Be and O2 Broadband ‘best in UK,’ while overall dissatisfaction grows

After a customer satisfaction survey of over 11,000 UK broadband customers in the UK, Be Broadband and O2 Broadband have emerged triumphant as the best internet suppliers in the UK.

The annual survey by the website Broadbandchoices.co.uk invited consumers to rank their current service across categories such as value for money, reliability, customer service and speed.

Be and o2 for the win

Be Broadband were the highest ranked by a fair margin, scooping five out of the six main customer satisfaction categories, while O2 Broadband were the top dogs across the board for bundled services.

Plusnet picked up commendations in both the all-package and bundles-services categories, while Virgin Media continued to  impress with its nippy broadband speeds, bagging four awards.

Commenting on the survey results, Michael Phillips, product director at Broadbandchoices.co.uk said:

Networks are under mounting pressure from the increasingly sophisticated services consumers are using online, and it is only through direct research like ours that the real experience of consumers can be accurately tracked. As competition in the broadband market has increased, a number of small broadband firms have invested heavily in their customer service capability – a move which is clearly paying dividends as Be and O2 swept the board and Plusnet achieved numerous commendations.

Growing dissatisfaction

Although some broadband companies may be picking up the plaudits, more than a third of the those interviewed  said they were dissatisfied with the service they received, supporting Ofcom’s recent findings that actual broadband speeds are still less than half the average advertised broadband speeds.

Phillips added:

Broadband providers have marketed their services on speed-led messaging in their efforts to out-do each other, but the speeds experienced by the end user simply aren’t living up to these promises.

Since 2007, we have been pushing for ‘typical speeds’ to be made the gold standard for speed measurement, in the same way that banks use ‘typical APR’ percentages.

Until this happens, consumers will continue to be misled by broadband providers’ claims of what speeds are technically feasible compared to what they will receive in the real world – and resentment over this issue will continue to grow.

[Via]