In this article, we will take a look at what they offer in terms of packages, contracts, restrictions etc. so you can effectively decide if this provider is for you or not.
Advantages
- Availability of packages with no download restrictions
- Free Basic package for customers who are subscribed to their TV and Landline
- Price is competitive
- Not available in Rural Areas
- Free option has very low download limit
- You have to pay for line rentals which are priced at £14.50 a month
Benefits of using Sky Fibre Optic Broadband
There is no traffic management or fair usage policy in placeMost broadband packages in the UK have a fair usage policy which places a limit on how much you can download every month. When you pass this figure, your speed will be throttled. To some consumers, this is a major source of concern.
With Sky Fibre Unlimited however, there is no download limit so you can download as much as you like every month. With traffic management, bandwidth is reduced for specific tasks, and heavy users, and this means during peak periods Sky don’t have this in place. However, the speed on the connection is normally reduced during peak periods due to contention.
12-month contracts as standard
With most broadband contracts, especially those from bigger providers, the contract normally lasts for 18 months as standard. But with Sky, you are only tied to the contract for 12 months. It doesn’t matter if you take a TV package or not, the situation is the same. People prefer shorter contracts as it allows them to move to another rival if they offer a better or cheaper service.Unlimited use of their public Wi-Fi
On Sky fibre unlimited, the customer is allowed to register as many as 6 devices for use on The Cloud Wi-Fi service. So customers are able to use their mobiles, tablets and laptops anywhere there is a Cloud hotspot in the UK.Good customer relations
According to Ofcom, Sky fibre optic broadband customers are more satisfied than customers of BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.Free basic broadband
They are the only provider that offers free broadband. The bundles start from 10 pounds a month and there is a £14.50 rental fee for telephone lines. However this free package known as Sky BroadBand Lite comes with a monthly usage limit of 2GB. This makes it unattractive to people who do data-intensive activities. People who do very minimal activities online will find this an attractive proposition though.Disadvantages of using Sky Fibre Optic Broadband
Prices are for network areas only
The price quoted for Sky broadband Unlimited and that quoted for Sky Broadband Lite is always depicted as being meant for only customers in network areas. Of course 70% of UK families are under Sky network area but the problem is that if you are not in these regions, you can only get the basic connect service which has a slower download speed.This basic connect package equally comes with a download allowance of 40GB. Traffic management is also applied on this package and to the chagrin of most people it costs more than the unlimited package for customers in the network area!
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| Image Credits: helpforum.sky.com |
Low usage limits on the Broadband Lite package
It may seem a bit trivial criticizing this package because it’s free but you will have to search really hard to see another broadband package that has limits similar to this. It is only on mobile broadband packages that you will see something close to or lower. Most people will find this limit more than enough as it is not everyone that goes online regularly to stream videos and download new music each week to their iPods. It is still miserly all the same.Again, as soon as you go above the 2GB more than once you will be automatically moved to the Sky Unlimited Package and this will increase your bill to take care of it.
You have to exchange your landline
Before you can get subscribed to any Sky Broadband package, you must switch your phone line and pay the line rental fee which is normally £14.50 a month, or £174 every year. You can pay £119.40 for a year if you are paying upfront and this will save you a massive £54.60 in advance.Early disconnection fees to cancel the contract
On the minimum, Sky broadband packages come with a 12-month contract. If you have to cancel the contract before the contract period elapses, you will be charged an early termination fee. Most people miss this as it is written in an obscure part of the contract paper but it is still there anyways.Most of the time the amount you will pay is the same as it would cost you to complete the duration of the contract. Again, you must note that the as soon as you append your signature to the contract, you have authorized sky to charge any of your credit or debit cards.
With all of this, you should have enough information already to help you decide if you are to sign up with Sky or not. When you look around and read feedback from customers subscribed to the Sky Fibre Optic broadband connection, you will agree that they are among the first options to consider for anyone thinking about getting superfast internet.
If you are in the network area and get a Sky Fibre Unlimited package, you will find out that it offers good value for money due to its no download limits policy and when you throw in the TV deal, you have a perfect package.
You can always shop around to confirm if there are better deals but with the short 12months contract and the fact that your bills will be added together if you already have Sky TV makes this provider one of the best around.
Sam Jones’sAbout the Author:
Sam Jones’s family needed faster internet services so he told them about fibre optic broadband. They searched online with sites like uSwitch and managed to find some great deals to save time and money.