Sky and EE have generated the joint fewest official complaints among pay-monthly mobile customers, new quarterly figures from the telecoms watchdog have revealed.
Conversely, O2 racked up the most complaints over the same period.
According to Ofcom, the most common gripes it fielded related to O2's poor complaints handling (46%), issues when switching to another provider (20%) and billing problems (20%).
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Total complaints figures far higher
The graphic from Ofcom below highlights how all the major networks compare and covers the three months between July and September 2023, which are the latest figures available.
It's worth pointing out that, while the number of complaints appears low for all mobile providers, these are issues that customers have needed to escalate to Ofcom as they've been unable to resolve their issues directly with their provider.
The actual number of complaints made directly to network providers is far higher: Ofcom's data suggests that more than one in eight (12%) mobile customers said they had a reason to complain over the last 12-month period.
Best & worst mobile firms: complaints per 100,000 customers
Sky Mobile and EE both generated just two official complaints per 100,000 customers, putting them joint top of the pile.
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Next on the list were Tesco Mobile and Vodafone with a total of three complaints per 100,000 customers each, which is also the industry average.
At the other end of the table, O2 was responsible for six complaints per 100,000.
This is the highest among all the major firms and double the industry average.
It's the first time in more than a year that anyone other than BT Mobile has ranked bottom of the table, with that firm ranking second from bottom this time around.
Which providers offer consistently good service?
Ofcom publishes data on the number of complaints it receives about each of the big telecoms providers every three months.
Looking at such a short period can be unreliable – any provider can have a temporary problem that dramatically skews the figures.
In order to give you a clearer picture of how the mobile network giants consistently fare, we've listed the complaints figures for the last six quarters (18 months) in the table below.
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Complaints per 100,000 customers over the last 18 months
|
Provider |
Q1 2022 |
Q2 2022 |
Q3 2022 |
Q4 2022 |
Q1 2023 |
Q2 2023 |
Q3 2023 |
|
Virgin Mobile |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
n/a |
|
Vodafone |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
iD Mobile |
3 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
BT mobile |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
8 |
5 |
|
Three |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
O2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
EE |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Tesco Mobile |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
Industry average |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
Mobile coverage
Practically speaking, the most important thing to keep in mind when signing up for any phone contract is the coverage and reception offered by the operator (you can read about the best networks for signal and speed here).
Ultimately, an extremely helpful call centre is of little use if you can't even phone them in the first place!
To make sure you don't live in a particular network's 'blackspot', the links below will take you to each network’s coverage map or coverage checker, so you can get a decent idea of the coverage you can expect where you live.
Finally, find out which other telecoms providers you should be dodging by reading our regularly updated roundups of The UK’s worst pay TV providers, The UK's worst home phone providers and The UK’s worst broadband providers.
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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.
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