Survey: WFH parents’ broadband battles
February 12, 2021
A survey of 2,000 UK parents commissioned by full-fibre broadband provider Truespeed reveals that three-quarters have argued over the broadband as they battle to work from home while ensuring their children attend online classes.
According to the survey conducted by OnePoll, two-thirds (67 per cent) of parents say they need fast broadband connectivity because they work from home, but only around a third (36 per cent) have a highly reliable home broadband connection. And almost half (46 per cent) experience broadband problems at least once a week.
Video calls shuddering, freezing or even dropping out entirely have been experienced by 24 per cent, while 16 per cent have even struggled to get their broadband to cooperate when sending an email.
Nowadays, reliable home broadband is seen as a crucial part of modern life, with a huge 92 per cent of respondents claiming they would be ‘lost’ without it.
Against this backdrop, it’s unsurprising that a fifth of parents have faced arguments after asking their children to stop using the broadband to free up enough bandwidth for them to attend a work video call. Or that four in 10 families now have more rows about Internet use than about what to watch on TV.
And with the typical household juggling nine connected devices at once, clogging up the broadband was found to be the top gripe (23 per cent). Others have rowed because someone tried to download a big file, making the Internet slow for everyone else (13 per cent).
“Struggling with sub-standard broadband is a big challenge for parents up and down the country juggling working from home with their kids’ online schooling,” notes Evan Wienburg, CEO of Truespeed. “Everyone wants a piece of the broadband action so it’s hardly surprising that unreliable connectivity and bandwidth issues are causing family rows. Our survey underlines the urgent need for WFH parents to be able to choose an ultra-fast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband service that can handle whatever their family throws at it.”
Truespeed’s focus is on connecting communities in cities, towns and rural areas in the south west of England that have been ignored by national broadband providers. The firm has already connected over 200 communities, is continuing its network roll out in the historic city of Wells, and this month announced it has kicked off its network build in Bath and environs.
By building a brand new 10 gigabit-capable full fibre broadband infrastructure and providing a dedicated fibre-optic line to every household, Truespeed says it guarantees lightning quick connectivity and cast-iron reliability, even at peak times. The company is en route to achieve its ambitious target of passing 500,000 properties by 2025.
Truespeed also offers primary schools and community hubs passed by its network free ultrafast broadband for life. To date, over 100 schools and community hubs have signed up.