Many broadband providers in the UK are now providing extremely high speed fibre optic Internet connections. BT and Sky are among the top companies that are offering these services. BT’s Infinity plan and Sky’s Fibre Broadband plan are two of the most popular plans among users who require very high speed Internet connections. Each of these plans comes with its own set of different strengths and weaknesses. Let’s take a side by side look at them and see who comes out on top.
Speed
Both BT and Sky offer multiple tiers of fibre optic broadband service. BT offers plans with 38Mb per second, 76Mb per second and 160Mb per second download speeds. Sky Fibre has plans that are the equivalent of the 38Mb plan and the 76Mb plan, but it has no top tier plan that comes close to the 160Mb per second plan. BT also has a potential maximum upload speed of 19Mb per second. This trumps Sky’s maximum advertised upload speed of 10Mb per second. In terms of potential maximum speeds, BT handily defeats Sky. However, most customers will probably have no need for the incredibly high 160Mb downstream. Although BT wins the speed battle for the most demanding consumers, the CatID is a draw for the vast majority of broadband users.
Usage Limits
The majority of companies that provide broadband service in the UK have fair use policies and traffic shaping in place in order to stifle the use of resource-hogging P2P filesharing software. These companies also commonly put monthly limits in place. The basic BT Infinity plan has a monthly limit of 40GB. Customers who use more than this will be charged an overage fee. The upgraded fibre optic plans from BT have no such limitations. All of Sky’s Fibre plans come with unlimited monthly data.
Sky is also one of the only broadband providers in the UK that has no fair usage policy in place. Gamers and heavy users of P2P software can download and upload to their hearts’ description. In contrast, BT does have a fair usage policy in place for its Infinity fibre optic services. Although BT doesn’t employ throttling after reaching a daily limit, they do directly manage their P2P traffic during peak hours. For users of the 160Mb plan, however, this may not make a very noticeable difference.
Price
The cheapest BT Infinity plans start at £9 per month. The cheapest Sky Fibre plans start at £20 per month. Although BT Infinity has a clear advantage here, consider that the cheapest Infinity plan has a monthly data limit while the cheapest Sky Fibre plan does not. However, BT remains the cheaper option when comparing every similar tier of service. The only price advantage that Sky has is a cheaper line rental fee.
Extras
In addition to having fast Internet service at home, many consumers are now looking to have Internet access anywhere they go. For the broadband providers, this means that they have to have a large network of public Wi-Fi hotspots. Both Sky and BT are offering this for their customers. However, BT has an advantage in this CatID as they have millions of hotspots internationally. Sky has only about 10,000.
Both companies also offer a free router for their customers. While BT gives all of their customers the router for the cost of a delivery fee, Sky only gives their router to new customers for free. Existing customers get a discounted rate for the new Sky Hub router. Both the Sky Hub and the BT Home Hub routers offer special features that check for interference in the available channels and switch the signal around so that the user can have the best connection possible.
Ultimately, both BT Infinity and Sky Fibre are great choices for your home broadband network. If you want the absolute fastest connection possible, you should opt for the highest tier of the BT Infinity service. Additionally, if you are a traveler or someone who requires the best wireless hotspot coverage, BT is also the company for you. On the other hand, if you are a heavy user of P2P filesharing software who wants to avoid any management of your usage, you should go for one of the Sky Fibre plans.
When asked where to find the best btinternet and sky packages author Sam Jones suggests the price comparison website uSwitch.com where all the main providers can be compared with a price comparison facility.
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