Millions of UK broadband users are still blighted by dire downloads, dropouts and frustrating outages despite being hit by record price hikes this year. That’s the latest update from consumer group Which? who says their most recent survey has revealed persistent issues suffered by customers.
In fact, of 4,000 people included in the poll 53% said they had experienced connection issues in the year to January 2023.
So who is performing well and who needs to up their game?
Coming bottom of the Which? report are Sky, Virgin Media, and EE with all of these popular ISPs getting the lowest number of users who hadn’t had a problem with their service. (Sky 32%, Virgin 35% and EE 37%).
BT faired slightly better with the UK’s biggest provider seeing 49% of its users not experiencing a performance issue in the past year.
At the other end of the league are Hyperoptic, Shell Energy Broadband and Utility Warehouse who all performed much better. Half or more of their customers say they had not experienced any problems in the past twelve months. Although that is better news even these suppliers saw at least four in ten customers suffering at least one problem.
According to Which? slow uploads and downloads were also a common complaint - affecting one in seven (15%) overall. Many users also said they had been left without a connection for at least an hour which is not ideal when so many of us continue to work from home.
With many people tied to contracts, there is little they can do if they are not happy with the performance of their ISP. However, anyone out of contract should consider switching if they are suffering endless issues. If that's you, make sure you shop around for the best deal and also check out smaller suppliers called ALT networks - such as Hyperoptic and Community Fibre - as these can often be cheaper and more reliable.
Speaking about the latest research, Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: “A reliable connection is essential to modern life. Earlier this year, many broadband consumers were hit with mid-contract price hikes of more than 14 per cent - meaning that it's more important than ever that their provider offers a reliable connection and good customer service.
“It's completely unacceptable that customers who have faced these eye-watering increases are also experiencing so many problems with their connection. Broadband firms need to work harder to resolve these issues and offer a better service.
“While some customers are able to switch away to better service and prices, many are trapped in contracts where they either have to accept above inflation price hikes in the spring or pay exorbitant exit fees to leave the contract early. It’s absolutely critical that Ofcom’s review of inflation linked mid-contract hikes results in changes that ensure customers are never trapped in this situation again.”
