Plans Afoot To Make Switching Broadband Easy - Saving Consumers On Average £145.35

For immediate release: 3rd Feb 2021

Contact: Radaam Thirlway, radaam@comparefibre.co.uk, 07966 475843

- Ofcom today announces easier switching allows people to shop around with confidence to find the best price and service for their needs. (1)

- Compare Fibre reports this could save consumers an average of £145.35 on their contract (2)

- New plans will allow customers to switch quickly and will remove unnecessary difficulties or barriers that may stop customers going through with a switch (1)

-It could reduce the switching time down to one day and reduce the risk of loss of service during a switch (1)

Switching broadband provider can be a complicated process. On the one hand, it's not in the incumbent's interests to lose the customer and the revenue. Yet the entire switch hangs on the premise that the incumbent will be co-operative. Compare Fibre analysed 1000 customers who have changed the contract and the length of time it took to make the transition. On average the transfer took 98 days from start to finish. Based on an average broadband contract of £44.99 that's a consumer saving of £145.35.

Easy switching is always in the interests of the consumer. On average we see consumers getting more bandwidth for an average saving of £10-£12/month. Add that to the saving generated by switching more efficiently, and consumers could be looking at an overall reduction of nearly £400 on a 24-month contract. Not to mention the faster broadband service.

Elisabeth Gill, aged 70 from Stafford said, "Switching away from BT has been a nightmare. I have been a customer for 35 years, and it seems like that counts for nothing. I have had to make five calls to customer services; I must have been on the phone for hours. Without the help of my new provider, I nearly gave up. The switch would not have happened. Something needs to happen about this."

Nathan Hill-Haimes, Co-founder of Compare Fibre, said, "We welcome these moves by Ofcom. The deployment of full-fibre services makes this easily achievable; on rare occasions, we have seen full-fibre customers lucky enough to be able to switch providers within 2-3 days. Making this work for all services, especially those still using copper infrastructure is a significant step forward and consumers' interests.

We'd like to see Ocom go further though. If switching in a day is the aim we'd also welcome more flexible contract terms that allow the consumer to benefit from the cost-saving. No-one will want to pay for two services (one ceased, one activated) for 30days. So faster switching needs flexible contract termination terms too."

Sources:

(1) https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/simpler-broadband-switching

(2) Compare Fibre analysed 1000 customers who have changed the contract and the length of time it took to make the transition. On average the transfer took 98 days from start to finish. Based on an average broadband contract of £44.99 that's £145.35.


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