I'm not really sure what happened, but I cancelled my TalkTalk broadband at the start of the week, got my migration code and am switching to Plusnet, hopefully without a hitch. This will half my monthly cost and perhaps increase my network speed.

I've known that I'd need to sort something out sometime because I've been paying way over the odds for my service - over £24 per month for a 16Mb line. On a good day, I'd get 14Mb, but that was fine by me. I originally joined Nildram, with a 30 day contract and then Nildram ended up being bought by Opal, who were then bought my TalkTalk. This all happened a few years ago now. Right at the start of the TalkTalk switch from Nildram/Opal, they almost lost me when they appeared to renege on the promise to keep my service/package unchanged. It was only a call back from a manager who apologised for the mistake that had me stay.

Inertia and some apathy have stopped me changing or switching. If it ain't broke ... comes into it as well. Even though I didn't like it when TalkTalk started to call me on my mobile every few months trying to "upgrade" me to a telephone+broadband service, or a better broadband package (and long contract). I just told them that I was "happy" with the serrvice and would let them know if I wantd to change. A "happy" customer, a regular income stream every month, what's not to like? The calls did start to make me think of alternative options on occasion though, with alternative suppliers. Talk about unintended consequences.

About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that my download speed was quite bad - about a fifth of what it should be. This was downloadinbg some BBC podcast, and I was getting ~200KB/s rather than 1.2MB/s. Like most with some experience of technical or network support, I left it to "fix itself". But it didn't. Over the next week or so, I carried on seeing this poor service until I decided to measure it and take stock on a Friday morning. Still the same, still ~2Mb rather than 16.

I called Talk Talk tech support, who found nothing wrong. Just a "2Mb line" (or "plan") and they couldn't do anything. They suggested "customer service", who also knew nothing, but suggested "sales", who tried to "upgrade" me - a 2 year contract on a 24 Mb line. I was bounced around between these three departments trying to find out what was happening. This started to annoy me, plus make me very suspicious. No one would give me a straight answer as to why my service had changed. It was if I was crazy - why was I paying £24 a month for 2Mb? Why was my service different to what I have had for years? No answer. It was obvious that their only "answer" was an "upgrade" and a new contract.

My suspicion is that legacy accounts were being "transitioned", come what may, by whatever means. Companies like Talk Talk are desperate to get longer term revenue streams - longer packages, preferably with telephone deals.

So, I felt screwed over and decided to leave.

So, now I'll be paying 1/2 of what I was and still have a 30 day contract. I also feel a great relief!