What to do when moving home with Sky Broadband
Sky broadband has a clear procedure in place for existing customers moving house. If you’re in the middle of buying a new home, exchanging or moving into a new rental property, and you know the moving date, you’ll only have to give Sky two weeks’ notice.
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at the best ways to start the moving home process with Sky, as well as a few other points to consider. Read on to make sure you’re getting the most from your house move.
Moving home with Sky Broadband: the key points
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Transferring your current Sky contract when you change address
If you’re happy to keep your current Sky Broadband service, whether you’re in or out of contract, moving home should be simple.
Before you do anything, make sure you can still get Sky Broadband at your new address.
You’ll be able to start this process easily by visiting www.sky.com/moving-home and signing in to MySky using your Sky ID.
Sky uses the Openreach network, which has good availability across the UK, so if you’re on Sky Broadband Superfast you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. However, if you’ve been enjoying faster broadband speeds on a Full Fibre 100, Sky Ultrafast or Sky Gigafast, you’ll only be able to transfer your existing service if your new home has access to a full fibre network.
You can double-check the network status of your new home at any time using Openreach’s postcode checker.
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What is Openreach?
Openreach is the company that maintains the former British Telecom Network used for the majority of broadband and phone services. If a repair or installation is required, it’s Openreach who will send an engineer, not your provider.
More than 650 service providers using the Openreach network. That’s the majority of the UK’s broadband providers. This includes Sky, TalkTalk and BT. The exception to this is Virgin Media - it uses its own, separate cable network.
Making changes to your Sky Broadband contract when moving home
Upgrading your Sky Broadband service
If there’s no change to your existing package, it will carry on as normal, and you’ll be able to keep your contract end date.
However, if you find your new address has access to Sky Ultrafast or Sky Gigafast, you might want to consider upgrading.
Get in touch with a Sky customer service advisor if you decide you’d like to add on another Sky service to your broadband, such as Sky TV (either through Sky Q, Sky Glass or Sky Stream).
Just take note, if you do this, you’ll have to sign up to a fresh 18-month contract.
Downgrading your Sky Broadband service
If you’re thinking of downgrading any add-ons you currently have bundled in with your Sky Broadband service, you should get in touch with Sky Broadband’s customer service team to discuss your options.
Do this by messaging a Sky Expert between 9am-7.30pm. Alternatively, you can have a chat by calling 0333 759 2040.
What to do if Sky isn’t available at your new address
If you’re on a Sky Fibre or Full Fibre package, but find that it’s not available at your new address, you may be forced to downgrade. It’s worth checking your individual contract for this.
If you’re unhappy with this, the only way out may be to accept you’ll have to pay an early termination fee. Unfortunately, this could work out expensive.
In this instance, we always recommend getting in touch and talking through your options with a Sky Expert.
If you were on a fast package, but find you can no longer get fast fibre deals on Sky at your new address, you may find that switching to a provider like Virgin Media may be your only solution.
Leaving Sky if you’re out of contract
Moving home is a great time to get your admin in order and have a bit of a freshen up. If you’ve been trundling along with a Sky Broadband service for a while and no longer in contract, you’re likely paying a lot more than you originally signed up for.
In the world of broadband, it’s common for the best deals to be reserved for new customers
Type your new address into our deals checker to see what else is available:
Switching broadband providers is an easy process if you’re out of contract. You may not even have to speak to anyone at Sky at all if your new provider initiates the changeover.
Leaving Sky when you’re still in contract
If you leave Sky when you’re still under contract, it’s likely you’ll have to pay an early termination fee.
The amount you’re charged will depend on:
- How long’s left of your minimum contract term
- The days you’ve already been billed for in advance
- The products you're subscribed to, the price you pay for them and when your subscription ends.
To find out what you’ll be charged, there's an up to date early termination charges table PDF on the Sky website.
Will Sky move my dish for free? Fees for transferring broadband and TV bundles to a new address.
There should be no need to move your current satellite dish. If you need one, Sky will install one at your new address. The best way to try to make sure this happens without charge is to sign up to Sky VIP. Certain Sky TV customers may benefit from a free Sky TV home move reward. This entitles Sky Q customers to a free Sky TV home move engineer visit.
Frequently asked questions about moving home with Sky broadband
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Are there any charges for moving home with Sky Broadband?
There’s no charge for moving home with Sky Broadband, unless it’s a “non-standard” installation and requires a new landline. You’ll be able to take your existing Wi-Fi router with you.
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How quickly can I watch Sky TV again when moving home?
You’ll be able to watch Sky TV through the Sky Go app whilst you’re waiting to be set up in your new home at no extra charge. Of course, if you don’t have Wi-Fi set up, you’ll have to use mobile data for this. Be careful not to go over your data allowance.
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What happens if my Sky Broadband move is delayed?
Sky Broadband is signed up to Ofcom’s Automatic Compensation Scheme. This means that you’d be able to claim £5.83 for each calendar day of delay, including a missed activation date.
For more help on this, visit our ‘guide to automatic broadband and landline compensation’.
Expert Summary
In most cases, moving home with Sky Broadband will be no problem and a simple process. There’s a clear, designated online service to initiate a house move. If you’re happy with your current contract and just need a straightforward transfer, you’ll just need to give around two weeks’ notice. If you decide you’d like to include an add-on, such as a Sky TV package bundle, this will likely be possible, although you may have to sign a brand-new contract. This will reset your agreement term counter.
There’s no charge for most moving home requests, although you may have to pay a fee if there’s no phone line at the new property.
Things might start getting a little trickier if you can’t move your existing Sky service to your new address. This might be the case if you only have access to a very basic broadband connection (ADSL) at your new place, or if you’re currently on a very fast full fibre deal, but your new home has no access to a full fibre network.
Our advice for this is to talk to a member of the Sky customer service team as soon as you can. Everyone’s circumstances are different. Unfortunately, it may be the case that you would have to accept a downgrade, or pay an early cancellation charge to leave early.