Worst broadband providers exposed - most frustrating UK suppliers listed

19 May 2023 , 08:24

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Worst UK broadband (Image: GETTY)

If you want a speedy response from your broadband supplier then it might be best to avoid Shell Energy. The UK Internet Service Provider (ISP) has come bottom of the latest Ofcom league when it comes to those all-important call wait times.

In fact, during 2022, most Shell customers were placed on hold for an average of 8 minutes and 14 seconds - that's way above the average.

The firm says these long wait times were reported during a time of transition and things have now improved

"Ofcom's report covers a period last year when we were migrating customers from the Post Office platform to our Shell Energy platform, which temporarily increased demand for customer support," Shell said in a statement. "Our average call waiting time this year is one of the best in the industry at 1 minute 49 seconds."

Coming top of the 2022 speed league was Sky's NOW service with users waiting just 51 seconds before their calls were answered.

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The overall average for call wait times was worse than in 2021 with Vodafone, TalkTalk, Plusnet, NOW, EE and BT all answering more slowly than the previous year.

"Across broadband and landline providers, BT, EE, NOW Broadband, Plusnet, TalkTalk and Vodafone all saw their average call waiting times rise in 2022, while KCOM, Sky and Virgin Media managed to improve on the previous year," Ofcom explained.

"NOW Broadband remains the best performer, keeping their call waiting times under a minute on average at 51 seconds, despite taking longer to answer the phone in 2022 (up from 31s in 2021). Shell Energy is the worst, coming in at over eight minutes on average."

Worst broadband providers exposed - most frustrating UK suppliers listed

Broadband call wait times revealed (OFCOM)

Although that's bad news for broadband, things appear a little better when it comes to mobile networks with Vodafone, Virgin, Tesco, Sky and O2 all either matching or improving wait times.

Even then, it's not all good news with ID Mobile, EE, BT and Three all dropping performance .

Waiting for hours on the phone remains a major bugbear for consumers and Ofcom's latest results show the vast difference between firms and how quickly their service centres respond.

As part of its research, Ofcom said it spoke to customers who had recently contacted their provider with a complaint to understand the steps firms could take to improve their complaints handling.

The call centre experience was identified as a key element of the complaints process, with call waiting times, getting through to the right person quickly, and dealing with the complaint first time all factors that participants in the research said could be improved.

Speaking about the latest stats Ian Macrae, Ofcom’s Director of Market Intelligence, said: “We’ve asked telecoms customers what frustrates them most with their providers, and the message is clear: they want to get through to the right person on the phone quickly, and have their complaints dealt with first time.

“With switching becoming simpler, providers that continue to let standards slip should expect customers to show them the door.”