Looking to switch to a new full-fibre broadband package? For a fraction more than the cost of a supermarket Meal Deal, you could add dozens of channels not available on Freeview, hundreds of boxsets from HBO, and access to everything in the Netflix catalogue.
That’s because Sky TV is bundling its Sky Stream box, Netflix, and Ultrafast Broadband for £41 per month.
Better yet, you’ll only pay £13 for the first month as Sky will waive the cost of the Sky Stream box and TV subscription for the first 30 days of your 18-month contract. You’ll get access to over 100 live channels, including Sky Atlantic, Sky History, Sky Sports News, Comedy Central, MTV, and TLC, in High Definition (HD).
You’ll also be able to watch 10,000 hours of on-demand shows from HBO, Peacock, and Sky Originals, like House Of The Dragon, Euphoria, Succession, The Last Of Us, and Game Of Thrones, to name just a few.
Sky has waived its upfront cost — so you’ll only pay £13 to get started with your full-fibre broadband and Sky TV.
Expect average download speeds of 150Mbps with an unlimited download allowance. Your broadband comes with a speed guarantee, so you’ll be eligible for a refund if speeds drop below the promised minimum download speed three days in a row. 150Mbps is double the average home broadband speed in the UK, which was clocked at 69Mbps by Ofcom last year.
In comparison, BT charges £34.99 per month to access those same speeds on its network.
Known as Full Fibre 100, this broadband plan offers download speeds of 150Mbps. Just like its closest rival, BT will offer a speed guarantee of 100Mbps — if internet speeds fall below that threshold, you’ll get expert advice from BT engineers in a bid to rectify the situation.
If your speeds don’t return to normal within 30 days, BT will refund £20 from your most recent bill.
For a limited time, BT is offering 50% off Full Fibre 100 broadband for the first five months of your 24-month contract, dropping the cost down to £17.49 per month. There’s a £29.99 upfront cost too.
Here’s a breakdown of exactly how much you’ll spend on these two rival deals…
Total Cost Of BT Broadband Full Fibre 100 — £782.25
5x months at 50% off (£17.49), with remaining 19x months at £34.99, and upfront cost of £29.99
Total Cost Of Sky Ultrafast Broadband + Sky Stream + Netflix — £710
1x month at £13, with remaining 17x months at £41, and an upfront cost of £0
Since the Sky Stream and Ultrafast Broadband bundle is a shorter contract, you’ll be able to renegotiate a new promotion with the provider or switch to a competitor to unlock a better deal. However, if you were to continue both contracts for the same 24-month period, you’d spend a total of £956 with Sky.
That’s an extra £173.75 over two years. For comparison, the cheapest Netflix subscription alone would cost £119.76 over that same 24-month period.
Sky Stream is the latest generation of hardware from the British broadcaster. It supports voice commands to control playback and switch channels, 4K Ultra HD picture quality (albeit at an extra cost), and the biggest catch-up services, including ITVX, BBC iPlayer, and Channel 4.
There’s no satellite dish, with live television and on-demand content all beamed over Wi-Fi.
Since there’s no need for a satellite dish affixed to the outside of your house, you won’t need to book an engineer appointment to get started with Sky Stream.
When the diddy set-top box arrives, you’ll need to plug it into a power outlet, connect to Wi-Fi or ethernet connection, and follow the on-screen prompts. And that’s it.
Sky Stream is a small set-top box that ditches the traditional satellite dish and spinning hard drives in favour of streaming everything over Wi-Fi or ethernet
SKY PRESS OFFICE
Sky Stream has much more in common with Fire TV Stick or Roku set-top boxes than previous efforts from Sky, including the Sky+ HD or Sky Q boxes. Unlike those boxes, there’s no spinning hard drive inside Sky Stream to record shows, with everything streamed from on-demand services. That means you’ll never run out of storage space or lose a recording in a power cut.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
EE, which is owned by BT, offers a number of bundles that rival the Sky Stream package from Sky, offering paid-for television, including the same channels available on Sky Stream via a NOW Membership (formerly NOW TV), Netflix, and speedy full-fibre broadband.
EE TV with the Entertainment bundle and Full Fibre 150 Essentials offers the same 150Mbps download speeds, access to HBO shows like Euphoria, Succession, The Wire, The White Lotus, on Sky Atlantic, and a Netflix Standard with Ads subscription. It costs £52.99 per month with a £30 upfront cost.
That’s a total cost of £1,301.76 over the course of the 24-month contract.
