@wrayal wrote:
So essentially they are counting on the fact that it's a pain to renew/switch, and exploiting customers accordingly. Nice work guys.
Does anyone know any suppliers who are known to be better about this? When I switch, it would be nice to have a supplier I can stay with!
Smaller ISPs don't play the "massive discount, followed by massive price" game, and many offer much better customer service, and that's why I've taken my business to Aquiss. IDnet, uno, AAISP, CIX are similarly rated for customer service, or there's Zen Internet who hold a middle ground position between them and the large ISPs amongst whom there's not much to choose. If cost is more important than customer service, then you're probably looking to take up the cheapest new customer offer from a large ISP, and then switch if they won't readily renew at a good price when your fixed term ends. Note as well the inflation plus increases now built in by most of the larger ISPs - that'll increase the price next April without you being able to cancel or renegotiate, leaving you paying a wacking great increase for another 5-6 months of an 18 month contract (or a year, for anybody daft enough to sign a two year deal).
However, if you want to buy a TV package, then there's not many to choose from, and most offer bundled internet with that. You might consider a smaller ISP and a Sky TV package? There's a good discussion of your choices over at ISP Review, although the article was written before this year's price increase round hit. This post in the VM forum may be worth a read as well.
