People of Britain: You know that you're not locked into using the same ISP forever, right?

Long-suffering customers of internet providers are most likely to leave if they find a better deal elsewhere, although crappy customer service is also a major push factor.

A survey by UK consumer charity Which? found that out of 8,000 customers surveyed, only around half had ever switched.

Of the 4,000-odd folk who did take the plunge, 25 per cent moved for a better deal, 18 per cent left due to poor customer service, 12 per cent shifted due to price hikes, 9 per cent cited slow broadband and 7 per cent complained of connectivity issues.

With contract prices typically going up by around 20 per cent at the end of an introductory period, Which? noted it's not surprising that many are on the hunt for a cheaper tariff.

Last year, Citizens Advice launched a so-called super complaint, calling on the Competition Markets Authority to intervene when loyal customers are charged more for staying with providers. Regulator Ofcom is also investigating this issue.

Price hikes were most commonly cited for BT customers (18 per cent) and Sky Broadband (20 per cent).

Meanwhile, TalkTalk customers were most likely to leave due to poor customer service, with 37 per cent ditching the provider for this reason. TalkTalk has repeatedly topped rankings of the most complained about ISPs.

Poor speeds were the reason 19 per cent of the Post Office's customers left. Apparently 32 per cent of folk who left a provider with sluggish speeds went to Virgin Media, while 14 per cent of customers left Vodafone and EE due to connection issues.

Back in April, regulator Ofcom introduced automatic compensation to help those that suffer long internet outages. ®