Home
 » ISP News » 

TalkTalk Attract Most UK Complaints for Broadband and Sky Mobile for Mobile in Q1 2026

Thursday, Jul 23rd, 2026 (10:22 am) - Score 80
Consumers-Complaints-for-Ofcom-UK-via-Smartphone

Ofcom has this morning published their latest Q1 2026 study of quarterly UK consumer telecoms and TV complaints, which reports that TalkTalk attracted the most complaints from customers for fixed broadband services, while Sky Mobile came top of the naughty table for Mobile services and EE did the same for Pay TV. But complaint volumes have fallen to their lowest ever level.

Take note that the regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Communications Ombudsman or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.

NOTE: Ofcom received 38,441 telecoms complaints directly from consumers in 2024, although a single complaint might be recorded as different/multiple issues and therefore account for more than one complaint in these figures.

Otherwise, the results below reflect a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers per provider), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where ISPs can vary significantly in size. But sadly, the study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs due to limited data (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%).

Advertisement

Just for some extra context. Ofcom’s most recent May 2025 study of telecoms provider quality (here) revealed that the proportion of UK consumers who were satisfied with their communications services stood at 73% for landline services (down from 77% two years earlier), 84% for broadband (up from 82%) and 88% for mobile services (up from 87%).

In addition, Ofcom’s quarterly complaints data for Q1 2026 reveals that customer complaints about broadband have fallen to their lowest level in history. The latest figures – covering January to March 2026 – reveal that broadband complaints have declined significantly, from a peak in 2011 when complaints stood at 40 per 100,000 customers, to an all-time low of 6 per 100,000 customers in Q1 2026.

A spokesperson for the ISPA said:

“Broadband complaints falling to a record low reflect a market that is offering an excellent experience for customers. The sector’s investment of more than £40bn in gigabit-capable infrastructure means that over 90% of UK premises can now access gigabit connectivity. Speeds are rising, real-terms prices are falling, and One Touch Switch has made it easier than ever to move to a better deal. The market is also highly competitive, meaning consumers have genuine choice and flexibility when selecting a provider.

Where complaints remain, ISPA members are committed to resolving them quickly and to the highest standard.

We will continue to work constructively with Ofcom and Government to ensure the sector delivers future-proof connectivity for all.”

Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints

TalkTalk attracted the most broadband complaints this quarter, with 40% of them being driven by complaints about faults, service and provisioning. On the flip side, Plusnet attracted the fewest measurable complaints of all the listed providers.

  Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Q4 2025 Q1 2026
BT 9 9 8 7
EE 10 9 8 6
NOW Broadband (NOW TV) 11 4    
Plusnet 4 4 5 4
Sky Broadband 6 6 7 5
TalkTalk 9 10 10 10
Virgin Media 8 7 5 6
Vodafone 9 10 11 8
Industry Average 8 8 7 6

A TalkTalk spokesperson said:

“We’re in the middle of transforming our customer service to better identify and resolve the root causes of complaints, as well as improving how we talk to our customers when things go wrong. While we’re naturally disappointed by these results, we continue to invest to deliver a better way to Wi-Fi for all our customers, and know that this is starting to benefit customers, which we expect to see reflected in future quarters.”

Fixed Line Phone Complaints

Despite the above result, Plusnet still ended up attracting the most complaints for fixed line (landline) phone services, most (41%) of which were driven by issues with faults, service and provisioning. By comparison, Utility Warehouse, Vodafone and Sky Talk all jointly attracted the fewest complaints.

Advertisement

  Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Q4 2025 Q1 2026
BT 4 5 5 4
EE 8 6 6 3
NOW Broadband (NOW TV) 4 5 6 4
Plusnet 3 5 5 7
Sky Talk 2 2 2 2
TalkTalk 6 6 5 6
Utility Warehouse 0 1 1 2
Virgin Media 4 3 2 2
Vodafone 3 4 3 2
Industry Average 4 4 3 3

Mobile Complaints

Pay monthly Mobile operators continue to enjoy lower complaint levels than all of the fixed line providers, yet Sky Mobile managed to attract the most moans this time around and 23% of those related to issues with faults, service and provisioning.

  Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Q4 2025 Q1 2026
EE (aggregrate of T-Mobile, Orange & 4GEE) 1 1 1 1
Giffgaff       1
O2 2 2 7 3
Sky Mobile 2 3 5 4
Tesco Mobile 1 1 1 2
Three UK 3 2 1 2
Vodafone 1 1 2 1
iD Mobile 2 1 3 3
Industry Average 2 2 3 2

Pay TV Complaints

Finally, EE attracted the most complaints for Pay TV services and 27% of those were due to problems with complaints handling. Elsewhere, Sky TV and TalkTalk received the fewest complaints, but there wasn’t a huge gap between all of the providers.

  Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Q4 2025 Q1 2026
EE (prev. BT) 6 6 5 4
Sky TV 2 3 3 2
TalkTalk 1 2 2 2
Virgin Media 5 5 3 3
Industry Average 3 3 3 3

Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q1 2026
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints

Share with Twitter
Share with Linkedin
Share with Facebook
Share with Reddit
Share with Pinterest
Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NOTE: Your comment may not appear instantly (it may take several hours) due to static caching and moderation checks by the anti-spam system. Please be patient. We will reject comments that spam, troll, post via known fake IP/proxy servers or fall foul of our Online Safety and Content Policy.
Javascript must be enabled to post (most browsers do this automatically)

Privacy Notice: Please note that news comments are anonymous, which means that we do NOT require you to enter any real personal details to post a message and display names can be almost anything you like (provided they do not contain offensive language or impersonate a real person's legal name). By clicking to submit a post you agree to storing your entries for comment content, display name, IP and email in our database, for as long as the post remains live.

Only the submitted name and comment will be displayed in public, while the rest will be kept private (we will never share this outside of ISPreview, regardless of whether the data is real or fake). This comment system uses submitted IP, email and website address data to spot abuse and spammers. All data is transferred via an encrypted (https secure) session.
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
100Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £22.99
145Mbps
Gift: £155 Reward Card
BT UK ISP Logo
BT £23.99
150Mbps
Gift: £100 BT Reward Card
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £23.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Youfibre UK ISP Logo
Youfibre £24.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Promotion
Cheap Unlimited Mobile SIMs
giffgaff UK ISP Logo
giffgaff £14.00
Contract: 18 Months
Data: Unlimited
iD Mobile UK ISP Logo
iD Mobile £16.00
Contract: 1 Month
Data: Unlimited
Talkmobile UK ISP Logo
Talkmobile £16.95
Contract: 1 Month
Data: Unlimited
Smarty UK ISP Logo
Smarty £17.00
Contract: 1 Month
Data: Unlimited
Sky UK ISP Logo
Sky £20.00
Contract: 12 Months
Data: Unlimited
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
100Mbps
Gift: None
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £19.00
300Mbps
Gift: None
toob UK ISP Logo
toob £19.50
150Mbps
Gift: None
Grain Connect UK ISP Logo
250Mbps
Gift: None
Zzoomm UK ISP Logo
Zzoomm £21.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact