When choosing a new broadband provider, the first things you’ll probably look at are price, speed and contract length. But one factor that’s often hard to predict in advance is customer service.
If your broadband connection is down or you have a question about your bill, good customer service will ensure that your concerns are addressed quickly and effectively.
Nothing's more frustrating than waiting ages for a response to receive an unsatisfactory answer. So, your overall experience with your provider will likely depend heavily on how it deals with the issues you raise.
Find out which providers are often well-regarded for their customer service.
What is good customer service for broadband?
Customer service includes any point of contact you have with your internet service provider, and it is their responsibility to answer your concerns as effectively as possible.
A big part of that is having knowledgeable and personable customer care staff that can answer your questions quickly and in detail. Another is that you should be able to contact them quickly and using your preferred method, whether by phone, email or live chat.
Ultimately, the best broadband service is one you can trust and feel comfortable using. If you're able to contact your broadband provider when needed and discuss any concerns or queries, you’re more likely to feel valued as a customer.
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How good is my broadband provider’s customer service?
Here are a few things that show what good customer service looks like and what to consider when judging your own broadband provider’s customer service:
1. Finding contact details
Are you able to find your provider’s contact details easily? If they’re hidden or hard to find then the whole process of contacting your provider might take longer — and be more stressful — than it should.
Read our guide on how to contact your broadband provider to find the quickest ways you can get in touch with the right customer service team.
2. Call wait times
Telephone is still the most popular way of contacting broadband companies (85% of customer contacts are via telephone, according to Ofcom).
Having to wait an hour on hold to speak to someone about your latest bill would hardly qualify as good customer service. Some customer service teams now offer a 'call back' service, where you can hang up and receive a call back later on from the team once it's reached your turn in the queue.
If you still prefer to use your landline, you can see deals from some of the most popular broadband and phone providers on Uswitch.com.
3. Getting through to the right team
Is it easy to get connected with the right department? Are there endless, confusing options to get through before you even get to speak to someone? And is that the right person to deal with your query?
This process can sometimes be easier with smaller broadband providers.
4. Complaints handling
How well is your complaint handled once you get through to someone? Was the customer service representative knowledgeable and understanding? Did they actually help to ease or resolve your issue?
5. Politeness of customer service staff
This is an obvious one. If the customer service staff appear rude, you wouldn’t exactly call that a good service, would you?
6. Complaint resolution
Were you able to actually get your problem resolved? If the customer service team can't help you directly, do they swiftly arrange the support you need from another department?
For example, if an engineer visit needs to be arranged, the customer service representative should be able to do so directly without keeping you on hold for a long time or asking you to call another department.
Uswitch broadband provider reviews
We've published in-depth reviews of the UK's biggest providers to see which is considered the best for different parts of a broadband service.
In our 20,000-person customer survey which we conducted for the reviews, Plusnet and EE scored the highest for customer service.
Learn more about our broadband reviews to see which providers are considered the best for your care.
Uswitch broadband provider reviews
Read our expert reviews of all of the UK's biggest broadband providers.
Ofcom broadband complaints rankings
Ofcom, the telecoms industry regulator, releases a quarterly report highlighting the broadband providers that received the most (and fewest) complaints per 100,000 customers.
This is one of the best measures of the most reliable broadband providers in the UK. It names and shames providers that received the most complaints over the previous few months and highlights those with the highest customer satisfaction and the fewest customer complaints, too.
What broadband problems get the most complaints?
While the number of complaints per provider changes with each report, the top causes of complaints often follow similar trends.
Most recently, most customer complaints were typically for complaints handling, fault, service, provisioning issues, and billing, pricing, and charging issues.
Who has the best broadband customer service in 2024?
The most recent Ofcom complaints report looked at complaints received between January and March 2024. In that time, total complaints for broadband, landlines, pay-monthly mobiles and pay TV slightly increased compared to the previous quarter.
The best performers this quarter again were Sky, followed by Shell Energy Broadband and Plusnet, all three of which performed well across the board, receiving the least complaints by far for broadband, landline, and pay-TV services.
Unfortunately, NOW Broadband received the highest number of complaints, with 22 per 100,000 customers. Virgin was also the previous holder of the 'most complained' spot, but it received slightly fewer in the most recent report compared to previous months.
If you’re unhappy with your broadband provider’s customer service and want to shop around for better deals, try the Uswitch postcode checker to see the speeds you have available directly to your home.
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