ore than 20 million folks throughout the UK have confronted broadband outages lasting three hours or extra during the last yr, in keeping with a brand new report from Uswitch.

The comparability web site’s annual broadband outage research discovered the highest cause named by web customers for the disruptions they suffered was a difficulty confirmed by their supplier, adopted by router issues or deliberate upkeep of their space.

Uswitch stated the variety of folks affected by outages had risen from round 12 million the earlier yr to 21.7 million during the last 12 months, with Southampton named the worst-hit metropolis, forward of Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham.

With the rise in hybrid working, the report stated workforce productiveness has additionally been hit during the last 12 months, with 15% of these affected saying that they had been prevented from working on account of an outage – with Uswitch estimating these disruptions price the UK economic system simply over £2 billion.

As a results of such issues, broadband disruptions have now been cited as a much bigger frustration to the general public than conventional points comparable to roadworks, public transport delays and late deliveries.

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Despite main worth will increase earlier within the yr, if something the difficulty of broadband outages seems to be getting worse

Noting rises in broadband costs earlier this yr, Uswitch telecoms knowledgeable Ernest Doku stated many customers now look like paying extra for much less.

“Despite major price increases earlier in the year, if anything the issue of broadband outages appears to be getting worse,” he stated.

“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 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.”

In Southampton, the place the very best ranges of disruption had been reported, the common resident was unable to get on-line for simply over 63 hours over the course of the final yr, with the residents of Newcastle – the following worst-affected metropolis – offline for 57 hours.

In distinction, London residents suffered on common 13.5 hours of offline time.