Quality focused internet provider Zen Internet UK has come top, for the 13th time in a row, in Which?'s latest survey of consumer satisfaction. Five other ISPs also attained the magazine's 'Recommended Broadband Provider' status (listed below), which means they scored highly for connection speed, reliability, customer service, value for money and overall satisfaction.

Unfortunately not all ISPs did so well, with both Orange and AOL receiving an overall satisfaction score of less than 40%! As a result both were labelled "providers to avoid". Orange's customers rated it below average for connection speed, customer service and technical support. AOL received a very poor overall customer satisfaction score of 28%, it was also rated only one star out of five for its customer service.


Which?'s survey was apparently based on the results from an online survey of nearly 12,000 panels members. A further five ISPs also received the recommended status (i.e. they received an overall score of 70% or more), as shown below.

Which? Recommended Broadband Providers (% Overall Satisfaction)
1. Zen Internet (86%)
2. Be Broadband (76%)
3. Utility Warehouse (75%)
4. PlusNet (74%)
5. O2 (72%)
6. Eclipse Internet (71%)

It's interesting to compare these results with the previous August 2011 study (here), which shows that both Be Broadband and Eclipse Internet have seen a noticeable decline from their Q3-2011 ratings of 81% and 77% respectively.

The rest have either stayed the same or, in PlusNet and Zen Internet UK's case, gained +2% on their previous satisfaction score. We also note that O2 is now included separately where as it wasn't before, although oddly Which? shows a different % LLU coverage for O2 and BE (67% vs 70% of UK households) despite the fact that they both use the same network.