Rolling out broadband infrastructure remains mission critical for the British public, and a new report from the Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) shows that 78% believe that everyone in the UK should be able to access high-speed internet.
Mon, 30/06/2025 - 14:03
Openreach has combined its own data of internet usage with a study of household behaviours to show the country’s broadband habits, mapping the UK cities by their online activity.
In the first research of its kind to mark 25 years of home broadband in the UK, the combined data and extensive consumer research maps the UK cities by their online activity.
The results show that the city where the average family spends the most overall time online is Sheffield - with a third (32%) saying they spend more than five hours online per day compared to 11% in Brighton, the city with the lowest overall time online.
The data also revealed the times of the day people were most likely to be online across different areas, with the busiest hour of the day for internet usage in the UK in 2025 is between 8-9pm, followed by 9-10pm and then 7-8pm.
The survey also found that more than six in 10 (64%) people spend time online between the “Do Not Disturb” hours of 11pm and 6am - with watching video channels (19%) emerging as the most common internet usage during these times, followed by internet shopping (17%).
Only a third (34%) of UK adults don’t engage with any online activities during off-peak hours, meaning two thirds likely do.
Manchester and London are the cities in which people are most likely to use their phones between the “Do Not Disturb” - with 74% saying they are regularly online between the hours of 11pm and 6am.
The research coincides with the 25th anniversary of the first UK home broadband connection - which was installed in Basildon, Essex in April 2000.
And it revealed that checking e-mails was the most common online activity for UK adults, with 66% placing this in their “top 5 most common online activities” outside of work, followed by general browsing in the top five for 59% of people, using messaging apps (55%), and online shopping (49%).
A quarter of people (26%) say that faster internet speeds help in cutting down their time online - enabling them to ‘speed up to slow down’, with 34% saying if they spent less hours using devices and connected technology at home, they’d be able to communicate better with their families.
