Consumers warned about putting price over quality with broadband

A broadband industry official has warned consumers about the risks associated with putting price over quality when it comes to broadband.

With competition getting ever fiercer between the variety of Internet Service Providers in operation today, consumers have been able to enjoy the ability to get highly competitive deals on their broadband service, with prices having fallen considerably over recent years. This has given consumers increased accessibility and affordability when it comes to getting online via broadband.

However, for many people price is the most important factor when choosing a broadband provider, and one industry official has warned that whilst there is no doubt that price is an important consideration consumers should also be aware of the risks of choosing a broadband service based on price over quality.

He said: “To view broadband purely based on price is to adopt an extremely narrow perspective that could do consumers more harm than good. Take electricity as an example, if you change supplier and spend less the product itself does not change, electricity

He added: “By comparison, broadband is a much more dynamic service where paying less can mean a significantly lower quality of service, support and features. It should come as no real surprise that many consumers are often forced to face such problems when the product they buy might not be giving the ISP enough revenue to adequately reinvest in their network.”

He concluded: “There are of course exceptions to every rule, with both O2 and Sky Broadband having achieved more success balancing service reliability with lower prices than most. Similarly, provided people accept that cheaper services are a gamble and avoid getting too frustrated when problems occur, those savings can be worth the risk.”