Connection speeds spark majority of ISP complaints

Slow internet connection complaints make up almost one in five of customer service calls to ISPs, according to research from Ofcom.

The figures showed that 17% of all calls to service providers between July and September this year related to complaints and queries over broadband speeds being too slow.

Although the research looks primarily at how well ISPs have fared in dealing with customer complaints and queries, the data also provides an insight into issues such as how often customers need to contact their ISP, for what reason and how well the companies dealt with queries and complaints.

For many people, not having to call a provider means everything is working as it should, so even the percentage of customers making calls is relevant.

Virgin complaints

Virgin Media customers were the most likely to need to contact their ISP and although not all the calls were complaints, Ofcom’s figures showed 25% of Virgin customer’s contacted the company.

By contrast, only 8% of subscribers to Orange, 12% of Sky subscribers and 15% of BT customers contacted their ISP during the period.

More than a third (34%) of all calls to Virgin Media were complaints, which was the highest percentage of any provider. Other providers ranged between 26% and 29% of calls.

While Virgin actually has a high level of resolution satisfaction for queries it received, it also had the largest number of calls regarding faults and repairs, with 50% of calls relating to “fault or repair” problems.

The “fault or repair” category included “slow connections”, which made up the majority of complaints for physical connectivity.

Connection problems accounted for 40% of calls to BT’s customer service team, with Sky on 41% and TalkTalk line complaints making up 30% of consumer issues.

Nonetheless, among customers that had contacted their ISPs, Virgin topped overall satisfaction rates for their services, with 72% of users happy with the resolution.