Posted: 23rd Apr, 2010 By: MarkJ

The 2010
uSwitch broadband customer satisfaction report has rated O2 the overall winner after it came top in 10 out of 11 categories, with 92% of its customers being satisfied! Rival broadband ISPs PlusNet and Sky Broadband were runners-up in 2nd (87%) and 3rd (86%) place respectively.
Sadly Orange UK (70%) and AOL UK (72%) both came bottom of the pack, which as usual only bothered to test the largest 8 providers in the market; completely ignoring smaller players. Just 47% of Orange's customers said they'd recommend the ISP to a friend, with AOL scoring 54% in the same category.
Overall Broadband ISP Satisfaction
1. O2 (92%)
2. PlusNet (87%)
3. Sky Broadband (86%)
4. Virgin Media (82%)
5. TalkTalk (77%)
6. BT (75%)
7. AOL UK (72%)
8. Orange (70%)
This was O2's second year at the top of the table since it entered the broadband market less than three years ago. The study also highlighted a significant 35% gap in customer satisfaction between the best and worst of the biggest broadband providers.
Matthew Wheeler, communications expert at uSwitch, comments:
"This is not rocket science. The continued success of O2 shows that an excellent service does not have to cost the earth. Its broadband service is one of the cheapest on the market but its customer service is head and shoulders above its rivals.
Plus, O2's customers can enjoy broadband for less than half the price of BT if they sign up to a mobile deal, demonstrating the added value that's possible by being with the same provider for more than one service.
It is disappointing that, after pulling up its socks last year, Orange has failed to keep up the momentum, coming bottom for the fourth time since the start of our survey."
According to the survey, broadband bills have dropped by 4% - the average annual broadband bill was £167 - down from £175 in 2009. When it comes to speed, the average speed received by customers has increased by 33% since 2009, from 4.2Mbps to 5.7Mbps. However overall satisfaction with speed dropped from 73% to 71%.
Separately O2 also topped the recent J.D. Power and Associates 2010 UK Fixed Line and Mobile Broadband ISP Customer Satisfaction Studies, which ranked O2 highest among its competitors for a second consecutive year. O2 achieved a score of 766 for fixed line broadband services and 653 for Mobile Broadband (
here).