The UK's best and worst broadband providers

Virgin Media has racked up the most official complaints among the UK's main broadband providers, the latest quarterly figures from Ofcom revealed.

Remarkably, the number of complaints levelled against the firm more than doubled compared to the previous three-month period and was the highest level seen from any broadband provider since 2021. 

According to the regulator, the complaints were mainly driven by Virgin's poor handling of complaints.

At the other end of the scale, Sky remained the broadband provider with the fewest complaints for the sixth straight quarter.

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How the best & worst firms are ranked

Every three months, Ofcom provides its breakdown of complaints per 100,000 customers that each major provider attracts. 

These stats take some time to put together, so the latest figures that we're discussing in this article cover the period between July and September 2023.

If your provider features near the top of the complaints list, or you simply want a cheaper deal, make sure you compare broadband deals in your area today.

It's straightforward and you could save hundreds, especially if you opt to bundle your broadband with your landline and pay TV provider.

As a final point, while the figures below might sound low, it's worth remembering these aren't just for complaints made to broadband firms: they are issues that have been escalated to the regulator because customers have been unable to get their issues resolved directly with their provider.

The actual number of unhappy customers will be far higher than this as these only cover the documented, extreme cases.

As a case in point, Ofcom's report claims that one in five broadband customers had a reason to complain to their provider over the last year.

Slow Wi-Fi? Try these seven steps to boost your speeds.

Broadband complaints per 100,000 customers

UK's worst broadband providers

As mentioned earlier, Virgin was ranked the worst broadband provider by some distance, racking up 32 complaints per 100,000 customers.

This is up from 15 per 100,000 in the previous quarter and almost twice that of the next worst provider, Now Broadband (18).

TalkTalk and Vodafone were the joint third-worst-performing broadband firms with 15 complaints per 100,000.

That actually represents a significant improvement for Vodafone in particular, which had posted the highest number of complaints in the previous quarter (24).

Your rights if your broadband connection goes down

UK's best broadband providers

At the other end of the league table, Sky retained top spot with five customer complaints per 100,000 (Get superfast Sky broadband (up to 61mbps) from just £29 a month - affiliate link).

EE was second on the list with nine.

These two companies are consistently the best performers in the complaint stakes, having shared the top two positions for the last three years.

So if you are in the market for a new broadband deal and value excellent customer service, you may want to give either of these a try. 

Below are the results over the past six quarters to give you a clearer picture of how well (or not) the various broadband providers treat their customers over time.

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Complaints to Ofcom per 100,000 customers 

Switching broadband is a lengthy farce: but it's still absolutely worth it

Should you switch even if you're happy?

The above figures give you a good idea of which firms have the worst track records for treating customers fairly. 

But even if you are with one of the better performers, it's seriously worth considering switching if you've been with them for more than a couple of years.

Why? Research has highlighted how broadband firms are charging existing customers the best part of £200 a year more for the identical service being offered to new customers.

So even if you're happy with your service, you should still ensure you aren't getting ripped off by regularly shopping around for cheap broadband deals.

Also, if you're currently mid-contract and your provider is planning to hike prices, there are new rules that should make it easier for you to ditch them penalty-free, which you can read about here.

  As a final point, if you're in receipt of Universal Credit you should definitely check out social broadband tariffs, which could save you a lot of money. Read more about it here. 

Which are the best and worst telecoms firms?

So, there you have it, your round-up of the UK's best and worst broadband providers.

Find out which other telecoms firms you should be dodging by reading The UK’s worst pay TV provider, The UK's worst home phone provider and The UK’s best and worst mobile networks.

*This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently.