Broadband Bother!

Half of all UK broadband users get a bad deal, says Which?

It has recently been reported by the leading consumer group that over 50% of the UK consumer market have reported slow speeds, rising prices or router problems

Half of all broadband users in the UK are getting a raw deal from their supplier, with slow speeds, rising prices and router failures exasperating customers, according to a damning assessment of Britain’s internet services.

Consumer group Which? found that 53% of households have had difficulties with their broadband, with customers of Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Sky and BT the most likely to experience an issue.

As few as one in 10 households receive the super-fast broadband speeds promised in adverts, said Which?. One third of TalkTalk’s customers complained about “very slow” broadband speeds, as did 22% of BT internet users.

Connection drop-outs were a frequent problem for 17% of broadband users, with 8% of households reporting that they suffered from no connection at all for hours or days at a time.

Price hikes for landline rentals have spurred widespread customer dissatisfaction. BT introduced its third price rise in 18 months at the start of the year, forcing it to deny that it was squeezing customers after paying £1.2bn for Champions League football rights.

Virgin customers’ top complaint was about price increases, said Which?, with 38% of users angry over increased line rental costs.

Which? surveyed 1,709 telecoms customers between June and July. Alex Neill of Which? said: “Far too many people get a poor deal from their broadband provider, with problems ranging from very slow speeds to going days without any connection at all, which just isn’t good enough.

“The regulator must now deliver on its plans to improve the information that customers get about speeds when they sign up to a provider, and allow them to easily exit a contract if they’re not getting what they’ve been promised.”