UK’s favourite Broadband providers

More than 14 million (56%) UK households now have broadband internet access - over half of the population and with the number growing by over 1m households every year.

BroadbandChoices.co.uk, one of the country’s leading broadband comparison sites, finds out what British broadband users really think of the service they’re offered.

The BroadbandChoices.co.uk survey is conducted every six months, in conjunction with PointTopic Ltd, to find out what the country’s broadband users view of the services and costs of their internet providers.

Standing out in the July 2008 survey:

Sky is top of the ISP pops as far as the British users are concerned, voted top in all 6 satisfaction categories.

Despite the credit crunch “value for money” has not significantly increased as a concern for UK broadband users since the last survey in February 2008.

The “satisfaction gap” has increased, with the difference between the top ISP and bottom ISP in every category increasing

Talk Talk has seen the greatest improvement in its ranking in customer satisfaction levels over the last 6 months.

Sky comes top

Sky was voted the best provider overall, gaining the top spot in every category in the BroadbandChoices.co.uk July 2008 survey:

Interestingly, users consider Sky to offer the most satisfactory download times for pages and files, something which the BroadbandChoices.co.uk monthly download survey often supports with its 2Mbps and 8Mbps packages.

Michael Phillips, Product Director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk comments: “Sky is the UK’s fastest growing broadband provider. They have recently increased their advertising presence and set their prices and packages at a level that has attracted a large number of new customers to its service. It seems their approach is working, but it also seems that the general service Sky is offering is good enough to keep their existing customers happy.

The satisfaction gap is increasing

Michael Phillips highlights the increase in the satisfaction gap as an area of concern: “An area that does concern me is the increase in the satisfaction gap. ISPs should be competing fiercely not only to acquire customers but also to keep them happy and that means a better service across the board. Over the past six months our survey shows that the gap between the top ISP and bottom ISP in each category is getting bigger - so whilst some companies are clearly improving their satisfaction ratings, others are falling further behind.

“The low scores that we see for after sales support, when compared to other categories, demonstrates for the second time running that customers feel neglected after they have signed on the dotted line.”

We still think we’re getting value for money

Michael Phillips, was surprised by the results in this category: “We had expected a significant decrease in the number of users who felt they were receiving value for money since the last survey, as the credit crunch bites harder in to household incomes. The difference between February and July 2008 is less than 1%, a negligible decrease in overall satisfaction.

“It’s true to say that internet access is cheaper than ever before as bundled deals become the norm, offering excellent value for consumers.

“However, households can still save money. ISPs announce new deals all the time and any household that hasn’t looked at what else is on offer for a year or more may find that they can make significant savings on their annual cost of broadband if they switch to another provider. Our research has shown that users can save an average of £150 per year if they switch to a new package or provider through our website.”

Users see improvements from TalkTalk

Michael Phillips comments; “It’s nice to see Talk Talk’s service is improving, with users voting more positively for this ISP in most categories since February’s survey. We look forward to seeing how these stats will develop in our next survey.”

A special mention for O2

Although O2’s sample size is currently too small to rank in the key findings/tables in this survey, the company deserves a special mention for scoring a massive 94% for Fairly/Very Satisfied in “Overall quality and reliability” (Sky 86%; AOL 67%) and an impressive 79% for “After sales support” (some 12% more than Sky and 37% more than Orange).