What is Sky Broadband Boost and should I get it?

If you're working from home and want to make sure your broadband is reliable, a package like Sky Broadband Boost might seem like an appealing prospect.

This £5 per month add-on is available with all of Sky's broadband packages - but is it worth the additional fee? We've looked into what the deal includes.

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What is Sky Broadband Boost?

While its name suggests faster speeds, the add-on doesn't actually boost the speed of your connection - instead it's a type of guarantee.To benefit, you'll need to enter a contract that costs £5 per month, and commit for 18 months regardless of whether you're a new or existing customer.

The features included with Boost are:

• 'WiFi Guarantee' - if you experience speeds lower than 3Mbps in any room of your home, you'll receive money back on your Boost subscription.
• You'll be able to arrange engineer visits in evenings and weekends at no extra cost. However, engineer home visits have been temporarily paused by Sky in response to covid-19.
• Sky will conduct daily speed checks on your line, and if there are issues Sky will text you to let you know they're being fixed.
• You'll be given access to the Sky Broadband Buddy app - this helps you control screen time for children by setting time limits and pausing access.
• You'll receive extra data (2GB) on your Sky Mobile deal if your broadband drops out.
• If you don't already have Sky's latest router, Sky will send you an upgrade.

Sky Broadband Boost can be added to both standard broadband (Sky Broadband Essential) and fibre broadband deals (Sky Broadband Superfast or Sky Broadband Ultrafast 1).

See how Sky stacks up against other providers using our broadband provider reviews.

Is Sky Broadband Boost worth it?

In short - probably not. The majority of customers probably won't really need Sky Broadband Boost. Let's take a closer look at what it offers.

Sky's latest router

This is probably the main reason why you'd consider Broadband Boost. If you're using an old router, you may not be getting the sort of performance on offer from newer models. In addition, your router may not be secure. We've found that millions could be at risk of using old routers in the home, so if yours is particularly old and unsupported, you'll want to upgrade.

It's worth contacting Sky and discussing the issue first, to see if they'll send you a new one. Read our tips on haggling for a better broadband deal for some helpful advice.

And if Sky isn't willing to help and you don't want to pay for Boost, consider switching. Check the best broadband deals on Which? Switch to see if you could switch and save - and get the latest router from your new ISP.

Free engineer visits

You're unlikely to require multiple engineer visits - and if you do need one, the standard cost to organise these at evenings and weekends is £15. While the fee will be waived for those with Sky Broadband Boost, you'd need to require six appointments over the course of your Boost contract to offset the cost. This makes it only worth considering if you've regularly experienced issues with the lines to your property.

WiFi Guarantee

When it comes to wi-fi speeds throughout your house, if you find the speed in rooms of your house is slow, Sky will provide wi-fi boosters to help ensure each room receives at least 3Mbps. However, 3Mbps is still fairly low - particularly if you have one of Sky's fibre deals (these have average speeds of at least 57Mbps). If you think your broadband is slow, use our broadband speed checker to find out what speeds you're receiving.

Sky will already give you a minimum guaranteed speed for your connection - if it's higher than 3Mbps then it's probably a better plan to invest the £90 you'd spend on Boost on a wi-fi extender instead. Use our reviews of wi-fi routers and extenders to find the best one for you.

If you do decide to commit to Boost for the WiFi Guarantee, keep in mind it only covers rooms in your house - it won't cover separate buildings, such as a garage or shed. Any money back will also only be on your Boost subscription - not on the tariff you pay for your broadband connection.

Sky Broadband Buddy

Broadband Buddy is essentially a suite of parental controls that you access via your phone. With it, you can create filters to block inappropriate content, set screen time restrictions, and use rewards to offer more screen time or access to games or websites. You might undoubtedly find this useful, but it'll need to justify the expense.

Free mobile data

As for the additional mobile data, this will be granted if you experience an unscheduled outage between 7am and 11pm that lasts longer than 30 minutes. However, only Sky Mobile customers will benefit here so this isn't an advantage if you're with another provider.

Problems with broadband? Read our guide on five ways to speed up and fix broadband in the home.