Study Reveals: The Broadband Terms Brits Understand the Least
It’s no secret that trying to understand broadband jargon can leave you feeling exhausted and frustrated, especially when the terms are important to your home living.
This inspired broadband experts at BroadbandDeals.com to find out which technical broadband terms Brits find the most confusing.
To do this, BroadbandDeals.com trawled through thousands of broadband-related terms and collated a list of the 20 most common. They then surveyed 4,200 Brits to see how many terms they understood, and how many they didn’t.
The Results
The Terms Brits Don’t Understand
| Terms | % DON’T Understand | Average Monthly Searches |
| Throttling | 81% | 6,600 |
| 5G | 72% | 74,000 |
| Openreach | 68% | 49,500 |
| WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) | 68% | 135,000 |
| Download Speed | 66% | 18,100 |
| IP Address | 65% | 74,000 |
| VPN (Virtual Private Network) | 59% | 165,000 |
| Fibre Optic Broadband | 55% | 4,400 |
| Bandwidth | 54% | 9,900 |
| Upload Speed | 47% | 2,400 |
| Data Transfer Rate | 44% | 170 |
Receiving a whopping 81% of votes, the term Brits understand least is “Throttling”. According to Google’s Keyword Planner, “Throttling” has an estimated 6,600 monthly searches in the UK.
BroadbandDeals.com can reveal that this term refers to internet service providers purposely slowing down internet connections. It is commonly used during peak times of broadband usage.
Placing second for confusing broadband terms is “5G” with 72% of votes. “5G” has over 74,000 monthly UK searches, with an additional 22,000 searches for “what is 5G?”. 5G is the next development of mobile technology and is said to be much faster than 4G.
Following in joint third place with 68% of votes, are the terms “Openreach” and “WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)”. The term “Openreach” has 49,500 monthly searches in the UK and “Wireless Application Protocol” has a whopping 135,000.
In fourth place is the term “Download Speed” (66%), with 18,100 UK monthly searches, and in fifth place is “IP Address” with 65% and 74,000 monthly searches.
The Terms Brits Do Understand
| Terms | % DO Understand | Average Monthly Searches |
| GB (Gigabyte) | 87% | 18,100 |
| Superfast Broadband | 82% | 3,600 |
| Streaming | 82% | 18,100 |
| Broadband Speed | 77% | 27,100 |
| Malware | 72% | 18,100 |
| Router | 71% | 49,500 |
| Anti-malware | 69% | 1,900 |
| Traffic | 69% | * |
| Usage Allowance | 65% | 100 |
| Upload Speed | 53% | 2,400 |
| Bandwidth | 46% | 9,900 |
The broadband term Brits understood the most, and with 87% of votes, is “Gigabyte”. The term reaches 18,100 monthly UK searches on average and is used to detail the size of computer files and memory capacity.
Placing in joint second are “Superfast Broadband” and “Streaming” with 82% of participants familiar with their definitions. “Superfast Broadband” reaches 3,600 average monthly searches and searches for “Streaming” reaches just over 18,000.
In third place is “Broadband Speed” with 77%, in fourth place is “Malware” (72%) and in fifth place is “Router” (71%).
For a more detailed explanation on each broadband term, please visit the blog post.
