The disparity between broadband costs in urban and rural areas*** is an issue that has to be addressed by internet service providers (ISPs), says an online self-help group.

Broadbandchoices.co.uk believes that a digital divide has been created by the regionalised pricing that ISPs have implemented.

It is estimated that rural households may pay up to £10 more per month because of an apparent preference broadband providers show for urban customers, despite Ofcom figures showing that rural usage of broadband is higher than that in towns and cities.

Michael Phillips, product director for BroadbandChoices.co.uk, said: "Providers such as AOL, Talk Talk, Sky and Tiscali all offer better deals for people that live in more populated areas, where there's enabled local exchanges."

He added that because of the growth in rural broadband use suppliers need to start investing in local exchanges to get rid of the pricing disparity.

The Ofcom figures released last week show that in England In England, 60 per cent of rural households have broadband which is two per cent more than in urban areas.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'