The survey revealed that while young adults and people working from home are aware of such delays, more than one-third (34%) of over 55-year-olds are frequently affected by sluggish internet connections.
The population in urban areas, (cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants) reported limitations in internet speeds more often than those in rural areas.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, large portions of daily life shifted to the internet, revealing its shortcomings particularly in rural areas.
But according to the research, coverage in rural areas was better than in big cities, from the users’ point of view.
41% of respondents in big cities claimed they had faced internet limitations.
“The fact that the qualitative perception of the existing Internet connection among the population in the countryside, in medium-sized cities, and in large cities shows little difference is something that surprised us,” says Harald A. Summa, CEO of DE-CIX.
Summa believes it is essential to roll out digital infrastructure in Germany through the building of more data centres and internet exchanges.
“Is it because the Internet really is worse in the large German cities, or are those who live there simply more demanding? One thing is certain: following the German government’s recent cabinet decision on the right to 'fast' Internet, there is a concrete need for action on the part of all digital infrastructure providers nationwide with regards to latency,” he adds.
“The target is a maximum of 150 milliseconds – and we are a long way from achieving this, not just in remote areas, due to the slow rollout of fibre-optic networks, for example. This was impressively demonstrated in our study.”
