The access line 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 access line 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.
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.
The Throughput Speed is the speed that you experience when using your broadband connection. Your Throughput Speed will be lower than your Access Line Speed as your Throughput Speed is affected by your home setup, for example other equipment present in your home, or the layout of your home.
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.
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.
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:
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 ).
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.
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.
Your profile settings are used in order to make sure your Sky Broadband maintains a stable connection and gives you the best possible broadband experience. Your Access Line speed will not be higher than the settings placed on your line. You can view your profile settings in My Sky.
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