Survey: Households concerned over broadband price increases

December 4, 2025

More than half of households globally (57 per cent) are worried about annual broadband price increases and, crucially, the majority think these increases are unfair, unreasonable (60 per cent) and difficult to understand (48 per cent), according to the latest EY decoding the digital home study.

The survey examined the views of 20,500 consumers on their attitudes toward technology, media and telecoms experienced in the home, across 14 countries: the UK, the US, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The volatile geopolitical environment may influence supplier choices in new ways

With consumers continuing to scrutinise their spending on connectivity and content, geopolitical sensitivities are prompting some households to question their supplier choices. This is most apparent in attitudes to onshore customer service staff. A quarter (27 per cent) of households say they will prioritise connectivity providers with customer agents based in their own country, a figure that rises to 32 per cent for respondents aged 66 years and above. Meanwhile, one in five respondents say they’ll prioritise technology manufacturers (22 per cent) and content producers (20 per cent) based in their home countries, where possible.

Cédric Foray, EY Global Telecommunications Leader, commented: “Consumer anxiety over pricing continues to persist with geopolitical considerations potentially informing supplier choices. While value for money perceptions are stable, the ability to grow share of wallet depends on a range of factors – from brand trust to pricing and convenience levers. Suppliers need to take care to underline the strength of their anchor services, while exploring new opportunities to diversify their offering. At the same time, they need to ensure that customer and data protection remains robust, and it is important to sensitise stakeholder interactions to a fast-evolving geopolitical environment.”

Broadband reliability in focus

This year’s survey reveals a positive shift in network quality experiences, with a year-on-year increase in the number of households saying they never experience problems (16 per cent) – compared to 14 per cent last year – alongside a decrease in households that often suffer poor reliability, now at 24 per cent on average, down from 26 per cent last year. Nevertheless, unreliable connections remain a significant challenge for certain groups – 29 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 30 per cent of households with three or more occupants still experience reliability problems.

The findings highlight several contributing factors to poor network reliability: network outages rank first (27 per cent), with dropped connections second (26 per cent). Uneven performance, depending on user location or number of people online is a bigger issue for larger households: slower speeds in certain parts of the home are most likely for households with four occupants (34 per cent) and those with five or more (36 per cent).

Adrian Baschnonga, EY Global Telecommunications Lead Analyst, said: “Network outrages are caused by a range of factors, from power outages to extreme weather events, prompting regulators to consider new protocols for telcos to manage network outages, including appropriate customer communications. Connectivity providers must recognise how network quality impacts every aspect of service delivery and improves their customer promises around broadband reliability.”

More than one-third of customers have recently switched or plan to switch

Thirty-seven percent of households have either recently switched providers, or plan to do so in the next 12 months. Cost savings are the leading rationale cited by recent or future switchers (41 per cent), but other factors such as poor network quality, poor customer experience and limited-service portfolios account for more than half of reasons given for switching.

Those seeking savings are looking for a lower headline price (33 per cent) but introductory offers, improved price promises and the opportunity to reduce overall connectivity expenditure by opting for fixed-mobile bundles also play a role. Among younger users, price promises (27 per cent) and introductory offers (28 per cent) are as important as cheaper monthly rates (29 per cent), highlighting the importance of agile pricing strategies for broadband providers targeting price-sensitive users.

There is resistance to broadband upgrades while loyalty conceals inertia

With availability of fiber-to-the-home broadband increasing in many countries, service providers are keen to migrate users to higher-speed packages. However, households cite several reasons not to upgrade, led by lack of need for faster broadband (31 per cent); uncertainty that faster broadband will deliver the reliability benefits they need (14 per cent); and inability to afford the highest speed packages on the market (14 per cent).

According to the study, some customers who remain loyal to their current provider are not entirely satisfied. Two-thirds (64 per cent) of non-switching households are happy with their current provider, other reasons for staying include apathy, fear and frustration. One in 10 (12 per cent) don’t see any benefits in switching; 10 per cent find the switching process too complex; and 1 in 10 (10 per cent) fear that moving could lead to inferior connection quality or customer service.

Disruption ahead as satellite and FWA gain favour

The survey shows that 27 per cent of respondents are interested in satellite home broadband. Satellite’s perceived high costs are an important factor in stopping consumers from switching, with 43 per cent of households believing that, compared with fixed broadband, satellite connectivity is too expensive. There is, however, greater openness to satellite connectivity as an add-on to existing mobile packages, to provide remote connectivity in rural areas: 34 per cent signal interest for this purpose, and 31 per cent say they are willing to pay a premium for mobile packages with direct-to-device (D2D) satellite capabilities. Younger consumers are markedly more receptive to D2D capabilities, with 46 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds expressing interest.

At the same time, home broadband delivered via mobile, also known as fixed wireless access (FWA), is also on the household radar: 36 per cent of households say they would be open to dropping their fixed broadband connection if their household needs could be met by a mobile connection, with receptivity highest among 18- to 34-year-olds (45 per cent). Across all age groups, the lower monthly cost of mobile broadband compared to fixed-line broadband is the leading trigger cited (38 per cent).

Foray said: “This is encouraging news for mobile operators. They have been striking partnerships with satellite providers over the last year, and with enhanced mobile packages in mind, there are encouraging signs that mobile customers would be prepared to pay a premium for back-up connectivity.”

Bundles remain in demand although households seek improved broadband and TV packages

For service providers looking to counter disruptive forces and reduce churn, bundling remains critical to the value proposition. Broadband bundles with TV (47 per cent) and mobile phones (42 per cent) are most popular – and an even higher proportion of survey respondents say they are likely to take these services in the future.

However, many households are looking for improved TV bundles – 34 per cent cite a better mix of channels, live TV and dedicated streaming apps as the major improvement they would like to see, followed by more transparent pricing options for different content combinations (25 per cent). Meanwhile, other forms of broadband packages have plenty of headroom for growth. For example, 9 per cent of households currently take broadband including security and digital wellbeing features but 43 per cent would be likely to purchase this type of package in the future.

AI assistance is welcomed, but human touch remains vital

The survey shows that customer expectations, whether related to bundle value propositions or subscription methods, are changing fast. At the same time, customer journeys are also adapting to new tools and capabilities. Generative AI (GenAI) is now an established element of service discovery: 7 per cent of consumers say that they use AI tools as their first port of call when exploring a purchase. And for users aged under 35 years, these tools (10 per cent) rank ahead of price comparison websites (9 per cent) when they’re planning to purchase a smart home device. Most age groups say they find AI search summaries more useful and trustworthy than traditional online searches, although users aged 55 and above still express reservations.

While consumers are using new tools to research and compare connectivity products before purchasing, they are still lukewarm about using chatbots in their interactions with broadband customer support. While attachment to call centers is fading – 47 per cent favour them as their preferred method of contacting their service provider, down from 51 per cent last year – the proportion who prefer chatbots stands at 12 per cent, unchanged from last year.

The findings reveal several concerns among consumers about having to rely on chatbots or virtual assistance. A third (31 per cent) say they prefer human interactions even if chatbots deliver responses of the same quality, 26 per cent fear that chatbots would struggle to understand queries and 20 per cent are concerned that chatbots provide inaccurate or irrelevant solutions.

Baschnonga said: “For service providers, the growing use of AI tools on the path to purchase has the potential to dramatically shorten customer journeys. To stay ahead, providers must adapt their marketing strategies by optimising for conversational AI, ensuring that key benefits and value propositions are prominently featured in website copy and that customer reviews are easily accessible by AI tools. At the same time, companies need to work harder to build more customer confidence in in-house chatbots used for customer support. Creating a more effective blend between chatbots and human agents is essential, including the ability to detect signs of frustration and inclusion of full context in chatbot-to-human hand-off.”