Major UK broadband providers are targeting disgruntled Tiscali customers with cheap broadband incentives, including sweeteners such as free broadband for an introductory period and £50 off their bills.

Earlier this month, Sky launched a deal that offered Tiscali customers up to £50 credit and a free Sky+ set top box worth £99 when they made Sky their broadband supplier. Open until June 11th, the incentive applies when people take out the Mid or Max broadband packages, with credit of £25 and £50 on offer respectively.

Now Sky has been joined in targeting Tiscali customers by BT and PlusNet. BT’s current promotion offers switchers £50 off their bill and a free Home Hub phone, worth £88. In order to take advantage of the savings, however, they must sign up before June 30th.

Meanwhile, award-winning broadband operator PlusNet has unveiled a rival incentive, whereby existing Tiscali customers who switch qualify for three months broadband absolutely free. This is also due to end on June 30th.

The launch of the incentives comes after TalkTalk/Carphone Warehouse earlier this month agreed to acquire Tiscali in a deal worth some £236 million. In a bid to reassure and retain its newly acquired customer base, TalkTalk has pledged to ensure that they will benefit hugely from the move.

A statement issued when the acquisition was agreed saw TalkTalk pledge to offer them cheaper home phone tariffs than they were previously receiving. They would also benefit from a better broadband network with “higher bandwidth, greater capacity and advanced services,” TalkTalk said.

Among the considerations likely to be uppermost in the minds of potential switchers will be the customer service and technical support they can expect to receive should they change provider. Tiscali has consistently performed poorly in independent customer support surveys and this is believed to have been a significant factor in the company losing 68,000 customers during the first quarter of this year.