Few things are more frustrating than your broadband dropping out, especially when you’re mid-way through a work call or finally sitting down to watch something. And it happens far more often than you’d think. According to a Uswitch survey from November 2025, 41% of UK adults (around 22.4 million people) experienced at least one broadband outage in the past year. The total cost in lost work time? An estimated £1.4 billion.
Worse still, 78% of those affected received no compensation, often because they didn’t know they were entitled to any. This guide walks you through what to do right now if your broadband’s down, what you’re owed, and when it might be time to switch provider altogether.
“Most people assume that if their router is on and their phone is showing a Wi-Fi signal, any problem must be at their end. In reality, a significant proportion of outages are caused by faults on the provider’s network — not anything the customer can fix. What makes the situation worse is that 78% of people affected by outages never receive any compensation, often because they don’t know they’re entitled to it. If your broadband goes down completely for more than two working days and your provider is part of Ofcom’s scheme, you should be getting £9.76 a day automatically. If it’s not appearing on your bill, chase it.”
Claudia Constantin — Switchity Broadband Team
What is a broadband outage?
A broadband outage is any period when your home internet connection stops working, either partially or completely. Sometimes the connection drops in and out intermittent, other times it disappears entirely (full outage). The cause could be something inside your home, like a dodgy router or loose cable, or it could be a fault on your provider’s network that’s affecting your whole area.
The first job is figuring out which one it is, because that determines what you can actually do about it.
What causes a broadband outage?
The Uswitch 2025 data breaks down the main culprits: ISP network faults or scheduled maintenance account for 37% of outages, power cuts cause 33%, and faulty home equipment like routers or cables are behind 27%.
Less common causes include extreme weather damaging infrastructure, accidental cable cuts during roadworks, and vandalism of street-level cabinets. And it’s not just a rural problem. Edinburgh and London had the highest outage rates in the UK, with 48% of residents reporting at least one outage in the past year.
Don’t assume outages are always quick blips, either. 67% of affected users were offline for three hours or more per incident. One in five experienced multi-hour outages more than once a week.
Step 1: Check whether the problem is in your home
Before you do anything else, ask yourself, is anyone else nearby also offline? If your neighbours are fine, the problem is most likely inside your home. If they’re down too, it’s almost certainly your provider’s network.
Run through the basics. Is the router switched on? Are all the cables firmly plugged in at both ends? Check the lights on your router. Solid green or white usually means things are connected normally. Red or flashing amber typically signals a fault (though this varies by provider and model, so check your router’s manual if you’re unsure).
Here’s one that catches a lot of people out, your phone might show it’s connected to Wi-Fi, but that doesn’t mean your internet is working. The router can still broadcast a Wi-Fi signal even when it’s lost its connection to the wider internet. If your phone shows Wi-Fi but nothing loads, the fault is further up the line.
Test on multiple devices. If your phone, laptop, and tablet all can’t get online, the issue is the router or the line, not any single device. If you have some connection but it’s painfully slow, run a speed test to see what you’re actually getting.
If your connection works but keeps dropping or feels unreliable, our guide on how to boost your Wi-Fi signal is worth a read.
How to restart your router properly
Switch the router off at the wall. Not standby. Fully off. Wait 60 seconds, then switch it back on. This clears the router’s memory and forces it to re-establish its connection with your provider’s network. It fixes a surprising number of mysterious drops.
Important: this is different from pressing a reset button on the router, which wipes all your settings back to factory defaults. Don’t do that unless you specifically need to.
Give it up to three minutes after restarting before you decide it hasn’t worked. A full reconnection takes time.
Step 2: Check whether it’s a wider network outage
If restarting hasn’t helped, check whether the fault is on your provider’s network.
Downdetector shows real-time user-reported outage maps and is often faster than official channels. Your provider’s own service status page is also worth checking (BT, Sky, Virgin Media, and Plusnet all have dedicated ones). Social media can be useful too. Searching your provider’s name on X or just searching “[provider name] down” often surfaces reports from other customers before the official status page catches up.
If it’s confirmed as a network-wide outage, there’s nothing you can do to fix it yourself. Your focus shifts to staying connected in the meantime and making sure you log the fault formally with your provider.
Step 3: Contact your provider
Even if your provider already knows about a network fault, contact them anyway. Logging a formal fault report creates a record, and that record matters if you need to claim compensation later.
Most providers offer phone support, online chat, and app-based reporting. Check their website for their preferred method. A tweet doesn’t count as a formal report, so don’t rely on social media for this.
Have your account number, postcode, a description of when the outage started, what lights the router is showing, and what troubleshooting you’ve already tried. This speeds things up significantly.
Set realistic expectations, most network faults are resolved within a working day. Physical line damage, like a cut cable, can take longer, particularly in rural areas or after severe weather. If things drag on, ask to escalate to a technical team and request a specific estimated resolution time in writing.
What to do if you can’t get through to your provider
During a major outage, phone lines get swamped. Try the provider’s online chat or app instead. Check their status page first too. If a widespread fault is already acknowledged, calling often just confirms what you already know without speeding anything up.
Document everything, screenshots of status pages, dates and times of calls, and any reference numbers you’re given. You’ll need this for a compensation claim.
Your rights: what compensation are you entitled to?
This is the bit most guides skip, and it’s the most important. Under Ofcom’s Automatic Compensation Scheme, customers whose provider is a member are entitled to automatic compensation of £10.34 per day once a complete loss of service has lasted more than two working days.
Major providers in the scheme include BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Zen Internet, Plusnet, and EE. The full list is on Ofcom’s website.
“Automatic” means your provider should apply this without you chasing. In practice? The 2025 Uswitch data shows 78% of affected customers got nothing. That’s a staggering number, and it almost certainly means providers aren’t proactively applying what they owe. So if compensation doesn’t appear on your next bill, follow up. A concrete example, a full week without service (after the two working day threshold) would mean multiple days of qualifying compensation at £10.34 each.
The scheme covers a complete loss of service only. Slow speeds or intermittent drops don’t qualify, though you may have other grounds to complain.
If a major storm caused the outage, some providers may argue force majeure, but you can challenge this if the resolution time was unreasonable. And if your provider refuses a legitimate claim, you can escalate to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. Our Ofcom complaints guide covers this process. Citizens Advice is also a useful resource for formal complaints.
How to stay connected during an outage
For remote workers, students, or anyone who relies on home broadband for essential tasks, waiting isn’t always an option. Around 49% of UK adults use their home broadband for work (Uswitch, 2025), and the average personal cost of an outage for workers was £46.40 per incident. 18% couldn’t work at all.
Mobile hotspot (tethering) is the quickest fix. Turn your smartphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot so your laptop or tablet can use your phone’s mobile data. On iPhone, go to Settings > Personal Hotspot. On Android, go to Settings > Network > Hotspot and Tethering. Just keep an eye on your data allowance. If you want a higher-data plan, compare SIM-only deals on Switchity.
A 4G/5G dongle or portable router uses a mobile SIM to provide a standalone Wi-Fi connection, separate from your home broadband. Worth considering if outages are a regular problem for you.
Public Wi-Fi in libraries, coffee shops, and town centres is fine for light browsing and email, but read the security note below before you do anything sensitive. And if a neighbour offers their Wi-Fi in an emergency, don’t be too proud to accept, particularly if you’re a vulnerable user who needs to stay connected.
If you want a reliable mobile data backup for the next time your broadband goes down, a SIM-only plan with a generous data allowance costs as little as a few pounds a month. Compare SIM-only data plans on Switchity.
A note on public Wi-Fi security
Public Wi-Fi networks are unsecured, meaning data can potentially be intercepted. Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) if you’re doing anything sensitive. Avoid online banking or shopping on public Wi-Fi without one.
How to reduce the risk of future outages
Get a UPS for your router. A UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is a battery backup that keeps your router running during a mains power cut. Given that power cuts account for 33% of outages, this is probably the single best preventive investment you can make. Basic units cost from around £30 to £50.
Keep router firmware updated. Most modern routers update automatically, but some need a manual check. Outdated firmware can cause instability. Access your router’s admin panel (usually at 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) to check.
Consider a better router. Provider-supplied routers are functional but not always great, especially in larger homes or older buildings with thick walls. Our guide to the best wireless routers covers the options worth considering.
Keep a backup data plan. A SIM-only plan with decent data costs very little per month and gives you a genuine fallback. Compare SIM-only deals to find one that fits.
When should you consider switching broadband provider?
A single outage that gets resolved properly isn’t necessarily a reason to leave. But if outages are happening more than once a month, regularly lasting over 24 hours, or your provider keeps missing its own repair timeframes, that’s a different story.
Under Ofcom rules, if a provider is persistently failing to deliver the service agreed in your contract, you may have grounds to exit without paying early termination fees. Raise this directly with the provider first. Use our early termination fee calculator to check what leaving early might cost if they dispute it.
While you’re reviewing your contract, it’s also worth understanding how to avoid mid-contract price increases.
If outages are becoming a regular problem, see what else is available in your area. Check what’s available at your postcode to compare broadband deals from providers covering your address, with speeds, prices, and contract lengths laid out clearly.