9:00am Saturday 4th August 2007
Broadband companies are failing to provide the high speed internet services they promise and customer satisfaction is running low.
Only a fifth of broadband users achieve the speed they signed up for and most of those live in urban areas. Price comparison service moneysupermarket.com surveyed 43,000 broadband users, and found that half the customers on 8 megabyte (Mb) packages from BT, Orange and Talk Talk are receiving just 4Mbs. And the majority of Sky customers with the "up to 16Mb" package are on speeds nearer 8Mbs.
People in towns and cities are getting the fastest broadband service. "If you live in a more remote part of the country, the reality is you will often be paying the same price as your urban counterpart but receiving a slower speed," says Sam Crawford at broadband data specialist Sam Knows.
There are many things that could be putting the brakes on your internet speed: how far you are from the telephone exchange, the number of people in your area using the same connection at the same time, line interference, and the quality of wiring into and around your home.
Many broadband users say they feel misled because their provider didn't draw their attention to issues like this up-front, instead putting them in the contract small print. But most providers say they will try and improve matters if you let them know you are dissatisfied.
"I urge all people to check what deal they are on and then ask their broadband provider for a free upgrade, so they may actually get a noticeable increase in their speed," says Jason Lloyd, head of broadband at moneysupermarket.com. "Providers are aware in many cases they don't deliver the speed they promise and so will be keen to appease unhappy customers wherever they can."
The feedback suggests broadband providers badly need to sharpen up their customer service. Comparison website uSwitch asked broadband customers to rank their provider in 11 categories including customer support, technical support and best value for money. Overall, a quarter of users say they are dissatisfied with their broadband provider, and standards have dropped 10 per cent since March last year.
Many of the problems reported by customers are technical. "New advances in broadband technology appear to be having an adverse effect, with connection problems and service interruptions occurring all too frequently," says Chris Frost, communications expert at comparison site uSwitch.
"Customers have found themselves having to make numerous phone calls to get their problems fixed and this would explain why the score for technical support has dropped."
Plusnet comes top in the uSwitch rankings for overall customer satisfaction with eight out of ten users happy with its service despite problems last year. It is the smallest provider in the survey, with just 2 per cent share of the market, and was bought by BT last November. AOL came top for technical services.
At the bottom are Orange and Talk Talk which together have 14 per cent of the market. Orange was one of the first to pioneer "free" broadband services, but since then satisfaction levels have dropped noticeably and only two-thirds are happy with their current service. Talk Talk, the broadband arm of Carphone Warehouse, fares just slightly better and is hoping its £15 million investment in customer services will improve matters.
"It's great to see Plusnet back on form and its performance puts its larger competitors to shame," says Frost. "The fact that a quarter of customers are not satisfied with their broadband provider should be a distinct warning siren for companies to up their game."
If you decide to shop around for a better broadband deal, make sure you do your research and compare companies before committing yourself to a new contract. By looking at both prices and service levels, you should be able to find the best deal to suit your needs.
The Echo has teamed up with SimplySwitch to provide all our readers with a free energy price check. To check you're getting a good deal call 0800 011 1432 or log on to www.householdmoneysaver.com
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