Need for speed?
Brits waste over £700m by picking broadband services based on speeds instead of their actual needs.
According to a study by O2 of over 2000 UK consumers, millions of people in the UK are wasting their money, with the average customer forking out for a package of up to 20Mbs per month despite most people only requiring an 8Mbs package for the services they use.
"This means that UK broadband users could be wasting over £700 million every year on speeds they simply do not need," said O2.
When asked what people most used their broadband for, the survey found the majority of respondents' online activities required low bandwidth. Around 77 percent of people said they use broadband for email, while 74 percent browse the web. Just over half of Brits pay bills and use online banking, while over a third predominantly spend their time on social networks.
According to O2, services requiring high bandwidth and pricier broadband packages are seldom used. Just 18 percent of people use broadband for streaming multimedia content such as watching TV online or listing to web radio stations, while just 5 percent download music and 3 percent download films, the survey found.
Felix Geyr, head of O2 Home and Broadband, said over 60 percent of broadband consumers would prefer their internet service provider to offer packages based on their specific needs, rather than speed.
"Our industry needs to tailor its services to people's needs, help consumers understand exactly what they should be buying and avoid marketing based solely on speed. It would be much more transparent if we took the same ‘a la carte' approach offered to customers buying digital TV packages, where people can opt in to obtain more expensive services like film and sport," Geyr added.
Here is a table where O2 outline its 'tailored' broadband packages.
