186k couldn't afford to pay someone, because they may have been operating at too slim a margin. As a result, they just simply told their supplier they couldn't pay them, so a cease went through the system on all the broadband lines. 186k told everyone to find a different ISP, and because many of them were on these small vISPs, which tend to focus on support more than minimising costs, they decided to go with people like A&A, Zen, Aquiss, IDNet, and others. Some may have gone to them simply for the guarantee to have their lines back online before christmas, which is also perfectly reasonable.