Home workers hampered by loss of network connections

MILLIONS of Britons have struggled with broadband issues during lockdown with a 62 per cent rise in outages during April.

Research from network monitoring firm ThousandEyes has revealed that the UK experienced 13 outages in the week of April 13, which then rose to 21 the following week. The week of April 27 saw another 20 incidents.

These incidents follow a spike in outages in March when millions of people started working from home. In May, ThousandEyes said, there have been still more than 15 outages every week, a sign of continuing problems.

A separate survey by 4G Internet found that, of 2,000 people asked in the UK, a third had experienced internet issues during lockdown. Experts are now urging the Government to prioritise more reliable fibre connections.

“It’s been obvious that the UK has been falling further behind the rest of the world” when it comes to internet infrastructure, said Shaun Fensom, chairman of the Community Broadband Network. Hundreds of Sky broadband customers experienced problems with their connections earlier this month, while thousands reported they were unable to work from home after TalkTalk’s network went down for around an hour last week. BT broadband users and Virgin Media customers have also complained of problems.

Slow internet speeds and frequent outages have been a particular problem for people living in rural areas.

“Connectivity should be right there at the top” of the Government’s review list, said Sarah Lee, the head of policy at the Countryside Alliance.