UK households concerned by rising broadband prices, EY study reveals

More than half of UK households (64%) are concerned about annual broadband price increases according to the latest EY Decoding the Digital Home study. The survey of 2000 UK consumers, which reviews attitudes towards technology, media and telecoms (TMT) found that the majority of consumers think price increases are unfair and unreasonable (66%) and are difficult to understand (48%).

The volatile geopolitical environment may influence supplier choices in new ways

With consumers continuing to scrutinise their spending on connectivity and content, geopolitical sensitivities are prompting some households to question their supplier choices. This is most apparent in attitudes to onshore customer service staff. Just over a quarter (28%) of households say they will prioritise connectivity providers with customer agents based in their own country, a figure that rises to 33% for respondents aged 25-34 years old. Meanwhile, one in five respondents say they’ll prioritise technology manufacturers (19%) and content producers (20%) based in their home countries, where possible.

Adrian Baschnonga, EY Global Telecommunications Lead Analyst, said: “Consumer anxiety over pricing continues to persist, and fastmoving geopolitical dynamics are increasingly shaping how households think about the providers they rely on. While perceptions of value for money remain broadly stable, earning greater share of wallet now extends far beyond competitive pricing alone — it hinges on trust, resilience, and the ability to deliver seamless, reliable experiences. 

“Providers must emphasise the strength of their core services while exploring carefully targeted opportunities to diversify, ensuring that innovation does not come at the expense of customer or data protection. At the same time, every stakeholder interaction needs to reflect a heightened geopolitical awareness, recognising that the ground is shifting quickly and that organisations must adapt with equal agility.”

Broadband reliability in focus

This year’s survey reveals the proportion of UK households that often suffer poor reliability remains the same at 23% year-on-year. Nevertheless, unreliable connections remain a significant challenge for certain groups. 36% of households with five or more occupants often experience reliability problems.

The findings highlight several contributing factors to poor network reliability: slower speeds in certain locations of the home (26%)ranking first and network outages second (23%). Uneven performance, depending on user location or number of people online is a bigger issue for 18-24 year olds (41%), while slower speeds in certain parts of the home are most likely for households with four occupants (34%) and those with five or more (37%). 

Adrian Baschnonga added: “Network outages and disappointing speeds are enduring challenges for UK broadband users, particularly younger and larger households. Connectivity providers must recognize how network quality impacts every aspect of service delivery and improve their customer promises around broadband reliability.”

More than one-third of UK customers have recently switched or plan to switch

Thirty-seven percent of households have either recently switched providers or say they plan to do so in the next 12 months. Cost savings are the leading rationale cited by recent or future switchers (46%), but other factors such as poor network quality, poor customer experience and limited-service portfolios account for more than half of reasons given for switching. 

Those seeking savings are looking for a lower headline price (33%) but introductory offers (30%), improved price promises (24%) and the opportunity to reduce overall connectivity expenditure by opting for fixed-mobile bundles (13%) also play a role. Among younger users, price promises and introductory offers are as important as cheaper monthly rates, highlighting the importance of agile pricing strategies for broadband providers targeting price-sensitive users.

There is resistance to broadband upgrades while loyalty conceals inertia

With availability of fibre-to-the-home broadband increasing in many countries, service providers are keen to migrate users to higher-speed packages. However, UK households cite several reasons not to upgrade, led by lack of need for faster broadband (27%); inability to afford the highest speed packages on the market (19%); unable to justify the higher cost for marginal benefit (15%) and unavailable where they live (13%). 

According to the study, some customers who remain loyal to their current provider are not entirely satisfied. Two-thirds (68%) of non-switching households are happy with their current provider, other reasons for staying are driven by apathy, fear and frustration. One in 10 (11%) don’t see any benefits in switching; 8% find the switching process too complex; and 1 in 10 (9%) fear that moving could lead to inferior connection quality or customer service.

Disruption ahead as satellite and FWA gain favour 

The survey shows that 33% of respondents are interested in satellite home broadband. Satellite’s perceived high costs are an important factor in stopping consumers from switching, with 43% of households believing that, compared with fixed broadband, satellite connectivity is too expensive. There is, however, greater openness to satellite connectivity as an add-on to existing mobile packages, to provide remote connectivity in rural areas: 38% signal interest for this purpose, and 34% say they are willing to pay a premium for mobile packages with direct-to-device (D2D) satellite capabilities. Younger consumers are markedly more receptive to D2D capabilities, with 52% of 18- to 24-year-olds expressing interest. 

Adrain explained: “This is encouraging news for mobile operators. They have been striking partnerships with satellite providers over the last year, and with enhanced mobile packages in mind, there are encouraging signs that mobile customers would be prepared to pay a premium for back-up connectivity.” 

Bundles remain in demand although households seek improved broadband and TV packages

For service providers looking to counter disruptive forces and reduce churn, bundling remains critical to the value proposition. Broadband bundles with TV (41%) and mobile phones (22%) are most popular – and an even higher proportion of survey respondents say they are likely to take these services in the future. 

However, many households are looking for improved TV bundles – 35% cite a better mix of channels, live TV and dedicated streaming apps as the major improvement they would like to see, followed by more transparent pricing options for different content combinations (28%). Meanwhile, other forms of broadband packages have plenty of headroom for growth. For example, 8% of households currently have broadband which includes security and digital wellbeing features but 47% would be likely to purchase this type of package in the future. 

AI assistance is welcomed, but human touch remains vital 

The survey shows that customer expectations, whether related to bundle value propositions or subscription methods, are changing fast. At the same time, customer journeys are also adapting to new tools and capabilities. Generative AI (GenAI) is now an established element of service discovery: 6% of consumers say that they use AI tools as their first port of call when exploring a purchase. And for users aged under 35 years, these tools (10%) rank ahead of price comparison websites (9%) when they’re planning to purchase a smart home device. Most age groups say they find AI search summaries more useful and trustworthy than traditional online searches, although users aged 55 and above still express reservations. 

While consumers are using new tools to research and compare connectivity products before purchasing, they are still lukewarm about using chatbots in their interactions with broadband customer support. While attachment to call centres is fading – 40% favour them as their preferred method of contacting their service provider, down from 45% last year – the proportion who prefer chatbots stands at 19%.

The findings reveal several concerns among consumers about having to rely on chatbots or virtual assistance. Twenty-fine per cent say they prefer human interactions even if chatbots deliver responses of the same quality, 28% fear that chatbots would struggle to understand queries and 16% are concerned that chatbots provide inaccurate or irrelevant solutions.

Rob Atkinson, EY UK&I Technology, Media and Telecommunications Market Leader, added: “For service providers, the growing use of AI tools on the path to purchase has the potential to dramatically shorten customer journeys. To stay ahead, providers must adapt their marketing strategies by optimizing for conversational AI, ensuring that key benefits and value propositions are prominently featured in website copy and that customer reviews are easily accessible by AI tools. We’ve seen a 12% increase since 2024 in people saying they would struggle to communicate an issue without speaking to a human directly. This growing preference for human contact means creating an effective blend between chatbots and human agents is even more essential, including the ability to detect signs of frustration and the provision of “full context chatbot-to-human hand-offs”