Need broadband? Ready to switch? Get fair, unbiased advice in a language you understand so you make the right choice.
Ofcom reports on consumer experience
(21-11-07) - Although broadband costs are falling, the number of satisfied consumers is actually falling according to Ofcom’s Consumer Experience report, published yesterday.
Since 2002, the average monthly price for a broadband connection has dropped from £29.83 to just £14.73 at the end of 2006.
However, Ofcom reports that both the percentage of consumers who are very satisfied with their broadband supplier, and the proportion who state switching ISP is easy, is decreasing.
This is despite the actioning of General Condition 22 earlier this year to make MAC codes mandatory for all ADSL providers. And although Ofcom says it has been a success, regulation has not managed to keep up with the fast-changing broadband market where migrations involving full local loop unbundled (LLU) lines and partial LLU still cause problems.
On a more positive note, the report showed that consumers “continue to have an increased choice of broadband provider,” with 67 per cent of the UK connected to a LLU exchange, 46 per cent in a cable area and 99 per cent connected to standard ADSL.
But even with the choice of offer, 21 per cent of people questioned could name only one broadband provider - and eight per cent couldn’t name any. When questioned about their connection speed, 47 per cent did not know, though 73 per cent were able to say whether it was more or less than 0.5Mb after being prompted.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “While there is still a long way to go in terms of broadband awareness, but these figures still represent an improvement from the previous year when 23 per cent of people couldn’t name a single provider.
“ISPs have been in the press a lot this year, and although a lot of that coverage has been over poor speeds, it does raise awareness and help consumers to make sure that they think about the products that they’re buying and don’t throw their money away on unnecessarily high download limits, for example.”
contact us 
