According to Ofcom figures around 15% of broadband customers suffer problems when migrating from one DSL provider to another, so I was slightly nervous when I recently upgraded from a 512Kbit/s connection to an 8Mbit/s package with a different provider.

I even picked the quietest time of my working year, mid December, to take the plunge, half expecting to be left paralysed without access to email, the Internet and the office VPN for up to a week. All of my fears proved unfounded, though, because the process turned out to be wonderfully smooth and trouble free.

My existing provider Mnet UK, supplied the MAC code within a couple of days of me requesting it, whilst Freedom2Surf migrated me to its Cascade Lite service within the promised 5-10 working day window.

What's more, it did it during the night so there was no disruption to my working day at all. I received one email the previous evening telling me that the migration was going to take place, and a second message the following morning informing me that it had been done.

I had a working Internet connection without actually needing to configure anything, but completing the installation by inputting new username and DNS details into my existing router took no longer than ten minutes.

According to the speed test on thinkbroadband.com (previously adslguide.org), the downstream rate is 6.5Mbit/s, which also tallies with what Freedom2Surf estimated I would get. The Cascade Lite package costs £15 per month including VAT, and there are no installation costs if you sign up for a minimum of 12 months and use your existing equipment. It comes with a relative generous 5GB monthly download limit (most other providers offer 2GB) and a static IP address for those wanting to set up their own web server or remote access facilities.

Anyone thinking of upgrading a slower broadband link should carefully assess their Internet need in advance, though, because the average browsing experience is actually not that much faster than 512Kbit/s, largely due to the way that web sites are constructed.

Where the speed boost really comes into its own is in shared Internet connections that allocate bandwidth to multiple users simultaneously, downloading large files or playing real time videos from news sites like the BBC or Soccernet. I'm hoping it will also allow me to set up reliable Internet telephony for the first time, but that will be another story.