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18 Mar 2008
High-speed connections in broadband Britain may be cheaper and faster than ever before, but half of subscribers are unhappy with the service they are getting.
The survey, conducted by price comparison service uSwitch, found that four out of nine providers have less satisfied customers this year than last and that four million customers are dissatisfied with their ISP.
Topping the sin bin list were BT and Orange, which were ranked the poorest for value for money and the worst broadband provider respectively. More than a third of Orange’s broadband customers indicated they were not satisfied with their service at all.
BT-owned PlusNet, achieved the most favourable rating, with 86 per cent customer satisfaction. The ISP walked away with nine out of a total of 11 categories including best technical support and best customer service.
The survey also indicated that an increasing gap between best and worst, with a difference of almost 21 per cent in customer satisfaction ratings, representing an eight per cent increase on the year before.
"The 21 per cent gap between the best and worst provider shows just how important it is to choose a provider on service and not just price. Despite prices falling by 36 per cent in four years, over five million have never switched their broadband provider," said Steve Weller of uSwitch.com.
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Do you agree?
Broadband ISP
I use SKY and found them good - sometimes!. They told me My line would carry 6.5 mg and, in the morning and afternoon up to 1600hrs, it does. Between 1600 and 2200 my speed drops to about 1mg or less. I am told this is because of other users. WHY?? This effect must be due to too high contention ratios probably 50 / 1 which is unacceptable. My complaint is that not only are downloads impossible in this slow period but I, and I expect many others, have relatives and associates in other time zones and need to operate in this 'slow' time slot. Things like SKYPE and VOIP just do not work properly at these low speeds. Also why are we limited to such low upload speeds? are they being throttled? I put this question to an american ISP who said the speeds should be similar otherwise VOIP would be no good. Internet is no longer in its infancy and we should now be able to access a speed commensurate with our individual line characteristics not the fluctuations which I experience due to my ISP overloading the line with others users instead of providing adequate bandwith to cope demand.
Posted by: Peter Evans 25 Mar 2008
Unhappy with ISP
I recently jumped from the frying pan in to the fire, by changing ISP from Orange to BT. After spending more than 10 hours on the phone trying to get a reliable total broadband service from BT, they agreed to issue an MAC, immediatley without any further payment. What a superb service !!!!!!
Posted by: Maurice Johnson 21 Mar 2008
Pipex
I was talked in to joining Pipex Homecall for my calls, line rental and broadband. It was the worst thing that I have ever did. I contacted them to give them 30 days notice to cancel my account as the 12 months would be up and I wanted to leave them asap. I also asked for a MAC code. My phone was cut off after a few days. I phoned Pipex and asked them why it had ben cut off and they said because I requested it. It told them that I did not expect to be cut off after afew days that is why I gave 30 days notice. Iwas not treated very well and the customer service was terrible. One opperator was so rude and unhelpfull. After numerous calls to them and a call to Off Com I was reconnected. They would still not give me a MAC code as they said my broadband started when it was connected. I totaly disagreed with this as I said the 12 months should go from the minut I signed up with them. The broadband was cut off which has caused me no end of problems. I am in the process of going with another provider now. Pipex are a terrible company and I would never deal with them again. The customer service is terrible.
Posted by: Ken Bridgeman 20 Mar 2008
More than half
I'd say that 4 out of 9 is a severe understatement. BT ownes the exchanges that everyone who can't get cable or the phantom "fibre optic" has to go through. even with Ofcom giving them a rollocking over monopolising the market, BT just stuck on Openreach to their service, they still give their own customers priority to the exchange connections. This survey is a test of who has the fewest thickos on their helplines, not a test of who has the best speeds.
Posted by: Mike G 20 Mar 2008
ISP Sin Bin
I have just changed from Orange to BT, talk about out of the frying pan and in to the fire. Bt wnet live on 21.02.08. not possible,Home Hub & software not arrived. this eventually appeared on 25.02.08. During next week, 10 hours spent on phone trying to get reliable broadband, complete service, still waiting. Yesterday,18.03.08,Bt informed me that as far as they are concerned,my problems are not the responsibility of BT.Where does one go to get reliable service??? I have included my BT email address,If you try and send me an email, you may be lucky and i shall receive it
Posted by: Maurice Johnson 19 Mar 2008
Slow Speeds
I moved to the Bristol area 7 months ago, when looking for an ISP they all wanted to sell me an 8Mb connection, even BT. But BT admitted that the best speed they could deliver to my home was 0.5Mb. They would not consider a lower price for the lower speed therefore I went with another ISP who would sell me a 2Mb speed package. Even with this I'm lucky to get 50 - 60 kb connection speed. Unhappy - yep, but until BT improve the local lines I'm stuck - what hurts more, the estate I live on is 12 years old at the oldest part.
Posted by: Bryan Milham 18 Mar 2008
BT's cut-price chicken-broadband is bad for you!
I switched from BT just before Christmas after a catalogue of problems with their broadband service (loss of service, high latency etc). I had tried to switch a year earlier but a phone call I had apparently received a week or so beforehand had apparently locked me into another year's contract! When I finally switched a year later, outside of this new 'renewed' contract they hit my direct debit for over £300 of another year's 'remaining contract'. They apologised about this and said they would refund the money but when I phoned up again 2 weeks later they denied that the refund conversation had ever taken place and said they would get around to crediting the amount they had taken from future bills! Charming. Then there is their technical support staff who have no technical expertise at all. Their standard response to any technical problem seems to be the same scripted procedure to reset the cookies in your internet browser. What's the point in advertising a 24/7 support line if no support is provided? I work in IT and I can often see what the problem is at my end, and having a conversation with someone on a support line who doesn't know what 'DNS' stands for is a joke. I am now with Zen Internet and much happier for it. These guys are so confident about their service that they only have a 1 month rolling contract so you can basically cancel it any time. Which I haven't by the way. And no I don't work for them. They only operate a Mon-Saturday 9-5 support line but at least you get someone who knows what they're talking about and they're Brits! Hurrah! When will companies like BT realise it's quality we want and not knock-down prices no matter what. Then again...perhaps this is the consumer's fault for demanding such low prices in the first place? Companies like BT are selling the 'cut-price chicken' of the Broadband world. Remember, cut-price chicken-broadband is bad for you! Pay a couple of quid extra per month for some locally sourced broadband and you'll be much happier.
Posted by: Craig 18 Mar 2008