Nearly 15 million people in the UK experienced a significant broadband outage over the past year, at a time when reliable internet access was more important than ever.
Video calls, checking in with family and friends, ordering essentials, joining virtual quizzes, accessing help, and staying informed all depended on a steady connection. When that connection failed, the impact was immediate and often disruptive.
Research by Uswitch shows that reported broadband outages have tripled year-on-year.
Ernest Doku, Broadband Expert at Uswitch, explains:
“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, during which millions of people were working and studying from home and experienced internet outages at times when they would normally have been at their workplaces or schools.
Trying to get things done while your connection drops is frustrating, and becomes worse when a provider fails to communicate clearly with customers.”
Although more people working and learning from home means an outage often affects an individual rather than an entire office or classroom, these interruptions are still embarrassing and costly. Broadband problems are estimated to have cost the UK economy nearly £5 billion in lost working time.
The cities with the worst average broadband downtime for 2019–20 compared with 2020–21 are:
| Rank | City | Average downtime 2019–20 | Average downtime 2020–21 |
| 1 | Edinburgh | 25 hours | 175.3 hours |
| 2 | Bristol | 169 hours | 109.3 hours |
| 3 | Leeds | 13 hours | 96.5 hours |
| 4 | Sheffield | 32 hours | 75.3 hours |
| 5 | Brighton | 89 hours | 70.1 hours |
| 6 | Birmingham | 25 hours | 66.8 hours |
| 7 | Liverpool | 21 hours | 59.5 hours |
| 8 | Southampton | 26 hours | 45 hours |
Edinburgh recorded the longest average downtime in 2020–21, amounting to roughly nine million lost hours across the year. That represents a dramatic change from the previous year, when the city experienced comparatively short outages.
If you experience an outage, Doku recommends the following steps:
“First, check your router—many issues can be resolved with a simple reset.
If the problem isn’t local, contact your provider. They can confirm whether there’s a wider issue in your area and, where possible, provide an estimated repair time.
If your connection is down for more than two days you may be entitled to compensation of just over £8 a day. Most major UK broadband providers participate in Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme, so you should be covered. The rules were relaxed during the pandemic while providers focused on maintaining services, but the scheme is set to be reactivated.”
Despite widespread problems, only around four in ten affected customers made a complaint. Still, providers should not be complacent: over a third of customers say they would consider switching ISPs because of repeated issues.
Nick Baker, Broadband Expert at Uswitch, adds:
“Lockdown has made us all more dependent on broadband—for work, shopping, entertainment, and staying in touch with loved ones.
Losing that essential connection is more than a minor inconvenience. ISPs that don’t communicate clearly during outages risk making a bad situation worse by leaving customers unsure when their service will return.”
Preparing a backup plan can reduce disruption if your broadband fails. Consider mobile tethering through your smartphone or using a dongle or MiFi device as a temporary alternative when your home connection is unreliable.
(Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash)
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