ID Mobile, Three and Vodafone have been named by telecoms regulator Ofcom as the worst providers for customer service, in its latest report on complaints in the telecoms sector covering October to December of 2020.
Ofcom uses a combination of interviews with customers and information given by providers to produce its league table of results. While complaints about pay-monthly mobile had dropped overall, complaints about broadband services had increased.
The findings support our research that shows that some providers simply don’t stack up when it comes to customer service, reliability and value for money.
Read our overviews of the best mobile phone providers and best broadband providers to see which came top in our own extensive customer satisfaction surveys.
Best and worst broadband providers
According to Ofcom, Vodafone was the most complained about provider – it topped the league table with 30 complaints per 100,000 customers. Most of these complaints related to faults and service issues.
Virgin Media, Plusnet and TalkTalk also generated above-average levels of complaints. EE received the lowest level of complaints of the providers big enough to be included in Ofcom’s analysis – it received six complaints per 100,000 customers.
| Broadband provider | Number of complaints per 100,000 customers |
| Vodafone | 30 |
| Virgin Media | 23 |
| Plusnet | 21 |
| TalkTalk | 19 |
| BT | 14 |
| Sky | 7 |
| EE | 6 |
| Industry average | 16 |
When we surveyed over 4,000 broadband customers about their provider, only two companies received four stars for both customer service and technical support. Compare all of the big providers on everything from service to broadband speed and value for money using our broadband provider reviews.
If you’ve had enough of mediocre customer service from your broadband provider, use Which? Switch broadband to browse the best broadband deals available in your area.
Mobile phone providers compared
The industry average number of complaints for pay-monthly customers was much lower than for broadband – just three per 100,000 customers.
Here, ID Mobile and Three shared top spot in Ofcom’s league table with six complaints per 100,000 customers. A large proportion of the complaints about ID Mobile related to its own complaints handling, while the primary source of complaints from Three customers were issues with billing, pricing and charges.
Of the mobile networks included in Ofcom’s analysis, it was Tesco Mobile that received the lowest level of complaints – just one per 100,000 customers.
| Mobile phone provider | Number of complaints per 100,000 customers |
| ID Mobile | 6 |
| Three | 6 |
| Virgin Mobile | 5 |
| Vodafone | 5 |
| BT Mobile | 4 |
| O2 | 2 |
| EE | 2 |
| Sky Mobile | 2 |
| Tesco Mobile | 1 |
| Industry average | 3 |
Don’t put up with substandard service from your mobile provider – use Which? Switch Mobile to compare the best mobile phone deals.
You can also read our in-depth guide on how to switch mobile provider for advice on switching whether you’re in or out of contract. It also lays out how to make sure you get a good signal with your new provider.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/04/id-mobile-three-and-vodafone-named-worst-telecoms-providers-by-ofcom/