Better offers motivate over 36% of ISP switches - study

Some 36.72 percent of French internet users who changed ISPs in 2010 were attracted by a competitive offer from another provider, according to an annual survey by website Ariase, which analysed 65,000 cancellation letters and conducted 25,000 online surveys last year. Consumers changed ISPs to obtain more services or to take advantage of promotions such as free months and reimbursement of cancellation fees. The proportion of cancellations motivated by technical problems declined to 13.45 percent compared to a year earlier, a trend underway since 2008. Meanwhile, 23.56 percent of respondents switched providers because they moved house last year. Ariase concludes that subscribers are less loyal than ever to their service providers. Bouygues Telecom's launch of unbundled and quad play services played a large part.