Ofcom Shames Vodafone in Q2 2023 Broadband Complaints Table
Ofcom has published their latest quarterly (Q2 2023) study of UK consumer complaints, which shames Vodafone as attracting the most gripes about broadband ISPs, while TalkTalk, Shell Energy and Virgin Media tied the lowest ranking for landline phone, BT did the same for Mobile services, and Virgin Media and BT came bottom for TV.
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. Ombudsman Services or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.
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 (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%) due to limited data.
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Take note that the proportion of people who were satisfied with their communications services in 2023 was 77% (unchanged from last year) for landline services, 82% (down from 83%) for broadband services and 87% (down from 91%) for all mobile services.
Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints
Sadly, Vodafone attracted the most broadband complaints in Q2 2023, with related complaints against the ISP mainly being driven by gripes related to experience with faults, service and getting services connected. On the flip side, Sky Broadband continued to attract the fewest complaints of all the listed providers.
| Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | |
| BT | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 |
| EE | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| NOW Broadband (NOW TV) | 7 | 10 | 9 | 13 |
| Plusnet | 13 | 10 | 12 | 11 |
| Shell Energy | 27 | 27 | 16 | 13 |
| Sky Broadband | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| TalkTalk | 18 | 18 | 20 | 18 |
| Virgin Media | 18 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| Vodafone | 12 | 19 | 17 | 24 |
| Industry Average | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 |
Fixed Line Phone Complaints
This time around, Shell Energy, TalkTalk and Virgin Media all tied by attracting the most complaints for fixed line phone services. TalkTalk saw a small decrease compared with last quarter, Shell Energy remained static and Virgin Media saw a small increase in their complaints since the previous quarter. By comparison, Sky Broadband once again attracted the fewest complaints.
| Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | |
| BT | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| EE | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| NOW Broadband (NOW TV) | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Plusnet | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Shell Energy | 20 | 25 | 10 | 10 |
| Sky Broadband | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| TalkTalk | 11 | 11 | 13 | 10 |
| Virgin Media | 11 | 7 | 9 | 10 |
| Vodafone | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Industry Average | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
Mobile Complaints
Mobile operators enjoyed lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but BT still attracted the most gripes, with issues around their how complaints were handled and issues changing provider driving most of it. By comparison, EE and Sky Mobile both attracted the fewest gripes.
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However, it’s worth pointing out that BT no longer sells mobile plans to new customers, and instead they re-direct consumers to EE.
| Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | |
| BT Mobile | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| O2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| iD Mobile | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Sky Mobile | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Tesco Mobile | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Three UK | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Virgin Mobile | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Vodafone | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| EE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Industry Average | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Pay TV Complaints
Finally, both BT and Virgin Media attracted the most complaints for Pay TV. BT’s complaints were mainly driven by customers’ experience with faults, service and getting services connected, while Virgin’s complaints were driven mainly by how customers’ complaints were handled. Sky received the fewest pay-TV complaints.
| Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | |
| BT | 7 | 7 | 11 | 10 |
| Sky TV | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| TalkTalk | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Virgin Media | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Industry Average | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q2 2023
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints
UPDATE 11:04am
We’ve had a comment from Sky.
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Stephen van Rooyen, CEO of Sky UK & Ireland, said:
“Providing excellent customer service is at the heart of what we do, which is why we’ve maintained our position as the least complained about provider across pay-TV, broadband, landline and mobile services. We are proud of our customer service teams – it is thanks to their high standards and hard work we have achieved this yet again.”
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 Linkedin.
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When I had to deal with Vodafone on behalf of my son and daughter regarding mobile phone problems (accounts) I would say it was the worst firm I have ever had to deal with, and I’m old! They do not appear to have an accounts department, like any normal firm, but at the first sign of problems, they hand everything over to debt collectors. When I used the Asda mobile service, they used EE and I had no problems. As soon as they moved to Vodafone, all my credit went from my account. Other people I have spoken to had exactly the same experience. I can only assume they have big government contracts which allow them to keep trading. I now use 1p Mobile, and have found them very good.
Ouch, moved to Vodafone yesterday after months of pain Three and their 5g hub service.
Anyway, the service was installed by City Fibre and has been rock solid, unlike Three
I’m unsure how you can compare 5G with Fibre broadband?
Isn’t that literally how companies are touting the benefits of 5G? Sure, you know better because UK MNOs can’t deploy things well. Does the average person when they’re being told that 5G is faster than fibre? Obviously not.
If Vodafone are going to provide a digital voice service they should at least give out the sip details so that customers can use their own equipment. Then would only have to rely on their dreadful customer service for incoming calls and broadband.
Will never happen, it would mean they’re breaching regulations. You have a landline area code, to be used in your geographical area only. By having the VOIP credentials hidden from you, they can ensure you’re only using the landline with your vodafone router, which they can ensure only works on your fixed line connection at your home location.
By providing you with the SIP logins, you are then able to use that number from any compatible phone you see fit, including one located somewhere else.
Carlos, I speak as a customer with experience of a service that started off providing 600mbps and was super for 6 wks, then Three altered something and I’m down to 100mbps.
The Three community forum are awash with people having the same issue.
All these companies are tarred with the same brush,they are a law to themselves.Ofcom are a toothless organisation and should be replaced with a customer support service.
There’s an open consultation by the Department of Business & Trade on the future of regulation in the UK, unfortunately it’s extremely poorly constructed, and seems intended to reduce the voice of consumers whilst giving big business more say.
Meaningless really.
These ISP need to be punished but Ofcom wont do that they are puppets.
Voda are a disgrace I have dealt with many ISP over the years and they have to be the worst close by is VM.
Serious question, what a sky doing that the others aren’t that they are always quite a bit lower than everyone else?