TalkTalk’s Internet Insights

Locking down is sending usage up.

Connecting people of all ages.

In the year to June, internet usage surged across every age group in society. However, it rose for some more than others.

18-24 year olds were already pretty social-media savvy pre-COVID. So their internet usage rose by 36% - less than other age groups.

Over 75 year olds were online 43% more in the year to June. Less than those of working age, but still, lockdown has transformed internet usage among older generations.

At the other end of the scale, the biggest usage in the year to June came from 35-44 year olds with a whopping 54% surge, followed closely by 45-54 year olds at 53%. This reflects the large numbers of professionals and young families working and learning from home over the past few months.

Usage spiked across almost every age group in the month of April. The exception is the over 65’s, whose usage has continued to rise since then suggesting a more permanent shift in behaviour.

Making ‘working from home’ work.

Most of the UK is working from home like never before, so fast and reliable connectivity has never been more important.

At least one in six people doubled their upload usage between February and June 2020, as more of us were working from home.

58% workers in the UK having a garden (59%). said they had been more productive as a result of working from home, while over half (52%) said they never expect to return to a five day working week in the office.

A strong upload speed is necessary for things like sending big files via email, video calling colleagues or adding content to a server.

The second most important commodity during lockdown was fast, reliable broadband (51%), beating a large living space (24%), online shopping deliveries (37%) and only ranking behind 58% workers in the UK having a garden (59%).

Eight out of ten (81%) of business leaders identified a fast, reliable broadband connection as a priority for effective home working.

Statistics sourced from TalkTalk’s Lockdown Lessons Report

Different regions, same pattern.

Wales saw the biggest increase (54%) in internet usage over the year to June. Scotland (46%) and Northern Ireland (43%) saw the smallest rise.

Most of the UK is working from home like never before, so fast and reliable connectivity has never been more important.

Our fastest products – Future Fibre and Ultra Fibre Optic – drove the biggest uptick in downloads – a 108% average increase on July 2019.

Source: TalkTalk’s internal network data

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To stay up to date, look out for our next Internet Insights report in December 2020.