file sharing, but not great if you regularly send video, design files, large photographs, CAD models or complete project folders.

The two Gigafast+ packages offer symmetrical speeds, but only on certain bits of the CityFibre network. You also have to buy 2.5Gbps or 5Gbps of download speed to get them. For most homes, there’s no sensible upload-focused upgrade sitting between the regular packages and those outrageously quick top speeds.

Sky Device Priority is useful, but it won’t stay switched on

Sky WiFi Max lets you prioritise one connected device through Sky Device Priority in the My Sky app. That could help during an important video call, large upload or remote presentation by putting your work laptop ahead of competing activity elsewhere in the house.

The boost only lasts for the period you choose, from one to eight hours. Once it ends, you’ll need to switch it on again the next time you want priority. It’s handy for an important job or two, but it isn’t a permanent rule that always puts your work computer first, which is a shame. It's such a near-miss.

Upgrading is easy because Sky wants you paying more

Sky lets you request an available upgrade through your online account, without a notice period or the usual phone call obstacle course. Depending on the technology involved, the change may be handled remotely or require new equipment, installation work or an engineer appointment.

That convenience comes with a large catch. The upgraded package starts a new 24-month minimum term. Sky makes the route to a faster, more expensive package buttery smooth, provided you’re happy to restart the contract clock.

Sky won’t let you downgrade during your minimum term

This is the part that properly lets Sky down. Its terms say that, unless Sky agrees otherwise, you cannot downgrade your chosen broadband package during the minimum term. Decided you bought more speed than you need? Want to cut the bill? Sky’s answer is no.

That's unusually restrictive. Of all the providers we’ve investigated so far, Sky is the only one that simply closes the normal downgrade route completely during the contract. Other providers may attach conditions, charges or a new commitment, but Sky goes further and prevents the change altogether. That is extremely unfriendly to customers.

The exceptions don’t make Sky’s policy reasonable

Sky can move you to another product in a limited set of circumstances, including when it withdraws your existing service, when you move somewhere it cannot provide it, or when it fails to restore your guaranteed speed after being given the opportunity to fix it. Sky can also make an exception if it chooses.

Those are escape hatches for specific problems, not a fair downgrade policy. They don’t help someone whose circumstances have changed, whose budget is tighter or who has realised that the fast package was unnecessary. Sky reserves flexibility for itself while giving very little of it to you.

Once the contract ends, you still have to ask Sky

After your minimum term ends, you can contact Sky and ask to move to another package. Even then, there isn’t a general self-service downgrade checkout matching the online upgrade journey. Moving up is designed to be easy, while moving down requires a conversation and whatever deal Sky is prepared to offer you.

Keep any confirmation showing the new package, price, start date and minimum term. More importantly, don’t choose a Sky package on the assumption that you can reduce it later. During the minimum term, you normally can’t – and that one-sided rule is the reason Sky performs so badly here.