A third of people using their home broadband to continuing working during the pandemic say they have seen disruption to their services, according to YouGov. 

2,031 people took part in a survey, with three-quarters (73%) stating that they have been using their household connection more heavily than usual since entering lockdown. 

However, 35% of UK households have revealed that they have experienced worse internet performance since the outbreak of COVID-19. 

According to YouGov data, 52% of those who have experienced poor internet connectivity have also had difficulty doing work activity, with 15% suggesting they’ve experienced “a lot” of disruption. Six in ten (59%) also say they’ve had trouble with video and audio calls, which has become the main method of business communication under lockdown. 

Poor internet performance was cited as a reason for low productivity in remote working in a report from Aternity in April. The COVID-19 Remote Work Productivity Tracker, which was compiled with data from millions of employee devices from over 500 Global 2000 companies, suggested that productivity had declined by 20%. 

Speaking about the findings, Forrester VP of research, Martin Gill suggested the drop in productivity could be simply “user error”.

“The primary issue seems to be broadband issues, what I’d categorise as user error, so people not knowing how to switch microphones on, people talking over each other in meetings, people just not used to the whole etiquette of remote working,” he said.

YouGov’s evidence suggests that internet performance is worse for those with more people in their households, which is particularly problematic if more than one person is work from home. 

Four in ten (41%) of those living in homes with three or more people say their connection has deteriorated during the pandemic, increasing to 43% for those in households of four or more.