Britain's biggest broadband provider, BT, has come bottom of a customer satisfaction survey of 11 ISPs conducted by consumer watchdog Which?. BT achieved an overall score of just 45%, as once again the biggest broadband providers were found wanting when it comes to customer service.
Which? surveyed broadband customers across a range of different criteria, including speed of connection, technical support, customer service and reliability. BT failed to excel in any of those areas, with the company scoring particularly poorly on value for money and technical support.
Things were little better at Sky and TalkTalk, who finished joint tenth in the table, both with an overall satisfaction score of 48%. Speed and technical support were the weakest parts of TalkTalk's service, according to the survey results, while Sky was little more than mediocre across the board. EE Broadband, which is soon to be bought by BT, fared almost as poorly as the prospective mothership, achieving an overall score of 50%, with technical support once again identified as a weak spot.
The one good bit of news for BT came in the results for Plusnet. The BT-owned provider finished fourth overall, with a much healthier score of 72% and top marks for customer service. It's perhaps worth noting that Plusnet continues to operate its own UK-based customer support centre, whilst the majority of BT's customer care is outsourced to foreign call centres.
The top of the table was dominated by smaller, independent ISPs. John Lewis Broadband finished top of the pile on 76%, just ahead of perennial broadband award winner Zen Internet, with 75%. Utility Warehouse came third with 73%. All of the top three scored top marks for customer service and technical support. Zen was rated as the best of the three for speed, although the worst for value for money.
"Smaller suppliers are leaving larger rivals in their wake when it comes to the service they provide so we need to see the big players up their game," said Which?'s executive director, Richard Lloyd. "Ofcom is also currently reviewing this market and we now need it to identify how it plans to ensure broadband customers get a better deal."
Don't hold your breath, Richard...
The full rankings
