Hyperoptic vs Sky Broadband

Hyperoptic have focused on connecting buildings and apartment blocks to full fibre broadband, and stick to simple pricing with no mid-contract price hikes.

Sky broadband on the other hand resell Openreach full fibre broadband across the UK, but pricing is competitive and there are comprehensive add-ons to choose from too.

Overall, Sky are cheaper than Hyperoptic without sacrificing their customer service experiences or optional equipment upgrades either.

At a glance

Best deals

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Full Fibre 100	100Mb average	£27	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)
Go	Superfast (24 months)	158Mb average	£27.50	£19	24 months

Price

Winner: Hyperoptic has a cheaper budget entry-level deal than Sky, but Sky is cheaper than Hyperoptic across equivalent superfast and ultrafast speed packages.

Hyperoptic offer a Light 30Mbps broadband plan which costs just £17.99 per month, making it one of the cheapest ways to get fixed-line broadband in the UK.

It doesn't have any eligibility requirements, like other low-cost social tariffs do, and Hyperoptic also promise no mid-contract price hikes, so the price won't creep up either. Setup is low at just £10, and the introductory price point of £17.99 lasts for 24 months.

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Light 30Mb (24 months)	33Mb average	£17.99	£10	24 months
Go	Superfast Broadband	61Mb average	£26	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £4/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)

However, as you move up to superfast and ultrafast plans, Sky start to beat Hyperoptic on price, coming in just a pound or two less and with cheaper setup too:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Full Fibre 500	500Mb average	£29	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £4/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)
Go	Ultrafast (24 months)	522Mb average	£33	£19	24 months

Hyperoptic do beat Sky in terms of annual price rises because prices with Sky will rise each year, although they don't specific by how much it's likely to be around £3. Hyperoptic don't increase prices during a minimum term at all.

Households who want a home phone line will get one included in the standard price with Sky, but will have to pay an extra £2 to £3 per month with Hyperoptic, but then anytime calls are cheaper at just £3 per month for all UK landline calls.

Overall, Hyperoptic offer the cheapest entry-level plan, and over the contract may also work out cheaper than Sky as even though they start a little higher, prices won't rise each year.

Broadband packages

Winner: Sky offer more standard and premium features than Hyperoptic, including parental controls, a WiFi guarantee and router upgrade. While Hyperoptic do offer more contract options their broadband has less frills.

Both Hyperoptic and Sky offer a wide-range of broadband packages, but there are differences between them, including in terms of contract length, parental control tools, and optional extras.

Here are their main broadband packages side-by-side for comparison:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	Superfast Broadband	61Mb average	£26	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £4/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)
	Full Fibre 100	100Mb average	£27	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)
	Fast 50Mb (24 months)	57Mb average	£27	£19	24 months
	Superfast (24 months)	158Mb average	£27.50	£19	24 months
	Full Fibre 150	150Mb average	£27	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £4/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)
	Full Fibre 500	500Mb average	£29	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £4/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)
	Ultrafast (24 months)	522Mb average	£33	£19	24 months
	Hyperfast (24 months)	900Mb average	£38	£19	24 months
	Full Fibre Gigafast	900Mb average	£42	£5	24 months
	Offer: WiFi Max just £4/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)

Sky customers can take the WiFi Max add-on and gain access to an upgraded router, WiFi guarantee, and advanced parental controls tool, and prices start at just £3 extra per month.

Hyperoptic customers can choose the Total WiFi add-on, but the standard router remains and there are no parental controls at all.

Both providers offer a home phone line, but as mentioned, Hyperoptic charge an extra £2 to £3 per month for this, while anytime calls to UK landlines are just £3 extra. Sky include a home phone line as standard in the above prices, but anytime calls cost £16 per month extra, although this does include mobile calls as well.

Where Hyperoptic stands out against Sky however is their flexibility with contract length, with customers also able to sign up for 12 months, or even take a 30-day rolling contract. Prices increase slightly, but not by an unreasonable amount and there are no large upfront fees.

Overall, while Hyperoptic offer some flexibility with their broadband packages, Sky offer more well-rounded options, with many families able to benefit from the parental control features and better WiFi guarantee.

Read more in our full reviews of Hyperoptic broadband and Sky broadband.

Broadband speed

Winner: It's a tie. Both Hyperoptic and Sky broadband offer gigabit broadband speeds, although Hyperoptic does offer symmetrical uploads on many of their plans.

Hyperoptic generally offer fibre to the building, although they are connecting more properties with full fibre now. The fastest speeds available are up to 920Mbps on average, but this is symmetrical with uploads as fast as downloads.

Sky resell broadband on the Openreach part-fibre and full fibre networks, and their top speed is currently 900Mbps. Uploads are asymmetrical however, with a top speed of 90Mbps on average.

Full fibre to the home can be more reliable than part-fibre technologies, including where Hyperoptic connect individual apartments to their full fibre network via coaxial cable.

Here are the average speeds of Hyperoptic broadband plans:

And those of Sky broadband:

Based on average speeds, Hyperoptic look faster than Sky broadband, and also offer symmetrical uploads, which many users will find a bonus, especially those who work from home, game online, make video calls, or upload content.

Minimum broadband speeds

As well as whether Sky or Hyperoptic provide the fastest broadband speeds, it's also worth finding out which guarantee the best minimum speeds.

Minimum speed guarantees create a promise from a broadband provider that download speeds won't end up any lower than this minimum, and if they do, the customer can cancel their contract and walk away without having to pay any early termination fees.

While Sky is a signatory of Ofcom's code of conduct on broadband speeds, Hyperoptic isn't, although they still meet some of the voluntary code anyway.

What's different though, is that Hyperoptic guarantee their advertised average speeds, while Sky - and most other providers - have a slower minimum than their average speeds, as we can see in the following tables:

Hyperoptic's minimum download speeds are:

And Sky offered the following minimum download speeds at one location we tested:

Overall, while both Sky and Hyperoptic offer fast gigabit-capable broadband deals, Hyperoptic have symmetrical uploads and a better speed guarantee.

Router

Winner: Sky allow customers to upgrade to the Sky Max Hub which supports WiFi 6, while only those on the fastest plans will get the latest router with Hyperoptic.

All Sky broadband packages come with the Sky Broadband Hub, it's a dual-band WiFi 5 router that's been around since 2019. It boasts 8 internal antennas, so it has good reception, and compares similarly to routers such as BT's Smart Hub 2 or Virgin Media's Hub 4.

For those who want a more up to date model, they can upgrade to the Max Hub by taking Sky's WiFi Max add-on from £3 per month. The Max Hub was released in July 2023 and supports the latest WiFi 6 protocol, WPA3, and Intelligent mesh. It also comes with up to three Plume WiFi Pods to boost wireless coverage around the home.

Hyperoptic customers will receive one of three routers, however only one of these models supports WiFi 6 and only customers taking their fastest broadband deals will get the latest router.

It's possible to take Hyperoptic's Total WiFi add-on for an extra £7 per month, but this only includes one booster and there's no way to get additional devices.

Overall, while Hyperoptic offer a decent router, all of Sky's customers can access their latest device if they want it, as well as a better WiFi guarantee.

Call plans

Winner: It's a tie. Hyperoptic's call plans are cheaper than Sky's, but it's not possible to access fully inclusive mobile calls.

Hyperoptic would win this round on price alone, but for some reason they don't offer any fully inclusive plans for mobile calls. The only option is the UK Mobile Plan, it costs just £3 per month and discounts calls to mobiles by 50%, but they're still chargeable.

For those who can live without long calls to mobiles however, they do work out much cheaper than Sky for their anytime UK landline plan, at just £3 per month, compared to £16 with Sky.

Hyperoptic broadband and phone costs an extra £2 to £3 per month over the broadband-only prices, and then customers can choose a calling plan if they want one. Here are Hyperoptic's calling plan options:

All of Sky's broadband plans come with line rental and a home phone line with pay as you go calls as standard, and customers can also choose to add one of the following inclusive calling plans:

Sky's call plans are more comprehensive, covering both calls to landlines as well as mobiles at the specified times. However, for those who want an anytime call plan Sky is a lot more expensive than Hyperoptic.

Customer service

Winner: Sky have some of the lowest complaints figures in the broadband market, although Hyperoptic are also well regarded.

It's tricky to compare Sky and Hyperoptic for customer service, as while we have a lot of data from industry regulator Ofcom on Sky, Hyperoptic aren't yet big enough to feature in their independent research.

We do know from Trustpilot that Hyperoptic is generally well-regarded for customer service, and they've also won awards for customer service and consumer ISP from the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA).

Sky had the fewest complaints out of all major providers for broadband in 2023, as well as for their landline, pay TV, and mobile services.

They also have high satisfaction among customers for their complaints handling, and low numbers of customers with a reason to complain, according to Ofcom's latest Comparing Service Quality report.

Overall, we'd pick Sky for customer service, simply because they have a long history of performing well in this area, although Hyperoptic are also well-regarded.

Verdict: Sky or Hyperoptic for broadband?

Overall winner: Sky beat Hyperoptic for broadband, but only just, as both providers offer competitive pricing and their own unique selling points.

There isn't an obvious winner between Sky and Hyperoptic for broadband as each has their own strengths and similarities, so it will likely come down to a more personal decision as to which one is really the best choice.

We like Sky for their customer service record and ability to upgrade the router and gain a whole home WiFi guarantee for a reduced fee of just £3 per month. Their prices are also very competitive, especially considering they're not otherwise known as a budget provider.

Hyperoptic also have points on their side however, while their prices sometimes start a little higher than Sky's, their no mid-contract price rise promise means they'll probably work out cheaper over the length of the contract.

Both providers offer both entry-level options and gigabit plans, although Hyperoptic's Light 30Mb plan is the cheapest way to get online at just £17.99 per month with no annual increases.

Overall, we think it'll come down to personal preference, but if we had to pick we'd go with Sky as they offer more features a typical household may benefit from, including parental controls, up to three WiFi boosters, and the option to bundle Sky TV for additional discounts.