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4.7 million people suffered a broadband outage in the last year, losing the economy 5 million working days

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Written by Uswitch
Updated on 13 August 2020
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  • Close to 5 million consumers suffered a broadband outage lasting more than 3 hours in the past year[1], with the average affected home offline for more than a day in total[2]

  • More than a quarter of people (28%) experienced a network outage during working hours, costing the UK 5 million working days - a hit of more than £1.5 billion to the economy[3]

  • Bristol is Britain’s outage capital, with residents suffering the most time offline during outages and losing nearly three million hours of broadband annually[4]

  • Two in five consumers (37%) used their mobile phone’s data or tethered to their computer during an outage[5].

Nearly 5  million consumers have suffered from broadband outages of three hours or more in the past year[1] with the average affected home experiencing more than a day — 29 hours — offline in total[2], according to Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service.

Millions of people across the country rely on their broadband connections for work and entertainment, even more so in recent months with a quarter of working adults (25%) still working exclusively from home as a result of the pandemic[6]. 

Over a quarter of people (28%) were using the internet for work when the outage hit, with the time offline resulting in five million working days being lost. Outages caused by damage to cables or provider issues are costing the economy over one and a half billion pounds a year[3]. 

Bristol is Britain’s outage capital, with residents suffering the longest time without broadband per person. Bristolians lost their connection for almost three million hours in total due to outages over the past year[4]. 

The longest single outage happened in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with residents reporting an incident lasting 54.4 hours[7].

Norwich has the highest proportion of residents (15%) affected by their broadband going down over the last year[8]. Meanwhile, Londoners reported the most instances of outages, with more than seven occurring in the past year[9].

The Welsh capital fares quite differently for outages though. Cardiff experienced the fewest outages in the UK, with only 1% of people having a lost connection in the same period[10]. 

Almost two in five consumers (37%) suffering from broadband issues used their mobile phone data or tethered their mobile phone to their laptop or computer, while 5% used their neighbour’s Wi-Fi connection instead[5]. More than a quarter of people (26%) just stopped what they were doing and waited for the broadband to come back online[10].

Uswitch.com is reminding people of their rights should their broadband be hit by an outage and what they can do if they are suffering from persistent problems from their provider.

It is quite often the case that people believe they are experiencing a network outage when it is simply a problem with their home broadband kit, including their router. Uswitch is advising consumers to contact their provider in the first instance, to see if the problem is unique to their household.

Nick Baker, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, comments: “Close to five million people suffered the frustration of a broadband network outage of 3 or more hours last year. With so many of us still working from home, your broadband going down for even a few hours can be a major disruption with significant consequences.

“Lockdown life has made all of us rely on our broadband more than ever, whether that’s for work, or shopping, entertainment and keeping in touch with friends and family. 

“Losing that vital link with the outside world is no minor inconvenience. So internet providers who fail to communicate effectively with their customers during an outage can make a bad situation worse if they leave people in limbo, not knowing when their service might be back online.

“If you believe you have experienced an outage, do not hesitate to contact your provider to make sure the problem is not being caused by a simple problem with your router. Quite often, your provider can tell you over the phone if the problem is unique to your own connection.

“It is worth making a contingency plan so you can keep working if your broadband goes down, whether that’s tethering to your mobile or preparing in advance by downloading essential work and favourite shows to your computer to use offline.”

Find out how you could save nearly £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Rory Stoves
Phone: 020 3872 5613
Email: rory.stoves@uswitch.com
Twitter: @UswitchPR

Notes to editors:
Opinium surveyed a sample of 4,003 UK adults from the 24th to 27th July 2020. Results were weighted to reflect a nationally representative criteria.
1.     Respondents were asked ‘Have you lost your broadband connection or had it drop out in the last 12 months?’ 39% of respondents said that they had experienced an outage of any kind. 39% of UK adults = 39% of 52,673,000 = 20.6 million adults who have experienced an outage of any kind. 23% of these people report that their broadband cut out for more than 3 hours because of a genuine outage caused by a “power cut” “broadband provider had an outage” “damage to cables external to my property” or “routine maintenance to cables external to my property”. 23% of 20.6 million adults = 4.76m UK adults who have had a genuine outage for 3+ hours.
2.     Respondents were asked “adding up all the instances, how many hours or days in total has your broadband been out for in the past year for the following reasons combined? Power cut, broadband provider had an outage, damage to cables external to my property, routine maintenance to cables external to my property. The average amount of hours per year per person was 29 hours and the cumulative amount of time which UK adults spent experiencing an outage was 5,795,390 days. 
3.     Respondents who experienced an outage were asked “What were you doing when your broadband connection went out?” 28% of those who had a network outage said they were doing “work which required internet access”. 28% of 5,795,390 days = 1,622,709 days. 1,622,709 days = 38,945,016 work hours of downtime a year. According to the ONS in 2019, the average working week consisted of 37.2 hours. 37.2 divided by 5 = 7.44 hours worked a day. 38,945,016 / 7.44 = 5,234,545 working days lost a year to broadband problems caused by a problem outside of the home. According to the OECD, the UK’s hourly GDP was $58.6. 38,945,016 x $58.6 = $2,282,177,937. Using XE.com, $2,282,177,937 = £1,727,791,272.
4.     Respondents were asked “adding up all the instances, how many hours or days in total has your broadband been out for in the past year for the following reasons combined? Power cut, broadband provider had an outage, damage to cables external to my property, routine maintenance to cables external to my property. Taking every Bristol resident into account, the average person suffers from 7.5 hours of broadband outages in a year. 7.5 hours x 369,241 (adult population of Bristol) = 2,769,307 hours lost in the last year.
5.     Respondents were asked “What did you do while your broadband was out?”, 37% answered with “Used phone and mobile data” and “Tethered mobile phone to my computer/laptop”. 26% answered with “Stopped what I was doing until the internet came back”.
6.     According to the ONS and its ‘Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain’ report 7 August 2020, 25% of working adults had worked exclusively at home in the past week.
7.     Respondents were asked “How long was the longest continuous broadband outage you experienced in the last year?” and the largest average amount was in Leeds with 54.4 hours.
8.     Respondents were asked “adding up all the instances, how many hours or days in total has your broadband been out for in the past year for the following reasons combined? Power cut, broadband provider had an outage, damage to cables external to my property, routine maintenance to cables external to my property. Residents of Norwich had the highest percentage of the population affected with 15%. 
9.     Respondents were asked “How many times in the past 12 months, have you lost your broadband connection for a continuous period of three hours or more due to power cuts, broadband provider outages or damage or routine maintenance of the cables external to your property?” London residents experienced an average of 7 times.
10.   Respondents were asked “adding up all the instances, how many hours or days in total has your broadband been out for in the past year for the following reasons combined? Power cut, broadband provider had an outage, damage to cables external to my property, routine maintenance to cables external to my property. Residents of Cardiff had the lowest percentage of the population affected with 1%.
11.   Respondents were asked “What did you do while your broadband was out?”, 26% answered with “Stopped what I was doing until the internet came back”. 

About Uswitch 

Uswitch is one of the UK’s top comparison websites for home services switching, including energy, broadband and mobiles. 

More people go to Uswitch to switch their energy, broadband and mobile than any other site, and we have saved consumers over £2.7 billion off their bills since we launched in September 2000.

Free mobile app Utrack also helps households manage their home energy usage and make potential savings. 

Uswitch is part of RVU, a group of online brands with a mission to empower consumers to make more confident home services, insurance and financial decisions.