The rash of ever cheaper broadband deals offered by larger providers is putting increasing pressure on their small rivals, it has been reported.

Recently, the UK broadband market has been marked by a slew of competitive deals and the advent of packages combining telephony and TV services with broadband.

This coupled with aggressive advertising of so-called "free" broadband has reset "customers' definition of value to levels that can be almost unattainable for smaller rivals", according to a report from ispreview.com.

But rather than resulting in better deals for customers in fact these seemingly good value deals often offer worse service, David Mitchell, commercial manager of ISP Quik Internet, claims.

He said: "We tell the truth to our customers. Every package has usage limits. The simple truth is that a pipe (34Mb or 622Mb) can only handle so much.

"So, when an ISP offers unlimited usage but without quality promises, you know what you're getting. You are getting a mass of users, many wanting many GB of usage, at fast speed. Simply put: physically impossible to deliver."

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