ISPreview Study Finds UK People Don't Want Costly Phone and Internet Switching

London, United Kingdom, July 17, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Some 62% of respondents to a new web-based ISPreview.co.uk survey, which was conducted with 536 Internet users in the United Kingdom, have said that they find the current process of switching between home broadband and phone providers to be confusing (38% did not find it confusing) and 93% support the telecoms regulators (Ofcom) efforts to simplify the system. But cost could be a problem.

The study claims that the current migration system doesn't work across all platforms and sometimes incurs extra costs or downtime, which can allegedly leave consumers feeling both confused and frustrated. But Ofcom has been busy developing a “simpler and more reliable” solution for people who want to switch providers, which is due to be unveiled this summer.

But support for Ofcom's development of a simplified migration process dropped from 93% to just 27% when consumers were asked whether they would continue to support the process if it caused their subscription price to rise or incurred an extra charge (23% were undecided and 50.5% said "No").

"Consumers would clearly benefit from a faster and more effective migration system for home phone and broadband services," said ISPreview.co.uk's Founder, Mark Jackson. "Our survey clearly shows overwhelming support for this but not without a few caveats."

"Ofcom has been actively developing such a solution, which has proven to be extremely complex, for almost three years. During this time the regulator has had to overcome a mountain of disagreements between ISPs and other technical obstacles. Never the less, consumers don't want to see extra costs creating a new barrier to switching," concluded Mark Jackson.