‘Broadband outage issues suffered by five million’
SHAREWATCH
NEARLY five million people have suffered a broadband outage of three hours or more in the last year, according to new research.
A report by comparison service Uswitch.com said the average home had experienced more than a day – 29 hours – offline in total in the last 12 months.
It comes as millions of people continue to rely on home internet connectivity in order to work or study from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the survey, more than a quarter (28%) of those polled have experienced an outage during working hours, which Uswitch suggests has cost the UK five million working days and the economy more than £1.5bn.
Uswitch’s research named Bristol
AEROSPACE & DEFENCE
Avon Rbbr ....................................... £35 3/4 BAE Systems ................................... 534 1/4 Chemring ............................................. 265 Meggitt ............................................. 299 3/4 Rolls-Royce ...................................... 267 3/4 Senior .................................................. 54 5/8
AIM
600 Group ................................................ 8 Highland Gold Mining ................ 293 3/8 Johnson Service Grp ....................... 104 London Security ................................ £21 M”S Intl ................................................. 117 Nichols ........................................... 1232 1/2 Scapa Grp ........................................ 121 3/8 Youngs ................................................ 1060
BANKS
Barclays ............................................ 108 1/8 HSBC Hldgs ..................................... 343 3/4 Lloyds Banking Gp ......................... 29 1/8 NatWest Group .............................. 114 3/4 Standard Chartered ..................... 423 3/8
BEVERAGES
Barr (AG) ............................................... 440 Diageo .............................................. £26 1/2
CHEMICALS
Croda International ...................... £60 3/8 Elementis 98 ..................................... 73 1/4 Johnsn Mat ..................................... £23 3/4
CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS
Balfour Beatty .................................... 245 C”R”H ................................................ £30 1/2 Costain ................................................ 58 1/2 Marshalls .............................................. 671
ELECTRICITY
Drax Gp ................................................ 294 SSE .................................................. 1319 1/2
ELECTRONIC & ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
Morgan Advanced ............................ 248 Ox Instmts ......................................... 1510 Volex ...................................................... 156
-1/4 -1 3/4
-1 -4 1/4 -3 3/4
-1 -1 1/4 +5
-22 1/2 +6 3/8 +10
-3 3/8 -13 3/8 -1/2 -4 5/8 -15 1/8
+1 1/2 -1/8
+1/4 -1/8 -3/8
-12 5/8 -3/8 -1/2 +2
-4 5/8 -6 1/2
-2 +18
-1 as the UK’s outage capital based on average outage time per resident, just ahead of Brighton, Belfast, London and Norwich.
Nick Baker, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “Close to five million people suffered the frustration of a broadband network outage of three or more hours last year.
“With so many of us still working from home, your broadband going down for even a few hours can be a major disruption with significant consequences.
“Lockdown life has made all of us rely on our broadband more than ever, whether that’s for work, or shopping, entertainment and keeping in touch with friends and family.”
EQUITY INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS
AberdeenDivInc&GroTrust ..... 927/8 Alliance Trust ...................................... 815 Dunedin Inv ........................................ 259 Edin Invst ............................................. 479 Electra Private Equity .................. 188 1/2 F&C Investment Trust ...................... 694 Henderson Smllr Cos ....................... 810 North American Inc ......................... 230 Scot Am ................................................ 426 Scottish Mortgage ....................... 906 1/2 Witan ................................................. 190 3/4
-8 -6 1/2 -10 -10 -4 -8 +6 -5/8
FIXED LINE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
BT Grp ................................................... 108 Talktalk Telecom ................................... 78
FOOD & DRUG RETAILERS
Morrison (WM) .............................. 196 1/4 Sainsbury ......................................... 191 3/8 Tesco ................................................. 228 7/8
FOOD PRODUCERS
AB Food .............................................. 1983 Carrs Group ......................................... 135 REA Hldgs ............................................... 61 Tate Lyle ............................................... 688 Unilever ............................................ £45 7/8
GAS, WATER & MULTIUTILITIES
Centrica .............................................. 47 5/8 National Grid .................................. 904 1/4 Pennon Grp ....................................... 1074 Severn ............................................... £25 3/8 United Utils ..................................... 908 1/4
GENERAL FINANCIAL
3i Group ........................................... 926 1/4 Close Bros .......................................... 1167 London StockExch ........................ £87 3/4 Man Group ...................................... 133 5/8 Provident Financial ...................... 180 7/8 Schroders ........................................ £30 1/2 Schroders NV .................................. £20 3/4
GENERAL INDUSTRIALS
Smith (DS) ....................................... 280 1/8 SmithsGrp ................................... 14681/2 -1/8 -9 -2 1/4 -3/8 -3 1/4 -2
-8 -1 3/4
-3 -1 1/8 -20 -26 -1/2 -24 5/8
-24 3/4 -15 -1 -1 1/8 -8 3/4 -3/8 -4 1/4 -16 1/2
Mr Baker called on internet providers to better communicate with customers about service issues, but also said broadband users should be more active in contacting their provider when an issue occurs.
“Losing that vital link with the outside world is no minor inconvenience,” he said.
“So internet providers who fail to communicate effectively with their customers during an outage can make a bad situation worse if they
GENERAL RETAILERS
Dixons Carphone ................................. 91 Inchcape .............................................. 505 Kingfisher ............................................ 273 M & S ..................................................... 115 Mothercare .............................................. 6 Next ....................................................... £59 WH Smith .......................................... 1007
HEALTH CARE EQUIPMENT & SERVICES
Smith Nph ......................................... 1592
HOUSEHOLD GOODS
Barratt Devel .................................. 510 3/4 Bellway ............................................. £24 3/8 Persimmon ...................................... £25 1/8 Reckitt Benckiser .......................... £75 1/8 Taylor Wimpey ............................... 119 1/2
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
I”M”I ..................................................... 1070 Molins ................................................... 158 Renold ................................................ 10 1/4 Spirax-Sarco ................................. £109 1/2 Weir Grp ............................................. 1358
INDUSTRIAL METALS
Ferrexpo ........................................... 200 1/4 -19 1/2
INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION
Signature Avi .................................. 276 1/4
LIFE INSURANCE
Aviva ...................................................... 293 Lgl & Gen ......................................... 228 1/2 Prudential .......................................... 1268 Standard Life Aberdeen ............. 271 1/8
MEDIA
Daily Mail & Gen Tst ......................... 693 ITV ........................................................ 62 3/4 Pearson ............................................. 625 3/8 Reach ....................................................... 55 RELX ..................................................... 1767 STV Group ....................................... 214 1/2 WPP ................................................... 631 3/4 -7/8 -5 -1/4 -3 -1/8 -1 1/8 -55
-6 1/4 +1/8 +1/2
-1 1/8 -19
+1/4 +1 7/8 -11
-6 3/4 -2 1/8
-10 3/4
-8 3/8 -20 1/2
-4 1/2
-1 -3 1/4 -6 3/8 +1/2 -9 1/2 -3 -13
MINING
Anglo American .............................. 1918 Antofagasta ...................................... 1108 BHP Group ........................................ 1825 Fresnillo ......................................... 1258 1/2 Kaz Minerals ................................... 580 5/8 Rio Tinto ........................................... £47 1/2
MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Vodafone Group ........................... 120 1/4
NONLIFE INSURANCE
Admiral Grp .................................... £26 7/8 Marsh McL ....................................... £89 1/4 RSA Ins Gp ....................................... 451 3/4
OIL & GAS PRODUCERS
BP ....................................................... 301 1/4 Cairn Energy ....................................... 142 Premier Oil ........................................ 35 7/8 Royal Dutch Shell A ................... 1203 1/4 Royal Dutch Shell B ................... 1160 3/8 Total ................................................... £30 3/4 Tullow Oil ........................................... 25 5/8
OIL EQUIPMENT & SERVICES
Petrofac ................................................ 188 Wood Gp(J) ..................................... 219 1/2
PERSONAL GOODS
Burberry Gp ................................. 1421 1/2 PZ Cussons ...................................... 206 1/2
PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECHNOLOGY
Astrazeneca .................................... £85 3/8 GlaxoSmithKline ........................ 1569 3/4
REAL ESTATE
Brit Land ............................................... 371 Hamrsn ............................................... 51 1/4 Land Securities .............................. 567 3/4 SEGRO ............................................... 963 1/4 -5 1/4
-10 1/8 -2 -3/4 -46 5/8 -44 -3/8 -7/8
+7 7/8 -5 5/8
-12 1/2 +2 1/2 -1 5/8 -41 3/4
-2 3/4 -2 7/8
-6 -8 1/4
SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES
Computacenter ............................. £20 3/8 Sage Group ..................................... 760 3/4 leave people in limbo, not knowing when their service might be back online.
“If you believe you have experienced an outage, do not hesitate to contact your provider to make sure the problem is not being caused by a simple problem with your router. Quite often, your provider can tell you over the phone if the problem is unique to your own connection.”
The broadband expert also encouraged people to make a contingency -44 1/4 -17 -23 3/8 +19 -17 1/4 -7/8
+1/2 -1/4
+1/8 -3/8
SUPPORT SERVICES
Bunzl ................................................. £24 1/2 Capita .................................................. 37 7/8 Connect Group ..................................... 20 De La Rue ............................................. 150 Elctro Com ....................................... 717 1/2 Electrocomp ................................... 717 1/2 Experian ........................................... £28 1/4 G4S ..................................................... 148 3/4 Hays ................................................... 124 1/4 Homeserve ........................................ 1350 Menzies J ......................................... 122 1/4 Redde Northgate .............................. 250 Rentokil ............................................ 538 3/8 Travis & P ....................................... 1190 1/2
TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE & EQUIPMENT
IBM ..................................................... £95 5/8 Spirent Comms .............................. 290 1/2
TOBACCO
Br Am Tob ........................................ £25 7/8 Imperial Brands .......................... 1284 1/2
TRAVEL & LEISURE
Carnival ................................................ 980 Compass Grp ............................... 1213 1/2 easyJet .............................................. 610 3/4 FirstGroup ......................................... 41 3/8 Go-Ahead Gp ..................................... 650 Intercontl Htls ................................ £42 1/4 Intl Cons Airl ................................... 204 3/8 Marston’s ............................................ 51 1/2 Mitchells & Butlers ........................ 174 1/4 Natl Express .................................... 147 1/2 Rank Org .............................................. 136 RestaurantGrp ................................ 535/8 Ryanair ........................................... 1093 1/4 Stagecoach Group ......................... 50 5/8 Whitbread ....................................... £25 1/4 William Hill .......................................... 137 +1/4 -1 5/8
-4 -5 1/2 -5 1/2 -3/8 -1 1/2 -1 -10 -6 5/8
-1 1/4 -24 1/2 -1 1/8 -3 1/2
-1/2 -33 1/2
+1 5/8 -18 -22 5/8 -4 -11 +1/2 -8 7/8 -1/8 -5 5/8 -28 1/2 -1 1/4 -3 1/4 -35 5/8 -3 1/2 +1/8 +3 1/2
INDEX FTSE 100 ......................... 6185.62 -94.50 FTSE 250 ....................... 17924.59 -164.99
plan, such as tethering to a mobile, should a broadband outage occur.
The research suggested that more than a third of people (37%) had used their mobile data during an outage, while 5% used a neighbour’s wifi connection.
However, more than a quarter (26%) said they simply stopped what they were doing and just waited for their broadband to come back online.