Quick Summary
The UK's first 5 Gbps broadband service from a major provider has arrived in the UK.
Priced at £80 per month, it is available in Sky's high-street stores now and from Sky.com in a week's time. There's also a new 2.5 Gbps service, which costs £70 per month.
Sky is the first major provider in the UK to offer 5 Gbps full-fibre broadband to customers, with the service available to purchase now.
Along with a new 2.5 Gbps plan, the 5-gig service is powered by CityFibre and can be ordered from Sky stores from today (9 July) and will be available to sign up for online at Sky.com from next Monday (15 July).
The potential maximum speed is so fast that you can download a 125GB video game in less than 3.5 minutes. However, the main aim of having such ludicrously fast speeds at present is the mitigate the amount of different devices competing for internet connectivity in the home – such as multiple Sky Glass TVs and Sky Stream pucks.
That's also why a new router is included with both plans – the Sky Gigafast+ hub.
Like the XFinity Gateway in the US (from Sky's owner Comcast, this is a Wi-Fi 7 hub with two 10 Gbps Enternet ports (1 x WAN and 1 x LAN). Wi-Fi 7 is a tri-band system that allows for lower latency and better connectivity for devices on a home network. Its improved bandwidth enables smooth running for simultaneously connected appliances, consoles, phones and more.
"There's no point piping a really fast connection to your front door if you then lose it because you've got a poor quality router hidden in a cupboard," T3 was told by Sky's managing director of connectivity, Ben Case.
"Genuinely, our Wi-Fi 7 hub is up there with the best that any ISP is giving out."
Also included with the Full Fibre 2.5 and Full Fibre 5 Gigafast+ plans is WiFi Max. Customers usually have to add it to their plans for an extra £4 per month.
This guarantees a Wi-Fi connection in each room of your home, plus Sky WiFi Pods (its mesh system) to provide total coverage. It also includes advanced security and the ability to prioritise different devices.
How to get Sky's 5 Gbps broadband
Available to purchase in Sky's high-street stores now, the 2.5 Gigafast+ plan is priced at £70 per month, while the double-speed 5 Gigafast+ plan will set you back just £10 more – £80 per month.
You will be able to find a postcode checker on Sky.com soon, which will give you an idea whether you can get the service to your home. The CityFibre network it's running on is currently available to approximately four million customers up and down the UK (mainly in cities) and there are plans to extend that to eight million.
Naturally, it needs fibre to the door, so if that's not yet possible in your area, you will need to look at Sky's other broadband packages instead, for now.
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