Sky broadband

jarvo

Hi all, sure this has been asked but can't find much on the search.

My current broadband contract with Sky (66mb) ended last week and has jumped from £26pm to £35.50 with a possible rise to £39.50 next month.

The cheapest/best deal at my specific address is also with sky at £26pm and £70 cashback for new customers only.

As my initial contract has officially ended if I were to use my partners details and bank account but the same address would she be seen as a new customer?

I tried to haggle with sky but best they could offer is £34 for 35mb!

datz

jarvo said:

Hi all, sure this has been asked but can't find much on the search.

My current broadband contract with Sky (66mb) ended last week and has jumped from £26pm to £35.50 with a possible rise to £39.50 next month.

The cheapest/best deal at my specific address is also with sky at £26pm and £70 cashback for new customers only.

As my initial contract has officially ended if I were to use my partners details and bank account but the same address would she be seen as a new customer?

I tried to haggle with sky but best they could offer is £34 for 35mb!

Sounds like you are on openreach / FTTC there, so you ought to be able to choose any provider that also uses that infrastructure.

I see Now are currently offering their higher tier (~63Mbps) product for £24 a month for 12 months, and Quidco are offering £99 cashback on it (I am on the premium tier on Quidco). They are one of the few providers still offering 12 month contracts, which does allow you to evade next year's forced price increase, and shop around again

Btw Now are owned by Sky, so their broadband offerings are basically just "rebadged" Sky. This was a bit problematic for me in getting my order through (Sky to Now, order silently cancelled a day later), and I only got it to work by requesting a new number during the order process (I didn't care about keeping the landline number). In my case, the offer of £22/month, subtract £99 Quidco cashback, subtract £50 bonus Quidco cashback (equivalent £9.58 per month) was too hard to pass up (and I get to shop around next March before the April 2024 increases).

Edit: Notice I didn't actually answer your question. Yes, your partner could apply as a new customer to take over the line (and benefit from the new customer offers). There is a chance you would lose the landline number though.

jarvo

Hi Datz, thanks for the reply.

Yep it's fttc, we don't have a fttp date yet but looking like it will be one of the last exchanges to be done in 3+ years as there just isn't the demand.

I had looked at Now as an alternative but my postcode fails the checker and I'm directed towards a Sky broadband page.
I did look to contact them but they don't seem to publish any details.

Interestingly Sky seem to have stopped directly advertising the 59mb superfast on their website and when I click the renewal option I get an error message.

How did you manage to sign up for Now, was it through their site?


I'm not bothered about retaining the phone number as it's never had a phone plugged in 😁

If not it's either going to be Plusnet (£50 cashback) at £31pm or BT at £34pm (£100 cashback).

datz

jarvo said:

I had looked at Now as an alternative but my postcode fails the checker and I'm directed towards a Sky broadband page.
I did look to contact them but they don't seem to publish any details.

Interestingly Sky seem to have stopped directly advertising the 59mb superfast on their website and when I click the renewal option I get an error message.

How did you manage to sign up for Now, was it through their site?

That's strange that you fail the Now post code checker, but pass the Sky one (given that they probably share a lot of the back end systems). Those post code checkers are not always accurate though. Not sure what to suggest in that case. You can always phone them up to ask (they do have a UK 03 call centre), but them forcing a manual order through would preclude you from using any cashback offers anyway so makes it a bit pointless.

And yes, I signed up (via Quidco) on the Now site.

BT would be a risk (in case the cashback tracking fails) - if the overall cost is similar, I'll usually take the lower cost / lower cashback option. Plusnet is BT's cheaper brand anyway.

Edit: Just noticed, but odd that you quote Plusnet at £31 per month (less £50 cashback), when, in my case, it shows £26.99 per month, less £82.50 cashback (Quidco premium).

It shouldn't be that complicated for your partner to take over the line though and stay with Sky (if that's what you want) - possibly longer downtime (and maybe use their own cashback account in case any details are shared). Just ensure the correct options are picked when going through the order (which will likely result in a new number). I forget who it was with, but I do remember doing similar a few years ago.