There are different types of speeds for broadband. Below is a guide to each term:
Download speed
The download speed of your broadband connection is the speed at which data is transferred from the internet to you. Faster download speeds mean you can download files like music tracks, photos or video clips faster. The download speed will also affect the quality of watching streamed videos online. Faster download speeds should make the video less likely to pause while you are watching it.
Upload speed
The upload speed of your broadband connection is the speed that data is transferred from you to the internet. A faster upload speed should improve your overall internet experience, as your actions (even clicking on a link while surfing a web page) are communicated out to the internet quicker.
Faster upload speeds can also make it quicker to send emails with photos or other large files attached, upload photos and video clips to your page on a social networking site, give you quicker reactions when online gaming and enhance the quality of video conferencing and phone calls you make over the internet.
Maximum product headline speeds
These are the advertised maximum speeds offered with your Sky Broadband product, and refer to the fastest download and upload speeds that the Sky Broadband connection could achieve between a router and the Sky Broadband equipment in the telephone exchange.
Please bear in mind that the speed you will actually experience when using the internet can be anything up to the maximum speeds offered by your Sky Broadband product, and are affected by many factors with the most important being the length and quality of your phone line. Maximum download and upload speeds offered with the Sky Broadband products are:
Everyday Lite: up to 20Mb download / up to 1.3Mb upload
Unlimited: up to 20Mb download / up to 1.3Mb upload
Connect (available in areas outside of Sky's broadband network): up to 8Mb download / up to 448Kb upload
Your Estimated Access Line Speed
When you are selecting a Sky Broadband product to order, we will provide you with an estimate of the fastest download speed that your phone line can support. This is an estimate based on information including the length and quality of your phone line, and refers to the download speed that we believe a Sky Broadband connection could achieve between your router and Sky's broadband equipment in the local telephone exchange.
Actual speeds
The actual download and upload speeds that you experience when using the internet will be slower than the Estimated Access Line Speed for your line. This is because of various factors, including:
If you are using a wireless connection between your computer and the Sky Wireless router - wireless connections can be affected by interference from thick walls in your home, other electrical items such as baby monitors or cordless phones, and local congestion if there are a number of wireless connections using the same wireless channels (frequency) in your neighbourhood.
The number of people that are using the same website as you at the same time, and at peak times (weekday evenings and weekends) as well as the number of people using the internet in the UK and worldwide at the same time, can cause speeds can vary throughout the day.
Sky Broadband Connect customers only
Please note: You may experience slower speeds during peak times (from 5pm to 12am each day) for certain applications that use up a lot of bandwidth and are not time critical, such as peer-to-peer and newsgroups. This is as a result of Sky's Traffic Management, which is applied to the Connect network so that we are able to provide a sustainable quality broadband service to our Connect customers.
There is also an Excessive Use Policy that applies to Connect customers during peak times. If you are in the top 2% of Connect customers using an excessive amount of bandwidth and impacting other customers' experience on the Connect product we may apply more severe restrictions to your speeds for all applications during peak times (for more details see the Usage Policies section of the Sky Broadband Terms and Conditions ).
Speed & Connection Testing
To test the performance of your line, we will start your Sky Broadband at a low speed on the first day. Over the first ten days we will try to increase your speeds and will then set your line to provide the best speeds supported with a reliable connection. During these first ten days you may notice some variations in speed and your connection may be intermittent at times; this is normal.
Everyday Lite and Unlimited customers only
Sign in to My Sky and check the Broadband Service Details section under My Broadband for the current status of testing on your line, and the maximum download and upload speeds your Sky Broadband connection has been set to after testing.
