15 million people suffered a major broadband outage in the last year
Broadband outages have tripled in the last year[1] as almost 15 million consumers faced downtime of three or more hours[2]
Over three in ten experienced an outage during office hours, costing the UK 16 million working days — a hit of nearly £5 billion to the economy[3]
A third of people used their mobile data during an outage[4], and almost two thirds of these burned through their whole monthly allowance[5]
Edinburgh is Britain’s outage capital, with residents suffering the most time offline and losing more than nine million hours of broadband annually[6]
Only four in ten consumers complained to their provider after an outage - but a third of people who suffered are tempted to switch as a result[7]
Uswitch offers tips on what to do during an outage, including tethering your mobile signal to your computer and checking your router for issues.
Nearly 15 million consumers have suffered broadband outages lasting three hours or more in the past year[1] — three times higher than the previous 12 months[2], according to Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service.
The average home affected by broadband outages was left offline for more than two days over the course of 12 months[8].
With millions of people relying on home broadband connections to do their job, the UK lost 16 million working days in the last year to outages. Broadband issues are estimated to have cost the economy almost £5 billion in lost work time[3].
More than a third of people (36%) turned to their mobile data when an outage struck[4], with almost two thirds of those (63%) burning through their whole monthly data allowance[5].
Edinburgh is the UK’s outage capital, with residents suffering the longest time without broadband per person and losing nine million hours of broadband over the year[6]. The news is a major turnaround from last year’s research, which found that the Scottish capital experienced some of the fewest outages in the UK[2].
Residents of Belfast suffered the shortest amount of downtime, with the city reporting only 11 hours of downtime in 12 months[9].
Despite the inconvenience, only four in ten customers who experienced outages complained to their provider about the issue. However, more than a third (37%) of frustrated Britons are tempted to switch broadband providers because of the issue[7].
Uswitch.com is offering advice to consumers for when they suffer an outage and what they can do if they experience persistent problems. When an outage strikes, many people can wait hours for their connection to come back, without realising that there are steps they can take to help mitigate problems, such as tethering to your phone.
Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, comments: “Outages have affected the country like never before over the past 12 months, with three times as many people complaining of a lost connection than in the previous year.
“This report covers the first full year of lockdown measures, in which millions of home-workers and home-schoolers have experienced internet outages when they would usually have been at their workplaces or in school.
“When you’re trying to get things done, not being able to stay connected can be infuriating, and made worse when a provider fails to communicate with their customers properly.
“The first thing to do if you think you’re suffering an outage is to check whether it’s a problem with your router, which can often be fixed with a simple reset.
“If it’s clear that the issues are beyond your control, contact your provider and they will be able to inform you of any problems in your area and, hopefully, an estimated time for a resolution.
“If your connection goes down for more than two days you could be entitled to compensation of just over £8 a day. Most of the UK’s big broadband providers are signed up to Ofcom’s auto-compensation scheme, so you should be covered. These rules were relaxed during the pandemic as providers focused on keeping the country running, but from July the scheme will be up and running again.
“If you’re experiencing repeated issues or you’re not happy with your suppliers’ response, do a comparison online and see what alternatives are available in your area.”
Find out how you could save nearly £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.
Notes to editors:
Opinium surveyed a sample of 4,000 UK adults from the 18th to 22nd June 2021. 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?’ 47% of respondents said that they had experienced an outage of any kind. 47% of UK adults = 47% of 52,673,000 = 24,756,310 adults who have experienced an outage of any kind. 60% 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”. 60% of 24,756,310 adults = 14,853,786 UK adults who have had a genuine outage for 3+ hours.
2. Uswitch: 4.7 million people suffered a broadband outage in the last year, losing the economy 5 million working days
3. Respondents who experienced an outage were asked “what did your outage prevent you from doing?” 32% of those who had a network outage said they were doing “work which required internet access”. 32% of 14,486,392 days = 4,635,645 work days. 4,635,645 days = 111,255,480 work hours of downtime a year. According to the ONS in 2020, the average working week consisted of 32.6 hours. 33.6 divided by 5 = 6.72 hours worked a day. 111,255,480 / 6.72 = 16,555,875 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 $59.53. 111,255,480 x $59.53 = $6,623,038,724. Using XE.com, $6,623,038,724 = £4,797,680,983.
4. Respondents who experienced an outage were asked “what did you do while your broadband was out?”, 36% of people (674 respondents) said they “used phone and mobile data”.
5. Respondents who experienced an outage were asked “with regards to the outage(s) you experienced, which of the following statements applies to you?”, 424 mobile users said that they “used up all of my month’s mobile data allowance”. 424 out of 674 people who used phone and mobile data during an outage = 63%.
6. See table in release
7. Respondents who experienced an outage were asked “with regards to the outage(s) you experienced, which of the following statements applies to you?”, 42% of people said “I complained to my provider about the outage” and 37% said “I am tempted to switch providers due to my experience of outages”.
8. Respondents who experienced an outage 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 57.9 hours and the cumulative amount of time which UK adults spent experiencing an outage was 14,486,392 days.
9. Respondents who experienced an outage 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 for those affected in Belfast was 11.2 hours.
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.
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