Sky Launches Wi-Fi Speed Guarantee Add-on

For an additional £5 a month on their bills, Sky broadband customers will be guaranteed a minimum download speed of 3Mbps in any room in their home.

The Boost package will give users new routers, Wi-Fi boosters, engineer visits, and line checks to ensure speeds are up to snuff. But if all that fails and your speeds dip below 3Mbps in your bedroom or second bathroom, as verified using Sky’s online speed checker or MySky app, you’ll receive a refund for any money you’ve paid for Boost. You’ll continue to have access to its services and will get to keep the router and boosters, although you’ll still be locked into your 18-month Sky contract and won’t receive a refund for those bills.

The 3Mbps guaranteed by the Boost package will be enough speed to stream Sky content but is a far cry from the average speeds delivered by the ISP’s ADSL Essentials (11Mbps) and fibre Superfast (59Mbps) packages.

Still, those are average speeds and typically ‘throughput speeds’ received at the router. Users may find themselves receiving slower speeds through their Wi-Fi networks or in certain rooms in their house.

The guarantee therefore might be a worthwhile add-on for those struggling with slow speeds in certain rooms—although there are other steps you can take to improve home connectivity, including repositioning your router. And with Boost costing £90 over 18 months, it might be worth investing that money in your own Wi-Fi extenders or a new router rather than relying on Sky.

But if you want a Sky guarantee behind your speeds and are willing to pay £5 a month more for your broadband, the provider will work to deliver those speeds with the following provisions:

• A new Sky Hub router: Customers will receive Sky’s latest router, which it claims is up to three times faster than the previous model.
• Wi-Fi boosters: If your speeds fall below 3Mbps in any room, as confirmed by Sky’s own online speed checker or its MySky smartphone app, and you report the speeds to the ISP, it will give you one of its plug-in boosters, which extends your router signal.
• Engineer visits: If, after plugging in the booster, you’re still experiencing issues, Sky will send out an engineer for free to assess the situation.
• Daily line checks: Sky will perform checks on your line everyday between midnight and 5am for issues that may affect your speed. If the test exposes a problem, you’ll receive a text about it.

Additionally, Sky Mobile users who are subscribed to Boost will receive an extra 2GB of data on their monthly allowance if their broadband experiences an unplanned outage for more than 30 minutes anytime between 7am and 11pm.

Boost users will also get access to the ‘Buddy’ app, which allows you to set filters on internet content and timers on use and will be of particular use for parents.

Note that exterior buildings, including separate garages and sheds, are excluded from the Boost guarantee.