UK ISP Sky Broadband to Trial 18Mbps Sky Fibre Lite FTTC “Fibre” Product

[Scubbie]

UK ISP Sky Broadband to Trial 18Mbps Sky Fibre Lite FTTC "Fibre" Product - ISPreview UK

Sky UK (Sky Broadband) has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that they are about to start trials of a new 18Mbps unlimited usage Sky Fibre Lite (FTTC) product with around 20,000 customers, which is designed to tempt those on their slower ADSL2+ based service to upgrade to FTTC for a better speed.

The new service is based off BTOpenreach’s speed capped 18Mbps (2Mbps upload) Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL) product, which was officially announced back in April 2016 and is due to enter a 6-month trial via a special offer to ISPs that will start from 15th June 2016 (full summary). Sky’s trial will make use of this, albeit launching in July.

Openreach’s new product was created to act as an uplift path for existing ADSL / ADSL2+ (up to 20Mbps DL / 1Mbps UP) based lines, such as those which might be receiving a poor speed but who have elected not to upgrade to 40-80Mbps capable FTTC (assuming it’s available) because of the extra costs involved (FTTC often adds a +£5-10 premium). In most cases ADSL users will be able to get a faster speed on FTTC, but sometimes the difference is simply too small to warrant paying any extra.

By comparison the new 18Mbps FTTC product is priced much closer to a typical ADSL line and encouraging a migration onto this service would also help with Openreach’s long-term goal of moving away from their old PSTN phone lines and 20CN in order to go completely IP-voice by around 2025 (big cost saving).

However the new service is still a little bit more expensive for the ISPs to offer than a fully unbundled ADSL2+ line and as a result some had speculated that it might not be an attractive solution for the biggest providers (BTWholesale won’t take part either), although clearly Sky will be able to explore this through their trial.

Customers who join the trial, which will include those on the ‘up to’ 17Mbps (ADSL) capable £10 per month Sky Broadband Unlimited package (currently being offered free for 12 months with a £100 M&S e-Voucher + £17.40 line rental), won’t pay any extra for the 18Mbps FTTC service and if Openreach’s strategy holds then this will remain the case even after the trial ends.

A Sky Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“In July, we are moving some of our Sky Broadband Unlimited customers to a new Sky Fibre Lite product, which will significantly increase their broadband speeds and give them a better experience when using the Internet. These customers will be able to do more of what we know they love, like downloading their favourite on demand TV shows faster and streaming live video content.

We are committed to ensuring our customers have the best possible broadband service and will continue to look at ways to improve speeds for customers.”

We understand that Sky will begin sending out letters to inform pre-selected subscribers about the new trial within the next week or two and those chosen will include customers who are most likely to benefit from the service (i.e. those on slow ADSL2+ lines who live where faster FTTC is available).

At this point we still don’t know which parts of the United Kingdom or what specific Street Cabinets will be eligible to take part in the trial, but no doubt more on that will be revealed soon. Of course the new service won’t be of much help to those stuck in areas where both the ADSL and VDSL (FTTC) speeds are equally poor, although even then FTTC can often still do faster upload speeds and better latency.

UPDATE 2:08pm

We received Sky’s official response only moments after publishing and have added it in above. I’ve changed the introduction accordingly to remove our initial reference to ‘credible sources’ as we now have the official line.

[joe pineapples]

(as I posted on there), I wonder if you'd still need to be with (or move to) sky phone services to qualify for a place, if you were chosen.

[Scubbie]

All Sky Customers who take out Sky Fibre currently have to take out Sky's Line Rental.

Whilst I can understand that some people still wish to keep their line rental separate from their Broadband, I think it would be fair to state that you get a better deal with Sky's Line Rental (i.e. Sky Talk) than you would with BT's Line Rental.

I think that the only service that isn't available with Sky, at least in many cases, is the ability to use your land line to text another phone. Everything else is included.

Of course in some cases Sky won't guarantee that alarms will work on their line, but in most cases this is mute. From memory they did improve this and will now cover more than they used to.

[Angel_Rex]

Any chance they are going to increase to 52mb, much like BT?

Personally I can't get any more than 41mb, but interesting to know.

[speedyrite]

Haven't seen/heard anything but would be nice if they did. My d/l tops out at about 60/61Mbps. I'm on Pro with a £10/month discount, but inevitably that will eventually come to an end without another offer, so if the Non-Pro changed from 40/10 to 52/10 then I'd be happy to take it.

[bubblegun]

Any chance they are going to increase to 52mb, much like BT?

Personally I can't get any more than 41mb, but interesting to know.

BT put their price up along with this. Be careful what you wish for!

[bubblegun]

Haven't seen/heard anything but would be nice if they did. My d/l tops out at about 60/61Mbps. I'm on Pro with a £10/month discount, but inevitably that will eventually come to an end without another offer, so if the Non-Pro changed from 40/10 to 52/10 then I'd be happy to take it.

BT's equivalent of Fibre Unlimited went up to £26/month and equivalent to Fibre Pro is going to £32.50/month so I really feel the prices are going to go up on all these products for out of contract customers. I'd imagine they will hold prices until end of minimum term for the broadband portion of the cost but put up "line rental" for everyone. This is a guess, they might just put it all up at the same time.

Interestingly, or not, lots of people joined Sky with half-price Fibre unlimited for 12 months through the first 6 months of the year.
If they were to look at the discount on their bills they would see that they had £10 off Fibre Unlimited NOT Half Price Fibre unlimited offers...what would happen...can of worms...

[Scubbie]

Nice to know that BT's top FTTC based product is actually more expensive than Sky's equivalent at last.

Taken from the BT site just now:

	Unlimited Broadband	Unlimited Infinity 1	Unlimited Infinity 2
Speed (up to)	17Mb	38Mb 52Mb	76Mb
Monthly Usage	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
BT Cloud storage	100GB	100GB	500GB Worth over £100 /year
Online Security	NetProtect + & Parental Controls	NetProtect + & Parental Controls	NetProtect + & Parental Controls
BT Sport	BT Sport from FREE	BT Sport from FREE	BT Sport from FREE
BT Hub	Home Hub 4	Home Hub 5	Home Hub 5
Inclusive Landline Calls	UK weekend calls	UK weekend calls	UK weekend calls
Price per month	£13 Δ /mth 12-month contract £18.99/mth line rental No Activation fee	£20 Δ /mth 12-month contract £18.99/mth line rental + £49 Infinity activation fee	£30 Δ /mth 12-month contract £18.99/mth line rental No Activation fee

^ΔWe may change any prices and terms during your contract. If this affects you, we'll tell you about important changes in advance, and you'll be able to end your contract without any fees.

Ok admittedly you now have to pay extra for the weekend calls from Sky, but you do get caller ID thrown in for free, when you now have to pay extra for it with BT. However at the present time Sky's line rental is £17.40 per month.

	Broadband Unlimited	Fibre	Fibre Unlimited	Fibre Unlimited Pro
Speed (up to)	17Mb	38MB	38MB	76MB
Monthly Usage	Unlimited	25GB	Unlimited	Unlimited
Sky Hub	Sky Hub SR102	Sky Hub SR102	Sky Hub SR102	Sky Hub SR102
Inclusive Landline Calls	None	None	None	None
Price per month	Free for one year ( ^ then £10 a month)+ Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month).	£5 a month for 6 months ( ^ then £10 a month for 6 months)+ Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month)	£10 a month for 6 months ( ^ then £20 a month for 6 months)+ Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month)	£30 a month + Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month)
Current price without offers	£10	£10	£20	£30

There may be offers available for SFUP but Sky doesn't advertise it on their website. Ad for the router, currently the SR102 I believe is still supplied as standard, however this will change soon. Also if you get Q TV, then you'll get the Q Hub anyway.

[bubblegun]

Nice to know that BT's top FTTC based product is actually more expensive than Sky's equivalent at last.

Taken from the BT site just now:




Ok admittedly you now have to pay extra for the weekend calls from Sky, but you do get caller ID thrown in for free, when you now have to pay extra for it with BT. However at the present time Sky's line rental is £17.40 per month.

	Broadband Unlimited	Fibre	Fibre Unlimited	Fibre Unlimited Pro
Speed (up to)	17Mb	38MB	38MB	76MB
Monthly Usage	Unlimited	25GB	Unlimited	Unlimited
Sky Hub	Sky Hub SR102	Sky Hub SR102	Sky Hub SR102	Sky Hub SR102
Inclusive Landline Calls	None	None	None	None
Price per month	Free for one year ( ^ then £10 a month)+ Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month).	£5 a month for 6 months ( ^ then £10 a month for 6 months)+ Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month)	£10 a month for 6 months ( ^ then £20 a month for 6 months)+ Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month)	£30 a month + Sky Line Rental (£17.40 a month)
Current price without offers	£10	£10	£20	£30

There may be offers available for SFUP but Sky doesn't advertise it on their website. Ad for the router, currently the SR102 I believe is still supplied as standard, however this will change soon. Also if you get Q TV, then you'll get the Q Hub anyway.

BUT If you want Evening and Weekend calls then Sky will still be cheaper currently than BT's new prices AND will include mobiles in the UK. So "swings and roundabouts" really.

[Scubbie]

Very true

I kept the tables reasonably basic. There is always some deal being offered by the various suppliers and if the deal includes something that you are genuinely interested in, then it might be worth getting.