Save £303 with cheap broadband
Tuesday, 21 February 2006 12:00
As broadband increases in popularity, experts are warning that Britons could be paying over the odds for always-on internet.
Almost two UK internet users in three (64.2 per cent) now connect to the world wide web using broadband, but they could save as much as £303 a year by choosing the right provider, independent comparison service uSwitch.com reveals.
"These figures confirm that 2005 was a phenomenal year for broadband," said Blair Wadman, broadband product manager at uSwitch.
"It is not surprising to see the steady decline of dial-up as broadband becomes easily accessible throughout Britain. We expect dial-up services to become almost obsolete by the end of the year as more internet users switch to broadband to access video or other content reliant on a high-speed connection."
And the rise of broadband has seen many more companies come into the UK market - and compete to offer the best deal to Britons looking to subscribe.
"The influx of broadband providers last year caused huge competitive waves, and has resulted in a greater number of cheap and accessible broadband packages being available on the market," Mr Wadam explained.
"Prices may have levelled off in recent months, but demand for broadband-reliant content has proven to be the latest competitive playing field as music and video downloads becomes more prevalent.
"However, we fully expect a further price war before the summer as a result of mergers, acquisitions and local loop unbundling (LLU) which could result in broadband connections being widely available for less than £10 a month."
Local loop unbundling is the process by which telecoms firms gain access to the telephone cable connecting the local exchange to the customer's house. Without access to this, broadband providers must use the local telephone network's (typically BT in the UK) at the price it is rented to them by the people who own it.
But this is not the only factor driving up broadband use.
"We have witnessed huge marketing budgets being spent on promoting VoIP [internet telephones] services and we are certain IPTV [internet television] will be very high on the priority list for internet service providers this year. 2006 will be another extraordinary year for broadband - and the end of dial-up is inevitable."
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