Against a backdrop of repeated major provider outages this year, a Uswitch broadband outage report reveals the scale of the UK’s connection challenge, with 22.4 million (41 per cent) users across the UK left disconnected at least once in the last 12 months.

Internet outages totalled 238.7 million hours in the past year, costing the UK economy an estimated 1.4 billion in lost work hours.

For many this disconnection is long-lasting, with 15 million Brits (67 per cent) experiencing outages lasting for three hours or more. One in five (21 per cent) of those affected are even having to suffer through three hour or longer outages more than once a week. For those who experienced an outage, the most common causes include a broadband provider having an outage (37 per cent), a power cut (33 per cent) or a router not working (27 per cent).

The financial and personal fallout is significant – 49 per cent of adults rely on their home Wi-Fi for work, and for those work who have been affected by outages it has cost them an average of £46.40, with over one in 10 (12 per cent) losing over £100 annually. Nearly a fifth (18 per cent) were unable to work, and more than a quarter of those who use a home internet connection for work purposes (28 per cent) had to increase their working hours to offset the downtime.

Edinburgh and London take the spot as the UK’s outage capital, with 48 per cent of residents suffering disconnection. This reveals a stark contrast against the most resilient city, Belfast (18 per cent), followed by Cardiff (30 per cent), Brighton (31 per cent) and Sheffield (32 per cent).

The UK’s top 5 outage capitals (highest % of residents experiencing an outage):

• Edinburgh (48 per cent)
• London (48 per cent)
• Bristol (45 per cent)
• Norwich (43 per cent)
• Liverpool (43 per cent)

Despite the prevalence and impact of outages, nearly eight in 10 (78 per cent) of those who experienced one did not receive compensation and almost one in 10 (9 per cent) had their compensation request denied.

Those who experience a total loss of service, caused by their network provider, of two working days or more are automatically entitled to compensation once they have notified their provider of the outage, as long as the provider is a member of Ofcom’s Voluntary Compensation Scheme.

Max Beckett, Uswitch broadband expert commented: “At a time when providers are increasing price rises, the expectation for reliable, uninterrupted service has never been higher. Providers must recognise that reliability is a non-negotiable part of the package. There are a number of different reasons internet outages can happen, including faulty connection lines, high internet traffic, weather events, overlooked software errors, widespread infrastructure failures and even occasionally malicious cyberattacks. The good news is that compensation is available if you suffer a significant outage. If your connection has completely stopped working and isn’t fixed after two working days, you could be entitled to compensation of £9.76 per day.”

“With the majority of the UK’s big broadband providers signed up to Ofcom’s auto-compensation scheme, we would hope to see customers quickly reimbursed if they suffer outages and are eligible. If you’re not satisfied with how your internet supplier handles outages, it may be time to vote with your feet and look for other, more reliable options elsewhere,” concluded Beckett.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, ISP, Research

Tags: broadband, Ofcom, uswitch