what is the difference between full fibre 500 and ultrafast 500?

[kennyOAP]

My subscription is about to expire and I am currently have Ultrafast broadband with a supposed speed of 500Mb but gonna cost me £53 pcm to continue. Sky is offering ' Full Fibre 500 'at only £43 pcm. The specs seem the same so what do I loose by going to the Sky offer?

[TimmyBGood]

@kennyOAP 

It's a name change to reflect updated Ofcom guidance on how ISPs should refer to different broadband technologies.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband-Talk/Changes-to-how-we-talk-about-Sky-Broadband 

[kennyOAP]

That can't be the reason for being £10 pcm cheaper.

[TimmyBGood]

@kennyOAP 

ISPs can choose to price products however they see fit, presumably with the baseline of covering their own costs.  If the Full Fibre 500 branding is aimed at new users then it would almost always be discounted for an initial minimum term before reverting to a higher 'normal' rate.

[Chrisee]

@kennyOAP Sky often rebrand products and change prices you should be able to recontract onto the cheaper price if you ask but it will be a 24 month contract.

[kennyOAP]

Thanks, but your replies did not really tell me what I wanted to know. I opted for the 900mb gigafast upgrade supposedly offered at less than I am paying for 500mb Ultrafast. However, I am quite disappointed as despite my Sky package saying I have been upgraded (same hub (4.2), as before though), I still only see the same Speed Test result as before (450mb download).

I have rebooted my hub a couple of time but no improvement seen. Should I have got a new hub for the new speed? 

[TimmyBGood]

@kennyOAP 

The Sky Broadband Hub is compatible with FTTP at all speeds up to gigabit.

To get a Max Hub as an upgrader rather than a new user you'd need to subscribe to the WiFi Max add-on.

[kennyOAP]

Thanks for that info. So why do you think I am seeing the same speed test result as before my 'upgrade'. My Sky account says the gigafast is 'activated'.

[TimmyBGood]

@kennyOAP 

Are you testing over ethernet or WiFi?

A wireless device might have its own maximum speed.

[kennyOAP]

Ethernet from win 11 PC = 128mb download.

Ipad air 2 wifi (next to hub) = 450mb download.

Iphone 14 wifi (next to hub) = 250mb

[Chrisee]

@kennyOAP sounds like the PC has not using a gigabit ethernet port which is required to get the  bandwidth so I would check its network settings as there maybe a switch I would also check the unit is actually using the ethernet port and not a WiFi card as 128Mb/s is a strange result I would expect 90Mb/s or 900Mb/s speeds over ethernet..

You can be too close to the hub optimum distance is around 5 feet due to the design of the hub's aerials and make sure that the hub is out in the open on a table or similar. 450Mb/s sounds roughly right for a device connected by WiFi5 which is the standard the black hub 4 offers. My own Hub4 did better than that providing up to 650Mb/s in the same area as the hub.

In practice apps on devices like  phones and tablets can only really use up to 100Mb/s so outside speed tests the lack of speed really doesn't matter. Gigabit speeds are really only of use in homes with many users rather tgan essential for day today activity by a few users. The reason why Sky can sell "Gigabit" so cheaply is in practice few if any customers can use the bandwidth they buy.