The latest 12,000 user strong survey from uSwitch has revealed that a staggering 42% (6.3 million) of UK broadband consumers are not satisfied with the service they receive. This is despite speeds becoming an estimated 18% faster (from 3.6Mbps to 4.2Mbps) and bills 5% lower (from £15.27 to £14.55 per month) over the same period one year ago. The total annual UK spend on broadband ISP services also hit a staggering £2.6bn!

Happily service satisfaction still managed to be 4% higher than last year, with O2 ( Be Broadband ), PlusNet and Sky Broadband (BSkyB) all coming in the surveys top three (representing a 15% share of the UK ISP market). By comparison Orange , BT and AOL UK were among the lowest rated, which is significant because they hold a combined market share of 50%.


O2 ( Be Broadband ) in particular scooped 9 out of the 11 award categories and won an impressive 92% customer satisfaction rating among its users, dislodging last year’s front runner PlusNet to 2nd place. It's easy to see why when O2 frequently gain high praise with a mix of very low prices (starting at £7.34 per month for a basic 8Mbps Home broadband service) and strong network performance.

Meanwhile AOL's popularity continued to fall by 7% over last year and 10% since 2007, placing them bottom of the list with 34% of their customers being unsatisfied with the service. AOL customers apparently achieved an average service speed of 3.3Mbps, which compares with O2’s 5.8Mbps:


The research also shows that the gap between the best and worst broadband providers has grown to 26%, the widest ever recorded in uSwitch's history. Meanwhile 54% of the survey's respondents felt that their broadband ISP did not have them on the best deal. It's also worth remembering that uSwitch conducts a very limited survey, ignoring many of the best and smaller UK ISPs.

UPDATE @ 11:58am:

uSwitch has now uploaded the full summary of results to its website:
http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/customer-satisfaction-full-results/