Broadband: do you stick or twist?

Sometimes it’s better simply to stick with what you’ve got

This issue’s question was prompted by a survey from broadband provider Zen Internet, which found that 17 per cent of people aged over 55 didn’t switch their internet in the past year. Zen contrasts this with 45 per cent of people aged 16 to 24. Before we dig into this, we should consider what’s meant by “older people”.

Zen is clear what it means. Its survey categorises everyone over 55 as an older person. That’s everyone from busy 55-year-olds like Piers Morgan and Boris Johnson to centenarians like Dame Vera Lynn and NHS fundraiser Captain Sir Thomas Moore. Behaviour can vary greatly across such a wide age range, but to marketers it’s just a homogenous chunk.

Surveys typically treat younger people with more respect. Zen gives 16-to-24 year olds their own category, even though it spans a mere eight years. The assumption we’re meant to make is that once you hit 55, your behaviour is set for life.

Perhaps there’s truth in this. Maybe you do change more between 16 and 46 than you do between 55 and 85. And younger people are probably more likely to shop around when their contract ends. But it’s still condescending to treat such a wide age range as though there’s little difference between its youngest age and its oldest.

The main reason for not switching given by over-55s was fear of receiving a worse service

So, with that caveat, let’s explore Zen’s findings more closely. The main reason for not switching given by over-55s was fear of receiving a worse service, while younger people were more put off by the perceived cost of switching. That would tie in with the theory that we become less risky as we get older. Once we find a service that’s acceptable (if not exceptional), the worry of replacing it with something worse outweighs the anticipated satisfaction of switching to something better. Young people take more chances, possibly because they have longer left to reverse a bad choice.

The results echo 2019 research from Ofcom that found more than half of over-65s have never switched broadband. They felt less confident than younger people when talking to their provider about better deals, and when comparing packages between companies. They were also less likely to know the status of their contract, and whether switching would save money.

Prompted by this research, Ofcom now forces all providers to let customers know when their contract is coming to an end. This is meant to nudge customers to look for a better deal before their provider moves them on to a more expensive package.

That’s what Zen would like you to do, anyway. It wants

you to slap your forehead in anguish as you realise you’ve been paying too much, and then switch to a cheaper provider (preferably Zen itself). However, we think Zen may have overlooked an important aspect of human psychology: our tendency to copy what others do. Many over-55s may see that 83 per cent of their age group haven’t switched recently, and conclude that they won’t either.

What surveys like this overlook is that price isn’t the only important factor – reliability is vital too. Many people will consider that saving a couple of pounds each month isn’t worth the risk of moving to a new deal.

For such customers, it makes more sense to haggle with their current provider when their contract ends. Do some research online, jot down the prices of rival companies, then phone your provider and say you’ll switch if they don’t offer you a better deal. That’s good advice for anyone, regardless of age.