Survey: UK broadband giants failing on service

The latest broadband customer satisfaction survey from consumer body Which? reveals that the UK’s biggest Internet Service Providers are still failing on basic customer service, speed and reliability.

This year’s survey of 1,800 broadband users reveals big variations in levels of service, value for money, speed and reliability and found that the four biggest providers – Talk Talk, BT, Sky and EE – who collectively have a 72 per cent market share, all score poorly.

Which? found:

• TalkTalk (38 per cent) and BT (45 per cent) achieved the worst customer scores – only one in 10 described their customer service as ‘excellent’
• BT didn’t score higher than two stars in any of the categories and TalkTalk only scored higher than two stars in value for money, with Virgin (52 per cent) and Sky (49 per cent) only performing marginally better
• Only a third of providers (four in 12) scored more than three stars for broadband speeds
• Zen Internet (86 per cent) and Utility Warehouse (81 per cent) topped the table for customer score
• Zen Internet and Utility Warehouse were the only companies to earn five stars for customer service, with customers finding them quick and easy to contact, and praising their technical support

Frequent price hikes, connection drop outs, unreliable speeds and woeful levels of service when trying to contact providers all contributed to the low scores.

These results follow the launch of Which?’s ‘Fix Bad Broadband’ campaign and free speed checker. Which? wants people to use the speed checker to find out their actual broadband speed, complain if they’re not getting what they paid for and help Which? build a picture of the real speeds and problems people are experiencing across the country.

“Broadband is essential and people rightly get frustrated with poor service,” commented Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Services. “Our latest results show that the big players still have a long way to go to satisfy their customers, so if you’re unhappy with your broadband, complain and look to switch if your service doesn’t improve.”