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A quarter of broadband users pay extra charges
Tuesday 23rd December 2008, by Daniel King
A recent survey has revealed that over one-quarter of broadband customers in the UK pay unexpected charges on their bills, according to a recent study.
The moneysupermarket.com survey found that as many as 27 per cent of people in the UK pay extra for set-up costs, paper billing and non-direct debit payment, reports ITProPortal.com.
When added together, the additional costs come to an average of £36 for each customer per year.
Paper billing accounted for nine per cent of the extra costs accrued by broadband users, while non-direct debit payments make up seven per cent of the extra fees.
The survey also revealed that around a quarter of broadband users in the UK do not read their contracts properly.
A total of eight per cent do not bother to read the terms and conditions at all.
Apparently around 60 per cent of Virgin Media customers, 65 per cent of BT subscribers and 53 per cent of Sky customers were totally unfamiliar with the extra costs they might need to pay.
Over 4.5 million households were affected by additional charges, which added up to around £160 million per annum.
Internet users who are unhappy with the amount they pay might wish to change their internet service providers (ISPs).
In related news, ISPs could soon be charging customers up to £20 each month to use the BBC iPlayer in an attempt to control excessive bandwidth use during peak times.
A recent report by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s fourth quarter technical review interview with BBC's controller for vision and online media Anthony Rose revealed that up to seven per cent of the bandwidth use between 18:00 GMT and 23:00 GMT is taken up by the iPlayer.
Categories: Broadband, Broadband Products, BT, Virgin Media, Sky
