BT vs Sky Broadband

BT VS Sky: At a glance

BT VS Sky: Cost

When it comes to price, there’s not much difference between BT and Sky. Both are big-name providers that offer a comprehensive range of extra services and add-ons, meaning they don't come particularly cheap – especially when compared to budget-minded providers such as TalkTalk and Plusnet.

However, you do get a lot for your buck with BT or Sky. And best of all, they both regularly run time-limited offers and money-saving promotions for new customers to take advantage of.

At the time of writing, BT’s Fibre Essential package costs £27.99 per month and gets you average download speeds of around 36Mbps. And its 50Mbps Fibre 1 plan will set you back £32.99 per month.

In comparison, Sky's Superfast 35 package costs £34.50 a month and gets you average speeds of 36Mbps. Meanwhile, its Superfast plan, with average speeds of 61Mbps, comes in at £34.50 a month.

It's certainly worth checking for promotions, as both providers run deals that help cut down the monthly cost. For example, at the time of writing, Sky's Superfast plan is discounted to £26 a month.

One main point of difference is contract length: Sky's contracts are usually 18 months long, while most BT plans require you to sign up for 24 months.

So if you don’t want to be tied to a long contract, Sky might be best your option. But it's also worth bearing in mind that prices generally tend to rise when your contract comes to an end.

Having said that, being locked into a long-term contract doesn't protect you from mid-contract price hikes, either.

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BT VS Sky: Average broadband speeds

BT's Unlimited Broadband and Sky’s Broadband Essential are entry-level ADSL broadband packages and offer average speeds of 10Mbps and 11Mbps respectively.

So there's not really much to choose between them. 

BT’s superfast fibre optic package boasts average speeds of 36Mbps, while its Fibre 1 and Fibre 2 broadband gives you 50Mbps and 67Mbps respectively.

Sky also offers two entry level superfast fibre broadband plans: Superfast 35 and Superfast, which get you average download speeds of 36Mbps and 61Mbps respectively.

BT VS Sky: Broadband packages review

Both providers offer truly unlimited broadband, which means you can stream and download to your heart’s content – you’ll never be charged any extra.

With Sky, though, you’ll need to pay for line rental – this is because their packages rely on the basic telephone wire infrastructure to deliver broadband to the home. The price of line rental is included as part of your plan

On the other hand, BT offers broadband without a landline, so you only need to pay for a landline if you need one.

In terms of equipment, BT’s Smart Hub 2 router boasts seven antennas as well as dual Wi-Fi bands to ensure a robust connection throughout the home.

Even more impressively, the router will constantly check your internet connection too – if it spots a problem, it’ll reboot itself until the issue is fixed.

Similarly, Sky’s router also boasts dual Wi-Fi bands, and uses Smart Signal Technology to kickstart your Wi-Fi signal when a problem occurs.

BT VS Sky: Phone

As we say, with BT, you can choose to get a broadband plan with or without a landline. Should you go for one, you can either pay for any calls you make or add on BT calls package.

BT call packages include:

• Pay As You Go – Line rental itself costs £5 a month, then you'll pay a flat charge for calls made to UK landlines and mobiles
• 700 Minutes – For £8 a month, this comes with 700 inclusive anytime minutes to UK landlines and mobiles
• Unlimited Minutes – Unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles for £18 a month
• Friends & Family International – The base rate is £2.63 a month, which then gets you cheap call rates to 236 international destinations
• International Freedom – This costs £11.23 per month and includes calls to select international destinations, as well as low rates to the rest of the world

Sky's call plans are slightly more comprehensive, although not as flexible as BT's.

Like Sky's broadband, Sky Talk plans have an 18-month minimum term. Prices do go down slightly after the minimum term is up, though.

Sky Talk plans include:

• Pay As You Talk – 22p per minute to UK landlines and UK mobiles. All plans come with this as standard, unless you opt to pay for a call plan
• Talk Evening & Weekends – Costs £5.75 per month and comes with unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK mobiles and landlines
• Talk Anytime – £13.50 per month. This gives you inclusive calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles, any time of the day or night
• Talk International – Costs £15.50 per month. Gets you inclusive calls to 50 worldwide destinations, plus inclusive unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles

BT VS Sky: TV

Both are among the few providers to offer their own TV plans, but it's little surprise that Sky takes the win here. Not only does it have one of the largest TV packages around, it also airs some of the best shows, too, as well as showcases the most popular films before anyone else.

At the time of writing, Sky has more than 300 entertainment channels, including Sky Atlantic, Sky One, Comedy Central and more. You can also add Netflix and Disney+ to your plan.

For sports fans, Sky Sports consists of 11 channels showing popular sports such as football, rugby, golf, cricket, darts, boxing and NFL. And Sky's cinema channels bring blockbusters and independent films to your home screen.

Although BT doesn't offer the same level of bespoke TV channels, it does provide a good selection of packages that get you access to Sky channels (via NOW TV memberships), Netflix, and discovery+.

For example, BT’s Entertainment package offers loads of Freeview channels, plus NOW TV's streaming service and over 300 box sets. And if the latest movies are your thing, BT’s Big Entertainment bundle gives you the latest movies with a NOW Cinema membership.

BT’s Sport package comes with sport channels from TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport), plus discovery+ Premium. You’ll be able to watch a selection of Premier League matches, as well as other popular sporting events such as The Ashes. Major sports fans might want to opt for BT's Big Sport plan, which adds on Sky Sports channels with a NOW Sports membership.

It's worth noting that you must be a BT broadband customer in order to get BT TV. Conversely, you don't have to have Sky broadband to sign up to a Sky TV package.

BT VS Sky: Fibre offering

Both providers offer a wide range of fibre optic broadband packages and speeds – though what's available to you depends on where you live.

BT offers three widely available packages, with speeds of 36Mbps, 50Mbps and 67Mbps, respectively. Sky has two entry-level fibre plans that offer speeds of 36Mbps and 61Mbps.

It’s worth mentioning that both providers also offer full fibre packages, with speeds going up to 900Mbps. These aren't as widely available as the aforementioned plans, though – availability depends on your address.

Download limits

Both providers offer truly unlimited downloads on all their packages.

So you can download and stream as much content as you want, without worrying about being charged extra.

Extras

Go with BT broadband and you’ll get access to over five million public Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK to use when you’re out and about.

Similarly, Sky also boasts a wide network of Wi-Fi hotspots for when you’re on the move and need to get on the internet.

Additionally, both offer reliable Wi-Fi guarantees, as well as add-ons that help boost your connection. If you don’t get the speeds you were promised, you’ll get money back.

BT VS Sky: Customer service

According to Ofcom's 2023 report, 80% of BT and Sky customers were satisfied with speed of their service. And overall satisfaction levels were in line with each other.

However, BT customers were less likely than average to recommend their provider to a friend.

Still, both providers scored above average when it came to customer satisfaction with the way complaints were handled. To that end, if good customer service is particularly important to you, both are a safe bet.