Now TV Broadband

Now broadband has been available in the UK since June 2016.

As part of the Sky family, in much the same way that a Now TV subscription allows you to use and experience Sky television by an alternative means, for example via a Freeview box without needing to purchase a Sky subscription or equipment, Now broadband takes advantage of the wider Sky infrastructure to offer an alternative, budget broadband experience. Now TV customers do have the option of bundling broadband to their packages, but it is possible to just take Now broadband as a standalone service if you wish.

What Internet Speeds Does Now Broadband Offer?

Now broadband currently offers three packages. These are titled “Brilliant Broadband”, “Fab Fibre”, and “Super Fibre”.

The advertised average speeds for these packages is 11MB, 36MB, and 63MB respectively.

Interestingly, in 2019 Now broadband parent Sky moved away from offering 36MB broadband, and changed their 63MB offer to a 59MB package, resetting that speed as their mid-level broadband given the addition of their ultrafast 145MB package.

No announcements to date have been made as to whether Now’s broadband packages will be updated to move in line with Sky’s, although the smart move would be to keep some differentiation between the two to effectively market them as separate brands. Keeping the 36MB broadband option allows the wider Sky company to appeal to customer who want something faster than a basic broadband package but don’t necessarily want something billed as “superfast”.

Now Broadband Download Speeds

Due to a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority that came into effect in May 2018, internet service providers (ISP’s) in the United Kingdom are now required to advertise average speeds on the basis of what at least half of their customers can receive at peak times. Prior to this ruling, ISP’s could advertise higher headline speeds, so long as only 10% of customers were being provided with such a speed.

For example, Now broadband’s “Brilliant Broadband” package was previously advertised as offering speeds of 17MB. With the same package now advertised as offering speeds of 10MB, the impact this ruling had is clear to see.

Although this ruling means the advertised speeds you see when looking for your ideal broadband package are more accurate, the speed you can receive, and use, depends on several variables. Use a broadband speed checker to get an even more accurate idea of the internet speeds you can expect to receive, from Now or any other provider.

The tables below highlight the most recent data based on Ofcom’s home broadband performance research, which took place in November 2018 and was published in May 2019.

As part of this research, Now broadband as an individual service wasn’t analysed. However, as Now broadband uses Sky infrastructure to deliver its service, for the purposes of this review and assessing the speeds you can expect to receive, we have assumed a similar, if not the same, level of performance would be delivered from Now broadband.

As such, while Ofcom’s research highlighted the data for Sky broadband, in the tables below we have labelled this as Now broadband performance.

Now Broadband 11MB Brilliant Broadband Speed Comparison

As we can see, Now broadband performed well, comparing favourably to BT and Plusnet while easily beating TalkTalk, the only other provider in the study offering an 11MB broadband package as opposed to a 10MB one.

While all the ISP’s in the Ofcom study hit their advertised average speeds, TalkTalk barely do so, while Plusnet consistently performed comfortably above its advertised average speed.

Now Broadband 36MB Fab Fibre Broadband Speed Comparison

The main feature of this table is that none of the providers tested by Ofcom, except for Virgin Media whose equivalent package is a higher speed anyway, hit their advertised average speeds!

Although Now tv broadband is one of the providers not hitting its advertised average speed, it is second only to EE in terms of direct competitors at or near to the 36MB speed, while TalkTalk is again a poor performer. BT is a long way off the mark, too, and Now broadband looks like a good choice if you’re looking for broadband at this speed.

Now Broadband 63MB Super Fibre Broadband Speed Comparison

Now broadband is the clear “bottom of the class” performer at this speed, though is not much worse than Plusnet considering the latter advertises a slightly higher average speed. TalkTalk performs better in this range than it does at the lower end of the market.

It is also worth noting the differences between the two BT packages. FTTP is pure fibre optic, while FTTP uses a combination of copper and fibre optic caballing, hence the quicker speeds for FTTP.

Now Broadband Download Performance Summary

Now tv broadband performs well at the budget end of the market but is not as strong when moving into true “superfast” territory at 63MB. As ISP’s in the UK continue to look to deliver ever faster broadband, Now could find itself in a useful niche alongside Plusnet at being able to deliver high quality and reliable broadband at competitive prices in the 11MB and 36MB brackets.

Given that Now broadband runs its internet services on Sky infrastructure, they may potentially have to reduce the advertised average speed of their 63MB package eventually given that Sky’s equivalent package is now advertised at a speed of 59MB.

Now Broadband Upload Speeds

Upload speeds often aren’t something a consumer looks for, but nonetheless can be important – and noticeable! – in an age where we’re uploading photo and video content to social media like never before.

The charts below highlight the tested upload speeds of UK ISP’s at the same tiers we’ve looked at for downloads. Note that the charts are taken directly from the Ofcom report so you should treat the Sky performance as the same for Now broadband.

For basic broadband, Now performs on par with similar packages, and noticeably better than TalkTalk, who also lagged on download speeds for 10MB – 11MB packages.

Now broadband sits alongside EE as the best performer for uploads in the 36MB bracket, although Plusnet and TalkTalk are not significantly worse. For all Virgin Media can deliver exceptional download performance, they’re not so great on uploads!

For what is its top tier product, Now broadband performs poorly against its competitors. This drop off reflects the downloads performance, where Now broadband was competitive in the market up to its 63MB offer, where performance then dropped off.

Overall Speed Performance Summary

In general, Now broadband are very competitive at the lower end of the market in terms of broadband speeds. Their 11MB and 36MB packages perform very well, even in comparison to ISP’s who advertise higher average speeds.

At its top tier of 63MB, Now broadband’s performance drops off for both download and upload speeds, however it would still offer a good service to your home, particularly if bundled with a Now TV package.

Now Broadband Offers and Deals

While Now broadband is frequently bundled with TV packages, consumers can take advantage of their broadband deals as a standalone service.

Now broadband, in the same manner as Sky, does not typically offer sign-up incentives in the way of free gifts. However, with Now broadband there are no set-up costs, whereas with Sky there’s an upfront cost of £19.95 to take out their broadband, though admittedly this is often the first thing they remove as a “benefit” if you take out a TV subscription and broadband with them.

Now broadband offers 12-month contracts as standard, but also offer a no contract option on a rolling monthly basis. We’ve highlighted all Now broadband’s pricing and deals in the tables below, before comparing them to other ISP’s in the following section.

Now Broadband 12-Month Contract Broadband Packages

Now Broadband No Contract Broadband Packages

How do Now Broadband Packages Compare to Other UK ISP’s?

Now that we know all about Now broadband’s speed performance and the packages they offer, let’s see how they stack up against other ISP’s in each speed tier. We’ve included both the 12-month contract and the “no contract” option so you have as full a view as possible of how Now broadband compares to others.

Now Broadband 11MB Brilliant Broadband Price Comparison

Now broadband offers the best monthly prices on the market, with prices remaining better than all but Sky at the end of the promotional period. While Now broadband offers the shortest fixed term contract, thus potentially more flexibility and the opportunity to change ISP sooner, it does mean you may end up paying more anyway if the basic pricing increases prior to you taking out a new contract.

Now is cheaper than the Sky offer and for a fixed term contract the no upfront payment is a bonus, too.

Now Broadband 36MB Fab Fibre Broadband Price Comparison

Now broadband loses some of its competitiveness at this level of the market, proving the most expensive provider.

Now Broadband 63MB Super Fibre Broadband Price Comparison

At this price point, Now broadband becomes quite uncompetitive, particularly when we take into account the relatively poor speed performance it displayed, too.

How Does Now Broadband’s Pricing Compare Overall?

Now broadband’s pricing starts by offering great value at the budget end of the market, but becomes uncompetitive even at 36MB, before being clearly inferior at 63MB and into the “super-fast” cross-section of the market.

Customer Service Performance

At the time of writing, Now broadband has a rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars based on ratings on the broadband.co.uk website.

Now broadband delivers its customer service using similar mechanisms to Sky. They can be contacted on Twitter here, while answers to common questions can be found through the Now help centre. When accessing the Now help centre, you will be taken through a flow of questions before being given a suggested solution, or told who to contact and how, while there is also the option to use the Now community forum to find solutions.

Summing Up Now Broadband

If you’re looking for a basic broadband solution, whether you want to bundle it up with a TV package or simply want to take advantage of a budget internet package, then Now broadband is well worth a look, especially at a lower-mid range level.

However, if you need higher download speeds and are also likely to need to upload content on a regular basis, you’ll save money and get a better level of performance by opting for another provider once you get into super-fast speeds.

See also: Compare Broadband Deals