Slow broadband is an issue for children, study reveals

Home internetMany students in the UK get affected by internet related issues like slow broadband speed, a latest study has revealed.

According to uSwitch survey, more parents in urban places (28%) complained over internet problems, when compared to just 5% of rural parents who raised these issues.

15% of parents stated that slow broadband speed is a problem when their children need to go online to find information related to their home work.

A quarter of parents who were questioned in the survey said sluggish broadband during peak time impacted the education of their children.

Over-all, more than a third of parents just complained that internet problems which included poor broadband access did not allow the kids to complete their homework as  half of the homework requires good broadband access.

On average, a school student aged 5-18 spends 4 hours per week on their homework, the study showed. Nearly, three-fourths of the parents also believed that internet is just an essential part of child’s education. However, 7% of the participants admitted that their children just do their studies without the help of internet.

While Wikipedia and BBC Bitesize are often accessed by children, YouTube is another website that they visit frequently (40%), the survey results show.

Various devices are being used by students to get access to internet including laptop (61%), tablets (54%) and smartphones (37%), parents said.