Zen and Plusnet Come Top of 2018 Biannual MSE Broadband Survey
Internet and phone providers Zen Internet and Plusnet have come top in a new biannual UK MSE survey of ISP customer service quality. Sadly the news isn’t so good for those at the opposite (bottom) end of the table, where TalkTalk and the Post Office could both be found.
The survey, which was conducted by Money Saving Expert, polled 7,066 people over the last six months and asked them to rate their broadband ISP based on a simple option of three grades for customer service quality – ‘Great’, ‘OK’ or ‘Poor’. Providers needed at least 75 votes to be included and thus the final list only covers a familiar batch of medium to large sized operators.
However, MSE notes that some ISPs did come close enough to warrant a mention, even if they didn’t make it into the official top list. For example, Hyperoptic scored 88% ‘Great’ votes, SSE delivered 68% and NOW TV (NOW Broadband) produced a score of 44% at the same level. At the opposite end it’s noted that Origin Broadband and KCOM both performer poorly, with 56% and 46% (respectively) rating them as ‘Poor’.
| Rank | Provider | ‘Great’ | ‘OK’ | ‘Poor’ |
| 1 (1) | Zen Internet | 94% | 4% | 2% |
| 2 (4) | Plusnet | 58% | 27% | 15% |
| 3 (n/a) | John Lewis | 53% | 31% | 16% |
| 4 (5) | EE | 42% | 39% | 19% |
| 5 (7) | Vodafone | 43% | 28% | 29% |
| 6 (8) | Sky Broadband | 34% | 45% | 21% |
| 7 (6) | Virgin Media | 38% | 38% | 25% |
| 8 (10) | BT | 33% | 37% | 29% |
| 9 (9) | Post Office | 28% | 41% | 31% |
| 10 (11) | TalkTalk | 26% | 35% | 38% |
The results tend to reflect what we see in other similar surveys, such as those from Which? etc. In response a spokesperson for TalkTalk noted how the ISP has already closed down their call centres in India, improved their online tools / support and recently launched a better Wi-Fi Hub router. “All these initiatives are starting to deliver improvement in satisfaction levels … [and] we have seen more customers than ever staying with us this year,” said the ISP.
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 and Linkedin.
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If Zen won this by what appears to be a landslide, why is there article titled ‘Zen AND PlusNet come top’?
Zen came top and PlusNet appear a distant 2nd….
I usually prefer to highlight the top 2-3 providers in a survey, character limits for title size allowing, than to only name drop a single ISP. It’s just my general personal way of doing things and you’ll have seen it in other reports.
Did plusnet pay people for this data? Ive had nothing but issues with them since joining a few months ago and cannot get out of my 12 month contract.
Clearly people who rated plus net great have never had to phone them, long wait times and unhelpful staff
Plusnet recently changed their billing system causing a big Mess , they had to close their online Chat because they could not cope with the volume of calls .
And once again people are getting charged twice
NEVER had any problems contacting Plusnet AND matters are always resolved. Deserve to be there whereas TALK TALK deserve to be at the bottom. I can only describe this company as thieves and liars!
It mostly depends where you live and what copper line quality you have. But I would rate TalkTalk as poor as possible, and Vodafone as excellent. Compared both on the same line.
Doesn’t surprise me to see Zen at the top. I have been a customer of theirs for many years and they are outstanding in every aspect.
Kudos to Zen, leagues ahead of the pack!
Broadband providers are the proverbial Marmite, everybody seems to have a provider they hate and a provider they love. Consistency in the feedback so varied and assume aligned to the consistency in the service provided (and dare I suggest a lot to do with the same old shared network everyone uses). These surveys are useful in seeing who gets it right the most out of the providers.