Sky's 1.6Gbps broadband: fast, late and not for all

Sky has launched a 1.6Gbps full-fibre broadband package on Openreach's network, the one that reaches the most homes in the UK. It went on sale on 25 September from £38 a month on a 24-month contract, bundled with Sky's Wi-Fi 7 router. That's a big jump for Sky customers on Openreach lines, whose fastest option until now topped out at 900Mbps.

It's also the kind of number that sounds essential and, for most households, isn't.

We're proud to offer Full Fibre 1.6 Gbps to millions of households, marking another important milestone.
— Ben Case, managing director of connectivity, Sky

What Sky is actually selling

According to ISPreview, the package gives download speeds of up to 1.6Gbps and uploads of 120Mbps. It comes with Sky's Gigafast+ Hub, a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with one 10Gbps port for the incoming line, one 10Gbps port for a wired device and three 1Gbps ports. Sky is offering up to £200 towards early termination fees for people switching from another provider.

There's a catch for existing customers. For now it's only available to new Sky Broadband customers, including people who already have Sky TV or Sky Mobile but not Sky broadband. Current Sky Broadband customers are told they can upgrade "at a later date". ISPreview also noted that the package wasn't immediately visible on Sky's website at launch, and later reported that availability is rolling out gradually over the coming weeks.

Late to a race it used to lead

Sky isn't first here. ISPreview points out that EE, Vodafone and Zen already sell 1.6Gbps on Openreach. Sky's headline-grabbing speeds have been on CityFibre's rival network, where it launched 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps packages in July 2025, at £70 and £80 a month at the time. T3 reports that Sky's 5Gbps service reaches around 14% of UK homes.

Openreach is the bigger prize. According to ISPreview, it has passed more than 23.5 million premises with full fibre and is aiming for 25 million by the end of 2026, and up to 30 million by 2030, as part of an investment of up to £15 billion. ISPreview also reports that Openreach is trialling even faster tiers of up to 8.5Gbps.

Do you need 1.6Gbps?

Here's Ada's take. For most homes, probably not. Where very fast lines help is households with lots of people doing heavy things at once, such as huge game downloads, cloud backups and several streams, or people moving large files for work.

Even then, a few things get in the way:

• Your devices: to see anything like the full speed you'll need recent kit, and ideally a wired connection. Note that three of the hub's four wired ports are 1Gbps.
• Your walls: the speed arrives at the router, not in the back bedroom. T3 notes Sky sells a Wi-Fi Max add-on for £6 a month that promises at least 25Mbps throughout the home, with refunds if it can't deliver.
• Your uploads: 120Mbps up is fine, but it's the less glamorous number that matters for video calls, uploads and backups, and it's far lower than the headline.

So check the price difference against Sky's cheaper tiers before you sign up. T3 reports Sky's full-fibre range starts at £24 a month for up to 75Mbps, which is plenty for many small households.

To be fair to Sky

The upgrade is real, and the router is a proper one. Wi-Fi 7 and a 10Gbps port mean the kit won't be the bottleneck for years, and bringing multi-gigabit speeds to Openreach lines opens them up to millions more homes than CityFibre alone can reach. Faster tiers from a big name also put pressure on rivals' prices. T3 notes the new package is more than 20 times faster than Sky's standard service. For a large, busy household that's genuinely useful. It just isn't everyone.

Mind the hype. The fastest broadband in the country still has to get past your kitchen wall.

Sources: ISPreview, T3, Sky Group