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The study compared what 70,000 broadband users with up-to-8Mbps broadband packages paid for their connections and with the deals available on the market and revealed a significant disparity between the two.

During the first six months of 2008, broadband subscribers paid an average £16.98 per month for an 8Mbps broadband package, despite some providers offering a similar package for

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under £10 a month.

William Harvey, technical director at Broadband Expert, said that in many cases customers are not aware that broadband prices have fallen considerably in the last few years. Someone who signed up for a broadband package two years ago could be paying two to three times what they would pay now, he said.

ISPs should “ensure long standing customers are not overcharged by moving them on to the same pricing a new customer would receive,” Harvey said.

He added that those who are aware of lower prices are not willing to spend the time to move to a different ISP, unaware that a series of changes to the UK broadband regulations and the mandatory issuing of a Migration Access Code (MAC) now make switching relatively straightforward.

Since February 2007, ISPs have been obliged to provide an MAC to any user who requests one. This can then be passed on to a new ISP, to facilitate the transfer of the user’s connection.