A new survey from comparison site Go.Compare, which used data gathered from YouGov and other sources, has claimed that 34% of respondents (equated to 9.5 million households) are paying for broadband speeds “they don’t need“. This is said to be equal to an estimated £53m spent on “unused speeds” each month (or £637m a year).
According to the findings, the majority of Brits pay for some of the fastest broadband speeds. For example, 34% have speeds of over 150 Megabits per second (Mbps), but it’s estimated that just 21% of internet users actually need broadband as fast as this. Similarly, 27% pay for speeds between 51 and 100Mbps, but only 12% of internet users are said to need speeds in this range. Meanwhile, only 3% settle for the slowest speeds of 15Mbps or less, yet they claim this would be enough for 13% of users.
The comparison site suggests that those who overpay spend an average of £5.58 per month more than they need to on their broadband, which they claim means £66.96 is wasted over 12 months – enough to cover a streamer’s standard Netflix subscription for a year
Meanwhile, users who only need 15Mbps also tend to overpay the most, as just 4% of these users said they pay for speeds around this level. One in 10 of these users stated that they pay for some of the fastest speeds at over 150Mbps – despite the slowest offerings being enough for their usage. As a result, they overspend by £9 per month, equating to £113 being wasted every year.
Need vs Demand is Complex
In order to estimate the number of Brits claimed to be overpaying for their broadband, the comparison site first identified the speeds needed by different groups of internet users using a YouGov survey. These groups were identified by asking respondents what they use their broadband for and the number of people in their household, then comparing their responses to the speeds required to meet these needs (sadly, we don’t get to see this data to check it for accuracy).
The site then asked each group what internet speeds they were actually paying for to identify how many respondents were overpaying for their broadband. This number was applied to the overall number of broadband users in the survey to estimate the percentage of broadband users overpaying. This percentage was then applied to the estimated number of UK households using broadband to estimate the number of households overpaying.
However, there are some problems with this approach, such as with the fact that most UK homes (over 85% of premises) are now within reach of a gigabit-capable broadband network and those often have entry-level speeds that start around the 100Mbps mark. Slower options are sometimes available (usually in non-FTTP areas), but the price difference is often small, while copper-based packages (e.g. FTTC, ADSL2+) aren’t always vastly cheaper.
The other issue is that question of “need“. For example, most of the time I don’t strictly need a 500Mbps+ download or upload speed, but that changes the moment a big backup file needs to be transferred (daily) or a new video game is released – where being able to complete that task in seconds or minutes, rather than hours or days, has a lot of value to me.
So on paper you could get away with slower speeds, but the reality is often more complex and users don’t always feel that taking a faster speed than they strictly need is “overpaying“. Not to mention that faster connections are often delivered via more reliable and better-quality broadband technologies.