Parents being pressured into upgrading to faster broadband by kids as young as 5

ONE in 10 parents have changed their broadband provider – due to demands of their children.

A study, of 2,000 parents with children still at home, found 48 per cent feel pressured by their offspring to make decisions around the house.

Kids, aged between five and eight, were found to be most demanding when it comes to the internet, and spend on average two hours a day using it – from streaming to gaming.

And almost a third of parents (31 per cent) said their children use it for more than four hours-a-day – adding up to around two continuous months of usage a year.

The same amount (31 per cent) admitted to threatening to turn off Wi-Fi as punishment, which led to arguments in 53 per cent of cases.

After recent Ofcom reports of YouTube becoming the first place younger viewers go after they switch on their TV sets, the need for powerful home streaming is more important than ever.

Stephen Warburton, MD of Zen Internet’s consumer division, which commissioned the survey, said: “With summer holidays upon us, the demand for fast, reliable internet at home is only going to rise.

“With so many connected devices – from games consoles to smart TVs – competing for bandwidth, it’s crucial to have a connection that can handle it all.

“Otherwise buffering could be a permanent feature when you are streaming, gaming, and taking video calls.

“The news this week of YouTube being more popular than ever among younger viewers highlights this need for a robust connection.”

The study also found 32 per cent of parents believe their children are ‘addicted’ to the services that come from the internet.

With children being off school, 54 per cent of parents expect their internet usage to go up over the summer holidays.

Almost two thirds of children use the internet most for gaming (61 per cent), followed by watching YouTube or streaming platforms (60 per cent) and TV or films (57 per cent) reflecting the findings in Ofcom’s report.

To combat over-use, more than half (55 per cent) of parents have implemented limits on how long their children can use the internet for.

Of those parents surveyed that also work from home, a third (33 per cent) admitted their child is a distraction when they’re off school during the work day.

Highlighting the difficulties with broadband – 24 per cent of home workers admitted slow internet speed was their greatest challenge, according to the OnePoll.com figures.

And to overcome it 34 per cent have taken to sitting by the router to get the best possible connection – and 35 per cent have told others to disconnect so they got priority access.

The spokesperson for Zen Internet added: “When you are working from home a slow broadband connection can be a roadblock for productivity.

“By doing a simple internet speed test you can develop a great understanding of whether you are getting what you should be.

“A download speed of around 100Mbps is recommended to seamlessly game and take video calls concurrently, although if there is considerable usage you may consider going for a higher speeds.”