Businesses lose an average of 11 hours a week to connectivity issues, despite growing access to full fibre

Poor in-premises WiFi is quietly draining productivity from UK small businesses, according to new research from Zen Internet.

Half (49%) of senior business decision makers say WiFi coverage inside their premises limits the value they get from their broadband connection. Yet the same portion (50%) say their business has access to full fibre.

The findings point to a growing disconnect between infrastructure rollout and real-world experience inside business premises.

Connectivity disruption is widespread. On average, businesses experience WiFi disruption 13 times a month. Six per cent face issues every day, while more than six in 10 experience problems at least two to three days a week.

And resulting productivity losses are significant. Businesses estimate they lose an average of 11 hours per week due to WiFi issues, with 42% saying they lose between 11 and 15 hours.

The commercial impact according to senior business executives are reported as:

• 23% say it disrupts communication with customers or suppliers
• 22% say it prevents them running cloud-based tools
• 22% say it directly slows down operations
• 22% say it leads to lost sales or missed opportunities
• 21% say it stops them taking digital payments

Nearly four in 10 (39%) say they lose revenue because of poor WiFi, and 44% say they cannot afford to keep experiencing service interruptions.

Confidence is also affected. Almost half (47%) say they would feel more confident in their business success if they could ensure better connectivity. The same proportion say WiFi is as critical to their business as a good shopfront or website.

Jon Nowell, managing director of Zen’s business division, said: “Full fibre rollout is transforming UK connectivity, but speed alone isn’t enough. If WiFi inside the building can’t keep up, businesses won’t see the benefit. Reliable in-premises connectivity is now essential infrastructure for organisations.”

Zen has launched eero Business to address this gap. Eero Business is a WiFi system for small businesses that combines high-performance fibre with intelligent mesh WiFi to deliver reliable, consistent coverage across offices, retail spaces and hospitality venues. It offers eero’s mesh WiFi hardware with business features like guest networks, security and network controls all manged through an app.

To learn more visit: zen.co.uk/business.