UK ISP review, learn who provides the best broadband

[phillip@ysatisfy]

Hi All,

Interesting article reviewing customer satisfaction for UK ISPs. Thinkbroadband polled 500,000 people in the UK and O2 came top for customer satisfaction, scoring 79%. In second place, Be Unlimited scored 71%, with Plusnet in close 3rd position with 70%. Sky came in fourth with 56%.

The ISPs to avoid are Orange, Pipex, Tiscali, AOL and TalkTalk who scored below 40%. Orange was bottom with 33%.

It always amazes me how quick service quality changes for ISP, only 6 months ago Tiscali was in the top 3 for service. Just shows you it’s worth keeping your eye on ISP performance, as you may not be getting the service you deserve!

This article does teach us all an important lesson, that of providing a consistent high quality level of service to your customers and being able to measure this continuously. Another important lesson is the provision of local customer care to your customers. UK people don’t like to use care centres located outside the country.

ISP article: Big ISPs failing to satisfy consumers - 20 Mar 2009 - Computeractive

Thanks

Phill Hunt
Founder of Ysatisfy customer satisfaction consultancy
www.ysatisfy.com

[INDIZINE]

Tiscali has always been dire for me and many people who I know who have used them, both for broadband and customer service. Little wonder they are going down the pan financially!

I'm with Plusnet and they have been no problem to date.

I wonder who commission the poll though..... can you dig out that info for us? I bet you ten dollar it was 02!!

[GeorgeM]

I'm with Virgin Media (cable), and have found the service to be very reliable with good performance.

A bit more expensive now compared to some others.

[collateit]

I'm with Virgin as well. They even upgraded me to the 20mb service for nothing due to a billing error a while back. Only ever had couple of hours downtime during 8 years with them - can't say fairer than that.

[JaysonG]

It was interesting to see that on the survey there was no mention of the Utility Warehouse, who were voted Best Buy for Broadband in February 2009 edition of Which? Magazine.

I currently have two providers - Virgin and Sky, both of whom I have had a few minor issues with.

I would be interested to hear from any Utility Warehouse broadband users to see if its worth a transfer.

[russellhenley]

Small point to realise - these are all consumer ISP's, not business ISP's.

You should be using a business-class connection if you have multiple computers running behind it, particularly if you are looking at server services (e.g. running an email server).

You might find you are invalidating your contract with the ISP if you are running a business from a consumer account, and you'll get a lower service quality (both in terms of contention ratio and service level agreement).

I resell Datanet (who aren't in these lists) who have one the Best Business Broadband category at the ISPA's (Internet SErvice Provider Awards) for several years.

There lines aren't cheap, but they are low contention, high SLA and when you phone their technical support the person who answers teh phone can diagnose your problem straight away.

Plus they have all the relevant business features (fixed IP, proper unlimited use, resilient network etc. etc.)




Russ

[Gerry Brannigan]

I'm a Virgin Media Customer going back to when it was Telewest/Blueyonder. You can't really get a better service.

They do have a very strange way of running their business. If you phone them and tell them you are thinking of leaving them, they give you more (i.e. up your package) and charge you less. Very strange but certainly worth the call.

Can't remember ever having down time to be honest in the 7 years I have been with them.

[SeekBroadband.com]

I think all these surveys are a basic and useful barometer in helping you choose a broadband provider. But pretty much for any ISP, there is always going to be a certain percentage of unsatisfied customers, for one reason or another.

O2 do seem to be enjoying a good reputation at the moment however.

But even if you choose the 'best' one noted in the latest survey you read, it's no guarantee, it's just a guide.

Also, incase anyone hasn't heard, Tiscali UK has been bought by Talk Talk.

[Demonite]

i have heard good things about O2. But sadly i live out in the country so cant get it!
For my home connection i have been with Pipex for a while, even though they have a lot of bad press, they have always provided a fast reliable connection.

[designsbysteve]

I think I might be the only person who has had decent connections from Tiscali. They did have an annoying habit of phoning me at one stage but they went away. Have been considering 02 recently though.

[Tridene Solutions]

Hi all,

I can definitely recommend Zen internet. Having had several year's experience with them, I've always found their installations are on time and hassle free, their technical support second to none and their account support faultless too. They are not the cheapest ISP around, but do offer a very good solid service which is obviously most important.

As someone mentioned above, when you order a new broadband connection or change suppliers, it's important to ensure you've bought into a business class of service. There are several reasons for this:

1) lower contention ratio - ie less users sharing the ADSL system in the telephone exchange therefore less "slowdown" during peak usage times.
2) better technical support - less queue time on the phone
3) better SLA's - higher priority fixes
4) Static IP address with no NAT - important if you're planning on installing a server for things like email and VPN access to your network


Hope this helps,

Rich