Which? 2017 UK Broadband Survey Awards Best ISP to Zen Internet

Consumer magazine Which? has published the results from their first 2017 reader survey of broadband ISP satisfaction, which saw Zen Internet retain the top “Recommended Provider” award for their broadband service. At the other end TalkTalk attracted the lowest level of customer satisfaction.

The survey itself was conducted between November and December 2016 with 3,118 members of the magazine (i.e. those who subscribe to a related broadband and phone package). As usual the respondents were asked to rate their ISP using a mix of several different categories, such as speed, customer support / service, reliability, value for money and ease of contacting.

Overall Zen came top and even improved on their win from the last survey by securing a customer satisfaction score of 86% (up from 85%). Zen got 3 stars on the ‘value for money’ scale, 4 stars for ‘speed’ and they secured top marks (5 stars) for all of the remaining categories.

Andrew Fryatt, Zen’s MD for Residential and Small Business, said:

“We’re absolutely delighted that not only have we again been named a Which? Recommended Provider, but also that we have come out on top of another survey of broadband users.

We’d like to thank all our customers. Awards like this are not something we take for granted, and we work hard to go above and beyond to meet their needs and expectations. Our aim is to be different to other providers, by continuing to keep our customers at the heart of everything we do.”

Broadly speaking the top three providers have managed to hold their positions quite consistently, although we note that SSE have just entered the table in 4th place. Meanwhile both Vodafone and BT saw a noticeable improvement in their scores, although that wasn’t enough for the latter to escape being near the bottom.

Broadband Satisfaction Survey Results 2017 (2016 Result)
1. Zen Internet 86% (85%)
2. Utility Warehouse 81% (80%)
3. John Lewis Broadband 68% (69%)
4. SSE 66% (no data)
5. Plusnet 65% (68%)
6. Virgin Media 52% (53%)
7. Vodafone 50% (46%)
8. Sky Broadband 49% (53%)
9. EE 48% (47%)
10. Post Office 48% (55%)
11. BT 45% (41%)
12. TalkTalk 38% (37%)

As usual all of the market’s largest providers occupy the bottom half of the table and, in this group of telecoms giants, the best of the bunch appears to be Virgin Media. However if Vodafone continues to improve from their slow start then we could see them claiming another place or two by the next survey. Otherwise you’ll need to buy a copy of the magazine in order to get the full breakdown.

Typically there are some caveats to this survey and readers will note the distinct lack of other small and highly reputable ISPs, such as AAISP and iDNET etc. The survey sample was simply too small to cover the entire market and so we only get a partial reflection; take with a pinch of salt.