Sky Mobile launches 5G in 21 places – how to avoid £5 charge and get it for FREE
All recommendations within this article are informed by expert editorial opinion. If you click on a link in this story we may earn affiliate revenue.
SKY Mobile has finally launched 5G internet across the UK – with super-fast speeds available from today.
A total of 21 cities and towns are getting the upgrade, including London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Norwich.
If you're a Sky VIP customer, you can get a 5G upgrade for free.
Sky VIP is a loyalty scheme that rewards long-term customers, is free to join, and also gets you access to exclusive screenings and sports events.
For non-VIP users, you'll have to purchase a 5G add-on – which is free for one month, and then £5 per month after that.
"We’re excited to be launching superfast 5G on the award-winning Sky Mobile network, and even more excited to be offering it free to all Sky VIP customers," said Sky Mobile's Paul Sweeney.
"Sky Mobile is the ideal choice for anyone who wants a faster mobile connection and great value."
If you want to join Sky VIP and upgrade to 5G for free, just go to the My Sky app, log in with your Sky ID, and tap the VIP button.
You'll then need to load a 5G add-on to your account, which won't cost you anything as a VIP.
To get 5G, you'll need to be in a 5G coverage area.
The full list of towns and cities live right now is here:
- London
- Edinburgh
- Cardiff
- Belfast
- Leeds
- Slough
- Leicester
- Lisburn
- Manchester
- Birmingham
- Glasgow
- Liverpool
- Newcastle
- Bradford
- Sheffield
- Coventry
- Nottingham
- Norwich
- Bristol
- Derby
- Stoke
Not all parts of those cities will be covered, however. You can check if your area is covered using Sky's 5G location tool – .
Sky has pledged to roll out 5G to a total of 50 UK "destinations" by summer 2020.
5G internet – what is it?
Here’s what you need to know...
- 5G is the next generation of mobile phone networks
- Just like 4G made your mobile internet faster and more reliable compared to 3G, 5G will do the same again
- Phone networks across the UK are currently scrambling to introduce 5G phone speeds for Brits
- Typical 4G speeds today will typically fall between 50Mbps and 100Mbps
- But early 5G speeds will raise this bar to several hundred megabits-per-second
- And once 5G networks are advanced, you’ll expect to enjoy gigabit-per-second speeds
- However, you’ll need to upgrade your phone plan to a 5G tariff
- Also, not all smartphones support 5G internet – they’ll need to have a 5G-ready modem inside
- We’re only now starting to see 5G smartphones released in 2019 and 2020, so older phones won’t support the new speeds
- Many top phone makers have committed to making (or already launched) 5G-ready smartphones
- These include Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, LG and Oppo
It's also important to remember that not all phones are 5G-ready, so you'll need to make sure you're using a 5G model.
Most phone brands are marking their 5G-friendly handsets by putting "5G" in the name.
For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G are both 5G-ready.
There's also the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, and the Honor View 30 Pro 5G.
No iPhone models currently support 5G internet.
You can find Sky's 5G deals .
MOST READ IN TECH
In other news, Apple is expected to add 5G support to its rumoured iPhone 12 this year.
Samsung is expected to reveal the world's first 5G tablet in a matter of weeks.
And EE now has 5G in over 50 places across the UK – here’s the full list.
Will you be upgrading to 5G any time soon? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]