Survey Claims Londoners Lose 1 Day a Year to Slow, Unreliable Broadband UPDATE

A new OnePoll UK survey of 2,560 adults based in London, which was commissioned by London-focused broadband ISP and network builder G.Network, has claimed that 17% of people in the capital lose more than a day each year waiting for slow and unreliable internet connections.

According to G.Network’s survey, which was conducted during November 2023, some 64% of London now has access to a full fibre broadband network and yet 46% of the city’s residents (vs 36% nationally) are more likely than the rest of the UK to say that unreliable internet connections often disrupt their plans.

One of the most common issues faced due to lost connections is being interrupted during a film’s climax, affecting 31% of Londoners. Glitches when working at home (27%) and connection losses during “critical times“, such as sports games pausing at a decisive moment (15%), were also major sources of irritation for respondents. Some 29% of Londoners were also disappointed by disruptions during video calls with family and friends.

Finally, the survey claims that it takes Londoners almost three years on average to switch ISP, with 14% never having done so. The high cost of living is also being seen as a major barrier to faster, more reliable broadband by some Londoners, as 30% want faster internet speeds but are reluctant to take on additional expenses.

Kevin Murphy, CEO G.Network, said:

“Fast, reliable broadband is more essential than ever before. Our relationships with one another, our work and entertainment all require seamless digital connectivity to function. Yet many Londoners are being short-changed. Despite there being great full fibre coverage in the city, bad deals and unreliable connections are still all too common.”

Naturally, this survey is within the vested interests of G.Network, which has already deployed their own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across a chunk of the city. The exact level of coverage achieved remains open to some debate, with the operator claiming in 2022 to have covered 400,000 premises, while Thinkbroadband’s independent checking put it at closer to 255,000 (Ready for Service) in July 2023 (here). Recent job cuts and a build slowdown probably haven’t helped (here), which is why the ISP is today more focused on growing take-up via some very affordable packages (example).

The high coverage of gigabit-capable broadband in the city also suggests that the core issues may stem more from the limited adoption of those faster technologies, as well as the patches that continue to lack such connectivity from any operator.

Finally, it’s important to reflect that, while full fibre networks are both significantly faster and more reliable, they are not perfect. Connection drops due to faults within an ISP’s wider network (cable damage etc.), as well as problems with DNS servers, routing/peering arrangements and network capacity / backhaul, can and do also occur on full fibre services too. Not to mention any issues that you might suffer with a provider’s supplied router and WiFi or due to poor support.

UPDATE 17th Jan 2024 @ 2:06pm

We’ve been informed that there was an error in the original press release and the research actually involved 2,560 adults based in London, rather than 2,000 adults from “across the United Kingdom“.