Get free broadband for two years with Sky
Sky has launched an eye-catching free broadband offer. But is it as good as it seems?
Between the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Commonwealth Games it’s undoubtedly a summer of sport. To mark the occasion, Sky has launched a tempting new offer: free broadband for two years when you join Sky and take its sports package, or for existing customers who upgrade to Sky Sports.
The move looks set to intensify Sky’s competition with BT, which currently offers BT Sport free with BT Broadband and BT Infinity.
But is the Sky deal as good as it sounds?
The details
Interestingly the deal isn’t only for new customers; existing customers can get two years’ free broadband too if they commit to an 18-month contract for broadband, calls and line rental and 12 months’ Sky TV. They also need to activate Sky Sports 5, which is a new channel which launches in August and will be included in the standard price of a Sky Sports package.
Sky Sports 5 is billed as the “new home of European Football” with games from the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, European Championship Qualifiers and the Dutch Eredivisie.
New customers will have to commit to a 12-month broadband, Sky TV, calls and line rental package in order to get free broadband.
Customers wanting super-fast broadband – but not TV – can benefit from unlimited 38Mb Sky Fibre broadband half price for 12 months, so £10 initially and rising to £20 for the second year. Again, they have to pay Sky line rental at £15.40 a month.
The true cost
Although the deal sounds great, signing up to Sky Sports is expensive.
The minimum you'll need to spend to get Sky's free broadband deal is a hefty £58.90 a month. The lowest price for Sky TV is £21.50 a month, with Sky Sports costing an additional £22 on top, plus you need Sky's line rental at £15.40 a month to get the deal.
However Sky’s currently offering Sky TV for half price for six months (until Thursday), so at least initially your monthly bill will be reduced to £48.15. You'll also get a £125 welcome gift in the form of a Tesco voucher, M&S voucher or prepaid MasterCard.
The other thing to bear in mind is that for the two years of free broadband you have to keep both Sky TV and Sky Sports for that full period, otherwise you'll be charged £7.50 a month for the broadband.
Compare broadband deals at broadbandchoices.co.uk
The competition
The move from Sky comes in the same week that EE announced that it was expanding its best home and fibre broadband deals to everyone in the UK, not just its mobile customers.
It’s scrapped its deals offering discounts to EE's mobile customers and introduced cheaper home broadband and extra incentives for all new EE customers.
You can now get 17Mb broadband from £2.50 a month plus £15.75 a month line rental, bringing the total cost to £18.25 a month. 38Mb broadband deals start from £5 a month plus £15.75 line rental.
However, the prices above only apply to the first three, six, nine or 12 months, depending on the package. The price you pay then jumps up considerably – for example, 17Mb broadband goes up from £2.50 a month to £9.95, bringing the total monthly cost with line rental to £25.70.
EE’s clearly keen to lure customers from its rivals. If you're still under contract with BT or Sky, for example, and you want to switch to EE home broadband, EE will cover any early termination charges up to £100.
Virgin Media
Elsewhere Virgin Media is offering up to £100 off its bundled deals, but only until Monday 23rd June.
New customers signing up for the firm's broadband and phone dual-play deals, and the Big Easy, Big Bang, Big Kahuna and Big Daddy bundles, will get the cash credited to their account.
The special offers were scheduled to end on Wednesday 18th June, but will now run an extra five days.
Virgin is also offering discounts on its bundled deals. Its cheapest offering, the Big Easy, costs £10 a month for six months then £20 a month thereafter. Line rental at £15.99 is on top. If you want Sky Sports, the Sky Sports Collection is another £32.75 a month, bringing the monthly cost to £58.74 for the first six months then £68.74 a month after that, making it more costly than signing up with Sky.
Compare broadband deals at broadbandchoices.co.uk
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EE revamps home broadband packages
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