NOTTINGHAM in East Midlands has been named as the worst city in the UK for broadband outages as the internet downtime was 70 hours a year in the city on an average, according to a new report. It was followed by Southampton and Manchester.
The report from the utility comparison website Uswitch.com has revealed that around 11 million UK consumers suffered a broadband blackout of more than three hours last year, the Guardian reported.
It added that an average UK household lost a total of almost two days of internet time due to loss of service, power cuts and maintenance.
Nottingham, with a population of 337,000, replaces Edinburgh in 2021 and Bristol in 2020 as the worst city for broadband outages.
According to the report, homes were offline for an average of 19 hours in the year to 14 June due to broadband outages. When other factors were included, a typical UK home was offline for nearly 45 hours or almost two days.
Broadband outages affected remote and flexible workers, with 16 per cent saying their work had been affected at an estimated cost to the economy of almost £1.3 billion. Fifty-one per cent of those surveyed said they had worked at least one day a month from home.
“Misfiring home broadband can quickly become a huge annoyance, given that video calls have become essential for many remote workers,” Ernest Doku, a broadband expert at Uswitch, was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
“Many households who took out a broadband deal during the lockdown in the January sales last year will now be reaching the end of their contract. It’s the perfect time to shop around.”
The worst cities in the UK for network outages:
1. Nottingham (70.2 hours)
2. Southampton (45.8 hours)
3. Manchester (38.8 hours)
4. Bristol (38.7 hours)
5. Cardiff (27.3 hours)
6. Edinburgh (22.4 hours)
7. Liverpool (17.2 hours)
8. Newcastle (15.3 hours)
Source: Uswitch.com
Some panic-stricken commuters reportedly considered jumping off the trains, but were eventually rescued safely (PTI photo)
