The market for home broadband is increasingly complex and competitive, and as a result www.pricerunner.co.uk has launched a one-stop shop broadband comparison section to its site, whilst running a survey on what influences consumers to choose one provider over another.

The survey has revealed that the monthly cost for running broadband at home is the most important factor for consumers when choosing a broadband provider. From 1094 consumers who responded to the online survey, a substantial 38.5% of respondents stated that a low monthly charge was the deciding factor. The second most important factor selected was a fast download / upload speed, at 19.9% of respondents.

The battle for broadband dominance in the home market continued this month (August), as NTL announced an increase to a minimum 10Mbps connection with no extra cost than their previous 3Mbps service – the standard across the rest of the industry is only 2Mbps. It is expected that the much increased bandwidth will enable consumers to take advantage of the amount of rich multimedia content now in frequent use.

Whilst the bandwidth is increasing, the cost of broadband is continuing to fall. It’s possible to install broadband at home for as little as £13.75 per month, but PriceRunner urges consumers to review the full contract details before selecting a provider. Additional ‘one-off’ set up costs can vary between £25.00 and £70.00 but just 6.9% of respondents to the survey deemed these important. A short term binding contract was important to just 4.1% of respondents.

Current broadband providers offer contracts that include no binding term or three, six or twelve month binding terms. The recently added broadband category on www.pricerunner.co.uk provides customers an easily accessible overview of all the best broadband deals available in there area. PriceRunner displays the price, download and upload speed, set up costs and contract terms all in one place.

The survey also showed that 58.7% of respondents would review both well known brands and smaller providers when they look for a new broadband provider. When asked what swung their decision to choose a particular provider, reliability was the second most important factor after price at 27.1%.

Gary Goodman, Marketing Director at PriceRunner said: “The cost of broadband is decreasing whilst bandwidth speed is increasing. This is fantastic news for consumers and it shows – more and more consumers are getting online as it becomes more affordable for them*.”

“Even though deals are advertised with low monthly costs, companies can include hidden charges. It pays to do a little research on PriceRunner, so that consumers get the deal that is right for them and that provides enough flexibility to switch should prices continue to come down.”
* = a recent survey from the Office of National Statistics showed that 52% of households in the UK could access the internet at home, compared with just 9% in 1998.

The full results of the survey are as follows: