Reliability and compensation report: the impact of poor business fibre connectivity
October 1, 2025
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4
min read
Highlights
The 2024 Reliability and Compensation report puts a value on just how much internet outages cost businesses. Last year, economic productivity in London lost £5.7 billion because of connectivity outages. ISPs should compete on the quality of their networks, to drive performance improvements and better serve the business community.
In today's digital world, unreliable business internet connections are costing businesses and damaging the UK economy.
Our recent Reliability and Compensation Report, authored by Assembly Research, using data from the ONS and a survey conducted by YouGov, revealed that: 51% of UK fixed business connectivity customers experienced an outage in the past year, but 61% of those affected never received compensation.
Your business internet service provider (ISP) should make promises (in the form of a robust and transparent Service Level Agreement (SLA)) about keeping your business connected.
If they won’t make contractual promises, that says a lot about their confidence in their network. Automatic compensation would hold them to account.
The reality of internet outages
Digital connectivity is a cornerstone of business operations, and the economic repercussions of poor connectivity are very real.
19% of businesses with a business internet contract experienced more than three outages in the past year.
Overall, the UK economy lost £17.6 billion due to fixed business connectivity outages in the past year, with London businesses alone losing £5.7 billion.
Even brief outages that might have been tolerated ten years ago significantly impact productivity today. We’re more reliant on connectivity than ever before. And that’s only going to increase.
Tim Creswick, Founder and CEO of Vorboss, says:
“ISPs should all be incentivised to compete on quality – that would force an uplift in network performance, and in turn drive a much-needed economic boost.”
The problem with getting money back
Even though connectivity outages are common, not many businesses receive compensation.
Only 35% of UK fixed business connectivity customers who experienced an outage in the last twelve months received compensation.
Based on a sample of current tariffs, a meagre average of only £7.53 in direct financial compensation would have been available for the average outage time.
Businesses depend on the internet for everything from internal functions, like cloud-based services, to external interactions with suppliers and customers, so it’s critical they can trust their internet to work.
Especially as our demands on internet infrastructure increase.
The power of the SLA
Many businesses are not aware of the promises—if any —that their internet provider has made, or what they should receive if there’s a problem.
23% of UK fixed business connectivity customers were unsure whether their contracts included SLAs, and 21% didn’t know if their contract specified compensation arrangements if certain service quality levels weren’t met.
This makes it hard for them to ask for money back when things go wrong and suggests that there's a significant change is needed in how internet providers talk to their business customers.
When asked why they hadn’t asked for compensation, 44% of UK fixed business connectivity customers believed the claim wasn't worth the time and effort.
34% didn't bother to ask because they didn’t expect to receive any compensation.
Customers should be the priority, and getting automatic compensation when things go wrong is one way to make sure they are treated fairly.
While being compensated for internet outages doesn't fully make up for lost productivity, clear promises and automatic money back when things go wrong are essential to ensure that networks are competing on quality. And they’re essential to enabling businesses to make an informed choice about the provider that’s best for them.
For detailed statistics and insights that can guide your decision-making, read the complete Reliability and Compensation Report.
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2. Landlords need building tech designed around real users
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3. Smarter use of existing infrastructure can cut costs and increase efficiency
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- Adjust heating, lighting, and cleaning schedules based on actual usage.
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Are you looking for commercial technology solutions?
Vorboss can support your entire digital infrastructure: connectivity, pre-fibering, managed IT, and cybersecurity, all from a single provider. Through our acquisition of Layer8, we can help you automate building management and make day-to-day operations easier and more efficient.
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Internet connectivity is the lifeblood of modern businesses, powering operations, communication, and growth. But not all “fibre” connections are created equal.
All connections use fibre at some level, but performance, reliability, and guarantees vary depending on the underlying network. Choosing the right type of connection now can save downtime, frustration, and cost in the future.
In this guide, we'll explore key factors when selecting the ideal business internet provider to keep you connected and thriving.
Understand the connection types
Here’s a quick comparison of the three main fibre-based connections available to businesses:
FTTC and FTTP may work for small teams or low-risk work, but DIA is the only connection built for business-critical reliability, speed, and consistent performance.
Ask yourself these questions
Before comparing providers, clarify your internal needs:
- How critical is uptime for your business operations?
- Which teams rely heavily on cloud apps, video conferencing, or large file transfers?
- How much bandwidth do we need now, and how much will we need in 2–5 years?
- Are upload speeds as important as download speeds for our workflows?
- Would temporary downtime cause financial or reputational damage?
This self-assessment helps you match connection types to your business requirements.
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