In the article, Neil Watson, Entanet’s Head of Service Operations notes that while it is easy enough to understand the point uSwitch is making, many ISPs (Entanet included) already provide good information to customers.
However, he says that uSwitch needs to “get real” when it cites utility companies as a positive example of how this approach could succeed.
“Any ISP worth its salt is already, like Entanet, presenting customers with all the information they need to track their usage, monitor and even control their spending and note when their contract is up for renewal. Furthermore, looking at this from a practical point of view, the majority of our contracts are only 30 days. So what then, should we issue a separate paper statement for each contract issued?”
Watson also points out that, with electronic billing becoming the norm, the call for ISPs to produce more paper-based information would appear to go against the government’s green agenda as well. The article notes that, according to The Daily Green, an average household can save 24-square feet of forest in the first year of using paper-less billing.