One in 10 parents have changed their broadband provider due to the demands of their children – who spend at least two hours a day on the internet
One in 10 parents have been compelled to switch their broadband supplier – following pressure from their youngsters. Children aged between five and eight were found to be the most demanding regarding internet access, spending an average of two hours daily streaming and gaming online.
A third of mums and dads revealed their children use the internet for more than four hours each day – totalling around two months of continuous usage a year. Meanwhile, another third of parents admit to threatening to turn off the Wi-Fi as punishment for bad behaviour, which has led to arguments in 53 per cent of cases.
Following recent Ofcom findings showing YouTube has become the primary destination for younger audiences when switching on their televisions, the requirement for robust home streaming has never been greater. It comes after a huge VPN change announced as everyone in the UK is targeted by major web update.
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Stephen Warburton, MD of Zen Internet’s consumer division, which commissioned the research, said: “With summer holidays upon us, the demand for fast, reliable internet at home is only going to rise.”
“With so many connected devices – from games consoles to smart TVs – competing for bandwidth, it’s crucial to have a connection that can handle it all,” he added. “Otherwise buffering could be a permanent feature when you are streaming, gaming, and taking video calls.
“The news this week of YouTube being more popular than ever among younger viewers highlights this need for a robust connection.”
A third of parents reckon their youngsters are ‘hooked’ on online services. To tackle excessive use, more than half of mums and dads have used time restrictions.
However, with children breaking up from school for the summer holidays, 54 per cent of parents anticipate their internet consumption will only go up.
Most youngsters primarily use the web for gaming, followed by watching YouTube or streaming services, then television programmes or films.
Beyond managing their children’s online gaming and streaming demands, a quarter of remote workers confessed sluggish internet made working from home challenging.
A third have been forced to position themselves next to the router to secure a decent connection, whilst another 35 per cent have instructed others to log off so they can harness most of the broadband’s capacity.
The spokesperson for Zen Internet added: “By doing a simple internet speed test you can develop a great understanding of whether you are getting what you should be.
“A download speed of around 100Mbps is recommended to seamlessly game and take video calls concurrently, although if there is considerable usage you may consider going for a higher speeds.”