Pursuit of a Better Deal Encourages Most UK Consumers to Switch ISP

A new survey of 8,000 UK people by Which? has revealed the top reasons why people switch broadband ISP. Unsurprisingly 25% of those who had switched did so because they found a better deal with a new provider but poor customer service (18%), price hikes (12%), slow speeds (9%) and connection problems (7%) are also triggers.

In terms of finding a better deal the study noted that 40% of Zen Internet’s former subscribers said they’d left in pursuit of a better deal, while EE, TalkTalk and the Post Office were the most likely to benefit from such activity with 4 in 10 of their customers joining due to being offered a better deal. At this point it’s worth noting that Zen is one of the most highly rated providers and has recently been dropping their prices (example).

Meanwhile one of the most common problems with the biggest ISPs is that their post-contract prices have a tendency to rise significantly after your initial discount term has ended, although if you’re happy with the service then it’s often worth trying to renegotiate the price before switching (see our Retention Tips guide).

Speaking of finding better deals, price hikes were highlight as the reason for 18% for customers choosing to leave BT, which rises to 20% for former Sky Broadband subscribers.

Summary of Other Findings

* 7% of TalkTalk’s customers switched ISP due to customer service issues.

* 37% of those who switched to Zen did so because their old ISP suffered customer service issues, which falls to 25% for those who switched to SSE and Utility Warehouse.

* 32% of those who switched to Virgin Media did so in pursuit of faster speeds, which makes sense given that they have the fastest widely available network for download performance with top speeds of 500Mbps+.

Sadly Which? does not provide a full summary of the results for each ISP or detail their survey methodology and dates etc.