Internet provider Zen Internet has been awarded the Recommended Broadband Provider status by Which? UK, a popular consumer magazine, after it topped most of their primary satisfaction tables for the seventh year in a row.

Zen picked up five stars for reliability and connection speed and four stars for customer service. Sadly its higher prices resulted in only three stars for value, although this wasn't enough to undo their position.


The survey itself was based off an online study of nearly 10,000 magazine members, all of whom had home broadband services. The customer satisfaction score (as a percentage) is based on overall satisfaction and their likelihood to recommend the ISP to a friend.

Meanwhile O2 and its sibling, Be Broadband UK, managed to take 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The full 2011 results summary has been posted below.

(Customer Satisfaction) - ISP Name
1. (88%) - Zen Internet .
2. (79%) - O2 .
3. (75%) - Be Broadband .
4. (74%) - Utility Warehouse .
5. (72%) - Eclipse Internet .
6. (69%) - PlusNet .
7. (68%) - GreenBee .
8. (56%) - PostOffice .
9. (55%) - Virgin Media .
10. (54%) - Sky Broadband .
11. (52%) - Tesco .
12. (49%) - BT .
13. (49%) - Demon Internet .
14. (48%) - Madasafish .
15. (40%) - SupaNet .
16. (39%) - TalkTalk .
17. (36%) - Karoo ( KC ) .
18. (34%) - Orange .
19. (28%) - AOL UK .

It's interesting to note that AOL UK has actually dropped to 28% from 31% last year, while its parent ISP TalkTalk saw an even bigger fall from 48% to 39%; the reasons for that should, by now, be quite well known. Meanwhile some of the biggest gains came from Eclipse Internet UK, which jumped from 63% last year to 72% now. Tesco also saw a similar climb.

However we still find it odd that Which? chooses to include niche ISPs, such as GreenBee, SupaNet and Madasafish UK, but does not bother with more notable ISPs, such as AAISP and IDNet .

UPDATE 4:00pm

Just managed to get a leaked summary of the official results, which can also be found in the March 2011 issue of Which?'s magazine. Added above.