Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
New research from Broadband Genie, which recently interviewed 3,997 broadband bill payers over a 4-month period, claims to have identified the “worst” ten locations in the UK for “broadband overspend” (i.e. where consumers are out of contract and thus paying more than if they were to switch ISP for a better deal). Wolverhampton tops the table with an overspend of £292.56.
The study compares the average spend in each area with the hypothetical savings customers could make over a 12-month period. On average, broadband customers overspend £183.60 and over the Black Friday period, this can top £230. Annually, this is claimed to equate to £2 billion a year. Across the UK, some 8.8 million customers are estimated by the study to be out of contract and thus free to switch to something cheaper.
The somewhat anecdotal results found that Wolverhampton bill payers overspend the most for broadband than any other area in the UK (£292.56), although the differences between the listed locations were overall found to be fairly small (possibly reflecting some differences in network and ISP availability).
Top 10 cities which overpay the most on broadband
| City | How much are they overspending? |
| Wolverhampton | £292.56 |
| Wrexham | £280.32 |
| Liverpool | £278.88 |
| Gloucester | £276.36 |
| Exeter | £276.24 |
| Birmingham | £269.76 |
| Manchester | £269.52 |
| Cambridge | £269.16 |
| Hull | £267.24 |
| Leeds | £263.52 |
As usual, we feel it’s important to take opinion surveys like this with a fairly big pinch of salt, since they often reflect highly subjective analysis that doesn’t consider the wider context for each consumer decision. How we all value our broadband package and ISP tends to differ, and many of us value quality and support over getting the cheapest price. Likewise, not all ISPs play the post-contract price hikes game.
Suffice to say that how each of us chooses to value the service we receive is different and can’t always be whittled down to an assumption of “overspend” vs the cheapest available deal from another provider. On the other hand, it’s always wise to keep your options open and do a bit of research to identify comparable providers and packages that might suit.
The alternative avenue, which tends to be more viable with the largest providers, is to try haggling for a better deal – see our Retentions Tips article for some help on that. The above survey doesn’t seem to have considered whether those they questioned had already secured a better deal with their existing ISP.