Buffering blues: 22 million battle broadband woes, costing the economy an estimated £2bn
22 million consumers have experienced disconnections of three or more hours over the last 12 months - a major increase from 12 million the previous year[1]
Supplier outages were the top reason for disconnections, with 35% of those affected citing an issue with their provider[2]
15% of those affected say outages have prevented them from working[3] - costing the UK economy an estimated £2bn[4]
A quarter of Brits have been left without internet for almost a full week or more (6.5 days+) over the past 12 months[5]
Broadband outages (73%) have now become a bigger frustration for Brits than roadworks (72%) or delays to public transport (70%)[6]
Southampton is the UK’s worst affected city, with impacted residents losing on average 63 hours online over the past year, compared to just 13.5 hours in London[7]
Uswitch.com offers tips on how to handle an outage - and when to consider switching to an alternative network for better service and reliability
In the past 12 months, two fifths (41%) of all UK adults - a staggering 21 million UK consumers[1] - have faced disruption to their broadband services, leaving them disconnected for three or more hours, according to Uswitch’s annual broadband outage report.
Broadband provider outages were the top reason for these prolonged disconnections. Over a third (35%) of those who experienced prolonged disconnections cited an outage confirmed by the provider, followed by router issues (22%), and planned maintenance to external cables (13%)[2].
With over three-quarters of organisations embracing hybrid working [8], the research highlights how broadband issues have also impacted workforce productivity. Nearly one in five (19%) said that they were working when an outage occurred, and 15% said that outages have prevented them from working entirely[3]. Uswitch estimates that these rising outage figures have cost the UK £2.025bn in lost working hours over the past year alone - up from £1.3bn in 2022[4].
A third (34%) of those who lost their broadband connection have experienced the issue at least once per month[9]. And a quarter went as far as to say that they have experienced an outage of three hours or more at least once a week - equating to more than 6.5 days of downtime over the course of the past 12 months[5].
Annoying broadband outages (73%) have now become a bigger frustration to Brits than traditional issues such as roadworks (72%), delays to public transport (70%) and late deliveries (68%)[6]. In fact, only rude customer service (82%) and queue jumpers (82%) came out higher in terms of Brits’ top frustrations.
Those in Southampton have experienced the highest levels of disruption in the UK, with the average resident spending 63.2 hours offline over the course of the year. This was followed by Newcastle (56.8 hours) and Birmingham (47.1 hours), and compared to just 13.5 hours of offline time in London[7].
Average downtime by city over the past 12 months:
| Rank | City | Average Downtime 2022-2023 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southampton | 63 hours |
| 2 | Newcastle | 57 hours |
| 3 | Birmingham | 47 hours |
| 4 | Liverpool | 44 hours |
| 5 | Nottingham | 33 hours |
With broadband prices increasing upwards of 15% in April 2023 [10], it appears many UK broadband customers are now paying more for less. Also, only 22% have received compensation for their disruption, down from 23% this time last year, with nearly half (48%) not aware that they could be entitled to compensation in the first place[11].
With out-of-contract broadband packages often slower and more expensive than the latest fibre deals, it’s important that consumers find a new plan when their deal ends - or they could end up overspending by an average of £174 over 18-months.[12]
This is especially true considering the rise in smaller, alternative networks (altnets) disrupting the market, often chosen for promising better speeds, reliability and customer service. Customer satisfaction for smaller providers is consistently high, with Hyperoptic winning Broadband Provider of the Year at this year’s Uswitch Telecoms Awards 2023, as voted for by customers.
Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch commented: “Despite major price increases earlier in the year, if anything, the issue of broadband outages appears to be getting worse. This isn’t acceptable in a cost of living crisis, especially considering the ongoing reliance on home internet for many UK workers.
“It’s also concerning that there seems to be a significant disparity in customer experience between customers in London and those around the country, who have to settle for less.
“The good news is that there is a lot of competition in the broadband market, including smaller, disruptive providers offering faster speeds at competitive prices - so there’s never been a better time to vote with your feet if you’re unhappy with your service.
“These new broadband challengers, including Community Fibre, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic, offer an alternative to the mainstream internet service providers which rely on copper wires and fibre cables from Openreach or Virgin Media’s infrastructure. Our customers say they will often choose these newer networks for their impressive reliability and customer service credentials.”
Ernest Doku, broadband expert, offers tips for when your internet goes down:
Check your router: Sometimes the source of an outage might be with your equipment rather than an external fault, so it’s worth performing a quick router reset and checking your Wi-Fi connections to see if that solves the problem.
Status update: Many of the UK’s main broadband providers, including Sky, Virgin Media and BT have a dedicated page on their website to show service disruptions. Visit these pages, input your information and you should see if the problem is specific to your connection or there are wider network issues. More generally a website like Down Detector can show if others are reporting issues on your network or if a particular website or app is offline.
Back-up plan: If your broadband is down due to cable issues or a specific problem with your provider, you could be without service for several hours so it’s worth making sure you have another option if you need internet access. Consider using your mobile phone’s data allowance, either directly or by tethering it to a computer - whereby your handset becomes a portable router, enabling you to use its 4G connection in the same way that you would use standard broadband.
Watch your speed: As well as outages it’s worth keeping your eye on any slowdown in your internet connection. When you take out a home broadband deal, your provider has to guarantee a minimum service speed, so perform regular speed tests to check you’re getting what you pay for. If a network issue means your speed is consistently slow - and cannot be fixed within 30 days - you should be able to leave without penalty.
Long delay, get paid: If your broadband goes down , report the fault to your provider as soon as possible. If it’s then not fixed after two working days, you’ll automatically receive compensation. You could receive £9.33 if the service is not fixed two full working days after you report it, and then £9.33 for each full day it is still not fixed after that.
Still not happy?: It’s time to switch. Run a comparison at Uswitch.com to see which broadband packages are available to suit your needs. But don’t be put off by a smaller provider you haven’t heard of - millions could access faster speeds and lower costs as well as a more reliable service with an alternative network compared to a well-known name. Uswitch quality checks all providers listed on its website to ensure they are financially secure, and must meet a particular standard of customer service before they are listed.
For more advice, visit Uswitch’s guide on what to do when your internet is down.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Yolanda Etrata
Phone: 07702 534 837
Email: yolanda.etrata@uswitch.com
Twitter: @UswitchPR
Notes to editors
Opinium surveyed a sample of 2,000 UK adults from the 8th to 11th August 2023. Results have been weighted to be nationally representative.
1. Respondents were asked ‘Have you lost your broadband connection or had it drop out in the last 12 months?’ 57% of respondents said that they had experienced an outage of some kind. 57% of UK adults = 57% of 52,890,000 population = 30,147,300 adults who have experienced an outage of any kind. 72% of these people have experienced an outage for more than 3 hours. 72% of 30,147,300 = 21,706,056 UK adults who have had an outage for 3+ hours
In contrast, the equivalent figure for 2022 was 12,164,700.
2. Respondents were asked “Have you lost your broadband connection or had it drop out for any of the following reasons in the past 12 months?” 35% of those who had experienced disconnections selected “My broadband provider had an outage”. 22% selected “Router was not working”, 13% selected “Routine maintenance to cables external to my property”
3. Respondents were asked: “Which, if any, of the following are true to you about your broadband outages?” 15% said “The outage(s) prevented me from working,” and 19% said they “were doing work requiring the internet when the outage occurred.”
4. Respondents who had a network outage were asked if they agreed with the statement: “It prevented me from working.” 15% agreed.
The percentage of people who were prevented from working (8.35% of the adult population), multiplied by the estimated total number of days lost to legitimate outages (21,354,338) = 1,783,087 potential workdays lost. 1,783,087 days = 42,794,088 potential lost work hours of downtime a year.
According to the ONS in 2020, the average working week consisted of 33.6 hours. 33.6 divided by 5 = 6.72 hours worked a day. 42,794,088 / 6.72 = 6,368,168 working days lost a year to legitimate broadband problems caused by an issue outside of the home.
According to the OECD, the UK’s hourly GDP was $59.60. 42,794,088 x $59.60 = $2,550,527,645. Using XE.com, $2,652,278,970 = £2,025,894,916 cost to the economy by outages that stopped people working from home over the last year.
5. Respondents were asked: “How often have you lost your broadband connection for a continuous period of three hours or more in the last 12 months?”
25% replied “once a week or more”. Three hours per week [3 x 52=156 hours a year] 156/ 24=6.5 days
6. Respondents were asked “How many hours or days in total has your broadband been out for in the past year for the following reasons in the last 12 months?”
Using responses for reasons including: power cuts, broadband provider outages, cable damage and routine maintenance to cables, the data was by region to calculate the total / average time spent offline.
7. Respondents were asked how frustrated they would feel experiencing each of the following:
An at home broadband outage (73% said frustrated)
Roadworks on a long drive (72% said frustrated)
Delayed trains or public transport (70% said frustrated)
8. 78% of employers now offer hybrid working. Source - Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
9. Respondents were asked: “How often have you lost your broadband connection for a continuous period of three hours or more in the last 12 months?” 34% replied “once a month or more”.
10. Based on the latest price increase data - see Uswitch.com
11. Respondents were asked; “Did you receive any compensation from your provider as a result of your broadband outages?” 22% received compensation for their disruption, compared to 23% this time last year. 48% were not aware they could request compensation
12. According to the latest savings research by Uswitch.com
For more information please contact:
Danny Holden, Red Consultancy on +44 7838 373742 / danny.holden@redconsultancy.com
Yolanda Etrata, Uswitch on +44 7479 554261 / yolanda.etrata@rvu.co.uk
UswitchTeam@redconsultancy.com
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.