What is Sky Broadband Boost?

Sky Broadband Boost is the company’s own WiFi extender that is offered to customers as an add-on to their fibre (Superfast) and full fibre (Ultrafast) broadband packages.

It works by extending your router's signal, giving your devices a stable and reliable connection no matter where you are in the home. And, while it won’t speed up your actual broadband, Sky Boost comes with a guarantee of giving you WiFi in every room of your house or your money back.

How does Sky Broadband Boost work?

With Broadband Boost, Sky guarantees at least 3Mbps WiFi in every room or they will give you your money back for one month’s broadband subscription.

When you sign-up to Sky Broadband Boost, you’ll receive their latest router, the Sky Broadband Hub. Through the hub, if you’re unable to achieve a minimum 3Mbps Wifi in every room, Sky will check the setup in your home to find the best way to fix the issue.

If after these checks you still cannot get Wifi in every room, Sky will credit your account the equivalent of one month’s broadband subscription, including what you pay for the Boost service. You will also be given the option to cancel the service outright without paying any early termination charges.

How much does Sky Broadband Boost cost?

Sky Broadband Boost costs £5 a month and you’ll need to commit for 18-months regardless of whether you’re a new or existing customer.

What are the benefits of Sky Broadband Boost?

The benefits of Sky Broadband Boost include: -

WiFi Guarantee

If you experience speeds slower than 3Mbps in any room of your home, you’ll receive money back on your subscription.

Engineer visits

If you’re having problems with your internet and requires a visit from a Sky Broadband technician, you will be able to book an evening or weekend appointment with the usual £15 charge waived. Whether you book your appointment online or through a Sky Broadband technical support advisor, the discount will automatically be applied.

Daily checks on your line

Once your broadband is installed and has completed its stabilisation period (typically a couple of weeks), Sky will run daily background checks on your line to spot any potential issues outside of your home. If they find any sort of fault or issue, they’ll run a rest on your line and send an engineer to investigate further if needed.

Line tests are conducted between 12 and 5am, meaning your line remains uninterrupted during optimal periods. If Sky finds a fault, they will notify you by text when they’re sending an engineer and send another text one the fault has been fixed.

Extra data for mobile customers

If you’re an existing Sky Mobile customer, you’ll get an extra 2GB of data stored on your Sky Piggybank to use should you experience any unexpected broadband outages.

However, this only applies if the outage lasts more than half an hour and between the hours of 7am and 11pm. Sky also limits these data credits to no more than three in a month, or 18 in an 18-month period.

Sky Broadband Buddy

The Sky Broadband Buddy is an app only available with Broadband Boost and can be used to help parents manage their child’s broadband usage.

The Buddy allows you to set time limits on how long you can be online, as well as apply age-filters to content, to help ensure they aren’t spending excessive amounts of time online and aren’t accessing unsuitable content. You will also have access to your exactly which sites your child is accessing via the history section of the Buddy app.

Your child can also benefit from the app from the app, using the profile they create to monitor they time they spend online and negotiating with their parents to set up a rewards-for-good-behaviour scheme. For example, getting homework done on time, or helping out around the house. Rewards could include being allowed additional time on their favourite online game or social media app.

Should I get Sky Broadband Boost?

Whether or not you should get Sky Broadband Boost depends on the type of home you live in and the existing quality of your broadband service. And, if you have a household with young children who access the internet, being able to control what they access online and how often through the Broadband Buddy can be a handy additional tool to have, too.

However, when it comes to the guaranteed speed offered by Boost, 3Mbps in context, is more than twice as less than ADSL - the slowest type of broadband connection. To compare, the average download speeds for Sky"s superfast fibre broadband deals is 61Mbps. But bear in mind that these speeds will likely drop with any devices connected to wifi via your router.

In that being said, if you still like the idea of having at least some internet connection in all the rooms of your home, the cost could be worthwhile.

But remember that most people are unlikely to experience speeds lower than 3Mbps on a regular basis, so really consider whether Boost is worth the extra £5 per month. And, although it’s nice that an extra 2GB of data is attached to your mobile data if there’s an unexpected outage, you need to be a pre-existing Sky Mobile customer to take advantage.

Similarly, daily checks on your line is nice, but again, most broadband connections work fine most of the time and the times you do have an issue, it’s just as easy to phone the Sky Broadband Technical team for direct help.