Which? 2018 UK Mobile Network Survey Ranks UW and Giffgaff Top

Consumer magazine Which? has published the results from their latest 2018 consumer survey of Mobile Network Operators (MNO), which ranked Utility Warehouse top with a customer score of 84% and they were followed by giffgaff (81%). Sadly Vodafone retains the bottom spot.

The survey, which was based on responses gathered from 3,683 “members of the public” during February 2018 (down from 4,026 last year), allowed people to rank each operator by categories such as customer service, value for money, service satisfaction and if they would recommend it to friends and family.

Interestingly nearly all of the front runners are Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) that piggyback off the four primary MNOs via their own unique selection of tariffs. The highest rated of the primary operators was Three UK (64%), which did well in the value for money (71% approval) stakes but 30% customers said they had experienced very poor signal, although 86% would still recommend them to a friend or family member.

Overall Satisfaction by Mobile Operator
Utility Warehouse (84%)
giffgaff (81%)
Sky Mobile (79%)
Asda Mobile (77%)
Tesco Mobile (75%)
Plusnet (65%)
Three UK (64%)
iD Mobile (63%)
BTMobile (62%)
O2 (61%)
Virgin Media / Mobile (58%)
EE (56%)
Vodafone (49%)

Sadly Which? didn’t ask those who took part in their survey to rate either the mobile broadband (3G / 4G) speed or coverage of their mobile provider, which might have returned some interesting results.

Alex Neill, Which? MD of Home Products and Services, said:

“The biggest providers are lagging behind smaller rivals who are doing a better job of giving customers what they want in terms of service and value for money. Customers who are fed up should look to switch provider as soon as they can.

New reforms will soon mean that mobile customers will be able to switch provider by text message, which we hope will make it quicker and easier for customers to seek a better deal.”

As usual it’s wise to take such surveys with a pinch of salt and to balance them against feedback from other surveys. For example, recent network tests conducted via Opensignal (here) and Tutela (here) appear to tell a very different story, choosing to favour Vodafone and EE.

By comparison Ofcom’s recent consumer complaints research (here) noted that both Three UK and O2 received under the industry average level of complaints for Pay Monthly mobile (a good result), while sadly Vodafone attracted more gripes than most.