Broadband users across the UK may not know just how much money they stand to save by shopping around for a better deal on their internet connection, it is said.

Edd Dawson, the editor of Broadband.co.uk, explained that there is a lot to be gained by small businesses in IT through doing a little bit of research into other internet service providers.

He said: "People that signed up four years ago will generally be paying the same rate that they signed up to four years ago, and in general costs have come down year on year since broadband came out."

As a result, those who are on a tariff could be paying as much as two or three times more than they may need to for the service they want.

The comments follow a recent Consumer Choices report from July 22nd, which found that 50 per cent of British broadband customers have not switched broadband provider in the last four years, despite working out better deals for other household charges.

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.