Help lines turn Brits on and off

17 million Brits have called a customer helpline to fix a technical problem with their internet in the past 12 months and the most popular solution offered is ‘to turn the power on and off' according to a new poll by the leading price comparison website moneysupermarket.com.

On average, people have had to make two calls to the helpline to fix each problem, which may not be surprising when the top three solutions offered by the support staff are:

Turn it on and off (38%)
Check cables and connections (33%)
Uninstall or reinstall software or hardware (4%)

James Parker, manager of broadband at moneysupermarket.com said, "Calls to technical helplines can be expensive, and can often be long and tedious. Most people will try turning their computer, modem or router on and off before they call, you don't need someone on a premium rate line telling you to do so again.

"People need to be very careful about calling a support line from their mobile. Costs to 08 numbers can be up to 40p a minute from your mobile. Providers should consider that more and more households are mobile only, and that if the broadband connection fails then it is likely the phone line will also be unusable."