Canadians working from home lose two work weeks a year to internet connection issues

Internet measurement company SamKnows launches new study to help Canadians better understand their internet performance


  • On average Canadians lose 19 minutes a day to internet connectivity issues; over a year, they lose 10 full business days
  • While 86 per cent of Canadians are satisfied with their ISP, 52 per cent still feel they overpay for internet services
  • When their internet slows down, 56 per cent of Canadians don’t know why it happens
  • Six in 10 describe themselves as internet savvy
  • When asked what they mostly use their home internet for, Canadians noted News (54%), Shopping (51%) and Socializing (50%) as the top three activities

TORONTO, May 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new survey conducted by SamKnows has found that Canadians aren’t getting the most bang for their buck from their home internet service providers (ISPs). At the end of 2020, approximately 50 per cent of employed Canadians were still working from home and on average, were losing 19 minutes a day to internet speed issues; over a full year, Canadians are losing 10 business days – two full work weeks – to poor internet.

“Canadians rely on their home networks for work, school, communication and entertainment, and poor internet performance impacts productivity, remote learning and their social lives,” said Roxanne Robinson, Director, Government & Academia, SamKnows. “Studying Canadian internet performance will provide users, regulators and ISPs with data that can improve internet for all Canadians.”

Through summer 2021, SamKnows is asking Canadians to sign up to take part in the Test My ISP study at TestMyISP.com. Volunteers approved to take part in the study will receive a free SamKnows Connected Home Kit. Measurement is performed by the Whitebox, a proprietary device that connects to home routers, providing detailed data reports to the user and anonymous benchmark broadband data to SamKnows.

“When their internet slows down, our survey found that about 56 per cent of Canadians don’t know why it happens,” said Roxanne Robinson, Director, Government & Academia, SamKnows. “The meaningful information the SamKnows Whitebox provides about users’ internet connections empowers them to make informed decisions about their internet and monitor any changes over time.”

The shift to remote work and learning for many Canadians due to COVID-19 placed new importance on a strong internet connection. When asked what they would rather do than lose internet for a full day, some tasks respondents chose were clean under the stove (22%), listen to elevator music all day (15%) and work a 12+ hour shift (14%).

Canadians can sign up at TestMyISP.com and volunteer to take part in the study. The free Connected Home Kits will be delivered to qualifying households and begin providing reports on speed, latency and application performance through the SamKnows Connected Home Dashboard within 24 hours of being connected.

About SamKnows

SamKnows measures, analyses and visualises internet quality of experience in realtime. We do this across entire countries, networks, homes and individual devices. We are trusted by governments, ISPs, application providers and consumers alike to provide accurate and actionable insights. In an increasingly complex connected world, SamKnows is able to spot faults as they are occurring and deliver notifications that are easy to understand and genuinely improve internet quality of experience.

Survey Methodology

These are some of the findings of a Maru/Blue Public Opinion Poll conducted among 1,485 randomly selected Canadian adults who have home Internet Services. A probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error of +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been weighted by education, age, gender and region (and in Québec, language) to match the population, according to Census data.

Contact:

Amy Gingerich
Argyle
agingerich@argylepr.com
416-464-0686

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3f82b1fc-74c4-45cb-94c7-9bf89285cb9d


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