You don’t have to look far to find a cheap broadband deal these days. With so many deals on offer, and with mergers and acquisitions between telcos paving the way for an increase in “broadband bundles” available to consumers, soon those without broadband will begin to feel left behind by the madding crowd. Connecting to the Internet for the first time in your home or office is as easy as securing a fixed telephone line (which you probably already have) and signing up to one of the dozens of Broadband Providers offering deals on the market today. Switching broadband providers, if you believe you have found a more suitable service for your particular needs is, however, not as easy.

With the current system, the customer who wishes to switch will be required to contact their current broadband provider (the one they're going to leave) in order to acquire a MAC - a Migration Authorisation Code. The ISP must then hand over the code to the new company, so the broadband connection can be transferred. It is a process that is not always quick or easy - and some providers do not currently provide MAC codes at all. Ofcom is proposing that broadband users should have easy access to their migration code and should not need to ask their existing provider for it. It could, for example, be printed clearly on monthly bills. This would eliminate at least the first gruelling step in the migration process.