Most Britons don’t know what their internet speed is

Data from YouGov Profiles can reveal that three in five (57%) Britons say they “don’t know” what their internet speed is. 

Among those who DO know, three in ten (30%) say their speed can exceed 100mbps, while 34% say it can reach heights of 50-100 mbps. Some 16% say their top speed is between 20-40mbps, while 7% say 10-16mbps. Almost one in ten (8%) have a speed below 10 mbps.

Now, given that most people don’t know what their headline speeds are, this might say more about the kind of person who knows what their internet speed is than it does about the general public. Along gender lines, 69% of men know what their top broadband speed is compared to 31% of women. Looking at age, however, shows that you can’t necessarily assume younger people will know their top speed: 57% of 18-34s don’t know it either, compared to 51% of 35-54 year olds and 63% of Britons aged over 55. 

We might reasonably assume that Britons who work from home are more likely to know their internet speed – and we’d be partially right: 50% say they know what it is, and 50% do not. A bigger predictor, however, is whether or not you play online video games: among Britons who are subscribed to a digital gaming service (e.g. Steam, the Xbox store, PSN), just 40% don’t know what their internet speed is, while 60% do. 

So for broadband providers across the nation, it’s worth understanding that not everyone knows what their internet speed is, and may not care. Certain audiences, however, may be more interested than others. 

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YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.